Bad Things Do Not Come From God - Part 16

Now we will look at another very interesting situation in the ministry of Jesus. Remember that Jesus said, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. "  
(John 6:38) In other words, if we want to know the Fathers will, nature and purpose, all we have to do is observe what Jesus said and did. He perfectly reveals the Father's will, nature and purpose in all things.

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (John 9:1-5)

Notice that the disciples assumed that this mans condition was caused by his parents or his sin insinuating that God was punishing this man with blindness due to someones sin. Here is another issue that many Christians have been trained to believe. If they have sin in their life they can expect God to punish them with some kind of affliction. Now there are consequences to sin, but the consequences come because sin gives place to the devil. It is not an act of punishment from God. Remember, from the beginning of mans history God gave Adam a choice to eat of the tree of life and live or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and die. (Genesis 2:9, 15-17) God gave the same choice to Israel, chose life and blessing or cursing and death (Deuteronomy 30:19) The same principles apply today and will continue to apply until the end of time, choice.  But for the Christian, God's great love and mercy has provided away to close the door on sin taking away any advantage that Satan would try to use, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (John 1:9)

Now, notice Jesus' response to the disciples assumption, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." His condition was not due to sin, but that the true nature of God would be revealed. His true nature is one of life, healing, deliverance, provision, that is life and blessing not death, sickness, hurt, pain, affliction and cursing!  Unfortunately, another false teaching paints this situation from a twisted perspective. It says that God caused the blindness and now would show His mercy. This is total heresy because it says that God changes when in fact He is immutable, He never changes.

Next, Jesus reveals and important message for us to grasp, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me." The healing of blindness which was about to happen IS GOD'S WILL!!! There should be no question at all that God does not cause bad things to happen under any circumstances!

There is another important point that Jesus reveals, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." This is a prophetic statement. Jesus was not speaking of His physical appearance on the earth only, but is telling us that these very things, life, healing, deliverance, provision, blessings, etc. are always available for every person, especially believer because He said, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20) He is with us through the Holy Spirit.

However, once again we see the faithless religious reject God's will in Christ, "...The Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Unfortunately faithless church leaders today do exactly the same. They always look for a reason to discredit God's Word or His work. The sad thing is, like the Pharisees they are convinced that they are walking in truth. However, they operate in the same realm as Thomas, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I WILL NOT BELIEVE." (John 20:25) Why won't they believe? They themselves are blind. Jesus said, "...They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." (Matthew 15:14) I always find it interesting that everything pertaining to Christianity has it's roots in faith and yet it is the subject that most Christians have the least understanding of. There is a diabolical scheme that has gripped the hearts of many church leaders today which has caused them to refrain from teaching and preaching on true biblical faith.

Let's see how the matter unfolds, "So they (the Pharisees) again called the man who was blind, and said to him,"Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from." The man answered and said to them,"Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." They answered and said to him,"You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out." (John 9:24-34)

Once again notice the hardness of the Pharisees hearts. They are working hard to discredit the very God who established a covenant with Moses who they say they know. There was no recorded history that a man opened the blind eyes of another and yet their unbelief, as we saw above, blinds them from reality. So their answer to the whole matter... Let's get rid of it, ""And they cast him out." Although this man being  rejected by his own people may seem to be a totally unfair, it actually became a wonderful blessing to him,
"Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him." (John 9:35-38)

What a blessing. Not only did this man receive his physical sight, but he also received spiritual insight as to who the One was that opened his blind eye. Notice the man's response, "LORD I Believe!" He recognized Jesus as LORD and he believed. Although physical blindness was gone, this man's faith in Jesus is what truly set him free. Christians must exercise the same boldness and faith when church leaders threaten them to believe contrary to God's Word and Will. I believe that there are many Christians today who truly love the LORD but sit under the bondage of church leaders who teach that bad things do come from God. But there is wonderful news. Christians do not have to live under afflictions and bondage any longer. All they need to do is to let go of the wisdom of men and abide in the Word of God. In doing so their faith will increase (Romans 10:17) and they will walk in the abundant life that Jesus has already given.