Introduction to John 9:1-12

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/4/2016 8:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                                    Focus:  Introduction to John 9:1-12

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  John 9:1-12

            Message of the verses:  “1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" 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. 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. 5 “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world." 6  When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, 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.

    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 Others were saying, "This is he," still others were saying, "No, but he is like him." He kept saying, "I am the one." 10 So they were saying to him, "How then were your eyes opened?" 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." 12 They said to him, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know.’”

            One thing to clear up from chapter eight and that is in one of the last SD’s I posed the question “I wonder where the Jews found the rocks when they were in the temple?” and when I was listening to an older sermon by John MacArthur on this ninth chapter of John he was reviewing a bit and stated that the Jews got the rocks from the construction that was going on at the temple at that time.  I don’t know if that is true, but the text does say that they picked up stones to stone Him, so they got them from somewhere.

            I have to say that this section of Scripture is near and dear to my heart as when I was a lot younger my wife gave birth to a son who was what was called a “blue baby,” as he had major heart problems and after two heart surgeries he is now normal.  I spoke to our pastor at that time and this section was one that he used to bring encouragement to me, and it is my belief that my son’s problems surely brought glory to the Lord as the church we were attending at that time was much smaller and many of the people rallied around us with much prayer along with our family.

            Now finally we will get to the introduction to these verses.  In our last SD we spoke briefly about sickness and if we look at this chapter we can see that it has something to do with sickness, for since the fall of man, man has become sick and has died, so sickness is something that has been around from Genesis chapter three when man sinned and so people have gotten sick from various things and all eventually die.  MacArthur writes that the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 claimed 30-50 million people.  The AIDS virus has killed untold thousands since it began.  The era that we live in and the country we live in has made great strides to help people live longer, but people still die.  Paul wrote that the wages of sin is death.  He then said that the gift of God is eternal life.

            As we look back at the history of the OT we did not see many miracles of people being cured from ailments, yes there were a few raised from the dead during the time period of Elisha but overall not many miracles were done until Jesus came on the scene.  Jesus did these miracles to show people that He was indeed the Messiah, and many of His miracles show us spiritual teachings.  The vast majority of His miracles are not recorded in the NT, but I think it is safe to say that during His ministry sickness stopped in that little country of Israel, and yet as we will see in this chapter people still did not believe in Him.

            MacArthur states that there were at least six major characteristics of Jesus’ healing ministry, and we will just take the time to name them in this Spiritual Diary.

1.     Jesus healed with only a word or touch.

2.     Jesus healed instantly.

3.     Jesus healed completely.

4.     Jesus healed everyone who came to Him.

5.     Jesus healed organic, physical diseases and infirmities—not invisible ailments such as lower back pain, heart palpitations, and headaches.

6.     Unlike modern fakes, Jesus raised dead people.

We have to recognize that there are many fake healers during our day, and unlike Jesus who could have gone into hospitals and healed everyone like He did in His time one earth we don’t see these frauds going into hospitals today.  They are in if for the money.

Now here is the outline we will be following for these 12 verses:  “The flow of the account falls into four elements:  the problem, the purpose, the power, and the perplexity.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to see the spiritual messages that will come out of this section and the rest of chapter nine.  I want to understand why Jesus took the time to heal this blind man and also see the way that this man came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to lead me as I lead our small Sunday school class, that what I teach will be only truth and will bring glory to my Lord.

Memory verses for the week:  (Romans 6:1-2) “1. What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  2.  May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “It passes away” (1 Corinthians 7:31).

Today’s Bible question:  “To whom did Jesus say, ‘Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch?”

Answer in our next SD.

7/4/2016 9:37 AM