Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” (John 9:35-41)
Belief in Jesus as Son of Almighty Father God requires, no demands one’s admission of their own spiritual blindness. Why is it that the Pharisees (and most Jews at that time) couldn’t “handle the Truth” of God in Christ Jesus? They were blinded by the light of their glory; their own ways, and their wisdom.
Amazingly, spiritual blindness is most always accompanied with the blind claiming to have near perfect eyesight! This is what Jesus was referring to: their unwillingness to recognize Him as the Son of God coupled with their stubborn continuance in denying their spiritual blindness.
If we can come to the place of admitting, deep in our own heart, our own spiritual blindness, then the living Lord Jesus will gently anoint the eyes of our heart that we might have powerful spiritual awakening.
But most of the Jews, especially the leaders, just could not “see” Jesus. Why? Because that had put the messenger in place of the One by Whom the messenger was sent. Today, we have a very similar blind multitude of voices in Christianity emphatically assuring everyone “we can see”, but worse yet “come follow us!”
The blind leading the blind.
Jesus called them “blind guides”. But they were so confident that they had the Truth:
John 9:26-29
Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”
It kind of reminds me of the two disciples that Paul ran into, who said “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
Jesus had already said to the Jews who believed in Him that Moses had written about Him—the Prophet to come, the Messiah—and that if they believed in the message sent through Moses by God, they would believe in Him.
And yet today, how many say “we are Paul’s disciples; we know that God spoke to him”? Sadly, many are blind to the message of God through Paul because Paul has become the object of their focus. Romans has become the Christian Pentateuch. It’s as if all that’s required to be a good Christian today is to understand the supposed Pauline doctrine of justification by Faith and everything’s good.
Just like the Jews with Moses, many Christians have been stumbled and stalled by focusing on the one who brought a message of truth rather than following the One Who sent the messenger. Often I will hear believers say that we need the likes of another Ravenhill or Moody or “If only the Apostles were here…” Most men of God do not want their name to be anything. They desire that the name and fervor of JESUS would increase and increase, and that their name and stature would be diminished, overshadowed by the Lord.
We must be careful not to look to men, but to the Lord!
Sometimes it’s not Paul or Peter who are objectified, but the Pope, or Luther, or Calvin, or Menno Simons, or Augustine, after whom many follow, claiming to have eyes to see and knowledge of the Truth. Many others who claim to have 20/20 spiritual vision run after a polar opposite message brought by the likes of Joel Osteen, John Haggee, Joyce Meyer, Rob Bell, and others. Anyone familiar with the teaching behind all these names of past and present spiritual leaders and teachers will immediately recognize that they cannot ALL be teaching Truth as they are in complete disagreement on many fundamental doctrines.
Yes, some have smaller and larger measures of truth, but many teachers and denominations have perverted the truth in their blindness; they themselves often following other blind guides.
Francis Chan, one who has been awakened to the sham of shallow Christianity had to write a book about the reality of Hell for sinners refuting the universalism teachings of Rob Bell. These two are famous Christian teachers. Each has a following. They actually know each other. How is this? And what if Francis becomes popular for refuting some error and many start following him? What if he needs correction in an area?
What I’m getting at is this: is Francis Chan the solution? No!
Who then SHOULD we be listening to and following??? Let’s follow JESUS, the anointed One of God! While I believe Francis Chan is a faithful brother trying to understand the Lord’s will and live a holy life that’s pleasing to Him, even he (and you and I) must be open and approachable to receive a challenge, correction, rebuke, and encouragement. The men are mere men.
We are told that God has spoken through His Son these last days (Hebrews 1:1-3) and, speaking of Himself, Jesus said:
John 10:3-5
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Are you blind yet boasting in your non-existent eyesight? We must examine ourselves to be certain that we’re in the faith and not deceived. Be careful that the one you’re listening to is truly a messenger of God’s words and not their own. We must be careful to not desire to hear from that man, but from God. If that man is truly bringing a word from the Lord, we have an obligation to listen and to obey. But this can be tested very simply and powerfully by testing the messenger’s word against the whole counsel of God.
John 10:6
Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
Do you understand the things that He has spoken to YOU? Will you, dear reader, hear the voice of the Father urging you to “hear Him”? Jesus has come in the flesh to give SIGHT to your poor blind soul. Run to Him, you worldly wise men and women. Cling to His robe and receive Him as True Wisdom. Eat and drink His very LIFE into your parched heart and barren spirit and you too will “Rejoice in The Lord always, and again I say REJOICE!”
Jesus boldly claimed this prophecy as being fulfilled in Him: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD .” Luke 4:18-19
Will we allow Him to heal our blindness?
If so, we LIVE! If not, we PERISH.