| John 9 Previous Chapter | Next Chapter 1 Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been blind since his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, "Master, which of them sinned, this man, or his parents, to cause this man to be born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "Neither has this man sinned, or his parents. He was born blind so that the works of God could be shown in his life. 4 We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is daylight, for the night is coming, when no man can work. [Every man is given a measure of light, (daylight or day can mean light having dawned), which if believed, will lead them to become children of the light, guided by the light and ordered to do works for God that glorify Him and are works of righteousness; but if a man dies in his sins, the light leaves him, and man is left in outer darkness, (night), where no man can work righteousness to God's glory.] 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." [Jesus is the light of every man in the world. John 1:1-4,1:7,9 8:12] 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 Saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam," (which by interpretation means, Sent). Therefore he went his way and washed, and came back seeing. 8 Then the neighbors and those who before had seen him in his blindness, said, "Is not this the man who previously sat begging?" 9 And some said, "This is him." Others said, "He looks like him.' But he said, "I am the man." 10 So they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" 11 And he answered them, "A man who is called Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes with it, and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash;' and I went and washed, and I received my sight." 12 Then they said to him, "Where is he?" And he said, "I do not know." 13 Now they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened the man's eyes. 15 Then the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay upon my eyes, and I washed, and now I see." 16 And some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not of God, because he does not keep the Sabbath day." Others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such miracles?" So there was a division among them. 17 So they said to the blind man again, "What do you say about him since he has opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet." 18 But the Jews did not believe the man who he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of the man. 19 They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he see now?" 20 And 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 has opened his eyes, we do not know not. He is of age, ask him; he can speak for himself." 22 His parents spoke these words, because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man confessed that Jesus was the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." 24 Then again called they the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give God the praise. We know that this man is a sinner." 25 He answered and said, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I do not know; but one thing I do know, that, though I was blind, I now see." 26 Then they said to him again, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27 And he answered them, "I have already told you, and you did not hear. 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; but as for this fellow, we do not know where he has come from." 30 Then the man answered and said to them, "Isn't this amazing, that you don't know where he comes from, and yet he has opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not hear sinners; but if any man is a worshipper of God and does his will, God hears him.1 [God seeks true worshipers, who worship Him in Spirit and Truth, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth, John 4:23-24, which is to worship with words supplied by the Spirit, while you are also in Truth, (in union with Jesus, who is the Truth); and to be able to do God's will only comes after you have crucified your carnal mind and evil imagination to be prompted by Him in all words to be spoken and deeds to be done. So God only hears what you ask: 1) if you are a true worshiper, and 2) if you do His will. John carefully confirms this: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15. Prayers from those who are still sinning are not heard by God because they cannot know or do His will. When we can do His will, we hear what to pray from Him, and we know for sure such prayers are heard and will be granted. From the Word of the Lord within: "Pray only as you are told."] 32 Since the world began, it has not been heard that any man has opened the eyes of one born blind. 33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing like this." 34 But they answered and said to him, "You were altogether born in sin, and you presume to teach us?" So they cast him out. 35 Now Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he found him, he said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" 36 And he answered and said, "Who is he, Lord, that I might believe in him?" 37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen him, and he is the one who is speaking with you." 38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, "I have come into the world for judgment, that the blind might see; and that those who see might be made blind."2 [He came into the world to give sight to the spiritually blind and to make blind those who think they can see, (those in darkness with no light who think they are righteous, puffed up on their fleshly mind's knowledge of the scriptures; but not taught directly and perfected by the Spirit of God). From the Word of the Lord within: "I work with the blind; but if you think you can see, and you are not with me in heaven, I will make you a laughingstock."] 40 And some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said to him, "Are we also blind?" 41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains."3 [Christendom today is exactly like the Pharisees in this verse. Christendom says: "We have a free pass to heaven. Our sins, past, present, and future are paid for by Jesus. We are righteous believers in Jesus, we can see and understand, we have need of nothing more." But Jesus said to church-going, Christian believers in Laodicea: you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Rev 3:17-19.] Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | |||||||||
1 God does not hear sinners; but if any man is a worshipper of God and does his will, God hears him. God seeks true worshipers, who worship Him in Spirit and Truth, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth, John 4:23-24, which is to worship with words supplied by the Spirit, while you are also in Truth, (in union with Jesus, who is the Truth); and to be able to do God's will only comes after you have crucified your carnal mind and evil imagination to be prompted by Him in all words to be spoken and deeds to be done. So God only hears what you ask: 1) if you are a true worshiper, and 2) if you do His will. John carefully confirms this: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15. Prayers from those who are still sinning are not heard by God because they cannot know or do His will. When we can do His will, we hear what to pray from Him, and we know for sure such prayers are heard and will be granted.
God does not hear sinners complacent in their sins, who are not striving to repent and turn from their evil ways. But if a sinner goes to God in humility, and asks for his help to become free from evil, or even asks God to show him if there is anything standing between them, then God will certainly hear and answer. For he would have us all to be free from sin to enter his kingdom, and for that purpose Jesus stands ready to redeem us from all iniquity and purify us, to produce the fruit of the spirit, thus to bring glory to the father; for by your producing much fruit, my Father is honored and glorified, and you show that you are truly my disciples [true followers]. John 15:8. He came to restore man to the spiritual image of God, to be able to enjoy his fellowship and direction again; which requires a man to crucify, (mortify, kill), his sinful nature on the inward cross of self-denial. No one can be a disciple of Jesus unless they deny themselves and pick up their cross every day. Heard from the Lord by a reader of this site, as loud as someone standing next to him, "I only hear a prayer of a righteous man and a prayer of a sinner who comes to repent."
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16. An effectual prayer is one in which the Spirit of God supplies the words to pray; from the Word of the Lord within: "Pray only as told. If told what to pray for, they can be extremely effective; to pray as heard — righteous expectation." A righteous man has been freed from sin; all sin is unrighteousness, 1 John 5:17. To be righteous, one must practice righteousness as did Jesus practice righteousness: Little children, let no man deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. 1 John 3:7. From the Word of the Lord within: "there is a righteousness imputed at death;" death of your selfish spirit on the inward cross of self-denial, when you receive the fruit of the Spirit, against which is no law, to then walk in love, obeying the continuous commands of Christ. When we possess the fullness of Christ, that ends imputation, and we will be righteous as He is righteous.
2 I have come into the world for judgment, that the blind might see; and that those who see might be made blind. Obviously Jesus did not physically blind anyone. The blind that Jesus means is to be "spiritually blind." He came into the world to give sight to the spiritually blind and to make blind those who think they can see, (those in darkness with no light who think they are righteous, puffed up on their fleshly mind's knowledge of the scriptures; but not taught directly and perfected by the Spirit of God).
How does he give sight to the spiritually blind?
By his teaching and changing grace, given to those who know they are spiritually blind, poor in spirit, and believe his gospel of repentance with release from the bondage of sin, giving them the light of life (to see):
- the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor [in Spirit]; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted [who mourn due to their slavery to sin], to preach release to the captives [of sin], and recovery of sight to the [spiritually] blind, to deliver [free] those who are oppressed [in slavery to sin]. Luke 4:18
- I am the light of the world [every man]. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life. John 8:12
- Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overcome you, because he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. John 12:35
- I have come as a light into the world [every man], so that whoever believes [depends on, trusts, obeys] in me should not abide in darkness. John 12:46
How does Jesus make blind those who think they can see?
He blinds the wise and intelligent by speaking in parables so they cannot understand. He blinds them in rage, by incensing them with acts and teachings that contradict scripture, as understood by men who only see with the natural eye and are spiritually blind: he heals on the Sabbath; he announces that a man's sins are forgiven him, outraging those who say only God forgives sins; he tells them before Abraham was, he lived; he tells them that the devil is their father; he tells them "I and my father are one;" he says, "If a man keeps [remembers and obeys] my teachings [and commands], he shall never see death." John 8:51-53; he said, that "he came not to send peace, but division," Mat 10:34-35, when scripture said the Messiah would bring peace; he repeatedly condemned the religious leaders of Israel; He told them that they would "die in their sins." John 8:21; etc.
Supposedly-religious men, puffed up in their fleshly mind's knowledge of the scriptures, but with hearts still full of evil, are easily exposed by the Spirit of God, speaking in a purified believer; and so the religious-talkers, not doers, get angry and hostile, forgetting to cover their wolfish nature with sheep's clothing, thus revealing to bystanders that they are really wolves, pretending to be sheep. They persecute the sheep, but it only works to the benefit of the sheep; for more sheep are added to the fold, as the true sheep are easily seen by those who are interested in the way; particularly when the persecuted sheep pray for the wolves that kill them to be forgiven by God. The wolves are blinded with rage, and an uproar is created wherever the Spirit of God exposes religions' hypocrisy.
From the Word of the Lord within: "There was an uproar when Jesus first appeared on the earth. The Christians feared the early Quakers, just as the Jews feared Jesus; and some of you cried over the persecutions of the Quakers — that tells a story." (See Penington's outstanding writing, A Mirror for Believers, for more on this uproar created, and watch yourself wonder if you could have seen Jesus as the Messiah, or would you have doubted his claims too.)
Jesus only spoke what he heard the Father tell him to speak. Look at what Stephen said to the Council in Jerusalem:
Stephen's words, supplied by God, incited the Council, who then rose up and stoned Stephen to his death, as Stephen prayed for them to be forgiven.
The same thing occurred with the Early Quakers: by refusing to bow, refusing to address important men in the plural instead of the singular (thee and thou), refusing to call them Master, refusing to take off their hats in the presence of important men, and refusing to enter conversations of the world, the proper and polite society of the Christian world, (Episcopalians, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Puritans), were outraged, often into violence. Over 869 Quakers died in prison, tens of thousands were imprisoned, tens of thousands lost their property seized by the courts, and 200 were sent to bonded slavery. Thus it served as the cross for the Early Quakers to suffer that persecution, which cross brought tens of thousands of them to perfection and the kingdom.
And so it will be when the Spirit of Christ breaks out again. God will give his sheep words and practices that will outrage those so-called Christians who are religious-wise in their fleshly knowledge, and they will become violent persecutors of those with the true Spirit of Christ. And so the sheep will suffer persecution, which is the cross, and which will bring them to perfection and the kingdom; and the religious wolves in sheep's clothing will be totally blinded.
3 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 said they could see, and they thought they were either without sin, or excused from sin. If they would have admitted in humility that they were still sinning, unable to see how to become righteous, then the Lord could have forgiven them, and in time even freed them from sin so they could have become righteous.
Christendom today is exactly like the Pharisees in this verse. Christendom says: "We have a free pass to heaven. Our sins, past, present, and future are paid for by Jesus. We are righteous believers in Jesus, we can see and understand, we have need of nothing more."
But Jesus said to church-going, Christian believers in Laodicea: you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Rev 3:17-19
Now how does just believing fit in with this warning from Jesus to believers? If a so-called Christian hears all the New Testament warnings about sin, impurity, immorality, greed, lying, partying, rage, pride, etc., and says: "We are believers, we know all about Jesus, go away;" then their sin remains because they think they can see, they think they are righteous, they think they have need of nothing. They were damned before they became believers; they remain damned because they are still sinning and slaves to sin — their damnation does not slumber, remaining in the condemned state of Adam.
- Buy from me gold, tried in the fire. Listen and obey my commands, and I give you more faith and more of my Spirit that is a forever treasure.
Your faith will be tried in the fire of persecution.- White raiment, that you may be clothed. Obey me in faith and your heart and soul will be purified, your robe will be washed white in the blood of the lamb, and you will be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
- Eye salve that you may see. Obey my commands and you will receive the Holy Spirit, the anointing so that you will see by my light and know all things.
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