I was reading John 9 one night, and the LORD opened my eyes — ironically enough — to understanding HIS Word. In John 9 we read of the man born blind whom Jesus gives special sight — not only is his physical sight restored, but this man was blessed with spiritual insight. The LORD Jesus Christ gave him a manifold blessing.

The story really begins at the end of John in chapter 8 verse 59, in which we read about how “the Jews who believed HIM (John 8:31John 8:31
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  

WP-Bible plugin″ responded when Jesus the Christ told them HE IS GOD:

Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” 9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.” 10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.” 12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” (John 9:1-11John 9:1-11
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
9 ¹ And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. ² And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? ³ Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. ⁴ I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. ⁶ When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, anointed...: or, spread the clay upon the eyes of the blind man ⁷ And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. ⁸ The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? ⁹ Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. ¹⁰ Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? ¹¹ He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.  

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The first thing that comes to mind in this passage is the LORD Jesus Christ’s statement: “I must work the works of HIM who sent ME while it is day… As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

The LORD started peeling the strips away to show me that the Pharisees who rejected HIM and even this man (whom they excommunicated from the Temple for telling the truth) rejected him because they did not want to see, although they were born with natural sight.

Jesus is the Light, and what does the light do? — The light makes all things visible. The light gives life, the light nourishes… the light keeps us from stumbling around in the dark. Jesus is that powerful, magnificent unending LIGHT.

It’s as if GOD ALMIGHTY saw how all of mankind was stumbling around in the world as if blind or in the dark, totally forsaking and misunderstanding HIS commandments and statutes. So HE sent the LIGHT, HIS Only Begotten Son, to make things plain to the people — to shed some light on the Law — that a man’s neighbor is everyone, and that love is impartial, patient and forgiving.

But when illumination came, not everyone wanted to be enlightened. You see, some found the dark beneficial — they felt it cloaked their evil deeds, and that suited them just fine. So they found Jesus offensive, although the LIGHT was hard to avoid and hard to deny. For even the Pharisees saw the LIGHT (for HE did not work in secret…the lamp was not placed under a basket, but on a lamp stand so as to illuminate the whole house), but fought hard against HIM.

Here’s a good analogy: You know how we have a tendency to squint and shield our eyes from the light when we first wake up… but eventually become used to it, our eyes embracing the sunlight? — Well, not the Pharisees. They preferred to put on sunglasses and pretend the light wasn’t there or didn’t affect them.

So the LIGHT OF THE WORLD stopped, after escaping a crowd who wanted to stone HIM, to glorify the FATHER by healing a blind man most thoroughly and powerfully. What did Jesus do? — HE made a salve out of spit and clay, anointed the man’s eyes and told him to go wash. How did the unseeing man respond? — He obeyed the voice of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY (although he did not know that it was the LORD who spoke with him).

It’s also interesting to note that the passage doesn’t say that this man blind from birth called out to Jesus, for how was he to know our LORD and SAVIOR was passing by? There was no fanfare, no crowd pressing Jesus to be healed — only a near-miss with an offended mob on the other side of the Temple. This man didn’t call out to or seek Jesus, as others desiring to be healed are noted as doing in the Gospels. Instead, Jesus noticed him and proceeded to heal him. But this was no random occurrence, no chance happening of the man in need of healing being “in the right place at the right time.”

As Christ Jesus states in John 9:3John 9:3
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.  

WP-Bible plugin, this man was there so that the “works of GOD should be revealed in him.” In other words, this man, like all of us, was predestined to meet his SAVIOR near the pool of Siloam on that very day at that exact time (do you remember when and where you met the LORD?). Hallelujah!

Perhaps one of the most beautiful verses I’ve ever read in the Holy Scriptures is John 9:7John 9:7
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.  

WP-Bible plugin, which states, So he went and washed, and came back seeing. How many of us can say the same thing? That we did what the LORD commanded us to do, was washed and came back seeing?

So this man born blind can suddenly see and doesn’t need a cane or to take careful, baby steps to get around — and familiar people start to notice. They start questioning him and he tells them simply that a MAN named Jesus anointed his eyes and told him to go wash. “So I went and washed, and I received sight,” he explained to the curious people.

People take the formerly blind man to the Pharisees, apparently the blindest group of people in Jerusalem, so that they can examine him who can now see. The Pharisees were upset of course — Christ Jesus restored a man on the Sabbath, which was a no-no, although they circumcised a baby if his day falls on the Sabbath day — that, apparently, is admissible. The Pharisees — the leading religious leaders — proceed to question this beggar.

15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. 19 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21 but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.” 25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”

30 The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! 31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. 33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

34 They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.

This passage from the Holy Scriptures is amazing, and one can’t help but give GOD the glory. A blind man, who had most likely never read the Torah and had spent a great deal of time outside of the Temple know more about our Heavenly FATHER than the leading religious leaders of his day. He schooled them, stating the obvious, and they became offended.

It’s also interesting to note that this nameless man did not confess Jesus as Messiah, he stated simply that he believed HIM to be a prophet. So that also shows that it wasn’t the man’s faith that healed him — it was Jesus who healed him, plain and simple. Remember, this man did not call on Jesus, but the LORD stopped of HIS own accord and healed him to illustrate GOD’s mercy and might. This man didn’t even know who Jesus of Nazareth was… nor did he seem extremely concerned about knowing — he was just glad he could see. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were bent on trying to disprove whom they knew Jesus to be.

But the Pharisees couldn’t and did not deny that the man had been healed (after his parents testified that he was truly born blind). The Pharisees even tried to get the formerly blind man to deny that Jesus was the one responsible for his miraculous healing, telling the man to instead “Give GOD the glory!” For the Pharisees had made up their minds a long time ago that they were going to punish anyone who even confessed Jesus as Messiah (or, the Anointed King).

They ask this man numerous times to explain his miraculous recovery of sight, and he tells them each time, finally becoming exasperating. He scolds them saying, “You did not listen.” This questioning must have been like the man was trying to explain to a room full of Rhode’s scholars that one plus one adds up to two… but they just couldn’t and would not accept the obvious truth. So this man reminds them of two simple points concerning the LORD our GOD: 1. GOD does not ‘hear’ sinners; 2. and that no where in the Tanakh (the Old Testament, or Jewish Bible) is there a recording of a blind person receiving sight. In conclusion, one plus one equals two. But the Pharisees, desperate to hold on to their precious worldly stature, couldn’t even concede that it was possible that Jesus was a prophet, which is all the blind man guessed him to be (seeing he knew and understood basic math).

It’s also important to note how the religious leaders dismissed the man when he offended them by daring to teach them, when he was “completely born in sins.” They didn’t challenge this man’s undeniable reasoning, because they couldn’t — they would be calling GOD a liar. So instead, they chose to just ignore the truth he spoke, and excommunicated the man. That’s how they treated Jesus — they couldn’t and didn’t challenge the good works he did, so they just ignored them and found something petty to harass HIM for — healing people on the Sabbath. They put Jesus Christ on trial for claiming HE was the Son of GOD (and GOD HIMSELF), but they didn’t examine the miracles HE did, which there were very many to testify to. But alas, that wasn’t a part of the PLAN.

So the LIGHT, the LORD Jesus Christ, finds the man after the Pharisees expel him from the Temple, and illuminates him even further. HE formerly introduces the man to his LORD and SAVIOR.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” 37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” 38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” 40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

The Pharisees ask Jesus if they are blind also, to which HE tells them if they didn’t know what they were doing, they would have no guilt. But they stubbornly insist they know the truth and their GOD, while denying HIS works… therefore their sin remains. We must acknowledge our sins and repent of them, no?

So, Jesus the Christ is the LIGHT that came into the world to bring mankind out of darkness. But mankind finds pleasure in the dark (thus, the idea of a club being dark inside no matter the time of day, or criminals finding it best to do their filthy deeds when the sun sets, for example). Mankind is required to give up too much to live in the LIGHT — practically everything that we consider fun and “normal” would have to go. No sex outside of marriage, no abuse of drugs and alcohol, no hoarding up of shiny, pretty expensive things and no desire for fame and public prestige — none of that can survive in the LIGHT. So if we can’t bring our stuff into the LIGHT, we simply just won’t bother approaching the LIGHT. Although some of us like to believe that we can have it both ways and think we have achieved it… you know, “Christians” having sex with their boy/girlfriends, “Christians” smoking and getting drunk on the weekends, “Christians” cursing like sailors and “Christians” who exclaim that Jesus Christ of Nazareth isn’t the only way to Eternal Life.

But Jesus Christ is the only Way, the Truth and the Light. No one can gain Eternal LIfe with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY unless they believe and confess that Jesus Christ is LORD.

Job 24:13-17Job 24:13-17
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. ¹⁴ The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. ¹⁵ The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. disguiseth...: Heb. setteth his face in secret ¹⁶ In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. ¹⁷ For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.  

WP-Bible plugin “13 There are those who rebel against the light; They do not know its ways Nor abide in its paths. 14 The murderer rises with the light; He kills the poor and needy; And in the night he is like a thief. 15 The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me’; And he disguises his face. 16 In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light. 17 For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

John 3:18-21; 8:12John 3:18-21; 8:12
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. reproved: or, discovered ²¹ But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. ¹² Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  

WP-Bible plugin And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” … Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

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