In John’s gospel, chapter nine, Jesus heals a man who was born blind. D.L. Moody shared this story about a case of blindness during his ministerial travels. He said:

“I was in an infirmary not long since, and a mother brought a little child in. She said, “Doctor, my little child’s eyes have not been opened for several days, and I would just like you to do something for them.” The doctor got some ointment and put it first on one and then on the other, and just pulled them open. “Your child is blind,” said the doctor, “perfectly blind; it will never see again.” At first, the mother couldn’t take it in, but after a little, she cast an appealing look upon that physician, and in a voice full of emotion, said, “Doctor, you don’t mean to say that my child will never see again?” “Yes,” replied the doctor, “your child has lost its sight and will never see again.” And that mother just screamed and drew that child to her bosom. “O my darling child,” sobbed the woman, “are you never to see the mother that gave you birth? never to see the world again?”

I could not keep back the tears when I saw the terrible agony of that woman when she realized the misfortune that had come upon her child. That was a terrible calamity, to grope in total darkness through this world; never to look upon the bright sky, the green fields; never to see the faces of loved ones, but what was it in comparison to the loss of a soul? I would rather have my eyes plucked out of my head and go down to my grave in total blindness than lose my soul.¹

That was Moody’s account of this story, but here’s the thing I want to propose to you today. Yes, losing your soul is far higher than losing your physical eyesight. But, how about this Bible fact? You can have spiritual sight fulfilling your God-given purpose on planet earth as a Kingdom builder, AND you can have your physical sight because Jesus is your healer. The man born blind in John nine. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Question: How does Jesus’ healing ministry give you hope? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below?

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Podcast Notes

Jesus Heals: A Man Born Blind

John 9:1–7 (ESV) — 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 was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

• So, here in the ministry of Jesus, and don’t you love Jesus?
• Here in His ministry, He has an encounter with a man who was born blind – A man born with some congenital disability.
• This account raises some questions directly and indirectly.

Jesus Heals: Questions People Ask

• Here are just a few.
  • Question number one, where do birth defects come from?
  • Why does a good God allow birth defects to occur?
  • Is the sin of the parents responsible for sickness, disease, and defects?
  • Is God the author of sickness and disease, that is, does He use it to display His power?
• These are all excellent questions.
• Let’s take them up one at a time and answer them.

Where Do Birth Defects Come From?

• So this question and part of question number four, ‘is God the author of sickness and disease’ are connected, so let’s take them together.
• If God is the author of sickness, disease, and congenital disabilities, then Jesus is a complete rebel against God because He healed sickness, disease and, in this case in John nine, a birth defect.

The Unity of God

• God and Jesus are one – one in purpose – one in mind – one in every conceivable way, two beings could be one.
• Robert Brow said these words.

If God is a living God, we should not therefore be surprised to find a complexity within his unity.²

John 14:10 (ESV) — 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

• So, Jesus and the Father are working together in symphonic perfection.
• And, the genre of music that they are playing is healing, health, and wholeness.
• When you see Jesus working, you see the Father working.
• So, Jesus is the will of God in action.
• If you want to know what God’s will is, look at Jesus.
• So the fact that Jesus healed this man born blind is proof positive that God is not the author of birth defects of any order.
• He is not the author of them; He is the answer to them.
• So, where does birth defects come from?

Where Do Birth Defects Come From?

• Sharon was born with a congenital disability.
• You couldn’t tell it by looking at her.
• But, she had one none the less, a weakness in one of the blood vessels in her head.
• Because of this vascular weakness, Sharon experienced major headaches all her life.
• We found all of this out later.
• Sharon’s doctor said her condition was a genetic defect – a time bomb ticking in her head.
• Well, the time bomb went off when she was 41 years old.
• She had a brain aneurysm.
• How come you didn’t believe for her healing.
• Believe for what, we didn’t even know it was there.
• Now, the Lord didn’t put that weakness in your head.
• Genetic defects are part of the curse of the Fall.
• Not curse of the law, the curse of the Fall – that’s different.
• So, let’s keep reading.

Jesus Heals: Did the Blind Man Sin?

• Verse one of John nine gives us the case, a man born blind, which leads to our next question – who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind.
• Now, this is an odd question for the disciples to ask.
• The disciples ask Jesus, ‘Did this man sin?’
• How could he sin, he hadn’t been born yet.
• He was born blind.
• So, the Jews had this theory about birth defects, that is, that a baby could sin in its mother’s womb.
• Some of them believed that, and that’s the reason why they thought some were born with these kinds of conditions.

The Problem of Human Thinking

• The problem with this thinking is that it’s just that – it’s human thinking.
• There’s no scriptural basis for this line of thought.
• No Bible verse exists to support this.
• So, in the end, it was just a theory – a supposition based on ignorance of the subject under discussion.
• No facts of God’s Word exist to give credence to this thinking.
• Now, that’s a crucial piece because our life must be built on chapter and verse.
• Sometimes we look to the laboratories of human thinking where test-tube experiments in uman theory occur.
• People in the first century were no different than we are now in that humankind has always groped in the dark for answers to the tragedy of the human condition.
• Why not look to the solid rock facts of God’s Word instead?

Jesus Heals: Did the Parents Sin?

• The next part of the question had to do with the parents.
• If the man didn’t sin, maybe the parent’s sin caused this man’s blind condition.
• This thinking does have some scriptural basis, consider the following, for example.

Three Old Testament Verses

Exodus 20:5 (ESV) — 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Exodus 34:7 (ESV) — 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Numbers 14:18 (ESV) — 18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’

• In these verses, there arises with great height a truth we must understand; no man is an island.
• Sin impacts others.
• Your life is linked to others.
• The unchecked sins of an alcoholic parent, for example, can have repercussions well into future generations.

A Great Change Has Occurred

• The fact you should grasp, though, is that a change has occurred.
• The mighty Spirit of God has come in like a bulldozer changing the entire relational landscape between us and heaven.
• The superior effect of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection override the law of sin and spiritual death.
• Jesus nailed our sins to His cross, never to be remembered again.
• Don’t you love that verse in Colossians, I mean it sings in my spirit?

Colossians 2:13–14 (ESV) — 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

• The Psalmist follows up with these delightful words.

Psalm 103:12 (ESV) — 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

• The Major Prophets rise up and testify the same.

Isaiah 43:25 (ESV) — 25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

• The Minor Prophets are not left without a voice either for they sing out.

Micah 7:18–19 (ESV) — 18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

There Are No Parental Sins to Visit

• So here it is if all of your sins were nailed to Jesus cross, if God has removed and blotted out your sins, and doesn’t remember them anymore, then there are no parental sins to visit on the children.
• So that lets us know whose behind Door number one.
• It’s not God.
• In Christ, we are redeemed from the curse of the Law.
• God’s not after your kids — only with the thought of getting them saved.
• This brings up the idea of generational curses.
• It seems like, and I say seems like because it’s not what’s happening, that the effects of the sins of the parents are experienced by future generation to the point that we’ve given this phenomenon a name — generational curses.
• Well, if it’s a curse, it didn’t come from God; God’s not cursing people; He’s lifting them.
• Where is all of this tragedy coming from?
• It’s that fella behind Door number one – it’s Satan.
• It’s Satan that’s causing folk to be born blind.
• Well, science it’s genes and chromosomes that have gone awry.
• They have gone awry, but it wasn’t God that made them go off course.
• What God created, in the beginning, was perfect, every cell, every gene, every chromosome, every strand of DNA — perfect.
• Darkness got in there through Adam’s transgression — it’s his sin that opened the door.
• Jesus closed the door and is the answer to sin.
• Therefore the answer to the first three questions: where do birth defects come from — not from God, why does a good God allow birth defects to occur — He doesn’t, and number three is the sin of the parents responsible for sickness, disease, and defects — NO, NO and NO?
• And that’s how Jesus answered His disciples – neither did this man sin nor his parents.

Jesus Heals: That the Works of God Might Be Manifest

• Now, let’s move to the second part of question four.
• The first part we’ve answered — we can include that in the above three questions: Is God the author of sickness and disease — no, no, and no.
• But, does He use sickness and disease to display His power — yes, yes, and yes?
• Look at the text with care.

John 9:1–7  (ESV) — 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 was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

• If you casually read this text, it sounds like God caused this man to be born blind so Jesus could come and heal him, and by that manifest the works of God.
• That’s a bit cruel to make a suffer his whole life for one glorious moment of God’s power manifest.
• Blindness was a super lousy deal in the first century.
• There were many more blind people back then as compared to now because of the advances in medicine.
• In the world of the first century, blindness was a condition that reduced one to beggars status.
• Do you remember Blind Bartimeus sat by the highway side begging?

Levites and Blindness

• What about a Levite, a member of the priestly clan being born blind?

Leviticus 21:17–18 (ESV) — 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long,

• You couldn’t serve as a priest in the Temple if you were born blind.
• So, don’t you agree that to put a man through such an ordeal is a bad deal?
• And, wouldn’t you agree that to say God made a man go through this kind of suffering to show off His power is equally bad?
• But you know, that’s not what this text says.

The Answer Is in the Punctuation

• What throws you off in John 9:3–4 is the punctuation.
• In the original Greek, there was no punctuation, no small letters, and no chapter and verses.
• The translators put in the punctuation.
• Let’s take a look at it – I’m going to read it for you with the punctuation in the ESV.

John 9:3–4 (ESV) — 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

• Now here this passage with different punctuation.

John 9:3–4 (ESV) — 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents. But that the works of God might be displayed in him, we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

• So just one period and one comma shift change the entire meaning of the passage.
• Jesus is saying to His disciples, ‘Look now, it’s daytime. We have to do the works of God while we have time to do it. Night is coming when no one can work.
• Now, I didn’t arbitrarily make this up to make the text say what I wanted it to say.

The Translators Handbook on John 9

• The UBS Handbook on John and I’ll give a link in the show notes to it, says that you can definitely translate John 9:3–4, the way I just read it.³
• The UBS Handbooks are books created by the United Bible Societies for translation.
• Here’s a quote from this handbook.

It is, however, possible to translate this passage in a way that God does not appear as one who arbitrarily makes a man blind so that he can later show his power in healing him.⁴

On the basis of the Greek, it is not only grammatically possible to translate in this way; it also suits the context well. Jesus’ answer to the disciples then becomes a rejection of their belief that the man’s blindness was due either to his parents’ sin or to his own sin, but he makes no judgement as to the reason that the man was born blind. He simply says that the man’s blindness offers an opportunity to show God’s power at work in him, and that Jesus himself has come to reveal that power at work in history.⁵

• Game, set, and match.

Jesus Heals: You Have Hope

• So, maybe today, this passage has been a stumbling block to your receiving healing.
• Maybe you got confused into thinking that somehow God is the author of sickness and disease because of how you read this passage.
• Now, you have hope.

Matthew 8:16–17 (ESV) — 16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

• The Bible says Jesus healed ‘all who were sick’ – ‘all’ includes you.
• Act on this verse.
• Appropriate it like it’s yours and start this next phase of your life healthy, healed, and glorifying God.
• Pray
• You guys have a great God week in Jesus’ Name Amen.

How God Delivered Me from A Brain Aneurysm [Encore Podcast]

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