JEAN'S BIBLE STUDY
| KJV WEB
| Endtime Prophecy
| Parallel Gospels
Page Numbers | Plywood Canoe
OT Commentary | Books
Contact | Gospel Tract

JOHN CHAPTER 9 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Jn 9,1-12 (145b) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Healing >> Methods of healing >> Unique methods of healing (245d) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestation of Jesus Christ >> Jesus literally gives sight to the blind Jn 9,1-5 (218k) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> Man is a spectator of his own salvation >> We are chosen before the foundation of the world Jn 9,1-3 (18e) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Presumptuous speculation (135k) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Abortion >> God loves the fetus >> Don’t throw away defective people -- These verses go with verses 8-11 (178c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Presuming the facts about the circumstances >> Presumption interprets our observations -- Jesus and his disciples met a man who was born blind, and his disciples asked Him, ‘Who sinned, this man or his parents that he should be born blind.’ Jesus answered ‘Neither; rather, the man was born blind that the works of God should be displayed in him.’ Based on the disciple’s question, there must have been a philosophy back then that automatically attributed evil to a person going through hard times as retribution for sin they presumably committed. That same philosophy is still alive in Hinduism, which is the oldest religion in the world, dating long before the time of Christ, suggesting that the disciples were probably influenced by an ancient precept of Hinduism. People still believe that when something bad happens to people, they must have committed a sin. Another example of this is in the book of Job; all of his friends must have been Hindus, who went to encourage him in his darkest hour, but did more to add to his suffering. This is typical of Hinduism. Jn 9-2,3 (108e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Balance >> God's sovereignty balances good from evil KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9,4-7 (115l) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working (with) the grace of God >> Through Good Works >> Works that God has prepared for you – This statement was intended for both His first and second coming, "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work." Much of what Jesus said was meant for both eras, since they are mirror images of each other. We must do the works of God while we can, because darkness is coming with persecution and martyrdom, and doing the works of God will no longer be possible, anymore than Jesus performed miracles after He was arrested. We all need to fill our hands with the will of God, not works of our own liking, but the works that God has designated for us. Such was this blind man. Had he washed in a pool other than the one Jesus designated, he might not have received his sight. We all need an experience in obedience, for nobody is strong enough in his flesh to believe in Jesus without obeying Him. Jn 9-4,5 (112g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Light >> Obeying the truth in broad daylight >> Jesus’ deeds in the light -- The world would love to rid itself of Christianity, like trying to rid itself of Christ. We are the body of Christ, and the Bible promises that Christ is never to die again (Rev 1-18). Heb 9-25,26 says, “Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” This passage is pointing to Catholicism as the weapon in the hand of the antichrist that he uses to martyr the saints, in that it believes that Jesus is sacrificed as often as they partake of the Eucharist. However, an endtime revival will occur right under the nose of the antichrist, who will be helpless to stop it. Israel will finally discover its faith in Jesus as their Messiah, God’s chosen people according to the flesh; 144,000 of them will lead the Church in a Great Endtime Revival that will span the globe with hundreds of millions of people getting saved. Of the 144,000 there will be Two Witnesses who will protect the body of Christ, leading God’s people into the wilderness, where they will set up camps throughout the world. Anybody who seeks salvation and protection from the mark of the beast may become part of this revival. In the days of Moses, they designated certain cities to be set aside where a man could seek refuge from those who were seeking vengeance for a crime he allegedly committed; he could come to one of these cities and be properly tried by a court of law, as opposed to tracked by bounty hunters and killed like an animal. These camps will bear a resemblance to these cities of refuge. See also: Great Endtime Revival (Two periods: first century and last century); Jn 16,25-27; 140d (114i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Jesus does God’s work >> All His works are what the Father does – This was one of many statements Jesus made to indicate that He was subject to His Father’s will, and that didn’t change once He returned to heaven. The son has always been and will always be subject to His Father, hence the Father/Son relationship, denoting differences in authority. The Father delegates His authority to His Son while remaining the final authority of all things. Jesus in turns delegates His authority to the Church through the Holy Spirit. He has become our Great High Priest, seated at the right-hand of God, interceding for those who would inherit eternal salvation, who have become His brothers and sisters in the faith, and they will remain with Him forever. (153e) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Shame >> Hiding under a cloud of guilt >> Preferring darkness over the light – When Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world,” does that mean the light is no longer in the world now that Jesus is in heaven? After Jesus ascended to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit in His place, who is the exact representation of the Son and of the Father. Therefore, so long as the Holy Spirit is in the world, there is potential for light. We know that Jesus was crucified for the very reason of being the light of the world. Man wants his world to remain in darkness, for the world is following Satan, which is the ultimate source of darkness, and man seeks Satan’s darkness as his disciple. (184e) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Darkness >> God controls darkness >> Darkness is the absence of light -- After the apostles fell asleep there was a long historical period when comparatively few people were being saved, called the Dark Ages. They resulted from Catholicism instilling its many false doctrines in the Church, permeating Christianity, making it nearly impossible for God to work with His people. Catholicism still believes and practices many of these false teaching to this day. Jesus said, “Night is coming,” meaning His own death was imminent, also meaning the Dark Ages were coming, “when no one can work.” People say we have entered an age of enlightenment, referring to scientific inventions that make life easier, but until God is free to work among His people, we remain in darkness. In the last days there will be a great persecution that will resemble the time of Jesus’ death, only it will be the saints being martyred. There will be a global economic collapse, and the antichrist will make up stories that the Jews are responsible for all the evils of the world and that their current dilemma is the result of a self-fulfilled prophecy perpetrated by Christians, and so the antichrist will spearhead a campaign of hunting Jews and Christians like dogs, corralling them his in concentration camps for execution. They will recount all the wars fought in the name of Christ (though none of those warmongers knew God), such as Constantine who held up a giant cross as his army marched into battle. See also: Last days (Global economic collapse); Tit 2-15; 70k KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9-6,7 (79h) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Practice listening to God’s word so you can hear it -- These verses go with verse 11 (87i) Thy kingdom come >> Obedience >> Those who obey believe in God >> Those who obey the word – The pool of Siloam is translated “Sent”, so Jesus sent the blind man to Sent to wash the mud off his face, and he came back seeing, sent being the key word here. Jesus healed the man this way to show that the method of healing was not the active ingredient but faith. The man wasn’t prepared to receive his healing from Jesus. He may have heard that He was a healer, but he still had difficulty believing He could be healed, since he was born blind. It must have been a real challenge to believe this, so Jesus gave him an assignment. He smeared mud on his face and told him to go wash. That is, since he could not "believe" in Jesus, he obeyed Him instead. Then he was healed, showing that obedience is tantamount to believing. This passage is reminiscent to a story in the Old Testament about a man named Naaman (2King 5,7-27). He was a leper and he came to Elijah seeking to be healed of his leprosy. Naaman was a self-important man, an army commander who demanded Elijah's respect. For that reason Elijah refused to see him, but sent his servant instead to give him a message to go wash seven times in the Jordan River. If he did, his leprosy would be cleansed. It enraged Naaman that Elijah would not personally see him, until his servant spoke to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed!’” So Naaman went and did as instructed and returned cleansed of his leprosy. This was a prelude to baptism. In the case of the blind man, he didn't know how to believe in Jesus for his sight, so Jesus gave him a simple task that qualified as faith. We can say the same about all Jesus' commandments, that if we do them, is equal to believing in Him. Jesus said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (Jn 15-12). If we do this, it qualifies as faith, but if we don’t love one another, it means we don't believe in Him. This is our daily challenge as Christians. (113i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Anoint with oil -- These verses go with verse 11 Jn 9,8-11 (135k) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Abortion >> God loves the fetus >> Don’t throw away defective people -- These verses go with verses 35-38 Jn 9-11 (79h) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word >> Practice listening to God’s word so you can hear it -- This verse goes with verses 6&7 (113i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Anoint with oil -- This verse goes with verses 6&7. In the Old Testament one of the facets of ancient temple worship was applying the anointing oil of perfume on the high priest prior to making the annual sacrifice. This fragrant oil included a fine mixture of many spices that the Levites put together from a recipe that God commanded Israel through Moses. We could say that Jesus anointed the blind man with mud and gave him a specific set of instructions, that if he followed them would effect his healing, just like the high priest followed a highly specialized set of instructions, that if he meticulously performed them would effect God’s forgiveness on Israel’s sins, forgiveness being tantamount to healing (Mk 2-9). Therefore, it wasn’t the mud, nor the water in the pool of Siloam, nor the act of washing that healed the blind man but God, through meticulous obedience to His specific word. See also: Temple in Jerusalem (temple will be rebuilt in the last days); Mat 24,15-24; 50a Jn 9,13-15 (150g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Confessing Jesus >> Confessing what Jesus has done – These verses go with verses 24-34 Jn 9,13-34 (173m) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Man’s Religion >> Resisting the Kingdom of God KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9,16-41 (180a) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Wolves lead people into a cult >> Leading people for sordid gain Jn 9,16-18 (20b) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unbelief >> Unwilling to acknowledge the facts -- The Jews and Pharisees agued with each other whether this was the man born blind, and the man kept telling them, "I am the one." The Jews knew it was him because they grew up with him, but now they had doubts. Suddenly they became blind, because they didn’t want to believe that Jesus healed him. Jn 9-16 (17k) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Ignorance >> Misinterpreting Jesus – It is hard to fathom the Pharisees actually didn't believe Jesus was the Christ because He healed on the Sabbath. The Pharisees kept the Sabbath, they said, but could they perform healing? No! The Pharisee should have said something like this, ‘He performs supernatural acts and goes around doing good, the only thing that seems out of place is that He heals on the Sabbath, so maybe we ought to rethink our theology about the Sabbath.' Over the centuries the religious establishment added extra rules and regulations to the Sabbath, until it was nearly impossible to keep. Originally, God gave Israel the Sabbath as one day a week when the people could put down their work and rest, but the Pharisees turned it into the most arduous day of the week, and Jesus refused to acknowledge their auxiliary decrees, healing more people on the Sabbath than on any other day of the week. He said about them in Mat 15-8,9, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” The Pharisees were using the Sabbath as merely an excuse to persecute Jesus. (18h) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Can’t distinguish between good and evil >> Jesus is evil -- This verse goes with verse 24 (19j) Sin >> Self righteousness will twist your mind (65d) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Jesus brings division >> He divides a society along it’s natural fault lines (146i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the world may be saved -- This verse goes with verse 25 (174g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Self righteousness >> Believing you don’t have a sinful nature -- This verse goes with verse 34 Jn 9,17-34 (75j) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Being manipulative >> Controlling people by abusing authority (242h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Worldly pressure >> World pressures you to forsake your convictions Jn 9-17,18 (162d) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> A slave to unbelief >> Bondage to an unwillingness to believe (deception) -- These verses go with verses 26-29. The blind man kept saying, “I am the one.” They must have thought he was lying. If it was hard to believe this man was born blind and received his sight, imagine how hard it was for the blind man to believe for his healing. The Pharisees refused to believe this even after contacting his parents, who confirmed he was indisputably born blind, but they still wouldn’t believe it. People who need evidence to support their faith are not the same as those who live and walk in unbelief. Unbelief is a spirit, and those caught in its power are led by demonic forces. Many of those who need help believing in God eventually do come to believe, but those in bondage to a spirit of unbelief, even if they were given all the evidence in the world, they still wouldn’t believe in Jesus. Jn 9-17 (152h) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Prophets >> Jesus is a prophet >> Jesus prophesies about the fulfillment of Scripture – Since his healing, the blind man said about Jesus that He was a prophet, as though all prophets had the ability to heal. Elijah did and so did Elisha, but not of any other prophet in the Old Testament, until Jesus came, who was more than a prophet and healer. So the blind man who was healed was saying that Jesus was a prophet like Elijah, whose ministry was to straighten the crooked and restore the people to their God, which is the ministry of all prophets. Elijah didn’t go around healing everybody like Jesus did, but he did heal some; he even raised a young boy from the dead. All anointings have one purpose and that is faith. We could even say that every born-again Christian who has a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ has a prophetic ministry abiding in him. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9,18-30 (167k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world’s unbelief Jn 9,18-23 (2k) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not touch the apple of His eye >> Do not oppose others – These verses go with verse 28. (20i) Sin >> Doubting miracles – There is nothing wrong with doubting a person who claimed to be healed, since there are many shysters with motives to deceive, and no one likes to be exploited. For the Pharisees to seek proof of his healing actually increased our confidence in that now we have solid proof that a genuine miracle took place. Now that the Pharisees did their research and discovered absolute proof that this man was indeed born blind and now sees, the man credits His sight to one man: Jesus Christ. (58h) Paradox >> Opposites >> Shut you out that you might seek them – It would not be easy to be a Jew, ostracized from their religion, though they were allowed to remain among the tribes of Israel. In the Old Testament there were two punitive measures imposed on serious offenders: death by stoning and being banished from the tribes of Israel, forced to live among the gentiles who were looked upon as dogs, their status as Jew stripped from them, being worse than a leper. To be ostracized from the synagogue was similar, in that the only practical difference between a Jew and a gentile was their religion, which mostly revolved around the synagogues, peppered throughout Israel like churches, and then there was the temple in Jerusalem. Going to the synagogue was like going to church. They would meet their friends and family there, chat with their friends and read from the Old Testament and discuss the Scriptures. They journeyed to Jerusalem once a year for celebrations such as Passover, where the entire nation would gather to remember their past. To lose that was to lose their identity as Jews. (199h) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> The world rejects God >> Rejecting Christ to keep the world – We can hardly blame the parents for protecting their place in the synagogue, though they didn’t seem to recognize the miracle that happened to their son as having any real significance to them. In essence, they denied the truth, and if they ever met Jesus after shrugging off the miracle, it would have been much harder to believe in Him. Had they been closer to their son, they would have been happier that he could now see, perhaps happy enough to accept being ostracized from the synagogue. It would have also made them available for faith in Jesus after His resurrection and after the gospel was preached to every creature starting in Israel. In the end, being ostracized would have been better than the consequence that their current direction was taking them. The opportunity to lay claim to the resurrection from the dead was at their doorstep, but if they couldn’t affirm the healing of their son, how could they believe in the same man for eternal life? Sacrificing Jesus to maintain status in the synagogue, to later see the Romans demolish their temple, the very thing they tried to avoid came upon them. Their son, however, when he heard the gospel immediately believed in Jesus. Jn 9-22 (150f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Confessing Jesus >> Confessing Jesus as the son of God Jn 9,24-34 (7a) Responsibility >> Protecting the Gospel >> Contend earnestly for the faith – The man stood firm and was not about to say a word against the Lord, and he lost his place in the synagogue as a result of his steadfastness, but then, who would want to go to church with those guys anyway? He wasn’t about to condemn the man who healed him. This was the tactic of the Pharisees and it is the tactic of the devil: threaten and intimidate. Jesus was starting a new movement, and this man who was healed of his blindness would seek out Jesus and his disciples and attach himself to them. This man had every intension of affixing himself to this new covenant enacted by the blood of his Healer. We never heard about him again, but it is fair to say that when the Church began to grow in popularity and numbers, he could see the way to the cross and to the saints and become part of God’s Church. (53j) Paradox >> Opposites >> Contradicting your own standards >> Believing in something you don’t understand – The Pharisees believed a Jewish Messiah would come, and thought they believed in Him, but discovered they didn't. Instead, they considered Jesus a sinner, though in their hearts they knew He wasn't. They knew He healed this man born blind, which was not something anyone else could do, and they even knew He was the Son of God, their Messiah, whom their nation had been expecting since the Minor Prophets wrote about Him, such as Zechariah in 518 BC. Had they looked 200 years earlier to Isaiah in the seventh century BC, they would have discovered many of his prophecies being fulfilled by the very man they condemned. The Minor Prophets wrote about an age that was to come, the Millennium, which is still to come, but there was a 2000-year age of grace that must come first and was mostly overlooked by the spiritual leaders of Israel. God intended this, being the reason the prophets wrote about it incognito, placing hints throughout the Scriptures, being enough, though, for anyone with a remnant of the spirit to foresee it. See also: Church gives birth to the Millennium; Jn 16,19-22; 125e (110c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through us in times of persecution (150g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Confessing Jesus >> Confessing what Jesus has done – These verses go with verses 13-15. This passage is about the man whom Jesus healed of blindness. The Pharisees were looking for something they could use to discount this miracle, or at least find a way to lie about it and dissuade others from believing in Jesus. The man born blind was not born stupid; he answered the Pharisees very intelligently, even cross-examining them. Instead of the man recounting the circumstances, he said, ‘I already told you; why do you want to hear it again?’ Then he began mocking them, knowing he was already ostracized from the synagogue just for being healed, gladly giving up his seat for his eyesight and for a chance to “see” the man who healed him. The healed man didn’t tell the story to everybody like the leper in Matthew chapter eight, to the point that Jesus was no longer able to show his face in public without attracting a mob; he only testified to those who asked him. He was hesitant to recount the story to the Pharisees, because he knew they did not believe in Jesus, and that they had ulterior motives for wanting him to recount the story. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9-24 (18f) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Accusing God – The Pharisees had already made up their minds that Jesus was a sinner and were looking for evidence to substantiate their claims. People do this all the time; it is called deductive reasoning, the so-called scientific method, which was used in the formation of the industrial revolution starting in the late 1700s, which led to our current technological revolution. So it has its place, but people who use it must be objective about the evidence they collect, or this method will lead them astray, symbolic of the Pharisees. This is the case with all God’s enemies who hate Him for false reasons; they never develop objective proof to substantiate their hate, as Jesus said in Jn 15-25, “They hated Me without a cause.” It required the Pharisees to misinterpret virtually everything in order to fit evidence into their unbelief-system. The thing that is so insidious about the Pharisees is that they were leaders of a religion that represented the God of heaven. Back then polytheism was very common, but the Jewish faith consisted of a single God, making Israel unique among nations. They also had thousands of years of history backing their position as leaders of God’s covenant with their ancestors accompanied by powerful signs, such as the Exodus from Egypt and the Davidic kingdom. (18h) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Can’t distinguish between good and evil >> Jesus is evil -- This verse goes with verse 29. It seems the Pharisees had an epiphany that Jesus was evil. Living in a world that is controlled by demons, these spiritual entities converged on them and imparted a satanic revelation, searing it into their blackened hearts as with a hot branding iron. People like them spend their whole lives looking for evidence to support their unbelief. Somewhere in their hardened little hearts they knew Jesus was their Messiah. Although Jesus did not speak or act as the Pharisees expected, He demonstrated His divinity through miracles, signs and wonders and by words He spoke from the authority of God. We would think they would have at least given Him a hearing, but they didn’t, because the Pharisees were phonies. They knew for a fact that He was a prophet, yet they persecuted Him. Although they condemned their forefathers for martyring the prophets of old, they were intending to do the same to Jesus (Mat 23,29-39). This depicts a terribly convoluted mind, leading to a rat’s nest of knotted thoughts, pulled tight. The Pharisees did this to their own minds, tinkering with bits and pieces of religious mandates, like blackbirds capriciously lining their nest with shiny fragments of debris. They didn't care about the truth, only that no one exposed them as ridiculous imitators of holy men. To call Jesus a sinner after providing so many convincing proofs exposed the Pharisees, being utterly depraved. (19m) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unwilling to believe >> Spirit of unbelief -- This verse goes with verses 28&29 (157b) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of being hell-bound >> Rejecting God >> Rejecting Christ (169c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by a false sense of sight -- This verse goes with verses 39-41. It is ironic that the Pharisees tried to use a healed man born blind to prove Jesus was a sinner. It would seem this guy should have been the last person to use as evidence against the Lord, since he was living proof that Jesus was a healer; how then could He be a sinner? The Pharisees didn’t have a choice but to pick on him in attempt to discredit his testimony. They tried coercing him to testify against Christ, but the man could see that these men were more blind than him before he met Jesus. (177e) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Doctrine that tickles your ears (186b) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Consider the work of the Holy Spirit to be sin – Isn’t this one way of talking about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, accusing Jesus of working for the devil? He performed the works of God, and everyone knew it, yet the Pharisees attributed what He was doing to Satan, though they knew He was the Son of God. They were lying to themselves, and that is the true definition of blasphemy. Whenever we lie to ourselves, we're lying to God, and somewhere in our heart we know what we are doing, blaspheming against our own conscience. Once we destroy our conscience we begin to develop a reprobate mind, and then salvation become impossible to us. KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9-25 (146i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the world may be saved -- This verse goes with verses 32&33. The healed man was cleaver not to judge Jesus as neither Messiah nor sinner. His title didn’t matter to him, only that He healed him, which was something nobody else could do. To the blind man, Jesus was his healer, and nobody could take that from him. As Healer He was also savior, and as Savior also Messiah. To the man healed of his blindness it didn't matter how He did it, and he couldn’t imagine why it mattered to the Pharisees. Jn 9,26-34 (54f) Paradox >> Opposites >> Pupil instructing the teacher (169d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by false judgments – The man healed of his blindness knew the Pharisees were utterly devoid of truth and were pressuring him to speak against the One who opened his eyes. The man was so convinced, he mocked the Pharisees for their attempts to dissuade him from believing in Jesus. The man knew that God does not hear sinners from Psalms 109-7, “Let his prayer become sin.” What is the definition of a sinner but someone who refuses to get saved, and the definition of one who is saved is someone who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. So a sinner is someone who has rejected the indwelling Holy Spirit from being his friend and guide through life. The unsaved person doesn’t want the Holy Spirit interweaving His presence into his life. He wants to be separate from God, though they pray to him for favors. God answers prayer, not based on a favor but based on a Father/son relationship through faith. (198b) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Man withers when he is in control >> Unteachable >> Too busy being a teacher to learn anything – The Pharisees were disciples of Moses because they could trust that God had spoken to him. They claimed to be unwilling to take any chances and accidentally believe a lie. They were like the Evangelicals and Baptists today who claim to be keepers of the truth, yet reject all manifestations of the Spirit. They acted afraid to put their faith in someone like Jesus, whom they could not trust because He did not have the seal of God's favor as Moses had, as though Jesus' miracles didn't act as a seal. Moses sensed the call of God on His life and was trying to defend the Israelites when he killed an Egyptian, and his own people turned against him, so he had to flee into the wilderness, and that is when God formally spoke to him and instituted his ministry. The Israelites gave him trouble, being extremely rebellious, so much that God opened the earth and swallowed some of them and made the rest wander in the wilderness for forty years, until their entire generation died, being faithless and beyond hope. The religious establishment in Jesus' day was just like them. They would have joined the rebellion of Korah had they lived in those days, or they would have died wandering in the wilderness; they would have complained and murmured against Moses, but now that centuries have elapsed and people have hindsight to easily see the big picture, the Pharisees were disciples of Moses, but they were treating Jesus just like their forefathers treated Moses and all the prophets. See also: Pharisees; Jn 9,26-29; 162d / (Blasphemy) Pharisees denied that Jesus was the Christ; Act 26,4-11; 175m Jn 9,26-29 (162d) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> A slave to unbelief >> Bondage to an unwillingness to believe (deception) -- These verses go with verse 34. The Pharisees refused to believe this man was born blind and had been healed. They even took him to his parents to confirm he was the man the townspeople claimed was born blind. The Pharisees believed God had spoken to Moses, but said of Jesus, “We do not know where He is from.” They held to Moses, using the Scriptures as proof that he had a place among the patriarchs, but during Moses’ own time the Jews gave him nothing but trouble. They rebelled against everything Moses commanded them, and they wandered in the wilderness for forty years because of it. These Pharisees who were persecuting Jesus were acting the same, yet they gave Moses godlike status. They were convinced of their traditions, that is, convinced of the profits they were making through their business of religion than they were of the prophet who came to take away their sin. They rejected Christ because he was attempting to uproot their ancient Jewish traditions and establish a new platform upon which the nation of Israel and the whole world would relate to God for the next 2000 years. They rejected Him because He did not reflect their old ways, but wanted to change everything in ways that seemed unrelated to the manner in which God led Israel in the past. See also: Pharisees; Jn 9,26-34; 198b Jn 9,26-28 (240d) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Natural disadvantage >> Beware when all men speak well of you >> Natural disadvantage of being popular Jn 9-27 (63j) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcastic from being emotional >> Angry KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9,28-30 (185d) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Mystery of lawlessness >> Denying Christ in spite of His proven identity – The Pharisees blew their cover when they called Jesus a sinner; they couldn’t say this with a straight face; their convoluted logic morbidly lacked in objectivity, having started with an answer and worked backwards looking for evidence to support a hypothesis. We could shake our finger at them, but this is actually the scientific method, called deductive reasoning. It normally serves the scientist well if they are sincere in their pursuit of the facts, but the Pharisees didn’t like their answer and were searching for a better one to spite the facts. Jn 9-28,29 (19m) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unwilling to believe >> Spirit of unbelief -- These verses go with verse 24. The Pharisees were utterly close-minded. We pursue the truth as something that is bigger than us, as something we cannot control. The Pharisees had no hope of understanding Jesus from their understanding of the Scriptures, being grossly inaccurate. They were not using their religion to seek God, but to seek fame and fortune. They claimed to hold Moses in high regard, too bad their forefathers didn’t, who continually murmured against him and perished in the wilderness, God refusing to give them an inheritance in the land of promise because of their attitude. There were those who were obedient and were punished with the wicked, such as Joshua and Caleb, who were forced to wander in the wilderness with them. No doubt many others were faithful and could have received the promise land in their youth, yet lost forty years of their lives to their defiant neighbors and had to fight the Canaanites in their older age. The Pharisees were rebellious just like their ancestors. Unquestionably, had the Pharisees been alive during the days of Moses, they would have sided with the rebellion of Korah and been swallowed by the earth in their willful ignorance. They were the cause of Israel rejecting their Messiah. Had good men been in places of authority, Israel would have received their Messiah, but Israel listened to their leaders instead of Christ. It is not a coincidence that men like them were in authority, since the traits of psychopathy lend themselves to leadership positions, having determined the downward trend of society since the beginning of time. (196i) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Lukewarm Christianity (223f) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Miss God >> Missing the point >> Miss the meaning of the truth Jn 9-28 (2k) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not touch the apple of His eye >> Do not oppose others – This verse goes with verses 18-23 Jn 9-29 (18h) Sin >> Twisted thinking >> Can’t distinguish between good and evil >> Jesus is evil -- This verse goes with verse 16 Jn 9-31 (83a) Thy kingdom come >> Receiving from God through prayer >> Prayer of faith (87f) Thy kingdom come >> Ministry to God through obedience >> The obedience of prayer – The fact that God hears the prayer of the righteous indicates that it is without question their greatest ministry toward God as members of the Royal Priesthood (1Pet 2-9), coupled with their study of the Scriptures. This ministry is a matter of taking certain passages into prayer and praying according to the word of God, until we receive a revelation of it, and then walking and praying in that revelation. We know that God is both infinite and eternal, being wide as He is deep, equally infinite in every dimension, that we “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth” (Eph 3-18). Paul provided four dimensions, suggesting that the fourth dimension is time. Einstein studied time and space and concluded that they were essentially the same, a cube in the fourth dimension, which is a fair description of the New Jerusalem described in Rev 21-16, and His people will live there forever in their hometown. (88j) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God causes repentance (241e) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Hindering the kingdom >> Obstacles in the way of the kingdom >> Ask but don’t receive because of unbelief – The prayer of the wicked is just more sin. That they would attempt to pray to God without wanting to know Him is perhaps the most grievous of all sin. God would rather they got saved or stopped praying to Him. Jesus would see the Pharisees praying on the street corners and it literally turned His stomach. They were religious leaders, yet they had not given their hearts to God. Jesus quoted an Old Testament verse to them from Isaiah 29-13, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mat 15-9). Their prayers were merely part of the religious veneer they created for appearance sake, but underneath the façade they were like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appeared beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness (Mat 23-27,28). Jn 9,32-34 (200i) Denying Christ >> Excuses for rejecting Christ >> Using irresponsibility as an excuse to reject God >> Trying to talk your way out of accountability Jn 9-32,33 (146i) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Jesus’ works bear witness of Himself >> Purpose of Miracles, Signs And Wonders >> Proof that Jesus is the son of God >> That the world may be saved -- These verses go with verse 16 KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9,34-38 (86d) Thy kingdom come >> Belief demands a response (252d) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship Jesus (Because He is equal with God) >> Worship Jesus for what He does through the Father -- Jesus later returned to the man who was healed of his blindness and asked him if He believed in the Son of Man, and he said yes but didn’t know who had healed him. Jesus said, “You have both seen Him and he is the one who is talking with you.” The man said, “Lord I believe,” and then he worshipped Jesus. It was significant that Jesus did not stop the man worshipping Him. It is good to worship God, but to worship anyone else would be idolatry. This man lived his whole life in darkness, and then Jesus came and opened his eyes, so he could see his Lord. It says he worshipped Jesus, and in other cases people worshipped Him, such as Mary, who washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair at the house of Simon the Pharisee, and Jesus didn’t stop her either. If Jesus were not God in human flesh, it would have been a sin to allow anyone to worship Him, but it says He was without sin, which means He was also God. Every case in Scripture that we find people worshipping Jesus proves this point. Jn 9-34 (17l) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Discerning by the flesh >> Making distinctions between each other (97a) Thy kingdom come >> Having a negative attitude about yourself >> A self-righteous attitude (162d) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> A slave to unbelief >> Bondage to an unwillingness to believe (deception) -- This verse goes with verses 17&18. The Pharisees ostracized the man from the synagogue who was healed of his blindness, no great loss, not with leaders like them. The healed man was telling the Pharisees the truth, and if they had an affinity for the truth at all, they would have listened to him, but they didn’t. The only thing they understood was advantage. If the truth gave them an advantage, they would have believed it, but since it didn’t, they rejected it. There is always an advantage in believing God's truth, even when it speaks against us or brings about persecution. God's truth is worth believing, because it is eternal, whereas man’s truth quickly mutates, becomes obsolete and ultimately perishes. There are demons behind every lie about God, and we don’t want to be like Pharisees who commune with demons. (174g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Self righteousness >> Believing you don’t have a sinful nature -- This verse goes with verses 39-41. This statement from the Pharisees is the height of self-righteousness. The gospels speak extensively about the Pharisees, not just as a historical fact, but as an example of those who would take their place throughout the generations. The man healed of his blindness began teaching the Pharisees, who had an unteachable spirit, and they rejected everything he said to them. The Pharisees were right in saying the man was born entirely in sin, but failed to recognize it about themselves. The Pharisees assumed the man was born in sin because he was blind from birth, as though his blindness were a judgment from God. This is a Hindu philosophy, the oldest religion in the world; thus, karma was one of the first lies invented by the devil. The Pharisees were more influenced by their Hindu believing neighbors than they were by their own religion and Messiah. See also: Hinduism (Karma - God does not baby-sit mankind); Act 17,22-31; 54ea (223a) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Conceit >> Thinking you are superior to others >> Thinking you are inherently better than others Jn 9,35-38 (135k) Temple >> Your body is the temple of God >> Sins of the body >> Abortion >> God loves the fetus >> Don’t throw away defective people -- These verses go with verses 1-3. This man was born blind (defective). Nowadays we can determine the general health of a fetus, and when we conclude that it is not healthy and will probably be born with handicaps and possible health issues, often the parents abort the child, but in this case the child was born, and as an adult he believed in Jesus, while his parents denied the Lord. The blind man received his sight, came to know the Lord and found his place in heaven, where he will enjoy his life forever in the company of the faithful, among the angels of God, and in the presence of the Father, but his parents were cast into outer darkness. The very thing they feared and tried to avoid came upon them. They protected their place in the synagogue and lost their place in heaven, unless of course they repented, but there is no indication of that. So often this is the case with people who abort their children, many lose their place in heaven, while their aborted child proceeds directly to paradise. (156i) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Confessing Jesus is evidence of salvation KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9,39-41 (16k) Sin >> Continuing in sin to avoid the light >> Suppressing the truth they cannot deny – Jesus reasoned with the Pharisees many times, making statements that were incomprehensible to them, and He refused to explain Himself. The amazing thing about the Pharisees, they really did know what Jesus was saying, but whether they consciously knew is questionable; they knew but they didn’t know at the same time. The Pharisees and the scribes were experts in the word of God; they studied it their whole lives, and being that their religion doubled as government (theocracy), gave the religious institution status in society above any would-be politician, though they submitted to the Romans, yet they never truly understood the words of their Old Testament writings, much less their Messiah. Jesus often hid behind their willful ignorance. (23b) Sin >> Pride can blind your eyes -- The Pharisees were convinced in their own minds that they believed the truth and were unwilling to open their minds to an alternate view. They rendered Jesus powerless to heal them of their spiritual blindness, because they were unwilling to admit they were blind. We must always be open to the possibility that we are blind to some extent, so when the truth comes to heal us, we will be ready to receive a more accurate rendition of the truth (Act 18,24-26). There will always be more truth than we already know, and the truth doesn’t always nicely append itself to our perspective. Sometimes we must amend it, and we must remain open to change, and also make sure it is God who wants to change us and not someone else. This takes discernment; Jesus promised in the next chapter that we will know His voice. (32d) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> Grace >> The grace of God’s healing power (40n) Judgment >> God is glorified >> God defends His truth through judgment – Jesus said that He came for judgment, but in other cases He claimed not to judge anyone (Jn 8-15); the difference of course is the context. The New Testament teaches that Jesus will be front and center at the White Throne Judgment (Rev 20,11-15), where His perfect righteousness will condemn the world of sinners. That is in the future, but what about the case when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees? He came to bring the gospel of Christ, and anybody who resisted Him judged themselves unworthy of eternal life. The gospel teaches that whoever believed in Him would not be judged, but whoever rejected Him would face the judgment. The religious establishment rejected the purpose of God in Christ, and their own rejection led them to the White Throne Judgment. His words cut them to the quick and destroyed them and followed them to the ends of the earth and into eternity. (57c) Paradox >> Opposites >> Vision impairs sight, but the blind can see (62n) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> Jesus deceives the lost (64l) Paradox >> Anomalies >> God helps Satan >> Jesus blinds the world – Many stood in the hearing of Jesus, unwilling to receive His word, confounded. By the time Jesus finished with them, they didn't know if everything they knew was wrong and would have to start from scratch, but they didn’t know how to begin, nor did they have the will to do it, so they were just stuck, like captain of the Titanic when it hit the iceberg and sank. They ended up in a rowboat which itself had a hole in it and was sinking. That was the situation the Pharisees found themselves with Jesus. When they looked back on their understanding of God and couldn’t see anymore, their confidence in their own beliefs vanished like a fog dispelled by the sun. Jesus destroyed their knowledge of God, proving their imbecility, and they were unable to deny it. (94g) Thy kingdom come >> God’s perspective >> His perspective on the sovereignty of God (118g) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Seeing through the eyes of your spirit >> Blind receive their sight (163d) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> Bondage makes you a victim of God’s judgment – People like the Pharisees compartmentalize knowledge in their minds, partitioning one idea from another. One lobe of their brain held their religion, and the other lobe is where they put Jesus' words, so He couldn't interfere with their beliefs. People manipulate their minds this way, figuring that since they are willing to do this to themselves, it gives them a right to manipulate others, and it all begins with building partitions and lying to self. Jesus essentially told them that they could not see the truth about the Scriptures because they could not see the truth about themselves, much less about Him. They lied to themselves about who they were and what they were, about the crimes they committed against society, exploiting people, creating doctrines designed to funnel money into their coffers, all the while denying what they were doing and somehow threading their evil ways into their Old Testament teachings. By mental calisthenics, they undermined their own understanding of God's word. Jesus was not about to tell them about these things since they would just deny it. He raised the dead, preached the gospel to the poor, and thousands followed Him; He opened their eyes and ears, and now He was telling the Pharisees they were wrong about everything. Jesus couldn’t perform miracles and be wrong in His teaching. He told them if they were blind, they would have no sin, meaning they would be open to His words and healed of their mental and spiritual maladies, and God would forgive their sin, “But since you say we see, your sin remains.” (164h) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is at enmity with God >> The world does not know God (169c) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by a false sense of sight -- These verses go with verse 24. What was the Pharisees' real motive for asking Jesus if they were blind? Keep in mind these Pharisees were utterly close-minded, so they weren’t legitimately asking if they were blind, but were saying it incredulously as though to say, ‘We dare you to call us blind!’ not saying it as a question but as a contention. Jesus contradicted everything they believed. Their attitude was, ‘We know He must be wrong, because He doesn't say what we believe.’ Instead of questioning their own belief system, they automatically condemned His. Figuratively, He spoke a different language that they couldn't understand; that is, He spoke from a Spirit that they didn't know. He interpreted the Old Testament completely different from them to the point that they couldn’t even recognize it. (174g) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Form of godliness >> Self righteousness >> Believing you don’t have a sinful nature -- These verses go with verse 16 (177c) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine (Cults) >> Distorting Scripture for personal gain – The Pharisees had a relationship with the devil like cowbirds have with other bird species. Cowbirds are very deceitful; they lay eggs like any other bird but not in their own nest, and they don’t feed their own young. Instead, while the mother bird of another species is off her nest the cowbird will lay her egg in the unattended nest and often destroy the native eggs, and the mother will sit on the cowbird’s egg until it hatches, and she will raise the chick as though it were her own. The cowbird is like the devil and the surrogate mother like the Pharisees, who think they are laying on their own eggs, when in fact it is a belief system that the devil planted in their hearts. They incubate the lies of deception until the egg hatches, and a monstrous creature emerges often growing larger than the mother bird with a ravenous appetite, making the parents work themselves to a frazil trying to feed it. Eventually it flies off and repeats the behavior of its real mother, laying her eggs in another bird's nest. These Pharisees thought they were so smart, but they were being manipulated by the devil to care for false teachings of a completely different species, Satan. The mother returns to her nest and sees the cowbird’s egg there and assumes all is well, just like the Pharisees who thought all was well with their rendition of the Old Testament. (183i) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Spirit of the broad road >> Spirit of error will lead you astray – The Pharisees invited Jesus to criticize them when they asked Him if they were blind. Had they admitted they were blind, it may have been the beginning point of their ability to see, but since they refused to admit they were wrong, Jesus could not heal them. The Pharisees thought they knew the truth, but all they knew was their own point of view, which was skewed from viewing themselves in the wrong place on the map. It is much easier to read a road map than a topographical map, because we have the roads themselves to help us pinpoint our location. In the wilderness, it is hard to get our bearings even with a map, because all we have are hills, valleys and streams as hints of our location on the map, and they all look the same. That’s why, when we’re in the woods, we must always be mindful of your position or you will get lost, even with a map. At some point the Pharisees started walking on a long journey in the woods, bringing with them their map, which for us is the Old Testament Bible, believing they knew their position, having received their bearings from their parents. However, they too were lost, and so were their grandparents and so on throughout the generations. The Pharisees believed they had their bearings, but Jesus disagreed. In a secular way, the Pharisees possibly knew their place better than anyone, having status with the people and their business of religion, but spiritually, being teachers of the law, they were more lost than anyone. They asked the living map if they were lost, and had they been sincere, Jesus could have helped them find their way. (199k) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Unwilling to receive Christ >> Ignoring Christ (203a) Denying Christ >> Running from God >> Wicked men cannot approach the throne of God >> God chases them away from His presence (221e) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides from the mind of man >> He hides the truth from man’s understanding KJV WEB / Navigation Bar / Parallel Gospel Jn 9-39 (40a) Judgment >> Jesus is the judge >> Jesus judges the world’s unbelief (59e) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> Jesus confounds the religious leaders / Jesus heals their blindness See next page