Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth

 

Jesus heals a man who was blind from birth

 

John 9:1-3『And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.』

In this question, the disciples asked Jesus, "Is it because of sin that a person was born blind?" In other words, is it because of the sin of his parents or his own sin? The body of sin is passed down from the parents. However, this does not mean that sin is passed down, but that the body containing sin is passed down from the first man, Adam. "His own sin" means that there was already some sin before birth. It refers to the original sin committed in the kingdom of God. It is the crime of evil angels who did not keep their position. Therefore, God confined the spirits that committed sin in the body. The spirits that were confined in the body were spiritually dead because their relationship with God was cut off. Therefore, they were born in a soulish state. Since the spirit died, they became soulish beings.

As to the reason for the blindness, Jesus said, "It was not because of this man's sin or his parents'." This does not refer to physical blindness, but rather spiritual blindness. The spirits of people are imprisoned in the flesh, so they are all spiritually blind, and they do not know anything about the kingdom of God.

『That the works of God might be displayed.』What is the work of God? John 6:29『Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.』Here, regarding believing in the one whom God hath sent, John 6:39-40 explains:『And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.』

Here, we must realize the meaning of the word blind. We must discover that behind the literal expressions in the Bible, there is a hidden intention of God. The law, on the surface, says that if we keep the law well, God will make us righteous. However, the Bible tells us that all people under the law are sinners. Therefore, it means that if we find Christ through the law and come into Christ, we will receive resurrection life.

In John 6:48-51, it says, "I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat it, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." This means that even if you eat manna, which symbolizes the law, you will die. The law that God gave in the wilderness was not the law of life, but the law of disciplining sinners. Only the law of the Holy Spirit revives the dead spirit, and this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that leads to resurrection life.

If you think of the worldly stories in the Bible as worldly stories, you cannot know the things of heaven. The Bible explains the things of heaven by comparing them to things of the world. Therefore, if you cannot understand the things of heaven through the things of the earth, then everyone is blind to the Bible. When Jesus was talking to a rabbi named Nicodemus, he said, "If you do not believe me when I speak of things of the earth, how can you believe me when I speak of things of heaven?"

The opening of the eyes of the blind means understanding the things of heaven. Therefore, it means understanding the will of God and giving glory to God. Matthew 13:34-35 『All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.』

Regarding the opening of the eyes of the blind, Isaiah 35:5 says, "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped." Matthew 11:5 and Luke 4:18 also say the same thing. When the blind open their eyes, they will know the cause of sin and death, and they will also know the way back to the kingdom of God. This is united with the death of the cross, and united with the resurrection.

Opening the eyes of the blind is "so that the works of God may be made manifest." In other words, the work of God is to believe in the one whom God has sent. The one whom God has sent is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ leads sinners to God. Therefore, they realize that they are those who have left God because they wanted to become like God, and that in order to return to God, they must repent and die with Jesus. Then, God gives the repentant an eternal body of resurrection and allows them to return to the kingdom of God.

In order to open the eyes of someone who was born blind, Jesus said in John 9:6-7, “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, 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.』

However, the day that opened the blind man’s eyes was the Sabbath. Rest is to be released from a state of bondage. Therefore, Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. Those who enter into Christ are released from Satan, enter into rest, and become one with God. Jesus Christ gives rest to all who are bound. Since Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, He gives rest on the Sabbath to those who cannot rest. The Pharisees questioned Jesus based on the law, “Why do you work on the Sabbath?” They asked without even understanding the meaning of the Sabbath. Jesus frees those who are imprisoned on the Sabbath, but the Pharisees say that it is not right to do that on the Sabbath. The Pharisees are the blind.

In Matthew 23:16-24, Jesus called the Pharisees blind. He said of the Pharisees who did not understand the essence of the law and spoke of the law literally, “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.” Even today, if we do not understand the meaning of the law and only talk about what is stipulated in the law, we are blind to the kingdom of God. Those who are bound by the stipulations of the law are blind people who have nothing to do with the life of Jesus Christ. The blind are those who do not know about the kingdom of God.