²⁶ But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep.

⁴⁷ Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”

³ If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. ⁴ Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

The Unbelief of the People

³⁷ But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. ³⁸ This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted:

³⁹ But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said,

²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

⁶⁵ Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”

⁶ But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

⁷ So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened. ⁸ As the Scriptures say,

⁴ After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

⁴⁴ For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. ⁴⁵ As it is written in the Scriptures,^[a] ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.