There is so much for us to learn from this man who was born blind but died seeing. This chapter of John’s Gospel tells us all that we are granted to know of him, and yet, such a brief overview of the most critical events of his life are sufficient to provide a wealth of insight.
To fully grasp the power of his story, I think it would be helpful to consider both the beginning and the end of that story together. When we are introduced to him, he is a blind man at the curb begging. He is well enough known around town that even the disciples, though from the far reaches of Galilee, are aware that he was born blind. Apart from that one fact of his life, he is a non-entity, a piece of scenery in Jerusalem. Thus do even the disciples treat him. They speak of him as if he were not there to listen, and it is expected that he shall not react to such callous treatment, if only because he depends on their alms. So, at the opening of our record of him, he is the topic of speculation, but such speculation as presumes that sin lies at the base of his condition, whether his own or a hereditary issue, a generational curse, as it is commonly called.
Yet, before the day is out, we find that he is come fully to faith in the Christ, the Son of God. He is fully aware not only of his physical surroundings, but of the true nature of this One who has healed him. He has gone from non-entity to child of God in a matter of hours! From having no reliable means of support, he has come into an inheritance such as his forebears only dreamed of! To this one who had never seen had come, as Matthew Henry points out, the incredible gift of seeing the Son of God made manifest on the earth. Surely in that one moment, his soul has been satisfied, and nothing of his past and nothing that yet lies in his future can disturb such satisfaction as this has brought him.
This touches on the reason for which we are given the story of his healing, his trial and his conversion. As Barnes notes: “The whole that happened to him in the course of divine providence first his blindness, as an act of his providence, and then his healing him, as an act of mercy and power. It has all happened, not by the fault of his parents or of himself, but by the wise arrangement of God, that it might be seen in what way calamities come, and in what way God meets and relieves them.”
This touches on a point I had made at some point in the course of studying this chapter, but had not been able to ascertain the verse I had wanted to support my point. Admittedly, this still does not seem to be the verse I remember, but it supports the point well. “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these” (Isa 45:7). Or this, “I have created the spoiler to destroy” (Isa 54:16). Yet, the heritage of God’s servants is this: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper”, and “their righteousness is from Me” (Isa 54:17).
That is what we have displayed in the story of this man. What has been the story of his youth, though evil in our eyes, is yet the work of God displayed in him. God is not ashamed to accept the credit for it. Jesus is not ashamed to attribute the cause to Him. But, then, God is truly wise, and fully cognizant of His own plans and purposes, that they are good. We are often called to accept the goodness of His providence on faith. It doesn’t look good. It doesn’t feel good. Yet, if we are truly sound in the faith given to us once for all in Christ Jesus, then we are certain that whatever we may feel about it, it truly is good, and that in the fullness of time we shall see that borne out.
This man, hearing the reason for his blindness shifted from the common supposition to something no man, not even himself, would have considered, sets aside any least hint of offense, and rejoices in the fact of being made a vessel for God’s glory. Oh! Let us learn from this! Being made a vessel for God’s glory is not always going to be a thing of great comfort and pleasure. It’s not going to lead us into the easy life. Indeed, it’s all but guaranteed to do the exact opposite: to cause us no end of difficulty, and lead us into a life more characterized by persecution and trial than by joyful ease. Oh, we may well have those times of satisfaction in plenty. God is no cruel task master that He would enslave us under a heavy yoke. No! But, the world in which we labor for Him is not pleased to know His rule, and cruelly abuses those who are known to represent Him. They are forever trying to throw off any least hint of His rightful place upon the thrones of power. We, as His earthly representatives, present the clearest target for their efforts.
Yet, like this man, who had known only the sorrow and the challenge of blindness for no other cause than that it so pleased God to fashion Him thusly, does not lash out in anger at learning that this is the case. He is too pleased to be found in God’s purpose to be offended at the nature of his role. How often we prefer to complain of the hard road we follow! How often we complain of the inconvenience of this service into which we have entered. We lose sight of the reason we joined ranks with God. We lose sight of the inestimable blessing we have in the first basic fact of salvation, and rather turn our eyes on our circumstance. We lose sight of His providence the minute things go differently for us than they do for the rich and the famous. We forget eternity in the momentary sorrows of the now.
This man has much to teach us in that regard. Hearing that he has been chosen as an instrument to glorify God, that his years of suffering were for no other reason than to put him in the right place and condition for this one moment, is satisfied in knowing he is part of this one moment. Imagine! Chosen to be an incontrovertible proof of the Son of God made manifest! Imagine! Brought into life for this one moment, brought into life, however harsh life has been and will be, to enjoy this one, brief instant of service. And, do you know? It is enough. It is more than enough. It is honor above and beyond anything we could ever hope for, that He has chosen to give us a part in His work.
No, nothing to complain about at all, Lord. This one moment more than makes up for all the rest. It has served Your kingdom and in that, I am well served, and I thank You that You have granted me this small service to Your throne.
You see, this man has learned that his blindness was never about sin, as he had been taught all his life. He is swift to recognize that neither is his healing about eyesight. Oh, don’t get me wrong. He’s blessed out of his socks to be able to see the light of day for this, the first time in all his life. This is a marvel and a wonder that few are granted to experience. But, it pales to insignificance against the much greater marvel of coming to know the Son of God, and by knowing Him, knowing the Father. It pales beyond insignificance against the revelation of his certain inheritance in heaven, this man who has had no certainty, no inheritance.
I love the comment Matthew Henry makes on observing this man’s confession of faith. “Now he was made sensible, more than ever, what an unspeakable mercy it was to be cured of his blindness, that he might see the Son of God.” Seeing the streets of Jerusalem, the waters of that pool to which he was sent: finally seeing the sights to match the sounds he had heard throughout his life: these were as nothing when once he realized that he was seeing the very Son of God, the long awaited Messiah standing before him, befriending him in the very moment that society was rejecting him.
A thought occurs to me just now, as I consider that: When this man stood before the Pharisees to deliver his testimony, he had a certain benefit given him by the providence of God. He had never seen the facial expressions that convey so much meaning to those of us who have lived with eyesight. Their glowering, their threatening looks, meant nothing to him. So much of intimidation lies in the visual queues that accompany our words, but this man was immune to them, having never experienced the like. What divine preparation! What divine accommodation was given him, that his first testimony on behalf of Messiah could be given without the fear his parents had experienced. How marvelously God has moved to dull the chief weapon these men wield against him! Isn’t this the proof of the verse? “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Not even the weapons of power abused to generate intimidation.
I will say this as well, which I have said before: It is beyond doubt that this man, having come to faith, was found faithful at the end of his days. The only reason we could find to doubt it would be that his salvation remained in his own hands. But, we know better. Salvation lies with our Lord and with Him alone. He Who has planted that seed of faith, and Who has seen it watered and brought to fruition, though it has been in this case the work of but a day, is faithful to see that faith and its fruits preserved until the day of His return. This man we have met in John’s Gospel we shall surely meet again in heaven!
Matthew Henry is not willing to go quite that far, but I shall. He stops with considering it likely that the man became ‘a constant follower of Christ.’ That may or may not be the case, although I tend to agree with him on that point. Yet, the behavior of his subsequent days for the next year or so are of limited interest. Yes, it would seem a reasonable reaction on his part to join with the disciples of this One he has recognized as God Incarnate. What other response stands to reason? Indeed, as he is now under the ban, excluded from all other society, where else should he go? He cannot even go home, lest he place his parents in jeopardy by his very presence. So, yes, it would make sense to find him in the company of the one Man who has out and out flouted the ban imposed by the Sanhedrin. He is greater than the Sanhedrin. As Peter had said (or will say), “where else would we go?”
One matter that comes to light reading Matthew Henry’s comments on this passage is that the making of clay was not the only action that the leaders deemed to be in violation of the Sabbath. The very act of washing that Jesus required of this man also qualified as a violation. So, for this one to heed the instructions Jesus gives him requires more than just the acceptance of this stranger and his strange command. The commentary suggests that somebody there must have explained who was giving him these commands so that he had reason to obey, but I would not be so sure about that.
Again, the wonder of this man’s response strikes me! Not only has he managed to avoid bitter recriminations against God for making him blind when there was no apparent crime being punished by that condition; not only does he abide the strange ministrations of this Jesus, who has smeared mud in his face all unbidden, and then told him to walk thus defaced to a very specific pool to wash it off. That pool, by the way was well south of the Temple grounds, quite nearly all the way across Jerusalem, north to south. But, to top this off, the thing he was being told to do was in direct contradiction to the teachings of religion! He would be putting himself at risk of censure by the authorities of the Temple if it were known what he was doing.
This aspect I had not realized. Bear this in mind, as well, as you consider this man giving his testimony before the Sanhedrin. It is not only as regards his confession of the Christ that he has cause to be concerned about the ban, but he also has cause to worry about punishment for the ‘crime’ of washing on the Sabbath!
And yet, he does as Jesus requires. In spite of everything about those requirements, in spite of the danger and in spite of the absurdity, he both allows Jesus to do as He wills, but also does as He wills him to do. It is the combination of his passive and active acquiescence to the will of Christ that puts him in position to be cured. This is such a reflection of that which brings worth to the work of Christ Himself. It is because He obeyed the will of the Father both passively and actively, both in accepting what the Father would do to Him and pursuing what the Father would do through Him, that His sacrifice, His atoning work, was made of such infinite worth. In His example, and in the example of this man we consider, we are given the model we, too, must follow.
As Matthew Henry writes: “Those that would be healed by Christ must be ruled by him.” And don’t think this is a question of physical healing. Don’t think that because you have no particular malady of which to be cured that you are not in need of healing! I stress what I pointed out at the outset. It’s not about the physical condition. It’s about the spiritual state. It’s the spirit that is in constant need of healing. It’s the spirit that is so deformed and debased that it cannot properly see heaven or heaven’s great King until and unless He bring about our cure.
I want also to remind us that at the point that this One tells our man to, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam,” he has as yet no clear idea of Who has told him to do so. He is being directed, sent. He is being commanded to that pool whose very name means ‘Sent’. As I noted in studying John 9:7, the fact that John makes particular note of the meaning of the pool’s name as well as the fact that this particular pool was indicated tells us there is significance in the choice of that pool. Yes, this man is sent to the Sent pool. More importantly, Jesus is indicating something of Himself by the choice. He, too, is sent; sent of the Father. He is declaring something of Himself to those with ears to hear it. Here, again, I would quote Matthew Henry on the import. “Christ as a prophet directs us to himself as a priest.”
Now, at this point, I am more properly considering the man born blind, not the Christ Who cured Him. Yet, as this man found the Christ Who found him, how should I neglect what he himself found? After all, in the treatment this man receives from our beloved Lord and Savior, we have the image of the treatment we ourselves received. What do I mean by this? Well, the hint this man receives by way of this command is something easily missed. Yet, it is a pointer to that which he will not fully understand until later. I cannot speak for all, obviously, but I can speak for myself. And, in speaking of my own experience, I can truly say that, having once for all come to a knowledge of Messiah, I became aware of those points in the preceding years when I had known His touch without realizing it was He who touched me.
The Prophet was pointing to Himself, the Priest. I did not realize it at that very moment, yet it was so. He was gently nudging me onto the course I should have followed from the outset. He did not come to me with blaring horns and flashing lightning. He did not even come to me with pronouncements as to Who He was. Indeed, so gently did He work that I was not even aware of His presence whatsoever. His hand remained a force only visible in retrospect, but undeniable once seen. So, too, we see Him direct this man to those acts which will eventually, inevitably bring him face to face with his Redeemer. He doesn’t tell the man this is what He is doing. He doesn’t give any firm indication of what will transpire should this man do as he is told. He just says, “go and do.”
Ask yourself what would have happened had this man not gone and done? I dare say that had he chosen thusly, the remainder of his life and of his eternity would have been absolutely different, and not for the better. Yet, in his choosing let us find no great merit, for he had not chosen to obey such ridiculous instructions except the hand of God had been upon him. He chose to go and do, and he chose to do so freely and of his own accord. And yet, at the same time, it were impossible that he should have chosen otherwise. In these matters of salvation, we can be assured that God does not leave things to chance. He never leaves things to chance! In this matter of salvation (and again, let me say, it was not about this man regaining physical sight! That was just icing on the cake) it is more important by far that we understand this. Even though we have chosen of our own free will to lay hold of this salvation that Christ has laid before us, there was never a chance that we would do otherwise. The power of God upon us in that moment was irresistible. Experience must surely make clear to us that even though this be true, we did not act as automatons, devoid of any say in the matter! Not at all! We acceded gladly to that offer, even as this man did. We were most willing participants in the act.
Our confidence, though, can never be in our having chosen, but in Him having so arranged the course of our days that we were led gladly to the point of choosing, and in Him so willing and so working in us that we willingly worked with Him. Our confidence lies in the fact that God never leaves things to chance: not the moment of belief and not the final installment of faith. He Who began the work in us (and don’t ever think it was otherwise!) is faithful to complete it. He’s never lost a one, nor will He.
Now, as I reviewed the text in preparation for this section, I was briefly taken aback by one thing said in John 9:7. As the NKJV, and several other translations have it, the man having followed instructions, “came back seeing.” At first blush, I thought perhaps I had missed a critical point in the narrative here, that having come back seeing, he had indeed seen Jesus prior to the court scene, and prior to the final reunion with Jesus. But, the full narrative leaves me convinced that this is not the case. We are not told explicitly where he came back to, but we can assume it is back to that same place from which he had been dispatched. After all, if somebody had told you to go do something, and having done it, you found yourself on the receiving end of a miracle, wouldn’t you be inclined to rush back to tell that one who dispatched you what had come of it? To thank him, perhaps, or simply to share your joy?
But, then, we must keep in mind that Jesus was not there teaching at that point. He was departing the Temple grounds to be rid of those who would stone Him when He had encountered this man. He was not likely to have hung about while that one made his slow way cross town to the pool and back. Jesus had places to go, and would doubtless have moved on. The man came back, but the One he sought was not there. The time was not yet. He came back seeing, but Jesus was not there to be seen. Thus, when he is recognized by others in the area, and they, seeing that he sees, have questions, he is answering truly when he says he doesn’t know where that Jesus is (Jn 9:12). I am still at something of a loss to explain how He could say with certainty that it was “the man who is called Jesus” who had done these things (Jn 9:11), but it wasn’t because he had seen Jesus, and it’s not clear that he had heard Jesus named.
That he had heard of Jesus and about Jesus I have no doubt. Jesus was by and large the talk of the town, at least when the Pharisees weren’t around to scare the folks into silence. Nobody was likely to be afraid to talk in front of a blind beggar, though. He was innocuous, all but invisible once they’d dropped their alms in his bowl. He had heard about this One. Perhaps, with the aiding nudge of the Holy Spirit upon him, he had simply put the facts of his healing together with the stories he had heard, and reached the obvious conclusion that the One about Whom he had heard and the One from Whom he had heard were one and the same. Yet, when they ask, “Where is He?”, he has no idea. He could be anywhere by now. This, too, is by God’s Providence.
[09/03/09] If one needs proof that this man has been changed in more than just his eyes, he need look no further than the man’s reaction to inquiry. Brought before a Council known to be hard set against Jesus, knowing that this same Council has pronounced their intent to excommunicate any man who dared to acclaim Jesus as the Messiah, and knowing, as we have seen, that his very testimony must provide grounds for expulsion from both synagogue and society for breaking the Sabbath; still he speaks only the truth (Jn 9:15). Notice that by his testimony he takes his place next to Jesus in the apparent breaking of Sabbath law as these men saw it. “He applied clay and I washed.” We are both innocent or we are both guilty. We stand together in this case. Apart from mention of this by Matthew Henry, I should not have noticed that aspect of things, but assuming he is correct in his assertion about washing being in violation of their Sabbath traditions, it is there for us.
We could attribute this bit of honesty to any number of causes apart from altruism. We know, for instance, that he has already testified to the act of washing in telling those who first saw him back at the Temple. So, to omit the point now would be risky, and a calculating witness might realize that truth was the safer course at this point. As to that initial inclusion of the point of washing, had he been a more careful man, he might have skipped that point to protect himself. Had he said nothing about the pool and his having washed in it, who would be the wiser? But, whether from innocence or from the excitement of having this new capacity for sight, he has introduced that fact and now would not dare to attempt to hide it.
That there are several more or less natural explanations for his taking this risk in his official testimony, we are wiser to see the hand of God in his words. This perspective is borne out by his further testimony to this elite panel. After his initial relaying of the bare facts of his newfound condition, the Council is determined to cow him into rejecting the very Jesus who has brought him sight. “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner” (Jn 9:24). These are words of solemn adjuration. They echo the encounter of Joshua and Achan, when the latter sought to hide the things he had taken away from the destruction of Ai. They are a call to recognize that God watches over the testimony, ready to confirm or deny the truthfulness of that testimony. They are also words that inform the recipient that their testimony to date is deemed suspect.
In spite of the rather overwhelming evidence in support of the man’s explanation for his sight, they are determined that he must testify some other explanation. It can’t be Jesus! We have already decided his case, and you presenting us with evidence to the contrary is simply unacceptable. We shall not have the facts getting in the way of our perceptions. But, this man is not cowed by their authority, by their severity, nor by their attempts to destroy his testimony by attacking his character. He stands firm before them and, in some degree turns their own attack against themselves.
“Isn’t this something! You boys are the experts on this stuff, yet you can’t see the obvious conclusion that must be drawn from the evidence set before you!” That’s the thrust of his retort (Jn 9:30-33). He proceeds to lay out a very logical, well founded argument for arriving at the exact opposite conclusion to the one they have decided. They having claimed the sinfulness of Jesus as a foregone conclusion, he proves that this cannot be the case. He works from points of common and agreed understanding. We know this is true, and we know that is true. We can hardly deny the evidence of our senses as to what He has done, nor am I the only such instance confirmed as real. The conclusion ought to be unavoidable: He is from God, else God would never do such things through Him, especially with such regularity!
Listen! All that he has said, he has said with an awareness of his personal danger. He knows of the ban. He knows, I expect, that his parents had refused to say more than absolutely necessary for fear of that very thing. He knows how cautious and circumspect the people of Jerusalem have become because of that threat. Now, he stands at great risk of experiencing what has been threatened. Having only today received the liberating power of sight, he is running the risk, the near certainty given his words, of finding himself bound away from the society he has only just seen around him.
This court case has been his first sight of the Temple and now, because he has spoken truly, he must realize it shall be his last, so far as these men are concerned. Indeed, it takes but a few minutes for them to act. Amazingly, they throw the man’s unproven past (a past not only unproven, but disproved by the testimony of Jesus) in his face, seeking once again to discredit that which threatens their prestige, rather than correct their error.
The thing I keep returning to is that this man, for whatever outward reasons we might choose to consider, stands firm in the face of certain penalty. He chooses truth over safety. He chooses well. Whatever natural causes we may find, we must come back to the providential hand of God upholding him and giving him the words to speak. “When they arrest you and deliver you up, do not be anxious about what you should say. Say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit” (Mk 13:11). That was the instruction to the disciples. That was the experience of this man. Whether or not he was counted among the disciples at that later date, I cannot say with certainty. But, if he were, he must have nodded upon hearing this, recalling that this, surely, had been his own story.
What seems to have come to him in that courtroom was that the fellowship these men threatened to take away was a worthless fellowship. How much he knew of Jesus and His followers at this point is unclear. He no doubt had heard the talk, and the debate over their unorthodox ways. But, whatever he knew of them, he knew this much: The fellowship that these counselors held as a threat over his head was a worthless, even a deadly fellowship. What use is fellowship, if fellowship leads one to blindness and death? This man knew from blindness! He’d lived with it every day of his life, even this one. He knew, with a particular keenness, the blindness of spirit that these men demonstrated by the course of their interrogation. They had not sought understanding, they had sought support for their presuppositions. They did not seek Messiah, else they would surely have found Him in this Man they sought to destroy. No. They sought only their own power and prestige. It was clear to him as day was now clear to him. And, he wasn’t about to be drawn out of that daylight into their dark night.
Fellowship with the spiritually blind can only lead to one outcome: personal blindness, and the deadly issue with such blindness is that one cannot see the cliff ahead. One walks all unwitting to his own death. It is inevitable. And, as Jesus points out, if one blind man is led by another, they both fall into the pit (Mt 15:14). What use such fellowship? No, he has found a far better fellowship. Or, at least, he soon will. Indeed, even had Jesus not come back to find him, he was better off under the ban of such men as these than he was to remain complicit to their crimes against God.
I need to digress for a moment into the matter of prophecy. Prophecy is one of the dividing points between Protestant understanding and Pentecostal understanding, as concerns our present situation. Having at one point considered the verses the Westminster Confession offers in support of the Protestant view that this office was closed with the close of the ministry of Jesus, I have always found it less than convincing. The main passage they offer up is Hebrews 1:1-2, where the author notes that God had thus far spoken to the fathers through prophets and other ways, and had now, “in these last days, spoken in His Son.” They take the ‘in these last days’ as indicating there would be no further word. They will also point to Revelation 22:18-19 as indicating a close of Holy Writ, and a final conclusion to the office of prophecy.
Yet, as to that last passage, Surely, John wrote with an eye to the specific prophesies of which he had written? Of course, this prophecy was written under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We may assume that He was aware that this particular prophecy would come to be the final word of Scripture. But, does that change the significance of the message? Does that mean He intended to seal off all direct communication from heaven to man with the close of this book? I’m not so sure.
Regarding Hebrews 1:1-2, I confess that I am no scholar of the original languages in which Scripture was written, but I do not find the argument compelling that says His having spoken “in these last days” in any way indicates that He therefore fell silent thereafter. Indeed, one could argue quite the opposite. If He has spoken to us in Jesus ‘in these last days’, well: these last days are not yet concluded, unless we suppose ourselves to have missed the final call. God, Who changes not, if He spoke previously in these last days, would He not speak still? Would He not speak still ‘in Jesus’? The argument against it fails to convince.
Another passage that many will point to is 1Corinthians 13:9-10, where Paul points out that prophecy only sees in part and that partial sight will be done away with when the perfect comes. The rejecters of modern prophecy point out the Jesus, the Perfect One, already came. Indeed, (and this is what brought me to the subject today,) this view of the Perfect One completing all vision and prophecy echoes Daniel 9:24, which we understand, as did the people of that day, as referring to Messiah. There, Daniel is learning of the seventy weeks, which we hear echoed in the Revelation. The indication is that these seventy weeks come, among other things, “to seal up vision and prophecy.” We learn that from the decree to restore Jerusalem to the arrival of Messiah there will be sixty-nine weeks (Dan 9:25), with Messiah being cut off for a time before His final return.
This, quite frankly, is a much stronger argument, this matter from Daniel. The description of events does point pretty clearly to the first Advent of the Christ, and does speak of this being the point at which vision and prophecy shall be sealed up. So long as I take that as meaning a finality of revelation, then the conclusion seems pretty clear.
And yet, did not John’s Revelation come after Jesus Ascended? Indeed, did not all the miracles that transpired around the Apostles come after Jesus Ascended? This has always seemed to me a clear indication that the idea that we can say prophecy came to a close when the Perfect One came must be rejected. For, it was not until after He left again that these men even began to prophecy once again. Indeed, in Paul, we find a heart’s cry from the Apostle himself that prophecy might continue and even abound amongst the body of the Church! Augustine understands it thus, as well. Until we are brought to perfection, in other words, in full accord with Protestant understanding, until we are brought face to face with Jesus, fully transformed in His image, we shall have need of the office of the prophet. Until we see perfectly, we shall always have need of the direct communications from God revealing critical aspects of what lays ahead.
Indeed, the very preachers who preach that the office of the prophet is no longer active will also explain that whenever they preach the word of God to the people, they are acting in the prophetic office! This is, admittedly, a somewhat (and only somewhat) lower view of that office. The point made is that the prophetic office consists in speaking God’s message to mankind, whereas the priestly office consists in bearing the prayers of mankind up to God. As much as I appreciate this perspective, and even accept it, I cannot accept that this fully describes the prophetic office in our own day.
On the other hand, I cannot help but recognize that the prophetic label has been pretty thoroughly abused in our day. Of course, the Scriptural record is pretty clear that the prophetic label is always pretty thoroughly abused. Isn’t that the way of our enemy, that he finds it needful to counterfeit whatever good thing God has created? So, then, it ought come as no surprise that there are even more false prophets than true. But, the abundance of false prophets does not therefore render the true prophet any less true! Were that so, then surely the Sanhedrin should have prevailed over Jesus by their number! Were that so, one should hardly have looked to the twelve, or even the 120, to alter the face of True Religion when the sect of the Pharisees so greatly outnumbered them.
I think, therefore, that we must needs distinguish between revelation and prophecy. So far as the canon of Scripture is concerned, yes! By all means let us declare it sealed and complete. Yet, this does not require an end to prophecy. It requires only that the prophet, if he be a true prophet, shall speak only what accords with Scripture. And, hasn’t this always been true? The lying prophet was to be stoned, destroyed utterly, lest his pollutions pollute the people of God. Ah! Would that such severity persisted in our day! Would that these false prophets and false priests who make such mockery of their supposed profession were still subject to the same penalties. And, indeed, they are, but not at the hand of man. No. We, of all people, are to abide by the law of the land, so long as that law does not require us to violate His Law. Yet, vengeance is His, and He shall not be mocked. These false pretenders to office shall meet their just reward in Him. Of that I am assured and in that I shall be satisfied.
I can only say, Lord, that I pray that reward be meted out soon, and add a prayer that You guard the hearts and minds of Your true servants, lest they be in any way dissuaded from the True Way by such falsity. Lord, God, I know You see us in our present state. I know You are fully aware of the daily barrage of misinformation that is leveled against us, seeking to erode our confidence in Your truth, seeking to bring us into the place of denying You at least in part, by accepting that other gods, as the people pursue them, have equal validity. Of course they don’t! How can they? You alone are God, and thus shall I proclaim it! But, Lord, keep Your people. As the darkness deepens, my God and King, reveal Your light more fully! Keep our eyes open to Your truth, and shorten the days of trial, my Lord, lest our strength fail. Oh! But, how can our strength fail? Our strength is in You. You are our strong tower, our certain shield, and our sharp sword. Victorious Warrior, come! Be Thou our Defense and our Offense! We shall surely stand as You uphold us. Blessed be Your name forever! Amen.
Returning to the man’s refuting of the opinion given by the Sanhedrin, it is surely a proof of God’s hand upon him. Here he is, a beggar and never once able to so much as look upon the sacred text, and he lays out his case in a fashion so clear! When it comes to the kingdom of God, as Matthew Henry writes, he “saw further into the proofs of a divine mission than the masters in Israel.” Indeed, by the tutelage of God Himself, this man, as is so fashionable to say these days, speaks Truth to power.
He begins with the point that, “God does not hear sinners” (Jn 9:31). Barnes tells us that this should be understood as meaning, “It is well understood that God will not give miraculous aid to impostors and false prophets.” In our day, when we are faced with so many claimants to the working of miracles whose theology is at best suspect, I have to wonder and even be concerned to consider such a statement.
Let us suppose that what this man says is accurate as well as commonly understood. If God does not do miracles by the hands of imposters and false prophets, then how do we account for those we see active today? Should we assume that their theology, as thoroughly unorthodox as it may be, is correct and that the signs and wonders confirm it? Or should we rather be concerned that our measure of the miraculous is degraded?
This is a serious concern. We have reports come to us of such happenings in foreign nations as certainly rank with the works of Jesus. We hear of dead folk raised back to life. We hear of healings every whit as miraculous as those performed by Jesus. Now, I have to say that I have yet to meet an eye-witness to any of these events. I have to say that, having listened to many of these claimed miracle-accompanied workers locally, I have yet to see any such miracle worked. Sadly, many of the ones held up in Charismatic circles as though their name were proof enough of the miracles claimed, have been shown false over and over again. And yet, we continue to give them credence.
In this much, certainly, these folks, if they be true representatives of God at all, do themselves a great disservice: They do not confirm the supposed illness before them nor its cure. They accept every claimant at face value (or at least those in attendance do). They accept every claim of healing as legitimate. Yet, the opportunity to present medical evidence that these things are real is all around. If there has truly been a cure, then no doctor is going to deny it. They may not accept it as a full out and out cure, but they cannot deny the physical evidence before them, nor would they. There is, after all, a difference between trying to understand and explain what seems inexplicable and denying it has happened at all.
But, again: let me suppose the best. Let me suppose that these reported miracle workers truly have been working miracles. What does this mean? Does it, as our blind man posits, provide proof that these men are truly of God? If it doesn’t, then why does God make the point that signs and wonders will accompany His representatives as confirmation of their authenticity? On the other hand, if this is the mark of authenticity, why does Scripture warn us of those imposters who will likewise be accompanied by signs and wonders?
I’m not certain I am fit to answer these questions, only to be concerned by them. If the signs and wonders are to be believed, then the theological oddities of those by whom those signs and wonders have transpired must be seen as valid. If not, then we really ought to set aside all our tendency to be impressed by such signs and wonders, for they are as capable of deceiving as confirming.
In part, I am convinced that this latter point is where we ought reside: setting aside our awe of the show, and focusing more completely on the meat of the message. Likewise, I know many who would look to the fruit of the ministry as proof of its validity. To them, while I agree in part, I would simply point out that God is fully capable of bringing forth His fruit even by the hands of those wholly opposed to Him. He did it with Balaam. He did it with the kings of Persia and Babylon. We can all point to any number of non-believers who, by our estimate, bear fruit more godly and abundant than many of the Christians we are acquainted with. Does that, then, put the seal of approval on unbelief? Of course not. Why, then, will we try and make it so when it comes to ministries? The fruit, if there be any, is by God’s hands, whether it come from a minister or an atheist. The Truth comes from God’s Word, whether we read it there, or hear it on some liberal broadcast. The mouth by which Truth is delivered does not change the Truth. Even the Devil, were he able to speak Truth unaltered, would be speaking Truth.
So, where do I find myself in this? I’m not entirely certain. I do find, for good reason or bad, that I am unwilling to take the step this man takes at the outset. I cannot comfortably say that God will never work through a false prophet or an imposter. I could accept that He will not suffer that one to destroy His own work, but He may very well bend the false one’s efforts to promote His own purposes. Again I point to the example of Balaam. Balaam was clearly a false prophet, and a prophet for profit. Yet, though he sought to prophecy against God’s purpose, he was made to speak God’s Truth. He did not want to. He did not plan to. Yet, he did.
I must return, in the end, to the stance that it is the teaching of the Word that really matters, that really stands as proof of the validity of the claim to represent God. The preaching of the Word is the core purpose of the believer. “Go and make disciples.” Bring the Gospel to the world. Explain it to them. Yet, never ever allow your message to deviate from the Gospel once for all set forth by and in Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, very God of very God. The message delivered either aligns with what He has taught us, what has been revealed to us in the full counsel of the Holy Scriptures, or the message is false, however charismatic the messenger, however marvelous the accompanying show.
Here, I must also stress that I am not the final arbiter of Truth. That remains in God’s hands. However much I may study, however much He may choose to reveal to me in these times of study, I remain fallible as He alone is not. I am wholly capable of becoming as steadfast in my erroneous views as were these Pharisees our friend confronts. As such, when I sit before a teacher, I must learn to do so with all humility, allowing God to filter and to assess.
I see that my thinking has jumped my outline. Matthew Henry writes, “the work of ministers is to tell us who the Son of God is, that we may believe on him.” That is the point I have been making, albeit stated differently. The work of ministers is to put on a good show, not to entertain. The work of ministers is not even to exercise the miraculous. It’s not to go about prophesying. It’s not to speak words of knowledge into the lives of parishioners or strangers. It’s nothing to do with the Charismatic gifts. That’s not to say that those gifts ought not be exercised, and it’s not to say that those gifts ought to be deemed suspect. It’s just that the gifts are ancillary to the purpose. The purpose is to speak, to teach, to tell us who the Son of God is, to tell us the whole of Who He Is, that we may believe on Him, and believe on Him truly.
We are called to be a people who worship in Spirit and in Truth (Jn 4:23). We cannot do so unless we are taught the Truth, bathed in the Truth, wed to the Truth. In so much as we filter our perception of God, we fail to perceive the Truth. Were we made cognizant of the full Truth of God in the moment of our conversion, or even by such means as foundation classes, membership classes, catechisms and the like, we should have no particular cause to continue in our attendance upon the fellowship that is the Church service. But, the truth is that we are in constant need of teaching, for our understanding is ever partial. We see in part, and thus we shall ever see until He comes and completes our transformation. We are also, as Peter reminds us, forgetful. Even the basics remain matters that we need repeated ad nauseam, lest we forget. But as with the world, so in the spirit. Learning is a lifelong task. We never know God so well that we have no more to discover of Him. We are never so sound in our doctrinal accuracy that He shall lack for things to correct in us. We have never grown so mature in our faith that nothing the preacher says can add to our store nor revise our understanding. Let us, therefore, determine to remain wholly submitted to the Holy Spirit both in teaching and in hearing, that He may have a free hand in guiding us into all Truth according to the promise of our Lord and Savior (Jn 16:13).
Finally, turning to the conclusion of the man’s story as we have it, we see the Promise in action. Jesus has proclaimed that those persecuted for His name’s sake are blessed indeed, and possessors of the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:11-12). Here, we are seeing that promised blessing in action. It begins in this: The Christ of the Church is certain to “stand by his witnesses and own those that own him and his truth and ways,” as Matthew Henry writes. We are not promised that our steadfast witness shall leave us free of any consequence. We are not promised, though He is our strong tower, our sword and shield, that we shall not suffer any setbacks in the battle. In fact, we are all but assured of the opposite, that we will most certainly experience any number of trials and hardships as the direct result of our steadfast witness. But, the kingdom! The kingdom is assured us. Further, we are assured that He in Whom we have set our faith will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).
See what has happened in the case of this man. His eyes and his mind opened to see the Truth, he has upheld the truth even in the face of clear opposition from the Sanhedrin. He has suffered the worst they could reasonably do, although Jesus would yet suffer worse. They have banished him from the fellowship of God’s people. They have pronounced the equivalent of Rome’s excommunication upon him for speaking the truth of Jesus. Jesus, though, stands above those authorities who have done these things. Though they refuse to acknowledge it, they serve under His rule. He is therefore not bound by their rules, but they by His. Therefore, their ban means nothing to Him, Who knows that this man has upheld the truth of God even to his own detriment.
Jesus stands by this one, even seeks him out. He makes certain that this man who has been cut off from the fellowship of his people for speaking truly shall not be cut off from fellowship entire. Indeed, the fellowship he is now given to enjoy so vastly excels that which has been denied as to make the denial meaningless! Behold! They have refused you the company of fools and connivers. But, in their place you are granted the company of God Himself, and that for eternity! Not a bad exchange by any measure!
Our man picks up on the hint Jesus gives in His question upon finding him. By His words, He suggests that this Son of Man is present in the world even then, and the response our blind man gives makes clear he caught on. “Where is He, Lord? I would believe in Him.” Further, as Barnes points out, the response we see from him is exemplary of the very nature of true faith. True faith, he writes, “believes all that God has made known, and it is prepared to receive all that he will teach.” This, then, is the meaning we must surely draw from the story of the man born blind.
True faith believes as he did. What God had revealed thus far, he took wholly to heart. With each new revelation, he added to his store of belief. Neither did he allow the observations of men, however well educated and however good their repute, dissuade him from belief in what God revealed. This is the first half of the lesson. There is no man great enough that we ought to give him our ear indiscriminately. There is not, nor ever has there been, a theologian of such great standing as got every last detail correct.
I am constantly pulled back to that great statement of the Pilgrim creed: Follow no man farther than he follows God. That is so critical to the walk of faith. We are blessed to have great teachers, both past and present, yet we must never allow ourselves to simply take them at their word because of their name. No! We are called always to seek out the Word of God, and test these things to see if they are true. Interestingly, I was reading in Table Talk this morning how Paul laid out such requirements for the elders of the church as required every one of them to be sound theologians in their own right. I dare say that this requirement is hardly to be restricted to the elders. It is the requirement set upon every believer, in so far as it lies within their capacity, to be just as diligent in seeking to more fully understand the revealed Word of God, and the God thus revealed.
The second half of this man’s lesson for us, as Barnes has elicited it for us, is that we must remain humble enough to ‘receive all that He will teach’. Just as no man before us has ever progressed to that point of infallibility in matters of faith and theology, so we can be more certain still that we have not! It is easy to reach a point in study in which we are so convinced as to the truth of a particular doctrinal point that we are no longer willing to so much as consider the possibility that we might be incorrect. It is one thing to stand fast on doctrine which is both certain and accurate. It is quite another to be bull-headed in insisting on doctrine which is wholly inaccurate. The one is faithful adherence to the Truth. The other is the very error we have demonstrated in the Pharisees.
The dividing line between the two is often very hard to discern. This ought to lead us all the more to a desperate dependence upon our Lord and Savior to fulfill His word to us. The Spirit, He says, will lead us into all Truth. Upon the Spirit, our Advocate and Teacher, then, we must call out that He would reveal to us any error in our understanding, that He would explain to us the more confusing or uncertain aspects of what God has revealed of Himself. We must, above all things, remain open to His correction, lest we find ourselves steadfastly supporting a view of God that is nothing to do with His reality.
When Jesus finds our man, he understands that Jesus is a prophet. He has already achieved a greater understanding than those elders who threw him out of the temple. He has seen through their falsehood to this degree: Jesus cannot be a sinner! A sinner could not be expected to be used so consistently by God to promote His kingdom. He must be here as God’s true representative. Thus, He must be (at the very least) a prophet. He understands. But, he only understands in part. The Pharisees might almost have been willing to go that far in their perspective on Jesus. But, Messiah? Well, that’s just asking too much. It’s hard enough that He’s countering so much of their teaching by His own. If He be a prophet, that will be hard enough to deal with, but maybe they can reach an accommodation. But, if He be Messiah, then they are bound by His own teaching, and their own much vaunted knowledge and authority must crumble. Pride will surely fall!
This man, however, remains open to learn more. He has recognized the Son of Man, but the Son of Man is now revealing Himself to be the Son of God. Many would balk at such a revelation. I’m not sure that I wouldn’t. There have been enough movies made which explore the idea of Jesus coming back in present times, in an equally non-obvious guise. These invite us to ask ourselves how we would have responded had we been there. I suspect the answer we will reach if we allow ourselves to wonder will be less to our credit than we would like. Of course, such movies suffer from the false premise that He will return thus disguised. Scripture would tend to indicate that when He returns, He’s not holding back. He comes as King and He comes to establish His throne once for all. He comes in fullness, not in humiliation.
The point, though, is the willingness to learn more from this God we serve. It’s easy enough to recognize that one can return any number of times to a particular passage in Scripture and discern something new there with each return. We may also recognize, given a degree of maturity, that a lot of the new things we learn are but old things we’ve managed to forget. This goes beyond that point, though. There are things we just plain do not understand. There are things we may understand in part, but not in whole. There are also, as I have noted, those things we outright misunderstand. The question for us, then, is whether we will listen when God chooses to correct.
I have been there on some points that are, if not matters of salvific import, at least matters of deep importance to faith. Most clearly, among those points, stands the matter of the certainty of salvation. Is there a blessed assurance for the believer? For years, I was wholly convinced that salvation depended on our continued obedience after conversion; that it was somehow up to me. Could a true believer fall away? Certainly, I surmised! And, I could point out various verses to back me up on that. But, then, after times of deeper study, and times of forcing myself to confront what I thought I knew, I found myself on the exact opposite side of that viewpoint.
Let me be plain: I can still understand how a believer, an earnest and true believer, could hold to the viewpoint I myself once held. I simply don’t hold that to be accurate any longer. Having studied further, and having added to that study the views of outstanding spokesmen for both viewpoints, I am fully persuaded of the simple Truth: “He Who began the work is faithful to complete it” (Php 1:6). This has not given me license to do as I darn well please and ignore any pangs of conscience that may arise. But, it is absolutely liberating to realize that Salvation truly is solely by faith, solely by grace, solely by Christ. He has done it, and He has finished it! That matter is settled. What remains is the challenge of walking from this point onward to the gates of heaven in a fashion that will not bring shame and embarrassment to either myself or my Lord when I have arrived. The body, as He said, has been rendered clean once for all. The feet, however, I must take care to wash regularly.
So, then, let me close in prayer: Lord God, Jesus, my King, I beseech Thee: keep this heart soft to accept Your corrections. Having opened these eyes, let them not be closed again. Holy Savior, You have taught me much in the last several years. And yet, there are times, many times, when I wonder if I have not become hidebound in my own understanding rather than steadfast in upholding Your Truth. If this is the case, my Teacher, then correct me, I pray. If it is not, then I pray instead that You will fill me with the boldness and the clarity to defend Your truth fearlessly, convincingly, and lovingly. Let me carry that lesson forward from this day: open to hear Your correction, loving in defense of Your truth, and I shall be glad.
