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This article gives you actual proof, instructions, and examples how Jesus can open your eyes to the life that is best and provides joy. Also to share the real way to live forever with Him.
JESUS OPENED MY EYES TO THE TRUTH
Perhaps you have heard the expression: “The hardest part about being deceived is that you don’t know you’re being deceived.” Something similar could be said about our “sight”, our ability to see the truth. We can convince ourselves that we see life as it really is when, we are blind. It is only when we encounter Christ that our perspective can change and we gain a proper understanding of the truth and life. When we come in touch and meditate on Jesus do we see the truth- and see it clearly. Jesus led me to increasingly see who He is. Ask God to open our spiritual eyes through our study of the Bible- anytime we study it and always seek to study it daily.
Read John 9:1-7
9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
As Jesus passed by: The previous chapter ending as Jesus passed by those who wanted to stone Him, considering Jesus guilty of blasphemy. John continues the account, noting now Jesus passed by a man who was blind from birth.
The sense of the flow of the text is that Jesus was not shaken or disturbed by the almost deadly confrontation with the religious leaders that just happened. “We find Him calm and self-possessed, acting with a profound disregard of His enemies and their hatred.” Jesus was often reviled, but never ruffled. “One of the things worthy to be noticed in our Lord’s character is his wonderful quiet of spirit, especially his marvelous calmness in the presence of those who misjudged, and insulted, and slandered him.”
“The blind man was sitting begging (John 9:8), possibly proclaiming the fact of his having been so born; for otherwise the disciples could hardly have asked the following question.” Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? The disciples regarded this man as an unsolved riddle. They showed no interest in helping the man, but in discussing the cause for his condition.
Jesus will soon show a different way. He won’t dwell on the theological puzzle, but on actually helping the man. “It is ours, not to speculate, but to perform acts of mercy and love, according to the tenor of the gospel. Let us then be less inquisitive and more practical, less for cracking doctrinal nuts, and more for bringing forth the bread of life to the starving multitudes.” We often suspect that where there is a more than ordinary sufferer, there is a more than ordinary sinner. The disciples believed this so much so that they wondered if this man had actually sinned before he was born, causing his blind condition. “In their thinking about divine retribution they had not advanced far beyond the position of Job’s friends.”
“It was widely held that suffering, and especially such a disaster as blindness, was due to sin. The general principle was laid down by Rabbi Ammi: ‘There is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity.’” Dods suggested five possible reasons behind their question.
Some of the Jews of that time believed in the pre-existence of souls, and the possibility that those pre-existent souls could sin.
Some of the Jews at that time believed in some kind of reincarnation, and perhaps the man sinned in a previous existence.
Some of the Jews at that time believed that a baby might sin in the womb.
Others thought the punishment was for a sin the man would later commit.
While many were so bewildered that they threw out a wild possibility without thinking it through.
Jesus responds to the question, without answering it, as He often does.
Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” First, Jesus said that the man’s blindness – essentially a birth defect – was not caused by some specific sin on the part of the man or his parents.
Birth defects and other such tragedies are sometimes due to sinful behavior of the parents. Yet far more often – and in the case Jesus spoke of here – it is due simply to sin and our fallen condition in general, not due to any specific sin. The sin of Adam set the principle of death and its associated destruction in the world and we have had to deal with it ever since.
Speaking to this man’s situation, Jesus told them that even his blindness was in the plan of God so that the works of God should be revealed in him. Think of all the times the little blind boy asked his mother, “Why am I blind?” Perhaps she never felt she had a good answer. Jesus explained, it is because God wants to work in and through even this. Jesus pointed the question away from why and on to the idea, what can God do in this?
In this man’s case the specific work of God would soon be revealed: to heal him of his blindness. God may reveal His works in other lives other ways, such as joy and endurance in the midst of the difficulty. “In the economy of God’s Providence, his suffering had its place and aim, and this was to bring out the works of God in his being healed by the Redeemer.” Evil furthers the work of God in the world. It is in conquering and abolishing evil that He is manifested. The question for us is not where suffering has come from, but what are we to do with it.
This does not mean that God deliberately caused the child to be born blind in order that, after many years, his glory should be displayed in the removal of the blindness; to think so would again be aspersion on the character of God. It does mean that God overruled the disaster of the child’s blindness so that, when the child grew to manhood, he might, by the recovering of his sight, see the glory of God in the face of Christ, and others, seeing the work of God, might turn to the true Light of the World.” “We must suppose that every sufferer will in the long run be made aware of his share in promoting that advance; though to-day he suffer blindly, little conscious of his privilege.” man as a This man’s problem was theology and Jesus saw him as an opportunity to work the works of God. Jesus sensed an urgency to do this while it was still day – the time of His earthly ministry.
I must work is a marvelous statement of Jesus. The Worker is “a well-earned title to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the worker, the chief worker, and the example to all workers.” He worked under the limitations of mortality and recognized in the brevity of life another call to eager and continuous service. “Whenever you see a man in sorrow and trouble, the way to look at it is, not to blame him and inquire how he came there, but to say, ‘Here is an opening for God’s almighty love. Here is an occasion for the display of the grace and goodness of the Lord.’”
The night was coming when no one can work: Jesus understood that opportunities for service and doing good don’t last forever. Jesus knew that healing this man on the Sabbath would bring greater opposition from the religious leaders who already wanted to silence and kill Him. Yet His compassion for the man drove Him to do it anyway. This should remind us that “Our Lord as a man here on earth had a day. It was only a day-a short period, and not very long; he could not make it longer, for it was settled by the great Lord.”
So He took advantage of the time and spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva: Jesus used what was undoubtedly one of His more unusual methods leading to a miracle. We can suppose that Jesus wanted to emphasize at least two things. Just as God used the dust of the ground and clay to do a work of creation in Genesis, so Jesus did a work of creation with dust and clay for this man. Jesus found it important to change His methods of healing so one could never make a formula of the methods. The power was in God, not in a method. This is an extremely important observation.
“The emphasis of John seems to be on compassion rather than creation. The touch of a friendly hand would be reassuring. The weight of the clay would serve as an indicator to the blind man that something had been done to him, and it would be an inducement to obey Jesus’ command.” “In His ministry to the souls of men Jesus adopted no stereotyped approach. He dealt with each man as his particular need required.”
Applying medicine upon the eyes – was not so strange in the ancient world. “Spittle, and especially the spittle of some distinguished persons, was believed to possess certain curative qualities.” (Barclay) Mark recorded two other healings that Jesus performed with the use of His saliva (Mark 7:33 and 8:23). Jesus then said to the man- Go, wash in the pool of Siloam: In this miracle, Jesus took all the initiative. Jesus came to the blind man; the blind man did not come to Him. Even so, He expected the blind man to respond with faith-filled action. The healing would not happen unless the man responded with those faith-filled, obedient actions. Not many people would appreciate having mud made with spit rubbed in their eyes. Some would look at how Jesus did this miracle and object, saying that it was offensive, inadequate, or even harmful to rub mud made with spit in a man’s eyes.
In the same way, some feel that the gospel is offensive. It is true that it offends man’s pride and human wisdom, but it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21) In the same way, some feel that the gospel is inadequate. But have all the psychiatric and political and social programs in the world has done more good that the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ? SADLY, MANY BELIEVE THAT TO BE TRUE. In the same way, some feel that the gospel is harmful, that the free offer of grace in Jesus will cause people to sin that grace may abound. But the gospel changes our life for the good and the pure, not unto wickedness.
The water for the pool of Siloam came through king Hezekiah’s tunnel, a remarkable engineering feat built in Old Testament times about 700+ years before, that the king was called Siloam, which, it was said, meant sent, because the water in it had been sent through the conduit into the city to protect that cities water supply. It was from the Siloam stream that was drawn the water which was poured over the great altar at the Feast of Tabernacles just past, which pouring out was regarded by the Rabbis (and is still) as typical of the pouring out of The Spirit in the ‘latter days’.”
Which is translated, Sent: “Again and again John refers to Jesus as having been ‘sent’ by the Father. So now blindness is removed with reference to and with the aid of the ‘sent’.” To do what Jesus told the blind man to do took faith, even when Jesus did not even promise the blind man sight in the doing of this. It was surely implied; but the man acted on faith even in the implied promise of Jesus. Still as a blind man he had to find his way down to the pool of Siloam and down its steps to the pool itself. He likely could think of a dozen reasons why this was a fool’s errand, but he went and washed in faith and obedience, because Jesus told him to (and because there was mud in his eyes).
This is the first time in the Biblical record a person born blind was healed of their blindness. From Genesis to John, no prophet, priest, or apostle ever gave sight to eyes born blind. Since healing blind eyes is the work of the Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah, it shows that Jesus is God: The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. (Psalm 146:8) Has He opened your eyes?
Opening the eyes of the blind was prophesied to be a work of the Messiah: The eyes of the blind shall be opened. (Isaiah 35:5) Came back seeing: “The word rendered received sight is literally, recovered sight. Sight being natural to men, the depravation of it is regarded as a loss, and the reception of it, though never enjoyed before, as a recovery.” As the impotent man of chapter 5, cured after his thirty-eight years of sickness, may be viewed as a type of the Jews who are yet to be healed: so may this man of chapter 9, blind from birth, be viewed as a type of the Gentiles whose healing was about to begin and who were about to believe into Jesus as Him who was ‘the Sent’ from God.”
Read John 9:32-33
32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
The man speaking these words, so far as we know, is the first person in all of human history to be cured of lifelong blindness. Jesus’ miracle not only showed His godly power (John 12:37–38), it also fulfilled prophecies about the Messiah (Isaiah 29:18; 35:5; 42:7). In Scripture, concepts such as light and darkness, or sight versus blindness, were used to represent spiritual matters. In prior verses, the recently-healed man has pointed out that the miraculous healing Jesus performed on him ought to be evidence that Jesus is from God (John 9:30–31).
Further, Jesus’ miracle is unique. Not only has Jesus done something supernatural, He has done something no other prophet or priest in Israel’s history had ever done. Earlier, the scribes and Pharisees interrogating this man rejected Jesus on the grounds that they didn’t know where He’d come from. This response, from the one who’d been healed, points out that such excuses are just that: excuses to be prejudiced, not valid answers. The “bottom line” of the formerly-blind man’s argument comes in the next verse, in simple and common-sense terms.
When Jesus healed a man born blind, His religious critics responded in a predictable way. Jesus had already challenged them for willful ignorance (John 7:17), and for “refusing” to follow their own Scriptures in order to believe in Him (John 5:39–40). Here, these men have twice interrogated the healed man (John 9:13, 24), looking for any reason to dismiss Jesus’ work. The formerly-blind beggar, for his part, responded with bravery and remarkably clear thinking. His overall point, delivered with heavy sarcasm, has been that Jesus’ miracles themselves ought to be evidence enough that He’s been sent by God.
Here, the healed man makes this statement in clear and direct terms. This is almost identical to the conclusion Nicodemus brought to Jesus earlier in the gospel of John (John 3:1–2). This verse is the summary of the man’s response to the insults of the scribes and Pharisees, who tried to reject Jesus as a “sinner” instead of accepting His miracles. At this point, the religious leaders of Jerusalem have been thoroughly embarrassed. They have failed to debunk Jesus’ miracle. They responded in angry insults to one of their witnesses. And they’ve been “taught” some common-sense spiritual truth by a man they consider beneath them.
Read John 9:35-38
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
The man Jesus healed of lifelong blindness has been excommunicated by the scribes and Pharisees (John 9:22, 34). Beyond his support for Jesus (John 9:25), this man also embarrassed local religious leaders by exposing their hypocrisy. Though he knew little about the man who healed him, this formerly-blind beggar knew more than enough to recognize a messenger of God (John 9:30–31). His challenge to the religious leaders earned him their insults, and their hatred (John 9:28).
Prior to this moment, this man has not actually “seen” Jesus. His blindness was healed when he obeyed Jesus’ command to wash off his eyes (John 9:6–7), so Jesus was not there when the beggar gained eyesight. Now, Jesus finds the man after his run-in with the scribes and Pharisees. As He often does, Jesus challenges the man by asking him to explain his own beliefs. This question is important for several reasons. The term “Son of Man” is one that Jewish people associated closely with the Messiah. To this point, the once-blind man has not said he thinks Jesus is the Messiah—only that he believes Jesus has been sent by God (John 9:11).
As the following verses show, this once-blind man is more than willing to follow what he has learned from his experiences; he only needs to be told how (Matthew 7:7).
Earlier, Jesus healed a man who had been born blind, but was not there when the man completed Jesus’ instructions (John 9:6–7). All the newly-healed man knows is that someone—sent from God—has given him the sight he’d never had (John 9:1–2, 11). After being insulted and abused by local religious leaders, the man is found again by Jesus. In the prior verse, Jesus asked this formerly-blind man if he believed in the Son of Man. This is a phrase heavily tied to the Jewish concept of the Messiah. The now-seeing beggar has admitted that he knows very little about Jesus (John 9:25), but he certainly believes that Jesus is operating on divine power (John 9:30–31).
Here, the man responds to Jesus’ question with an admission of his own ignorance. This statement is similar to the cry of the father of a demon-possessed boy in Mark 9:24: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Here, the healed man wants to follow the truth, but simply does not know how. This is a strong contrast to the hard-headed scribes and Pharisees (John 5:39–40), who know more than enough about the Scriptures, but “refuse” to follow them by accepting Christ. As promised (Matthew 7:7), Jesus will respond to sincere seeking, and give this man the wisdom he needs.
Jesus is speaking to the man He’d healed of lifelong blindness earlier in this passage (John 9:1–7). At that time, Jesus had sent the still-blind man off to wash his eyes, resulting in sight. This conversation is the first time the man has actually “seen” the person who granted him vision. Jesus’ question, posed in verse 35, was a chance for the beggar to explain his own faith. Jesus asked the man if he believed in the “Son of Man,” a phrase heavily tied to the Jewish concept of the Messiah. In response, the man admitted his own ignorance, and his willingness, to believe. This is a strong contrast to the scribes and Pharisees who have more than enough information (John 5:39–40), but who simply did not want to understand (John 7:17).
Since the formerly-blind man does not know who the “Son of Man”—the Messiah—actually is, Jesus tells him. It’s Jesus Himself, the one standing right there speaking with the now-seeing man. Once again, the man’s response differs drastically from that of Jesus’ religious critics. Following his own advice (John 9:27), the man will immediately confess his faith in the Promised One.
This moment is similar to how Thomas will respond to his encounter with a resurrected Jesus later in this gospel (John 20:24–29). Prior to this moment, all the once-blind man knew is that he had been healed by “a prophet” from God (John 9:6–7, 11). When that healer—Jesus—found the man, he admitted that he did not know who the Son of Man was, but wanted to know so he could respond in faith. Hearing that this Messiah was Jesus, the man immediately responded with worship.
The religious leaders of Jerusalem respond to Jesus in exactly the opposite way. This man accepts the evidence he has, rather than looking for excuses about what he does not know (John 9:25). He seeks to follow God faithfully, but admits his own ignorance (John 9:36). The scribes and Pharisees don’t want to understand the truth (John 7:17), and they reject all the knowledge they already have (John 5:39–40).
This moment is also important when discussing Jesus’ claims to be God. In other portions of Scripture, worship of any being other than God is forbidden (Exodus 20:3–4). When someone mistakenly worships other beings, such as angels, those beings respond by refusing that worship (Revelation 19:9–10). As with Thomas, Jesus accepts the worship of this newly-seeing man. By implication, Jesus is agreeing that He can be worshipped, which from a Jewish perspective means He is claiming to be identical to God.