John Part 20

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

So, right off the bat we see principle of “light”

something Jesus just said in the last chapter

right before he was ran out of the temple

by the Jews who wanted to stone him

for claiming to be the Great I AM.

The last verse of chapter 8 says that Jesus was leaving the Temple

and here in verse 1…

John 9:1 ESV

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

So, this is right after leaving the temple

where, during the feast of booths

or feast of tabernacles

they lit those bright ligths

for the last night

and Jesus claimed to be the light of the world.

then here, as he is leaving the temple

He sees a blind man.

And this is starting to reveal to us

why John is sharing this particular story

of all the miracles Jesus did

John picks ones that align with what he is trying to convey

to the readers

This blind man cannot see the light.

Jesus is right in front of this blind beggar

but the blind man is not able to see it

and The same is true about the Jews that Jesus just left behind

back inside the temple

Jesus was standing right in front of them

and they could not see the light

Even today, people are staring right at the truth

right at the Light of the World

and they are unable to see him.

they just can’t see him.

I once was blind…

but now I see

said the old song writer

And this is about to be true naturally for this blind beggar

But it is also something that must become true spiritually.

We’ve got to take our eyes out of spiritual blindness

and see the truth

John 9:2 ESV

2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

It was a very common belief

that the physically disabled people

were cursed by God because of their own sin

or the sin of their ancestors.

However, this is not true

and Jesus quickly dismisses this idea

and the point of sharing it, here

is to show us that we each responsible

for our own salvation.

No one can blame their sin on their father

No one can claim the salvation of their mother

the Bible says

we must all work out our own salvation

with fear and trembling.

Don’t make excuses for your sin

Don’t claim it is a family issue

It may “run in the family”

but it doesn’t have to

Any single person can turn it around

you’re looking at living proof of that

and may of you can testify to the same.

John 9:3 ESV

3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

The reason for the man’s blindness

was not his sin

and it was not his parents sin

but Jesus said

his blindness was for the purpose

of God’s glory.

Think about that for a second

We don’t often consider pain

or suffering

or affliction

to be an instrument of God’s glory

but Jesus said, that’s exactly what it was for

in the case of this blind man.

God knew 1 million years before this particular day

that a blind man would be sitting outside the temple

on precisely the same day that Jesus

had just claimed to be the light of the world

and precisely after spiritually blind Jews

did not see the light.

And God, in his foreknowledge

set this up

so that we could see something

that those blind Jews could not see.

God is greater than a grandmaster in chess

or a composer of symphonies

He can calculate ever detail

down to the smallest speck

and get it all exactly lined up

and that’s what happened here

This man was born blind

so that we could see.

and God served that up before time even existed.

verse 2 says that the man was born blind

And this ties back to chapter 2

where Jesus commands us to be born again

the first time you are born

you are spiritually blind

but when you are born again

you can see things you could not see before.

I love when people who have never been filled with the Spirit

attempt to speak from a position of expertise

on the subject of speaking in other tongues

They will try and teach you what Paul was talking about

in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14

and they are reading those passages

with a blind fold on

They cannot see it

no matter how powerful their reading glasses are

they are spiritually blind

and it does no good to argue with them

until they are filled with the Holy Ghost

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

If we had time, we’d go over that entire chapter

because it really drives this point home

that the wisest men of this world

are like elementary school children

compared to any Spirit Filled saint

when it comes to the subject of truth.

Something changes physically in your mind

when you are filled with the Holy Spirit

I can’t explain it

but I know it is true

because the Bible says so

and because I’ve lived it

I’ve witnessed it time and time again

someone so astute on the word of God

Look at the truth on the pages

and not see it

Just like the blind man in John chapter 9

who could not see Jesus,

the light of the world

though he stood right in front of him.

and just like those Jews in the temple

so well versed in the Law of Moses

and yet, they missed him

They missed the messiah

they knew ever prophecy about him

and they missed him

How does that happen?

Because we are born blind

and we must be born again

in order to see the light.

John 9:4 ESV

4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

Jesus says “we” here.

Meaning, him and his disciples will word the works of God

And we must do this until night comes

When is that? Well as long as Christ, or his Spirit is here

it is day.. according to the next verse:

John 9:5 ESV

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

but soon, the church is going away

like a their in the night

and the children of the day

as Paul calls us

will no longer be here

So, like the other old song writer says

I’m going to keep on workin’

till he comes, till he comes.

Now, we’re going to move on to verse 6

and this is when the miracle happens.

John 9:6–7 ESV

6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

So, there is so much symbolism here

Jesus used his saliva and dirt

which, mixed together forms mud

and he uses that mud

to anoint the man’s earthly eyes.

To me, this is Jesus proving that he is the Creator

The same God that formed Adam from the dirt

is forming new eyes for this man who was born blind.

Now, after this, in verse 7

Jesus sends him to the pool of Siloam

the same pool that they poured water from

each day of the feast of booths

and, remember, Jesus said that He has living water

water that leads to eternal life

and he sends the blind man to that same symbolic water

and John pauses to let us know that “Siolam” means “Sent”

why would he mention that?

Surely it matters.

and I think it does

Jesus has been saying that he was Sent by the Father

and here, we are seeing that Jesus is doing the sending

And, where is he sending the man?

To the waters that will open his blind eyes

meaning… Jesus is the one who sends us into the water

which is why we must be baptized in the name of Jesus

He’s the sender

We are sent into the water in his name.

Now, this part is huge

so he washed in the pool

and then it says

He came back seeing

He didn’t see until he came up out of the water

Until we are born again

we cannot see the light

There are so many people who get the mud on their eyes

but they don’t go down in the water in Jesus’ name

They don’t come up out of the water being filled with the Spirit

and they remain Spiritually blind.

They got a little of the word

but they didn’t get the water or the Spirit

and therefore

they are not truly born again

and they cannot see the light.

no matter how hard they squint

they can’t see it.

When Jesus says to go wash in the pool

we’ve got to be obedient to that command

and only after we obey that command

will we see clearly enough to understand the rest of his words

so many people want to understand first

and THEN get washed

but without faith in his initial command to go wash in the pool

this blind man would have remained blind for life.

Now, for the remainder of the chapter

We are seeing John really drive this point home

that a blind man can now see

something that the Pharisees never will

I’ll move kind of quickly through the story

and just a make a few comments along the way.

John 9:8–41 ESV

8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”) 24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

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