John: Chapter 9

Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.

August 19, 2021

In loving memory of my father
Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett
July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023

In our previous two messages we shared with you some gleanings from John, Chapters 7 and 8. It seemed good to continue this series and share a few thoughts about John, Chapter 9. I particularly want to emphasize Verses 1 through 12 of John, Chapter 9. However, we should remember that there are no chapters in the original Greek texts. Therefore, let us read once more the last two verses in John, Chapter 8, verses 58 and 59.

"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."

Why did the Pharisees and Jews take up stones to cast at Jesus? They were not ignorant of the Mosaic law. They were familiar with Exodus 3:14, which says, 

"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." 

Therefore, they concluded that Jesus was calling Himself God. To the Jews, that was blasphemy, which called for stoning. Note that Jesus hid Himself, went out of the temple, going through the midst of the temple, and so passed by. This indeed was another miracle. In a practical sense He became invisible to them. That was because His time had not yet come. All of the discourse between Jesus and the Jews had taken place inside the temple. How did the Jews find stones in the temple to cast at Him? That is a mystery. How did Jesus go through the midst of them and so passed by? That is another mystery ... but a mystery that we can never know about and which becomes a total waste of time if we try to make educated guesses.

Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Note the purpose for all revelation ... that we may do or walk in all of the living words of God's spiritual and perfect law.

John, Chapter 9, records the sixth of the eight miracles in the Gospel of John performed by Jesus. The number "eight" in scripture speaks of new beginnings. The last two miracles are the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11) and the draught of fishes (John 21), which occurred after the resurrection of Jesus. If we think about it, those last three miracles in the gospel according to John form an orderly progression in the life of a true disciple of Christ. First, He opens our blind eyes; then He raises us from the dead; and then, after we identify with His resurrection, He makes us fishers of men. What an amazing and awesome God we serve! And what an amazing and awesome word of God we have in the Bible when properly revealed and taught to us by the Holy Spirit!

Now let us turn to John, Chapter 9. As in John 5, Jesus healed on the Sabbath and thus suffered persecution from the Jewish leaders. In Verse 1 ...

1 And as Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth.

This event took place outside of the temple, as Jesus passed by, because a blind man was not allowed inside the temple. This was not a coincidence. This was a work prepared for Jesus before the foundation of the world. Now if you and I had almost been stoned by an angry mob of people, we might have become quite fearful for our life. Our heartbeat rate and our blood pressure might well have increased significantly. But not so with Jesus, because He saw a man who was blind from birth and had compassion on him. Would any of us have been sensitive to the needs of another man under the same circumstances? Would we have known that this was a work ordained for us to walk in? Would we have been focused on others rather than our self?

2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

It is easy to pose a problem and even easier to proclaim why we think the problem occurred. But we should never forget the person involved, because the person who is suffering the malady is more important than the reason which caused the suffering. What is the value of a human soul? We might ask, why did the disciples of Jesus ask that question? Even the disciples of Jesus, at this point in their walk with Him, were still bound to traditional teachings and traditional views of the cause of physical maladies.

The rabbis had developed a principle that there is no death without sin, and there is no suffering without iniquity. They even thought that a child could sin in the womb or that its soul could have sinned in a pre-existent state. They also believed that terrible punishment came on certain people because of the sin of their parents. But the Lord had said, in 

Ezekiel 18:4, "... The soul that sinneth, it shall die."

In John 9, the disciples were simply thinking about the problem and the cause but not about doing anything to help the blind man. That is called human nature. That is caused by king self, who sits on the throne far too often.

Now if we go back to the original sin of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, some could make a possible case that all physical maladies, pain, and sufferings are caused by sin, because we are all born as sinners, not because we have said or done something called sin, but because we have inherited the human nature of the first Adam. However, we know that Jesus overcame sin, death, and the works of the devil.

About 25 years ago, we had a granddaughter who was born legally blind, with a vision of 20/200. I will call her name Mary (not her real name). "Legally blind" is the definition of blindness used by the Social Security Administration to determine if someone is eligible to receive disability benefits, tax exemptions, and low vision training. Unfortunately, about 10 years ago, another of our granddaughters suggested to Mary that her blindness was caused by sin in her life.

However, most suffering, pain, and affliction is not connected immediately with sin. Let us consider what scripture has to say about the causes and reasons for human suffering. We will see at least five or six reasons for human suffering.

First, let us consider Job. We know that the Lord said unto Satan, in Job, Chapter 1, 

"Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" 

Then Satan answered and said, "well it is because You have hedged him about and blessed him abundantly; but if You touch all that he has, he will curse You to Your face."

Then the Lord allowed Satan to take away all that Job had, but Satan was not allowed to touch Job himself. Then Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And there came a day when Job lost his 7 sons and three daughters and all of his possessions. Now if any of us lost just one of our children in one day, it would break our heart. Can you possibly imagine how Job felt after that great loss? But Job said, 

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." 

Then Satan had no answer for Job's response. But in Job, Chapter 2, Satan said, "well let me touch his bone and his flesh and Job will curse You to Your face." The Lord told Satan, Job is in your hand, but save his life. We all know what happened next. Satan smote Job's body with almost unbearable physical pain and suffering. But Job said, 

"Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." 

This is an example of a Satanic cause of human suffering which was NOT caused by sin.

Now let us turn to 2 Chronicles 21. Jehoram, king of Judah, had greatly sinned against the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 21:12-15, we read.

12 And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

13 But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, which were better than thyself:

14 Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods:

15 And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.

This was a great calamity, an uncurable disease that came from the Lord Himself. It represented the judgment of God and is sometimes called a judicial cause of suffering.

Another scriptural example of judicial suffering is found in 1 Corinthians 11:30, 

"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." 

For this cause ... for what cause? The answer is given in the previous verse ... because of not discerning the Lord's body. I saw with my natural eyes a very dramatic example of this about 45 years ago. For a season, on Sunday nights we had a pot-luck dinner in the home of one of the teaching elders, followed by a teaching. One Sunday evening I was the next to last person in the buffet line. I could easily see that there was not enough food left for the last three believers. But the young man in front of me could see only what he wanted, so he piled his plate to overflowing with food. I took a very modest amount of food as did the person behind me. Then I saw the hostess pull out a jar of peanut butter. Her food for the evening was a peanut butter sandwich. The young man in front of me who took an abundance of natural food, with no thought of anyone except himself, died at the age of 51. He never discerned the Lord's body. He only wanted to satisfy himself.

Now let us look at a third possible reason for human suffering. For this we will turn briefly to Proverbs 17 and Verse 22. 

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones."

Some people become ill because they think they are ill. The human mind or human spirit can lead to either real or imaginary suffering or disease. Emotional or psychological stress can also lead to a physical problem. In extreme cases, it may even cause death. Never forget how much we still don't know about our brains and bodies, specifically, the relationship between the two.

Not only can a placebo fool the body into thinking sugar is a pain reliever, but the brain can fool the body into thinking it is sick, complete with physical symptoms. This phenomenon can account for many of the so-called "faith healings," which occur because of an imaginary healing to an imaginary physical problem.

For a fourth possible cause or reason behind human suffering, consider 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, where Paul said, 

7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

9 And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Some physical sufferings have become the greatest blessing in the life of believers. Fanny Crosby, who wrote more that 8,000 songs, became totally blind when she was six years old because of a mistaken medical procedure, but that only sharpened her spiritual eyes. Horatio Spafford, after losing all five of his children and his extensive real estate investments, was able to write that great hymn, "When sorrows like sea billows roll ... it is well with my soul." After Jacob wrestled with the angel and he halted the rest of his life on his thigh, he was transformed into Israel, a spiritual man.

In Philippians 2:25-28 Paul said, 

25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.

26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.

27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

Paul told Timothy, in 1 Timothy 5:23, 

"Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." 

Why did Paul not heal Timothy of his stomach problem and his often infirmities? perhaps because he discerned that by so doing he might be fighting against the purposes of God in the life of Timothy. In our walk with the Lord, healing must be specifically led by the Holy Spirit. The Lord allows much for our good and for His greater purposes. Today, some Christians always want our pastor to pray for us that we might be healed immediately, but the Lord does not want to heal us just so we can continue to do our own thing. The Lord's ways are higher than our ways.

2 Timothy 4:20, "Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick." 

Again, why didn't Paul heal Trophimus? for the same reason that he did not heal Timothy.

A fifth reason for human suffering is natural causes. One example is found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. 

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

In other words, our natural bodies are all perishing in the natural realm. I have lost several teeth and the hair on my head is thinning quickly. My step is not nearly as sure as it was when I was 40 years old. My skin has more wrinkles. My outward man is perishing.

However, we read, in 2 Corinthians 5:1-2, 

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:"

So far, I have shared five possible generic reasons which may lead to human suffering, whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual. I do not mean to imply that these are the only reasons for suffering. However, we must emphasize that only God sees the real purpose underlying any specific malady. The reason is hidden from our understanding unless the Lord reveals it to us. We should never jump to conclusions based on only one scriptural example.

Now, how did Jesus answer His disciples' question concerning the cause of the man's blindness?

3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

4 I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Here we find the major reason why God performs miracles. Being born again is certainly one of the greatest miracles that can ever happen in our life. But the reason behind all miracles is so that we might glorify God. Affliction and suffering may come for the sole purpose to glorify God. It is a real privilege to glorify God. More than 60 times in the Book of Ezekiel, we see the purpose both of the judgment of God and the blessings of God, this phrase ... "that they might know that I am the Lord."

Back to Verse 6 of John, Chapter 9.

6 When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,

What tremendous prophetic significance we can see from Verse 6. Could Jesus have opened the eyes of the blind man simply by speaking a word? of course! But on this occasion, Jesus chose a different sequence of events. When Jesus spat on the ground, on the dust of the earth, He made clay of the spittle. Jesus Himself made clay of the spittle. In order to do that, Jesus had to stoop down to the ground and use His hands to form the clay of the spittle. That speaks of Jesus who humbled Himself, temporarily set aside His great glory, and came to earth as a Man. As a Man, He identified with man in every way such that we might identify with Him in His baptism, His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and intercession. He is the Potter, we are the clay. He has every right not only to put His spittle on our eyes so that we might know Him as He is, for the resurrected Christ has received all power in heaven and in earth. There is no longer any limitation to the risen Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:16-17. 

16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more.

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, He is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Romans 9:14-24 declares the sovereignty of God. 

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

15 For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

18 Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth.

19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?

20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

22 What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

23 And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory,

24 Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Back to John, Chapter 9 and Verse 7.

7 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.

Verse 7 speaks loudly and clearly about our need for obedience. 

"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams" 

(1 Samuel 15:22).

Jesus performed more miracles of this type than of any other. However, He used different methods in His cures from time to time. Giving sight to the blind was prophesied as a Messianic activity in at least three different verses in the book of Isaiah, such as Isaiah 35:5. Thus this miracle and others were additional evidence that Jesus was the Messiah.

The pool of Siloam had been built many long years ago by Hezekiah. It was a rock-cut pool on the southern end of the main ridge on which Jerusalem was built. It also served as part of the major water system of Jerusalem. Natural water is essential for natural life. Spiritual water is essential for spiritual life.

8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?

Begging was about the only way a blind person of that day could support himself.


9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

When a man has drastically changed, people want to know how, why, and by whom was the man changed.

11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

Note that Verses 8 through 12 were directed to the former blind man's neighbors and those which before had seen him that he was blind. When God makes a big change in our life and others want to know why we have changed, that opens a door for us to respond that a man named Jesus has changed us. This is God's prescription for true evangelism.

12 Then said they unto him, Where is He? He said, I know not.

His neighbors and friends asked the former blind man, "Where is Jesus?" His answer was that He did not know. If one of our neighbors or friends were to ask us, "Where is Jesus?" what would our answer be?

1 Peter 3:15, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" 

Without going through all of the background details, many years ago, a man who was not a Christian came over to our house and asked me a question. He asked, "Why are you being so nice to me?" That type of question opens the door to tell people about Jesus. That should be the normal form of evangelism. Not long afterwards that man was born again.

Verses 13 through 34 of John, Chapter 9, detail the interaction of the Pharisees with the healed man. The Pharisees asked the healed man three more times and they asked his parents once how Jesus healed him. When the Pharisees said that Jesus was a sinner, the healed man replied,

"Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." 

Finally, the Pharisees just gave up their questioning of the healed man "and they cast him out" or excommunicated him from the synagogue. What a blessing that was for the healed man!

Among other things, one major principle resulting from the interaction between the Pharisees and the healed man is that the man with an experience is never at a disadvantage with the man who has only a doctrine. We can understand everything in the Bible, but unless we have a living, experiential relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, we are still spiritually blind. "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6).

Then, in Verses 35 through 38, Jesus talked to the healed man, who believed on Jesus and worshipped Him. Therefore, the former blind man received not only his physical sight but also spiritual sight.

Finally, in Verses 39 through 41, Jesus interacts once more with the Pharisees. 

39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

40 And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words, and said unto Him, Are we blind also?

41Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

The Pharisees claim to sight showed their complete unawareness of their spiritual blindness and need. Although they claimed to have sight, their actions were evidence of their blindness. That is called deception. Four times in the New Testament and once in the Old Testament, we are exhorted to "be not deceived."

In conclusion, thank you, Lord, for removing the scales from our blind eyes that we might see and behold more of Your glory. By Your grace may You allow us to continue to see more clearly every day "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). May we all, like Jesus, gladly drink of the cup that our Father has given to us. May we all have compassion on every man who is spiritually blind and may we always be prepared to have a ready answer for all blind men so that God may be glorified. Amen.