John 12:44–45

The public ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ closes with His words in verse 36... That is the end of the story of His public ministry. The remaining verses of this chapter are the Holy Spirit's commentary. They are His explanation of what the public ministry meant. That commentary is in two parts. First, from verse 37 down to verse 43, the Holy Spirit comments on the staggering fact that so few people believed in Him... For those whose eyes were enlightened and who did believe, verses 44 to the end present the real essence and quality of what they received.

The Lord spoke with earnestness, as He always did; and in His grace it was owed to men, given the solemn issues at stake and the divine glory involved. It was a question of His Father who sent Him, no less than of Himself. To believe on the Son, to behold Him, was to behold and believe on the Father. They were inseparably one, as He had already declared; and whoever had the Son had the Father also.

His servants had been here before Him, and they had spoken His Word faithfully; but here was the Word itself. They could not direct attention to themselves. They could not say, "Believe on me." They could only say, "Thus says the Lord." Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you." He spoke with authority, and not as the scribes. He was here to turn our attention away from ourselves and to fix it on the living God.

It was indeed light — the revelation of God in His true character. So to believe on Him was to believe on Him who sent Him out. To behold Him was to behold the One from whom He came. There was no side interest to divert anyone from the true and living God He represented.

It must be a question that concerns Him who sent Me. You cannot reject Me without rejecting Him. He leads His followers to God.

First, we are told of the positive blessing of believing in Himself. Faith in Him brings the believer the full revelation of the heart of God. To see the Son is to see the Father revealed in the Son. The Father and the Son are one.

This small paragraph draws attention above all to one immense fact. Great as it is to know the Lord Jesus as the Son, God's intention would not have reached its real fulfilment if those who believed were satisfied with that alone. His intention was that the oneness of the Son with the Father should come to one specific end, beyond which there is nothing. Those who believed should come to know the Father. In other words, they did not really know the Son unless that knowledge brought them to know the Father. Such knowledge is eternal life.

The history of the public ministry clearly closes in John 12:37. What follows, to the end at verse 50, is the Spirit's summary and comment on the story, and above all on what that ministry produced. This comment points to two things. First, the staggering fact that so few believed. Second, the real quality of the result in those who believed. In short, this immense blessing was that they had been brought into touch with the Father. They had believed in the Father, seen the Father, heard the Father, and this was eternal life.

Here was One in the middle of men who not only spoke the Word, but who was Himself the Word. He Himself was all that God had to say to men, and all that God is in His approach to men. Prophets had said, "Thus says the Lord." Jesus said, "I say to you." They could only pronounce blessing on those who believed in God. But Jesus said, "Whoever believes in me has everlasting life." He was the expression of the essential being of the Godhead. He says, "Whoever sees me sees Him who sent me." He does not mean His outward form, for He came in the form of a servant, in the likeness of men. He means the inward qualities that showed themselves in His daily life down here. In them, God was declared.

Showing is for the eye. Declaring is for the ear. Jesus both showed and declared the Father's Name. What He did showed what the Father is, making His Name visible to sight. What the Father is was found in perfect display in the Son, and those in whom the Spirit has worked can appreciate the heavenly grace of God made visible in the Lord Jesus.

No light could show the sun to us, because the sun is itself the light. If God is to be known He must declare Himself; man cannot discover Him by searching. A creature might carry a message if God gave it to him to carry. Men and angels have done this many times. But what creature could show God in such a way that he could truly say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father"?

In these verses the distinction of Persons and the unity of Nature both come out… The Father and Jesus are not one "Person." At the same time, the one nature contradicts those who deny His deity. The Jews of that day understood what the Lord said. Their descendants, and "Unitarians," miss its meaning.

This self-glory, this subtle self-glory, is the ground and essence of unbelief… The matter must be settled with Him who sent Me. You cannot reject Me without rejecting Him. "Whoever believes me believes Him who sent me." He leads His followers to God…

When they saw Christ, they saw the One who sent Him. So to claim to own God, but to refuse Christ, would help no one in that coming day.

God's intention for the oneness of the Son with the Father was that it should reach one end, and nothing lies beyond it: those who believed should come to know the Father. In other words, they did not really know the Son unless such knowledge brought them to know the Father. Such knowledge is eternal life.