SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/13/2016 6:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Unbelief is Obstinate
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 9:17-24
Message of the verses: “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." 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, 19 and
questioned them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
Then how does he now see?" 20 His parents answered them and said, "We
know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 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."
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. 23 For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; ask
him." 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.’”
As we look
at this rather long section we have to understand that it is a narrative and so
it is not like looking at verses which contain deep theological truth so that
is why we can look at more verses at a time.
John MacArthur entitled this
section “Unbelief is Intractable,” but I decided to change the word to “obstinate”
a word he also used in his commentary.
Another synonym for the word is “pig-headed” and I suppose that is a
good way to describe what is going on with these blind Pharisees. Unfortunately we see the same thing happening
with the leader of our country at this time as his leadership surely reminds me
of the hard-heartiness of the Pharisees.
MacArthur
quotes D. A. Carson in his commentary who writes “The man’s eyes are opening
wider: he is beginning to see still more clearly, while the eyes of his judges
are becoming clouded over with blinding, theological mist.” This is written in reference to the verse 17
where the formerly blind man calls Jesus a prophet which is the next step in
his spiritual awaking to understanding who Jesus truly is, for indeed Jesus is
a Prophet as He was sent from God, and there is no doubt of this fact.
The Jews
still did not believe him and so they called his parents to make sure that this
man was born blind, and here is where the story begins to really get interesting.
For one thing they probably sent the
blind man out of the hearing and talked to the parents alone for in verse 24 we
see that they called the man back into the hearing. The Pharisees asked the parents three
questions “Is this your son? Was he born
blind? How does he now see? Now verse 22 shows us why his parents
answered the way that they did. Yes his
is our son, yes he was born blind, but the third question they refused to
answer because of the fear that they had for these religious leaders. Now I have to say that I have mixed emotions
about this man’s parents. Intimidation
is something that is very powerful, and we don’t know how much the people at
that time were intimidated by these Jewish religious leaders. We had a missionary who serves in Utah
working with people who are Mormon and they spoke of the great patience they
had to have as they deal with these people.
The influence that this cult has over its people is great and it takes
many years for people to actually remove themselves from this false religious
system, as they are told that they will surely go straight to hell when they
die if they leave this system. Listening
to this man and his wife tell their story gives me an idea of what this blind
man’s parents were going through. One
thing that has stuck with me from the message that he spoke was that I have to
remember the blindness that I had, and this includes all believers, before the
Lord saved me and so I have to have compassion for all who are in a cult like
the Mormons.
MacArthur
writes of the man’s parents “Contrary to what they told the Pharisees, the man’s
parents evidently did know that Jesus had healed their son. Had they not known that, there would have
been no reason for them to be afraid that the Jews might put them out of the
synagogue because of Jesus. The term apsosunagogas unknown to secular writers,
meant to be excommunicated or put under a ban and a curse, a banishment that
meant being cut off from the religious and social life of Israel; it was
therefore a dreaded punishment (cf. 12:42; 16:2).” Now this same banding is how the missionaries
spoke of what would happen to a person who left the Mormon “religion.” They would have little or no social life with
other Mormons as they would consider them to be dead.
In a sermon
that I listened to on this section John MacArthur told that there were three
different degrees of this banishment from the synagogue which is the Greek word
we looked at “apsosunagogas.” It could
have a time of a month, or one a bit longer or in the case of this man which we
will see in our next SD it will be for life.
The Pharisees called the man back in and told
him to give glory to God for they knew that Jesus was a sinner (words I have difficulty
writing). If the man agreed to “give
glory to God,” it “can also be understood as a charge to stop lying by saying
that Jesus healed him and tell the truth, in the same manner as Joshua’s charge
to Acan, ‘My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and
give praise to Him and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me’ (Josh. 7:19). Such a confession on the man’s part would
equal agreement with the leaders’ conviction that Jesus was a ‘sinner’ and not
at all empowered by God (cf. John. 8:52).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: In my limited understanding of the Greek
language, I have heard that the word translated into the English for test and
temptation are the same Greek word. My
point is that God tests us and Satan tempts us.
I can see this happened in the case of the man born blind in John
chapter nine as Satan was tempting him to tell a lie while God was testing him
as he went through this process. It is
difficult, but right to always tell the truth when being intimated by a leader
or a boss, but that is what I have to do, and I can only do this by receiving
power from the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Trust the Lord to give me the
strength I need to bring glory to His name in everything I do as life is indeed
difficult at times.
Memory verses for the week: (Romans 6:1-3) “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? 3. Or do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Jairus” (Mark 5:23).
Today’s Bible question:
“According to Psalm 1:3, the righteous shall be like a tree planted
where?”
Answer in our next SD.
7/13/2016 7:50 AM
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