(Suggested Reading: John 9)
The Pool of the Blind Man
In the previous chapter we saw that man could not enter the kingdom of God he was impotent. In this chapter we find out that he cannot even see that kingdom because he is born blind. Once again a pool is the setting used to demonstrate man's condition. Here the Lord performs an unmistakable sign of who He is the glory of His person as the Son of God by opening the eyes of a man born blind. And if man is blind from his birth it is clear that he needs a new birth.
Man Has the Power of Darkness Against Him and Is Blind Himself
Darkness and blindness are the two things against man. Darkness is the external power which Satan wields Col. 1:1313Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:13) blindness our own internal lack of power due to the fall. To illustrate this: in a darkened room the furniture is all there and I have eyes, but the darkness prevents me from seeing it. But if I am blind I have no power in myself to see the furniture, even if the light is turned on and the darkness dispelled. So it was that when Christ came into this world as the Great Light the authority of darkness was set aside He cast out demons, healed the blind, etc. But because man was blind he couldn't see the Light only "the carpenter's son." Well, if he couldn't, let us remember that in the old creation before there even was a man saw the light that it was good, and I have no doubt John 1:3232And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. (John 1:32) is the same thought. So God raises up a testimony, John the Baptist, to witness to the Light. This would be incredible if it were not written in the Word. Why? Because it is so contrary to nature. That is, I don't have to tell people that the sun is shining, but that was what John the Baptist was doing. "See the Light" was his message. So great was the moral darkness of man, so incurable his blindness, that he "comprehended not” that the True Light was shining, even when John the Baptist insisted that He was.
This confirms the Lord's words to Nicodemus "unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." To see it requires more than the setting aside of Satan's power and the witness of the Baptist. God Himself must intervene.
Only the Lord Can Open the Eyes of the Blind
Immediately before the Lord opened the blind man's eyes He said "as long as I am in the world I am the Light of the world." But the light does not help a man who is born blind to the person of the Son of God. So the Lord spat on the ground, made clay of the saliva, anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and said to him "go, wash in the pool of Siloam" a word which means "sent.”
Why did the Lord open the blind man's eyes this way? He had opened the eyes of the two blind men at Jericho without such a striking figure. But there is distinct teaching in the way He opened this man's eyes. Just as there were three commands to the impotent man, so there were three acts by the Lord to relieve the blind man of his blindness John 9:66When 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, (John 9:6).
.. Spitting on the ground: This is a figure of what comes out of the mouth, not merely of a humbled Savior, but of God. But what can come out of God's mouth but the Word of God? At the end of the Bible, when man has completely rejected Christ, a sharp two edged sword comes out of the Lord's mouth. That is the Word of God coming out of His mouth in judgment. Here it is the Word of God coming out of His mouth in grace. He spat on the ground. That is to say, the Father's commandment, to which He was obedient, was that He should meet us in our need here on the ground. The greatness of this downward stoop is the subject of Phil. 2.
Making clay of the saliva: The clay is Jesus taking a body, just as what came out of His mouth was a figure of His obedience to His Father's commandment to do so Heb. 10:55Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (Hebrews 10:5). To do this He must have stooped down, as in actuality He humbled Himself. This act confirmed His words in the previous chapter "I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me" John 8:4242Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (John 8:42).
.. Anointing the blind man's eyes with the mixture: Now the natural man would object that all that Jesus did so far was make the man even more blind, if possible, for He put an impenetrable mixture of clay and saliva over his eyes. Exactly. The unregenerate always stumble at the thought of the Word made flesh 1 John 4:22Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: (1 John 4:2). Those who are born again confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh. The blind man is not ashamed to confess Christ, saying "if This Man were not of God He could do nothing. "Such are of God as those who confess Him not come in the flesh are not of God. The impotent man made no confession. He told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jews tried even harder to kill Jesus. He merely demonstrated the principle of man's will, but the blind man seeing the Son, and believing on Him, obtained the Son's life.
Our Part Is Believing Only
The Lord's word to the blind man was "go wash in the pool of Siloam." When a man sees that this humbled Man, the Man of Sychar's well, the Man who thirsted at the cross, is the Sent One of the Father, his blindness goes. If there is no going to this pool, as Naaman at first stubbornly refused to "go and wash in Jordan seven times" 2 Kings 5:1010And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. (2 Kings 5:10) the blindness remains. Naaman's leprosy did not go until he applied the Jordan the waters of death to his flesh. The washing at the pool of Siloam may have been only the blind man's eyes, but the Word of God does not confine it that way. The washing may well have been the whole body. If so, it would be a figure of the washing of regeneration John 13:1010Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. (John 13:10). The great lesson, however, is that the new life is communicated by the Spirit, and because this is so it is in opposition to our natural life. "The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other" Gal. 5:1717For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17). This verse applies to the Spirit's opposition to all forms of flesh. In writing it the apostle had in mind religious flesh for the Galatians were giving up the liberty of Christianity and turning back to law keeping.
That is why we find no beauty in man's 'temples' or 'synagogues.' We can't find Christ in them. He is outside. If any man would meet Him, he must be thrown out of the synagogue or leave it himself. Well, "they threw him out." They made good their threat "that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue" John 9:2222These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. (John 9:22). The first thing the blind man must have seen was that Christ wasn't there. Man's temples and synagogues are no places for a man with opened eyes. Even the Jews knew that.
Our Joy—the Worship of the Father and the Son
But if man had thrown him out, they had forgotten the Lord's words "he who comes to Me I will in no way cast out" John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37). He came to worship the Son of God. The Son is worthy of worship having come to seek and save the lost. The Father seeks such the fruit of the Son's seeking to worship Him. So in John 4 we have the worship of the Father; in John 9 the worship of the Son. These Scriptures make it abundantly clear that Christianity is the worship, not only of the revealed Father, but of the Son of His love. Worship is more connected with the Lord's Person than His work, but in that blessed work the glories of His Person shine out.
Sometimes we get carried away with the majesty of God's work in creation. How much more should we be transported when we think of God's work in the new creation. That is what makes the souls of the redeemed burst out in song "To Him who loves us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. 1:5, 65And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6).
Worldly religion cathedrals, incense, music but not of the heart, priests and ministers who are not born again these are not for the true Christian. Many years ago, as a young airman, I was marched to a church parade in Bournemouth, England, during World War 2. The minister opened his prayer by asking "Almighty God" for the victory of our arms. No hymns of the Savior's love were sung only two national anthems. I saw that he did not know God as his Father, for he had not come to His Son to get eternal life. His sermon, too, was all about this world. Then I remember a different experience on my return home. I heard a real servant of the Lord pray. What he prayed about I do not recall, but I do remember his opening words "blessed Lord Jesus." Ah! "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit" 1 Cor. 12:33Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. (1 Corinthians 12:3). Those few words addressed to the precious Savior who opened my blind eyes, and whom I had learned to love, warmed my heart and thrilled my soul.
Nicodemus— the Pattern Man in John's Gospel
A closing question might be who is the blind man? Can he be identified? A hasty answer to this question might be "of course not." However, there is much to make us think he was Nicodemus, and that Nicodemus was the impotent man as well.
First of all the Lord's words concerning the man who could not enter John 5 and the man who could not see John 9 were addressed to Nicodemus. Having established the principle, as it were, the Lord then went on to illustrate it in the cases of the impotent and blind men. Secondly the Lord's commands to the impotent man and acts on the blind man were threefold in each case, and also progressive. This corresponds precisely with Nicodemus' own life and spiritual experience, which is given to us on three occasions in Scripture, in each of which we see an increase of light and power. On the first occasion Nicodemus overcomes his reluctance to be seen with 'the carpenter's son.' He comes to Jesus by night when men need some other light than nature provides, and he at once demonstrates his impotency in the Lord's presence. Next he stands up to answer the question of the Pharisees in their very presence: "Has any one of the rulers believed on Him, or of the Pharisees?" Yes one has Nicodemus. They rebuke him saying "search and look, that no prophet rises out of Galilee" John 7:47, 5347Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? (John 7:47)
53And every man went unto his own house. (John 7:53). Unknown to them until that time, he had searched until he found Christ, who was opening his blind eyes still more to see His glory. So God strengthened him to witness about Jesus before man. The third and last occasion was in John 19:39,4039And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. (John 19:39‑40) where we read "and Nicodemus also, who at first came to Jesus by night, came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took therefore the body of Jesus and bound it up in linen with the spices, as is the custom with the Jews to prepare for burial." Here he is the man whose eyes are opened. He defies the religious world and its leaders and identifies himself with a Savior who has been crucified by their malice. So what he did is enshrined in the pages of Holy Scripture. Christianity is not a religion. It is a Person. Christianity is Christ. It was this discovery that caused the man who at first came to Jesus by night to come to His cross by day. For Nicodemus the True Light now shone, never to go out.