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John 9
Light And Darkness, Sight And Blindness, Night Is Coming

The universe is amazing. It’s full of laws, mathematical relationships, design,

complexity, and beauty. It’s obvious that it’s the work of a great designer,
engineer, mathematician, bio-chemist, physicist and artist.

The human body is amazing. The Creator designed it to house the soul and interact
with the physical world. One example of that interaction - the eyes and the visual
system. The eyes are part of a complex system that enables us to interact with the
world. The eyes collect light from the surrounding environment, regulate its
intensity through a diaphragm, focus it through an adjustable assembly of lenses to
form an image, convert this image into electrical signals, and transmit these
signals to the brain through complex neural pathways that connect the eyes via the
optic nerve to the visual cortex and other areas of the brain.

An article from the Institute for Creation Research

(icr.org/article/made-his-image-amazing-design-human) informs us that the visual
system develops in the womb with built-in plans and specifications. Tissues form
the eye in a precise choreography of carefully timed steps. At the same time,
nerves are constructed to bring data from the eyes to the brain. After a child is
born, his eyes take in data. Light photons hit the back of his retina, which converts
patterns of light into a flow of electrical signals. These data are sent down the
optic nerve to the brain for interpretation into information. However, the brain
cannot interpret the data until memories are formed for future reference. Both the
processes of retrieving memories and associating them to data patterns are
essential to complete the function of sight.

As simple as they seem, even eyelids display complex design. They protect eyes
from dust and debris and keep the eyes lubricated. Tears not only help clean our
eyes, they also contain antimicrobial agents and other compounds that produce a
euphoric effect and help us feel better after crying emotional tears.

Our eyes not only allow us to see the world but help us to reflect emotions and
other information. You can tell a lot about what is happening with a person by
observing their eyes.
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Our visual system reveals amazing design and purpose. It’s a tremendous gift from
God to us. A visual system that doesn’t work is a major disadvantage.

Because they are so common and so important, light and darkness, sight and
blindness are used as metaphors. In the Bible, sight and light represent truth,
revelation, knowledge, success, victory, happiness, life and the presence of God.
Blindness and darkness represent the opposite: ignorance, confusion, chaotic
thinking, error, defeat, unhappiness, death and the absence of the presence of God.

Because we live in a fallen world that is satanically controlled and is in rebellion

against God and is under a curse, some people are born without the ability to see.
Some are born with sight but lose their sight. Whether we are born with or without
sight, all of us are spiritually blind. The good news is that Messiah is able to
restore our sight - physically and spiritually.

As Yeshua went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Many
people assume that tragedies of various sorts, including birth defects, are
punishments from God for sinning. If a child is born blind, God is punishing the
parents; or God is punishing the child, who must be particularly inclined to do
evil. While God can punish parents because of their sins with something like the
death of a child, as He punished David for his sins of adultery and murder, divine
punishment is not always the explanation for tragedies that happen to us or those
close to us.

In this case, Yeshua knew that this man being born blind had nothing to do with
his sins or the sins of his parents. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said
Yeshua, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Can God allow bad things to happen to accomplish a higher purpose? If so, why?

Yeshua knew that His Father was going to use Him to give sight to this blind man.
He also knew that He only had a limited amount of time to serve God by helping
the people He was sent to help. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him
who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Is Yeshua using “night” literally or non-literally?

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What does night represent?

For Yeshua, what was His night that was coming?

What does “night is coming when no one can work” mean for us?

Yeshua made an astounding claim about Himself, one He made before. While I am
in the world, I am the light of the world. Yeshua claimed to be the source of truth,
salvation, happiness, life, and the presence of God, for all human beings
everywhere.

How do we experience the light of the world?

Yeshua followed up this astounding claim with a miracle that demonstrated the
truth of His claim. After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with
the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.

Did Yeshua ordinarily heal people in this way?

Why did Yeshua heal this man this way?

Along with applying the mud to the man’s eyes, Yeshua asked him to do
something. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Shiloach” (this word means
“Sent”). It was inconvenient for the blind man to go to the pool and wash; but the
man had enough faith in Yeshua that he was willing to be inconvenienced.

So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. Lesson: if Yeshua asks us to
do something, we should do it, even if it’s inconvenient.

What are some of the things Yeshua asks us to do that are inconvenient?
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A man who is born blind and is miraculously healed, changes. The way he carries
himself and the way he acts can make him appear to be a different man. His
neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the
same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No,
he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

It was very unusual for a man who was blind from birth to have his sight restored.
Those who knew the blind man wanted to know how this miracle happened. “How
then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

He replied, “The man they call Yeshua made some mud and put it on my eyes. He
told me to go to Shiloach and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
His answer was simple and clear. And Yeshua was responsible for it.

“Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said.

Something very unusual had taken place. The man’s neighbors and acquaintances
informed the religious leaders what had happened. They brought to the Pharisees
the man who had been blind.

God had enabled Yeshua to do a great miracle. This was an opportunity for these
religious leaders, who had decided to reject Yeshua, to reconsider. They didn’t.
Instead, they intensified their opposition. Now the day on which Yeshua had made
the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.

These leaders believed that healing on the Sabbath was a kind of work that
violated the Sabbath. They knew that Yeshua had healed others on the Sabbath.
And now He had healed someone else on the Sabbath. So they began an
investigation into this possible criminal act. Therefore the Pharisees also asked
him how he had received his sight.

The formerly blind man gave them a simple, clear explanation of the facts. “He
put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see” - to which
there were two very different responses.
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Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the
Sabbath.” Ordinarily, God only uses people close to Him and approved by Him to
do miracles. And in all of history, only a few human beings were allowed by God
to do a miracle. Keeping the Sabbath is a major commandment for the Jewish
people. God would not use a Sabbath-breaking sinner to do miracles. Therefore,
this group reasoned, Yeshua could not be approved by God. The second group
disagreed. But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they
were divided.

If you are committed to a position and don’t get the answer you want the first time,
try again. Maybe the second time you will get the answer you want. Then they
turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes
he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet” - not the answer they wanted.

These religious elites were sure Yeshua couldn’t be a prophet. And they didn’t
believe the newly sighted man, so they broadened their investigation. They still did
not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the
man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born
blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents
answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who
opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”

Why did they respond this way?

Has the position of the Jewish religious leaders changed in 2,000 years? Are
Yeshua-acknowledging Jewish people welcome in today’s synagogues?

If you don’t get the answer you want the first or second time, try again. A second
time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling
the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” The leaders told the
now-sighted man that they knew the truth about Yeshua, and he should agree with
them that Yeshua was a sinner.

The man was not inclined to agree with them. And he was smart. He kept his
response brief. He stated only the fact he knew. He replied, “Whether he is a
sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
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If you don’t get the answer you want the first, second or more times, try again.
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He
answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to
hear it again? The man was annoyed by his interrogators repeatedly asking the
same question. He expressed his annoyance with sarcasm. Do you want to become
his disciples too?”

I like his sarcasm. The religious leaders didn’t. Then they hurled insults at him and
said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that
God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes
from.”

I love plots where the hunted becomes the hunter, the oppressed turn things
around and vanquish their oppressors. The man answered, “Now that is
remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We
know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does
his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. This was
a singular miracle. And he concluded: If this man were not from God, he could do
nothing.”

Was he right?

Was he as educated in Judaism as those questioning him?

How is it that someone who has little or no education can come to the right
conclusion about Yeshua and those who are well educated can’t?

Despite repeated attempts, these religious leaders didn’t get the answers they
wanted. So, they attacked and insulted the messenger. To this they replied, “You
were steeped in sin at birth. How dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Yeshua heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do
you believe in the Son of Man?”
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Is Yeshua concerned about those who take a stand for Him and are rejected? If so,
how do we know?

Who is the Son of Man? What does Son of Man mean?

The pressure and persecution from the leaders (opposition can be a good thing for
us) caused this man to focus on Yeshua, and the more he thought about Yeshua,
the more he found himself believing in Him. This man was now willing to believe
anything Yeshua asked him to believe. He had the faith of a child. “Who is he,
sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Yeshua said, “You
have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said,
“Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Is it right for people to worship anyone other than God?

What does this man’s worship of Yeshua tell us about Him?

John concluded this interaction between Yeshua and the man who could now see
with a statement on blindness and sight. Yeshua said, “For judgment I have come
into this world (judgment in the sense of testing, trying, assaying), so that the
blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

There are many reasons Yeshua came into this world. He came to reveal God to us
in a greater way than God had been revealed before; to teach us great truths; to do
great miracles; to die to reconcile us to God; to overcome death. Another reason
Yeshua came into this world was to make it clear who are the ones who truly love
God and who are the ones who don’t.

Yeshua is the light of the world. Everyone who is genuinely attracted to God and
to truth will be attracted to Yeshua and believe in Him. Those who don’t really
love the truth and don’t really love God will reject Yeshua and remain alienated
from God.
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Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we
blind too?” Yeshua said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but
now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Can deeply religious and well educated people, like these leaders of the Chosen
People, be blind? Far from God and truth and salvation and eternal life?