<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>John 9;39-41<div><br></div><div><b>39. &nbsp;Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that&nbsp;those who see may become blind.”</b></div><div><b>40. &nbsp;Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said, to him, “Are we blind?”</b></div><div><b>41. &nbsp;Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilty remains. &nbsp; &nbsp;</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Some sayings of Jesus are difficult to understand, for me, this is one of them. &nbsp;The first part of verse 39 I think I understand, <i>“those who do not see”&nbsp;</i>are the people who sat in great darkness, us. &nbsp;We were spiritually blind in unbelief. &nbsp;We were blind in our false theology that thought we could ever please God by our own works, claim to be self-righteous, and earn for ourselves a place in heaven. &nbsp;This is the deep darkness of human pride. &nbsp;Those who think like that are still in bondage to sin. &nbsp;This is <i>“the way that seems&nbsp;right to man, but the end of it is death” </i>(Proverbs 4;12)</div><div><br></div><div>We become ‘seeing’ when by the working of the Word and Spirit,&nbsp;<i>“the light of the&nbsp;Son of righteousness dawns upon us” </i>and&nbsp;we behold the perfect holiness and love&nbsp;of God in Christ, his life, death, and resurrection for us. &nbsp;We become ‘seeing’ when we receive the gifts of repentance and faith, and in the waters of Holy Baptism we die with Jesus to sin and are raised with him to newness of life. &nbsp;<span>This much is clear to me:</span></div><div><br></div><div>But, when Jesus says, <i>“and those who see may become blind”, </i>I have two thoughts;</div><div><br></div><div><i>“those who see” </i>most likely should be understood to mean the Pharisees and all&nbsp;who <u>claim to see</u>, but reject Jesus’ righteousness for them,&nbsp;in favor of trusting in their own&nbsp;human powered efforts at the&nbsp;keeping of the law. &nbsp;In essence, they refuse to see themselves as sinners in need of saving. &nbsp;They think they have saved themselves by their own&nbsp;works. &nbsp;This is deep spiritual blindness. &nbsp;They worship themselves and their own prideful reason.</div><div><br></div><div>However, <i>“those who see” &nbsp;</i>may possibly refer also to Believers who refuse to see&nbsp;others’ sin. &nbsp;Who refuse to take offense. &nbsp;Who are so enlightened with God’s love that they actually love their enemies and all who offend them.&nbsp; They may be Believers who are walking by the Spirit to such an extent that they are&nbsp;blinded to the&nbsp;lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. &nbsp;Those <span>temptations</span><span>&nbsp;have&nbsp;been</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>obscured by the light of Christ at work in them. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span>Sin has no dominion over them.</span><span>&nbsp; It does not mean that they no longer have a sinful nature, but that they are (by faith in the in-dwelling Christ), succeeding in keeping the old Adam’s head consistently&nbsp;under the waters of Baptism.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Jesus most likely is speaking in the first sense, and all of these other speculations&nbsp;are spun out of my own imperfect seeing, but I tend to believe there is a bit of truth in this ‘sanctified blindness’ too.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Verse 41 I believe I&nbsp;understand. &nbsp;I ‘think’ Jesus is saying, ‘Those who claim to <i>“see” </i>(but who reject repentance and faith), are deeper in their self-imposed prideful bli</span><span>ndness than ever. &nbsp;Now that Jesus has been&nbsp;revealed to them as the Christ&nbsp;</span><span>the Son of God,&nbsp;(by his signs and his Words), their </span><i>“blindness” </i><span>is different from unbelievers who have yet to hear God’s Word. &nbsp;Their blindness is deliberately a chosen rejection of Christ and therefore their guilt is confirmed. &nbsp;They are doubly condemned in their darkened chosen&nbsp;</span><span>false seeing. &nbsp;They have had&nbsp;a sort of “seeing” which beholds the truth and reject it.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>The vision the Church needs most today, is the faith to believe that ‘the newness of life we have been raise in Christ to have, is possible <u>only</u>&nbsp;by faith in the in-dwelling Christ’. &nbsp;</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Prayer: &nbsp;Blessed and merciful loving Father, I praise you for the vision you have given me to see my sin, believe in your forgiveness for me, and your&nbsp;power now at me to deny myself and follow Jesus.</span></div><div><span>In Jesus I pray, Amen.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Love,</span></div><div><span>Dad/Baba/Eric</span></div><div><span>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</span></div><div><span>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.”</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><br><br><a href="https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></body></html>


John 9;39-41
39.  Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”40.  Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said, to him, “Are we blind?”41.  Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilty remains.    
Some sayings of Jesus are difficult to understand, for me, this is one of them.  The first part of verse 39 I think I understand, “those who do not see” are the people who sat in great darkness, us.  We were spiritually blind in unbelief.  We were blind in our false theology that thought we could ever please God by our own works, claim to be self-righteous, and earn for ourselves a place in heaven.  This is the deep darkness of human pride.  Those who think like that are still in bondage to sin.  This is “the way that seems right to man, but the end of it is death” (Proverbs 4;12)
We become ‘seeing’ when by the working of the Word and Spirit, “the light of the Son of righteousness dawns upon us” and we behold the perfect holiness and love of God in Christ, his life, death, and resurrection for us.  We become ‘seeing’ when we receive the gifts of repentance and faith, and in the waters of Holy Baptism we die with Jesus to sin and are raised with him to newness of life.  This much is clear to me:
But, when Jesus says, “and those who see may become blind”, I have two thoughts;
“those who see” most likely should be understood to mean the Pharisees and all who claim to see, but reject Jesus’ righteousness for them, in favor of trusting in their own human powered efforts at the keeping of the law.  In essence, they refuse to see themselves as sinners in need of saving.  They think they have saved themselves by their own works.  This is deep spiritual blindness.  They worship themselves and their own prideful reason.
However, “those who see”  may possibly refer also to Believers who refuse to see others’ sin.  Who refuse to take offense.  Who are so enlightened with God’s love that they actually love their enemies and all who offend them.  They may be Believers who are walking by the Spirit to such an extent that they are blinded to the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.  Those temptations have been obscured by the light of Christ at work in them.   Sin has no dominion over them.  It does not mean that they no longer have a sinful nature, but that they are (by faith in the in-dwelling Christ), succeeding in keeping the old Adam’s head consistently under the waters of Baptism.
Jesus most likely is speaking in the first sense, and all of these other speculations are spun out of my own imperfect seeing, but I tend to believe there is a bit of truth in this ‘sanctified blindness’ too.
Verse 41 I believe I understand.  I ‘think’ Jesus is saying, ‘Those who claim to “see” (but who reject repentance and faith), are deeper in their self-imposed prideful blindness than ever.  Now that Jesus has been revealed to them as the Christ the Son of God, (by his signs and his Words), their “blindness” is different from unbelievers who have yet to hear God’s Word.  Their blindness is deliberately a chosen rejection of Christ and therefore their guilt is confirmed.  They are doubly condemned in their darkened chosen false seeing.  They have had a sort of “seeing” which beholds the truth and reject it.
The vision the Church needs most today, is the faith to believe that ‘the newness of life we have been raise in Christ to have, is possible only by faith in the in-dwelling Christ’.  
Prayer:  Blessed and merciful loving Father, I praise you for the vision you have given me to see my sin, believe in your forgiveness for me, and your power now at me to deny myself and follow Jesus.In Jesus I pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.”






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