Who wants to be persecuted? Of course, the world’s answer is no one! But, people are being persecuted around the world every day. Politics, race, religion, economics, food, class, country of origin, lineage, family associations, and the list goes on and on. Satan tries to create strife, wars, murders, enslavement, death, class struggles, and disunity anyway he can.
False leaders and false teachers are his servants to aid in this deception. The Bible warns us about false prophets, false teachers, false shepherds, and evil priests. What are their schemes and what are their motives? Let us look into one example from the Book of John.
John 9:1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 9:2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" 9:3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
What was the prevailing belief for someone born with a defect of any kind? It was apparently the sins of the parents or of the child. Interestingly the disciples asked was it the sins of the child. How could a child born blind be guilty of sin? This doesn’t seem very thoughtful on their part, but traditions often blind us to the truth. But, they should have been very aware of this passage in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 18:20 "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
9:4 "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. 9:5 "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."
There is always the right time and the wrong time to do anything. But, we must do His work first and foremost. Our lives are but a vapor, we cannot always postpone His work for our own worldly desires.
9:6 When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 9:7 and said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.
There are a number of truths in these two verses. First, Jesus did ‘work’ according to the oral law, in that, He made clay. This is what a potter does for his work and therefore prohibited by the Pharisees. Secondly, what was the role of the blind man? He had to obey and go. He had to wash in the pool. Only after that would his sight be given to him. He had to particate in faith to the Words of Jesus.
9:8 Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, "Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?" 9:9 Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." 9:10 So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?"
In effect, they could not believe their eyes! This man had been a beggar for years. They all knew he had been born blind, he had never seen. Blind people have a way of walking, standing, conversing that is noticeable as they have never seen anything. He looked and acted so differently that they had a hard time seeing him as they once had. That should be the same for us. After Jesus opens our spiritual eyes, everyone should also wonder about the change in us.
9:11 He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash'; so I went away and washed, and I received sight." 9:12 They said to him, "Where is He?" He *said, "I do not know." 9:13 They *brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.
Interesting, why did they bring him to the Phariees? The Pharisees had already made it clear that they wanted to know what this ‘Jesus’ was doing. Today, the world wants to know what you are doing as well.
9:14 Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 9:15 Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, "He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see." 9:16 Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, "This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." But others were saying, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And there was a division among them.
Miracles did not register with these elders. They were never able to perform any miracles and did not like the attention given to Jesus when He performed them.
9:17 So they *said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?" And he said, "He is a prophet."
9:18 The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, 9:19 and questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?" 9:20 His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 9:21 but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself." 9:22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. 9:23 For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
Fear is a very powerful motivator. Here the parents feared being thrown out of the ‘Temple’ system. They had been taught that their very eternal life was dependent on being in the ‘Temple’. Many false systems teach the very same thing. Your salvation is tied to your membership.
9:24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner." 9:25 He then answered, "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."
9:26 So they said to him, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" 9:27 He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?"
9:28 They reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 9:29 "We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from."
He was not giving them the ‘right’ answer. The problem was their approach to a miracle. They should have been rejoicing and praising GOD. They should have been looking for Jesus themselves. They should have been proclaiming this mirace around the land. But, no they only tried to discredit and pressure the man to change his testimony and deny Jesus. This sounds like the persecution during the Inquisition of the 12th to 18th centuries. All you had to do to live was renounce your faith.
9:30 The man answered and said to them, "Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. 9:31 "We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. 9:32 "Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. 9:33 "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."
The blind man could see better than the blind Pharisees. Disagreeing with them was a sin. They kicked him out, shunned him, ostracized him and wanted nothing more to do with him.
9:34 They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?" So they put him out. 9:35 Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 9:36 He answered, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" 9:37 Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." 9:38 And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him.
Jesus heard, but He already knew all of this. He sought him out, just as He pursued each of us. He then revealed in a very real sense that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of God! How did this now seeing man respond? He prostrated himself in front of Jesus and praised Him as GOD.
9:39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." 9:40 Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, "We are not blind too, are we?" 9:41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains.
Spiritually blind people don’t believe they are blind. They are convinced that their religion saves them. That they know just enought ‘truth’ to live without surrendering to Jesus.
Jesus reminds them and us, that blind men have to pay for the costs and penalties of their sin. This is a terrible condition to live with and for which to die. The offer and gift of salvation has a time limit; don’t wait too long or it may expire.
More next Saturday.