The sixth of the seven miracles mentioned in the Gospel of John is the healing of the man who was born blind. This story is in John 9, and this miraculous event makes three important points.
1. The difference between the Old Covenant of Law and the New Covenant of Grace.
2. The simplicity of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
3. The difference between physical sight and spiritual sight. Show More
John 9, “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.”
When Jesus ministered on earth, it was under the Old Covenant. The New Covenant did not come to pass until Jesus was resurrected and the Holy Spirit descended to live in the Believer. Under the Old Covenant teaching, because the man was born blind, it was assumed that it was because of his sin or the parents’ sins.
The Difference Between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
The Old Testament describes the Covenant of the Law, which the Lord instituted with the Israelites through Moses. This covenant was a conditional covenant. A conditional covenant (like a contract) is when the two parties, in this case, Jehovah God and Moses (representing the people of Israel), agree to terms and conditions beforehand. In the Old Covenant, God said He would produce blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28). That is why we see the Lord dispensing disasters under the Old Covenant when the people of Israel strayed from worshiping Him as the One true God.
What is important here is that when we view God through the lens of the Old Testament or covenant, it is true that He will visit the iniquities of the father upon the children. Deuteronomy 5:9 says, “you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
However, as Christians, we are not under the Old Covenant of Law but under the New Covenant of Grace purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. God makes it clear that He did not come to condemn those in the world but to save them through Jesus Christ; John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
If you have any doubts, I urge you to read Hebrews 8-10, where the New Covenant is described as a better covenant (better than the Old Covenant). Remember, Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant and opened the door to the New Covenant, the New Covenant, which is based on better promises. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the Law till all is fulfilled.” Jesus fulfilled the Covenant of Law!
The Law of Moses was for the Jews who practiced Judaism, and the New Covenant provides Grace for all people, Jews, and non-Jews, who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. As Christians, we live under the cover of the Blood of Jesus, where repentance and forgiveness are found.
A Moral Universe
However, many fail to recognize that God created a moral universe, which applies to the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. What I mean by a Moral Universe is there are moral laws that, when broken, produce consequences. Let me give you an obvious natural example. In science, there is a law called “Newton’s law of universal gravitation,” in simple language, it means “what goes up must come down.” Throw a ball into the air, and it must fall back to the ground. If you violate the Law of Gravity and jump off a building, you will not fly; you will fall to the ground! When the Law of gravity is broken, the result is always the same; you will fall.
In the same sense, when you break one of the Ten Commandments, you will experience physical, emotional, or spiritual consequences. There are always consequences to sin, and it isn’t because God is punishing you directly because of your sin; it is simply how the Lord created and set up the universe.
I am not saying that the Lord will never judge and punish those who do evil because He will, but it will be at the “End of the Age or the End Times.” On that day, all evildoers will be judged and punished; that will be at the White Throne Judgment described in Revelation 20:11, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Aren’t you glad that, as a Believer, your name is written in the Book of Life?
The Blind Man is Healed.
Back to the Gospel of John 9 and see how the healing of this blind man would bring glory to God! “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.”
Using spit and dirt may sound like a strange way to cure a blind man, but I can assure you the blind man didn’t care because he came back seeing! Keep in mind that the man did not even know at this time that Jesus the Messiah touched him.
There was some controversy among the spectators. Some believed what they saw, a blind man who could now see. Others doubted what they saw and said it was not the same man that was blind. So, the crowds brought the man to the Pharisees. The religious leaders were skeptical and questioned the man once blind. They didn’t like his simple answers, so they decided to ask the parents of the once-blind man. “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.”
The Simplicity of the Gospel
“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?”
To me, verse 25 is one of the most profound statements in the Bible. “One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” So many spend time trying to figure out or analyze how and why God allows things or how God does things! How and why God moves in the ways He does is the Lord’s business, our response should always be, “I trust you, Lord!
When trying to understand the ways of God, I am reminded of Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” How can we, the created ones, fully understand the Creator? Read Jeremiah 18 for more on this theme of the “Potter and the Clay.”
In three of the Gospels, Jesus uses children to illustrate our attitude towards the Lord. In Mark 10:14, “…Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” 16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.” What do you think it means to “receive the kingdom of God as a little child?” I believe that it means that we trust that the Lord knows best, and we must embrace that the Lord is good, even when we don’t understand what is happening around us.
I remember reading a story about an Ant and a Centipede. The ant, seeing gracefully the centipede moved all its 100 legs, said to the centipede, “After you stop walking, which leg do you move first to begin walking again.” The centipede had never thought about what came so naturally before, so the centipede decided to analyze the process. The centipede spent so much time determining which leg to move first that it never walked again. Over-analysis can lead to paralysis! So are some Christians trying to figure out how the Lord works. The blind man in John 9 had the correct answer to some of life’s most perplexing questions: “One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” As Christians, we need to focus on the result rather than the process of how God works. When a person is healed, they don’t ask how; they are simply grateful that they are!
Here is an amazing point, it wasn’t because of the blind man’s faith that Jesus healed the blind man, and it wasn’t because of sin that he was blind; it was “that the works of God should be revealed in him.” The man that was blind still did not know that it was Jesus the Messiah who had healed him. Listen to the following, “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.”
Physical and Spiritual Blindness
This miraculous episode created further divisions among the religious leaders, as the message of the Gospel still does today. The Apostle Paul says in 1Corinthians 10:22, “For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
The difference between those who can see Jesus for who He is and those who doubt has to do with sight! John closes out chapter 9 with the following conversation with the religious leaders, “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.”
Acceptance or rejection of Jesus as the Christ (or Messiah) by faith determines the sight we have, whether physical sight, which demands proof or spiritual sight, which demands faith. In the Apostle Paul’s words, we are called to “walk by faith and not by sight! (2 Corinthians 5:7) Choose to be a faith walker and see the great works of God!
Conclusion
What can we conclude from John 9? First, Jesus is the miracle worker, God in the flesh. Our understanding of our relationship with Jesus comes through the New Covenant, which is the New Testament. Jesus fulfilled the Law which has passed away and introduced us into His Grace.
Keep the Gospel simple. Jesus loves, Jesus heals, and Jesus saves. The Bible says so; therefore, that settles it. Don’t try to analyze God; the human mind can’t comprehend the heart and mind of our good God.
The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and our responsibility is to bring heaven to earth. To see and enter the kingdom, one must be born-again; then, we will have spiritual eyes to see the truth. In the end, trust the Bible and the Holy Spirit in you.