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The Majesty Of
Jesus
Grace Emmanuel
Church
Pastor Sam Chess
(The
Light Of The World)
There’s someone, in the Bible, I want you to meet… We
don’t know his name…He had been blind since birth. He has no hope of
recovery, he has no real future… he’s just living each day…to get to
the end of his life.….This story is so neat because there is much
more for us to learn beneath the surface than there is on top of the
surface. If you read it casually you can get from end to end and never
see all the nuggets of powerful truth that Jesus intended to teach us…
Let me see if I can unfold it for you today..
John 9:1 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had
been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was
this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’
sins?” 3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus
answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him….. 6
Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the
mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the
pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and
came back seeing! (NLT)
I skipped verse 5…there Jesus threw in a seemingly out-of-place
phrase:
I am the light of the world.”
That seemed odd…I’m… sure until the blind beggar got to the pool of
Siloam…he groped to the water’s edge… knelt… lifted the water to
his blank, staring eyes. Slowly, he raised his head, leftover
water drops falling from his brow and beard. He opened his eyes …
an unfamiliar shaft of light flooded his brain. The man blinked
away the dripping water and light began to focus into objects, faces,
reflections. He rose to his feet as curious onlookers stood
shocked at what they had just witnessed—a man had come to the pool
blind, washed his eyes, and walked away seeing!
Like so often happens with God’s miracles, skeptics, immediately
tried to diminish what had just happened…
John 9: 8 His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar
asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some
said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the
beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!” 10 They asked, “Who
healed you? What happened?” (NLT)
Soon… everybody got into the questioning.. even the religious
leaders…
10 They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”… 12 “Where is he
now?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he replied… 15 The Pharisees asked
the man all about it…16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is
not from God.. Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such
miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.
(NLT)
Here’s what, those who cared about the truth, figured out from what
they heard:
1. He was, indeed, the man born completely blind.
Neighbors: “This is him” (9:9); ..His own admission, “I am the dude”
(9:9), Mom and Dad: “We know that this is our son, and that he was born
blind” (9:20).
2. He is now, undeniably, no longer blind!. I
love this section…it drips with sarcasm…
v24 So for the second time they (the Pharisees) called in the man
who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this,
because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” 25 “I don’t know whether
he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and
now I can see!” 26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he
heal you?” 27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you
listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his
disciples, too?” 28 Then they cursed him….
There's a fine example of spiritual leadership…
3. His new sight came from one source and one source
only…Jesus of Nazareth!
John 9:11 He told them, “The man they call Jesus
made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of
Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”
(NLT)
It’s a great story… but we haven’t begun to get to the bottom of all
that’s really going on, here.. let me add a few more elements..
See if I get this straight…Jesus is moseying along… the blind guy
looks up…sees him approaching and says, Hey Jesus… heal me!... heal me!
Right?
The blind man couldn't have seen Jesus. He wouldn't have known
Jesus if he had walked right up to him and thumped him on the nose…..
If you are watching close, you start to see an even deeper level of
grace coming from Jesus than first thought. You even start to
suspect that this story isn’t just talking about healing physical
blindness!
The blind guy didn’t ask to be healed. He didn’t come looking for
Jesus.. Jesus came looking for him. He had become used
to his blindness. He fully expected to spend the rest of his life in
the dark. He had no way to fully appreciate how great his need was or
how wonderful the cure could be!
To really understand the level of Jesus mercy you have to have read
John chapter 8. It starts with Jesus stopping the stoning of the woman
caught in adultery, builds throughout the chapter with Jesus,
repeatedly, comparing himself to God…the Pharisees getting more and
more ticked off, and finally ends like this:
John 8:59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus
hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
If we had people chasing after us trying to kill us would we be
stopping to care for the needs of some unknown person? When we don’t
have people chasing after us trying to kill us do we ever stop to care
for the needs of some unknown person?
Reminds us of Jesus on the cross, bearing all the sins, of all of
mankind, weighed down with all of the filth of every murderer and
rapist and every terrorist, taking time out in the middle of it all to
forgive the sins of one of the two thieves.
Nothing in the Bible is ever accidental… and Jesus is communicating,
beyond the blind man that day, to all of us who would ever read this
account.
You can figure out the blind man’s spiritual journey that day by the
words he uses to describe Jesus:
1. First the blind man calls Jesus a wonderful “man”. “A man
called Jesus” (v. 11) was all he knew when Christ healed him. He began
by calling Jesus a man. “A man that is called Jesus opened mine
eyes” (verse 11)
2. When the Pharisees questioned him. He went on to call Jesus a
prophet. When asked his opinion of Jesus in view of the fact
that he had given him his sight, his answer was: “He is a prophet”
(verse 17).
3. His conviction grows the more the Pharisees try to convince
him otherwise, (v. 31–33).
31We know that God does not listen to sinners…. 33 If this man
were not from God, he could do nothing." (NIV)
After grilling him, repeatedly, they finally throw him out on the
sidewalk…
4. Finally he hits on the truth…the complete truth” (vv. 35–38)
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they ( the Pharisees) 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.
Jesus then, finally, gets to the even deeper message of the whole
miracle..
39 Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so
that the blind will see and those who see will become
blind." What kind of blindness is he talking about?
His meaning is not vague… the throbbing veins in the Pharisees necks
start to throb again…
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked,
"What? Are we blind too?" 41 Jesus said, "If you were blind (realized
your spiritual blindness), you would not (continue to) be
guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
(NIV)
Isaiah had prophesied that the coming Messiah would give sight to
the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, and healing to the
lame… 700 years before Jesus was born. (Isa. 29:18; 32:3; 35:5-6). When
John’s disciples came to question Jesus, He reminded them of those
prophecies and applied them to Himself (Matt. 11:4-5).
The Bible makes a big issue out of blindness, both physical and
spiritual. In fact, of all the kinds of miracles that Jesus did,
healing the blind is the most mentioned. He healed one deaf and mute,
He healed one person with a fever, two times He healed groups of
lepers, three times He dealt with raising the dead, but five times
Jesus,healed blind people. And just like this blind man who
experienced Jesus healing power, so is every spiritually blind sinner
who comes to Jesus …. Jesus walks over to us and lovingly, graciously
says, "I'll touch your spiritual eyes and make you see."
2 Corinthians 4:3 If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a
veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4 Satan, who is
the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t
believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News…. 5
You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that
Jesus Christ is Lord…. 6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the
darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the
glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 We now have
this light shining in our hearts…
The blind man couldn’t see anything. He couldn't
recognize Jesus if Jesus was standing right in front of him…. So
it is with the sinner. So it is with mankind apart from God.
He has no inner ability to see God. He has no built-in capacity
to see Jesus Christ. He has no ability to recognize Him if He's
right in front of him.
But once the Healer arrives:
Colossians 1:11… May you be
filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has
enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people,
who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of
darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.(NLT)
Observation # 1 This man was born totally blind… so are we (Eph.
4:18; John 3:3; 2 Cor. 4:3–6).
1 Corinthians 2:14 But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive
these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they
can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand
what the Spirit means. (NLT)
Observation # 2 This man was completely helpless reduced to
begging.. us too!
Observation # 3 The blind man didn't find Jesus…Jesus found the
blind man.
Observation # 4 Jesus created in the blind man the desire to be
healed… that's conviction.
Observation # 5 Jesus created sight where only life long blindness
had been… that's regeneration.
Observation # 6 Jesus' healing brought life-long change that
everyone else around could see.
Observation # 7 The life of the changed one became a life-long
witness of Jesus love and grace.
Conclusion: Why the Pool of Siloam…nothing in the Bible is
accidental
Siloam is Greek for Shiloah. In the Old Testament people called the
pool, in Hebrew, Shiloah. The word means sent. The Prophets
predicted that the coming Messiah, "the sent one"…. Shiloah….. would
come to save people from their sins.
When Hezekiah was under siege he dug a tunnel from the temple area,
where there was a spring right through solid rock, and ended it down in
the city at a stone pool. The water basin was called Shiloah because
the water was sent from the temple to the people below. The Jews
didn't miss the significance of the name being the same as the coming
Messiah….especially since the pool came to them from up at the temple
where the presence of God dwelt, was sent down to them from above, and,
the waters, seemed to have mysterious healing powers.
Jesus could have healed the man with his spit… or sent him to any
other source of water in town but he wanted the man…and us… to make the
connection. He is the source sent from the throne room of God. When he
arrives, from above, he brings healing, not only for the physical needs
of our body…but for the spiritual needs of our soul. (Is. 8)
In John 7, Jesus stood up on the last day of the Feast of
Tabernacles…The ceremony involved scooping water out of the pool of
Siloam and pouring the water over the altar and just at the moment they
were pouring the water while everyone was around, Jesus stood up and
said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me."
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