“JESUS CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD”
(Acts 2:22)

  Miracle #29-   “MAN BORN BLIND FROM BIRTH”
John 9:1-41 
the long game, clay, outward appearances, a riddle

THE TEXT
“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (John 9:1-3)

1. THE LONG GAME
God does not work by man’s idea of what cause and effect is (Isaiah 55:8-9), but we can be assured that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28). God plays the long game … that is, his end will justify his means.

This reminds us of the blind Fanny Crosby who wrote hundreds of Christian hymns and poems, even though she was blind from three years upward, because of mustard poultices being applied for childhood eye inflammation. As goes the saying “Our disability is God’s ability.”  

2. CLAY IS DUST PLUS WATER
“When he had thus spoken, he (Christ) spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” (John 9:6-7)

Christ reminds Israel that Adam was made of moist earth as well as follows …

“But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:6-7)

This miracle is another example to show Israel that the miracle worker of creation is none other than Christ himself.

However, this miracle is mistakenly used by some Baptists who believe water is needed for cleansing before salvation and all Baptists post salvation.

Under Paul’s kingdom of God dispensation, no water is found within 100 miles of any his churches. 

Whether you are high and mighty like Naaman with leprosy (2 Kings 5:14) or a man born blind from birth (John 9:1) … all will be humbled.

3. OUTWARD APPEARANCES
“Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.” (John 9:16)

The Pharisees were always trying to accuse Christ of being a sinner for not keeping the Sabbath.

This reminds us of the self-righteous church goer today … “Mr Johnson can’t be saved because 1. He still smokes and drinks 2. Won’t teach Sunday School 3. Won’t tithe 4. Has stopped attending church 5. Won’t be water baptised …” and so on and so on.

But Christ response was always the same … that the sabbath was made for man … not vice versa. Christ uses the example of David eating the shewbread in the Old Testament as follows …

“And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” (Mark 2:24-27)  

An hungred is the noun for a man that is a hungry man.

Christ’s answers were always, as here, to emphasise how people were always more important than animals (Luke 13:15; Luke 14:4)  

4. A RIDDLE
“And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not
(blind) might see; and that they which see might be made blind.  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” (John 9:39-41)

Now the Pharisees knew that Christ was not talking about physical sight, but their spiritual sight. They were puffing out their chests with “Look at us Jesus … you can’t get much better then us!”

Of course, when you argue with attitude “We are children of Abraham” (John 8:39) you naturally think you have the correct doctrine and the understanding necessary … indeed spiritual sight … but they were wrong. 

Christ said as they did not have sight they were in darkness. Christ said he was the Light (John 8:12) therefore they were in darkness … they were in sin and nothing had changed, as follows …

“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.” (John 8:12)

Furthermore, Christ enraged them, by stating that he was before Abraham saying “I am … the I AM THAT I AM” (John 8:58; Exodus 3:14). This was saying that “If you have Abraham as your father, then you had better have me as your Father, as I am the Father of Abraham.”

In addition, by their own admission, they said “ … since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind…” (John 9:32).

Dear Reader, was there none that could put two and two together and make four?

Christ just had to be God in the flesh!

Harley Hitchcock
May 2023

www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com


JESUS CHRIST - A MAN APPROVED OF GOD
(Acts 2:22)”

  Miracle #30-   “MAN WITH A DUMB DEVIL”
Luke 11:14-17,18-21,22-25,26
Similar, but a different miracle to #19
DUMB MAN WITH A DEVIL”
(
Matthew 9:32-34) 

Why does Luke give a fuller description than Matthew?


CONTACT US

 Australian Bible Ministries, PO Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com