Bible study: Blind man received sight (John 9:1-41) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Bible study: Blind man received sight (John 9:1-41)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce          Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical Precepts & Gospel music

Scripture reading John 9:1-41

And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? Jesus answered, neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but he was born so, that the works of God might be manifested in him. (vv.1-3)…while I am in the world, I am the light of the world.(v.5) When he had said this, He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed his eyes with the clay. And He said to him, go; wash in the pool of Siloam (which is interpreted, sent). He went therefore and washed and came away seeing.(vv.5-7)…the neighbors then and those who previously saw him as a beggar said, is not this the one who used to sit and beg ?...he said, I am the one. They said then to him, how then were your eyes opened? He answered, the man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes, and said to me, go to the pool of Siloam and wash. I went therefore and washed, and I received my sight.(vv.8-11)…

now it was the Sabbath, on which day Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. And he said to them, He put clay on my eyes, and I washed and I see… whether or not He is sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see (v.25)…we know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.(v.31) Since time began it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not form God, He could do nothing. They answered and said to him, you were wholly born in sins, and you are teaching us? And they cast him out. (v.14-15, 25-34). Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and He found him and said, do you believe into the Son of God? He answered and said, and who is He, Lord, that I may believe into Him? Jesus said to him, you have both seen Him, and He is the One speaking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe; and he worshipped Him. (John 9:35-38)

                     This case in chapter 9 is further proof that the religion of law could not in any way help a blind man. But the Lord Jesus, as the light of the world, imparted sight to him in the way of life. Blindness, like sin in the previous chapter, is a matter of death. A dead person surely is blind. “The god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers.” Therefore, they need “the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ” to shine on them (2Cor.4:4) “to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). In the principle set forth in Chapter 2 this also is the changing of death into life.

 In John 9:2 disciple’s question, like those in 4:20-25 and 8:3-5, was a matter of yes, or no, which belong to the tree of knowledge, the result of which is death (Gen.2:17). But the Lord’s answer in v.3 pointed them to Himself, the One who is the tree of life, which results in life.(Gen.2:9).

Clay in verse 6 as in Rom.9:21, signifies humanity. Spittle as something that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (Matt.4:4), signifies the Lord’s words, which are Spirit and are life (John6:63). The Lord’s making clay of the spittle signifies the mingling of humanity with the Lord’s living word, which is the Spirit. The word anointed proves this, because the Lord’s Spirit is the anointing Spirit (Luke 4:18; 2Cor.1:21-22; 1John2:27). Here the Lord anointed the blind eyes with the clay made of His spittle, that they might have sight. This signifies that by the anointing of the mingling of the Lord’s word (which is His Spirit) with our humanity, our eyes, which were blinded by Satan, can have sight.

 Verse 7 to wash is to cleanse away the clay. This signifies the washing away of our old humanity, as experienced in baptism (Rom.6:3-4, 6). His going and washing indicates that he obeyed the life –giving word of the Lord. So he received sight. If he had not gone to wash off the clay after having been anointed with it, the clay would have blinded him even more. Our obedience to the Lord’s anointing cleanses us and brings us sight.

It seems that the Lord again purposely did a sign on the Sabbath to expose the vanity of religious ritual. In any case, this strengthened religion’s opposition, for He had already done a sign on the Sabbath in the Bethesda, (John5:10, 16) Jesus said to a lame rise, take up your mat and walk. And immediately the man became well, and he took up his mat and walked…the Jews said to the one who had been healed, it is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your mat…and because of this the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him, because He did these things on the Sabbath. (John5:8-10, 16). In chapter 9 the man was blind, restored the sight by Jesus on Sabbath, Pharisees cast him out. To case him out was to excommunicate, to ostracize him from the Jewish synagogue. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and He found him and said, do you believe into the Son of God? He answered and said, and who is He, Lord, that I may believe into Him? Jesus said to him, you have both seen Him, and He is the One speaking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe; and he worshipped Him. (John 9:35-38).

Pharisees cast him out; this was to put him out of the sheepfold, as spoken by the Lord in John10:3-4. Religion’s persecution of the Lord’s called one did nothing but fulfill what the Lord intended for him. The blind man was a sheep. He was led by the Lord out of the Judaism- fold. The sheepfold signifies the law, or Judaism as the religion of the law, in which God’s chosen people were kept and guarded in custody until Christ came. Christ is the door not only for God’s elect to enter into the custody of the law, as did Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah in the Old Testament time, before Christ came, but also for God’s chosen people, such as Peter John, James, and Paul, to come out of the fold of the law now that Christ has come. Thus, the Lord indicated that He is the door not only through which God’s elect may go in but also through which God’s chosen people may go out. (John 10:3-4).

 

Bibliography,

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie Study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986.