John 9:12

John 9:12

In John Chapter 9 we are continuing with the story of the man who was born blind, but was healed by Jesus. The Bible says in John 9:12-16, "Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I do not know. They brought to the Pharisees him that before was blind. And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said to them, He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore, said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he does not keep the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was division among them."

The Pharisees did not want to know the truth about Jesus. They only wanted to find an excuse to condemn Him, and they wanted to condemn Him as a law-braker. But one of the things that we learn from the fact that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, is that it is never wrong to do what is right. Something that is good to do on Monday or Tuesday is also good to do on Saturday or Sunday.

As the discussion progresses through the rest of John Chapter 9, we will see that the Pharisees do not search for the truth. Instead, they search for an excuse to not believe the truth. Jesus said, "Seek and ye shall find." Those who seek the truth shall find it, and those who seek an excuse to not believe shall find that also. It says in John 9:16 that there was a division among the people. In other words, some believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and some did not believe. The same is true today. There is still a division concerning the person of Jesus Christ. The evidence is there: no man ever spake as this man and no man ever did the miracles that He did. But there are people today who ignore the evidence and who are determined to not believe just like the Pharisees were.

The Pharisees questioned the blind man, not to find the truth, but to try and find fault with his story. John 9:17-23 says, "They say unto the blind man again, What do you say of him, that he has opened your eyes? He said, He is a prophet. But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: But by what means he now sees, we know not; or who has opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. These words spoke his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him."

The parents of the man who was healed verified the fact that he had indeed been blind since his birth, but they would not give their opinion about Jesus because of the power that the Pharisees possessed to make things hard for them. To be cast out of the synagogue would be a major persecution in that society; where there are so many community, family, and religious observances that center around the synagogue. But since the Pharisees could get no more from the parents to accuse them or to find fault, they turned again to the man who was healed.

John 9:24-25 says, "Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know: one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." Often those who do not know the Lord are more intelligent than those who do. The most highly educated people of this world usually do not believe in Jesus. The reason for this is partly because knowledge puffs up the heart of man with pride, and because those who seek to solve the problems of life through their own wisdom, often therefore have no will or heart left to seek the Lord. Not many mighty, not many wise, not many noble are called: because they have the stumbling block of pride. The day will come when those who think themselves to be wise in this world shall look very foolish when they stand before the all-knowing Creator of the universe. But until that day comes, we who believe in the Lord will be considered foolish by many of the educated and intelligent ones of this world. We may not have much that we can say to answer their arguments and their protests against belief in Jesus. But there will always be at least one thing that we can say to those who put their hope into the wisdom of this world. Those of us who have had the spiritual experience of believing in Jesus will always be able to at least say the same thing that the man in John Chapter 9 said, "...this I know: once I was blind, but now I see."

You cannot explain the spiritual experience of the new birth with the wisdom of this world, but you can debate the new birth and resist it, if you are determined to do so. The Pharisees were so determined, and therefore they continued their negative interrogation of the man who was healed. In John 9:26-34 the Bible says, "Then said they to him again, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and you did not hear. Why will you hear it again? Will you also be his disciples? Then they reviled him and said, You are his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from where he is. The man answered and said to them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that you know not from where he is, and yet he has opened my eyes. Now we know that God does not hear sinners, but if any man is a worshipper of God and does His will, him God will hear. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said to him, You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us? And they cast him out."

The theologians and those who were supposed to know the things of God were ignorant of the truth. Those who should have been spiritual were carnal. And someone who was not at all a part of the organized religion had a spiritual insight that far surpassed the theologians. That was 2,000 years ago. And it is still like that. If you want to learn the most important things about God, you probably will not be able to find them from someone who has a doctorate in theology. But you will be able to learn from someone who walks in communion with Jesus, no matter what is their level of education.

The man who had been blind could only bear witness of the truth. He became the teacher of those who professed to be teachers. The man who once was blind had the most important qualification to be a teacher of spiritual things: he had met Jesus in a personal way and he had been touched by Jesus.

These teachers of the law, these legalistic and self-righteous hypocrites, did not understand the truth about Jesus, and they also did not understand the truth concerning the doctrine of sin. They tried to discredit the miracles of Jesus by saying that Jesus was a sinner because He healed on the Sabbath day. Then they tried to discredit the testimony of the man who had been born blind, by saying that he was a sinner because he was born blind, implying that his blindness was a result of his sinfulness. But Jesus had already told the disciples that this man’s disease had not been the result of sin. The disease had come about by the will of God in order to glorify God. By this we learn that some diseases are not the result of sin. There are people today who make the same mistake that the self-righteous Pharisees made: they think that all disease is the result of someone’s sin. You may have heard someone say that if you had enough faith, you would not have any physical maladies. But that’s not the case. It was not the case with this man who was born blind, and it was not the case of the Apostle Paul and the disease of the eyes that he apparently had, and it may not be your case either. I would not listen to those who pass judgment on you. Let God be your judge. Remember that He is a forgiver of sins. That is why Jesus came into the world: not to condemn, but to forgive.

In John 9:35-38 the Bible says, "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said to him, Do you believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on Him? And Jesus said to him, You have both seen him, and it is he that is talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him." The blind man who had been healed was cast out of the religious organization. There was no place in such an organization for someone who had had a genuine experience with God. Some things do not change. Many religious organizations today are just like that. They build themselves up by human effort, they require an allegiance to human traditions, but they have no place for those who walk with God. But Jesus has room for the outcasts of this world, and Jesus seeks out and finds the outcasts and the downtrodden and the poor. If you end up in heaven, when you get there, you will find that most of the other people who are in heaven will be similar to the man here in John Chapter 9. It will be the outcasts of the earth who Jesus will save, because the others think they do not need help from God. Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

This man was an outcast in regards to the people of this earth, but there was only one requirement for him to become totally and completely accepted by God. The one requirement and very clear requirement was to believe on Jesus. To believe means to trust and to commit oneself to. Not only did this man believe, but he also bowed down and worshipped Jesus. It is important to note that Jesus did not decline or resist the worship: no doubt because it is the appropriate thing for a human to worship the one true God.

In John 9:39-41 the Bible says, "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not, might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said to him, Are we blind also? Jesus said to them, If you were blind, you should have no sin: but now you say, We see; therefore your sin remains."

For the most part, God gives people what they want because God created the human will, and the human will is one of the most powerful forces on the earth. When Jesus said, "Seek, and you shall find," He meant that whatever you seek is what you will find. If you seek to have faith and belief in God, then you will find it. And if you seek to not believe, then you will find that also. When Jesus taught with parables, He said that he did so in order that those who did not wish to believe would hear but not understand. The truth is for those who desire the truth. That is the will and the work of God. But it is also the will of God that those who do not desire the truth will be kept from the truth. They do not believe because God does not reveal to them the truth, and God does not reveal to them the truth because they do not want it.

Jesus is the Savior, and He is also the judge. Jesus looks into the heart of every person on the earth, and when He finds someone who does not want the truth, then Jesus does not visit that person and does not reveal to them the truth. He used the blind man to illustrate how this spiritual principal works. The man who was born blind understood blindness, and therefore he also understood how wonderful it was to receive his sight. Because he knew that he was blind, he did not need anyone to convince him that he was blind. He knew better than anyone else. Therefore, when Jesus came along, the blind man did not refuse the opportunity to be given his sight.

Receiving enlightenment from God works the same way. When someone realizes the depths of their own spiritual darkness, they will gladly respond in the right way when they are told that Jesus can take the darkness away. But someone who thinks that they already know what they need to know, will not come to Jesus for help, because they are not aware of their need. The Pharisees were members of a religious organization, they studied the scriptures, and they boasted of their own great knowledge, and they even dared to argue with Jesus. They could see with their eyes, but they did not understand the depths of their own spiritual darkness. Because they did not realize that they were spiritually blind, they did not allow Jesus to give them their sight.

If you think that you can already see, even though you have never come to Jesus, then you are in danger of never receiving your sight, just like the Pharisees. The reason that the question of spiritual blindness or spiritual eyesight is so important is because Jesus said that it has to do with the forgiveness of sins. If you are spiritually blind, then you are still under the guilt of your sins. Jesus said, "If you were blind, you should have no sin." In other words, if someone realizes that they are spiritually blind, and then come to Jesus to receive their eyesight, what they will also receive is the forgiveness of sins.

The man who had been blind from his birth was healed by Jesus. He then came and believed and worshipped Jesus. The result was that his sins were taken away. The Pharisees would not admit their own spiritual blindness. Therefore, their sins remained. Which do you prefer: to be like the Pharisees and remain in darkness and under the guilt of your sins; or to be like the blind man who was touched by Jesus and who received much more than his physical eyesight. He received his spiritual eyesight. He believed in Jesus, and his sins were taken away.

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