Joh 9:1-3 | KingComments | STEP | John focuses our attention on another event in the Lord’s life: the healing of a man born blind. This history is an illustration of what the Lord said in John 8 about the light. In the healing of a man born blind we see how he comes to the light, both physically and spiritually. The Lord opens his physical eyes and the eyes of his heart. That testimony is rejected. The Jews reject the man born blind because they reject the Lord Jesus. We read that the Lord passes by and then sees a man who is blind from birth. In a spiritual sense that is the condition of every human being and therefore we can make a broad application of this history. The Lord follows the way the Father wants Him to go. At the same time that is the path in which all initiative comes from Him. No human being has any influence on that. On that pathway He sees this man who is blind from birth and whom He wants to turn into one of His sheep. That subject is discussed extensively in John 10, which as far as its content is concerned is directly linked to John 9. Here we see how everything originates from the Lord. There is no call for help from the blind man. The Lord acts out of pure grace. The disciples also see the man, probably because the Lord draws their attention to him and tells them that this man is born blind. They respond with a question about the cause of his blindness. Their question demonstrates how Jewish they still think. They know from the law that God visits the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation ( ). Their question also reveals how little they are aware of Him Who is present in grace. The disciples start from the idea of a direct government of God, in which God immediately punishes evil and rewards good. But the time of a direct government with such an intervention of God has not yet come. We find this wrong way of concluding among the friends of Job as well. They see the misery that has come over Job and conclude that he must have sinned very badly, for otherwise God would not punish him so severely. The Lord’s answer makes it clear that there is a form of suffering that does not mean punishment or retribution, but serves a higher purpose, namely, to display the works of God (cf. ). In order to display the works of God, the Son was sent by the Father. These works must be done as long as it is day, that is, as long as He is on earth. As long as He is on earth, the light shines on earth. Once night has come, that is, when He has been rejected, those works will no longer be possible. No one can take over that work that He does. There will be great works of faith, but no longer in the power and perfection that characterize His works. Since His rejection, it is night in the world ( ). The believers are not of the night ( ). Yet they are in the night of the world, but they belong to the day ( ). As long as He is on earth, it is day because He is the light of the world. The darkness is not yet total. We are also lights in the world ( ), but we are not the sun, and our shining is a shining in the night. He works while it is day.

‏ John 9:1-3

The Lord Sees a Man Blind From Birth

John focuses our attention on another event in the Lord’s life: the healing of a man born blind. This history is an illustration of what the Lord said in John 8 about the light. In the healing of a man born blind we see how he comes to the light, both physically and spiritually. The Lord opens his physical eyes and the eyes of his heart. That testimony is rejected. The Jews reject the man born blind because they reject the Lord Jesus.

We read that the Lord passes by and then sees a man who is blind from birth. In a spiritual sense that is the condition of every human being and therefore we can make a broad application of this history. The Lord follows the way the Father wants Him to go. At the same time that is the path in which all initiative comes from Him. No human being has any influence on that. On that pathway He sees this man who is blind from birth and whom He wants to turn into one of His sheep. That subject is discussed extensively in John 10, which as far as its content is concerned is directly linked to John 9.

Here we see how everything originates from the Lord. There is no call for help from the blind man. The Lord acts out of pure grace. The disciples also see the man, probably because the Lord draws their attention to him and tells them that this man is born blind. They respond with a question about the cause of his blindness. Their question demonstrates how Jewish they still think.

They know from the law that God visits the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation (Exo 20:5). Their question also reveals how little they are aware of Him Who is present in grace. The disciples start from the idea of a direct government of God, in which God immediately punishes evil and rewards good. But the time of a direct government with such an intervention of God has not yet come. We find this wrong way of concluding among the friends of Job as well. They see the misery that has come over Job and conclude that he must have sinned very badly, for otherwise God would not punish him so severely.

The Lord’s answer makes it clear that there is a form of suffering that does not mean punishment or retribution, but serves a higher purpose, namely, to display the works of God (cf. Jn 11:4). In order to display the works of God, the Son was sent by the Father. These works must be done as long as it is day, that is, as long as He is on earth. As long as He is on earth, the light shines on earth. Once night has come, that is, when He has been rejected, those works will no longer be possible.

No one can take over that work that He does. There will be great works of faith, but no longer in the power and perfection that characterize His works. Since His rejection, it is night in the world (Rom 13:12). The believers are not of the night (1Thes 5:5). Yet they are in the night of the world, but they belong to the day (1Thes 5:8). As long as He is on earth, it is day because He is the light of the world. The darkness is not yet total. We are also lights in the world (Phil 2:15), but we are not the sun, and our shining is a shining in the night. He works while it is day.