June 5, 2023

Doubts- Unintended or Intentional?

“The man answered and said to them, ‘Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.’ They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?’ So they put him out.”

John 9:30-34 (NASB)

            I remember years ago having a conversation with a man in my church about the authenticity of Jesus Christ. He was an unbeliever. His wife was Christian. I spent quite a while preparing for our meeting. After gathering my material, I met with him. I explained I would spend the first hour of our meeting without using the Bible as the source for authenticating Jesus. Then I spent another hour sharing how the Bible and evidence went together to prove Jesus was the Son of God. After nearly three hours he said, “Well I still don’t know…” He committed suicide several years later. His spouse was devastated.  All that knowledge, all that proof, for nothing. He would not believe…

“… you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.” At one time, this man was no one in society. Now, he stood in the court of those who pushed him aside daily. He told them, “God does not hear sinners,” meaning God does not hear the petitions of the ordinary sinner when they pray, but God does hear the prayer of genuine repentance. This comes with an understanding “’God does not listen to sinners’ may be translated ‘does not respond to the petitions of sinners’ or ‘does not give sinners what they ask for when they pray.’”[1] Calvin clarifies this further: “Perhaps the only question that might be raised concerns the man’s generalized statement that “God does not listen to sinners” (9:31). The statement is certainly capable of horrendous misunderstanding and misuse, as though God is unable or unwilling to hear certain praying. But that statement is quickly clarified so that the reader realizes that what the man meant is that in the work of God human obedience is a crucial element in genuine partnership with God.”[2] Secondly, when one comes to “God-fearing” as “God-revering,” or even “bow before Him,” He hears them. This is incredibly important. This man learned this from his religious leaders ‘a person had to submit themselves to God to be heard. And the Pharisees weren’t doing this themselves. Third, he gave testimony to Jesus’ healing and His source. “God obviously heard Jesus, since He gave Him the power to do something unheard of since the beginning of time; to open the eyes of a person born blind. His irrefutable conclusions was that “if this man were not from God, He could do nothing” like this.”[3] “So they put him out.”

The Pharisees were left to their last device, “put him out.” The man might have left but he didn’t care. He had been healed. The next time you are testifying for Jesus, and they kick you out remember, you are not the first one to experience it… so stand strong!

[1] Barclay Moon Newman and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the Gospel of John, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 315.

[2] Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 323.

[3] (John MacArthur, 2006), 406.