Sometimes, when talking to a person that doesn’t understand something we’ve said, we might rhetorically ask, Are you blind? Or, we might say, “Why don’t you see what I’m saying?” The word “see” becomes interchangeable with the word “understand.”
There’s an incident recorded in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John with this same usage of terms. Specifically, the chapter is about a man that was blind from birth. We read in verses 6 and 7 that the Lord, “Spit on the ground, and made mud from the saliva, and applied the mud to his eyes, and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.’” Next, we read, “So he [the blind man] left and washed, and came back seeing.”
Are You Blind? Discover Full Assurance of Heaven
This miracle created quite a bit of excitement among the man’s neighbors. To heal someone blind from birth was, and still is, truly remarkable. His neighbors were not even sure that this was the same man, “Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?” The man repeatedly assured them that he was the same person (verse 9). The neighbors asked him, “How then were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The Man who is called Jesus made mud, and spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.” (verse 11) The neighbors then asked, “Where is he?” to which he replied, “I do not know.” (Verse 12)
Next, the formerly blind man was brought to the Pharisees (the religious leaders). Verse 14 tells us that the miracle took place on the Sabbath. Some Pharisees argued He wasn’t from God because He healed a blind man on the Sabbath. Their misguided legalism blinded them to the magnificence of God’s power among them. Even the blind man could acknowledge that Jesus was from God. He said in verse 33, “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”
Spiritual Sight is Vital for Avoiding Hell
The Pharisees continued to claim to the healed blind man that Jesus was a sinner. Hoping to end their argument, he replied, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:25)
Later, Jesus would find the man and ask him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He replied, “And who is He, Sir, that I may believe in Him?” The Lord Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the One who is talking with you.” The healed blind man demonstrated his spiritual sight according to verse 38. The Gospel records his reply as follows: “And he said, ‘I believe, Lord.’ And he worshiped Him.” Every Jew firmly rejected worshipping anyone but God. The man acknowledged what the Jewish spiritual leaders were unable or unwilling to do. (verses 35-38)
Spiritual Blindness & The Penalty of Sin?
The Lord Jesus told the man, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (verse 39) The discussion among all parties up until this point focused on the physical miracle Jesus performed. Now, we see the Lord moving the discussion from physical blindness to spiritual blindness. When the Pharisees heard this, they said to Jesus, “We are not blind too, are we.” He answered them with these words: “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” (verse 41)
Disbelief in Jesus is to remain in bondage to sin and to be spiritually blind to the truth. The Lord Jesus said in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The Pharisees denied the miracle as being from God, making them spiritually blind. As the spiritual leaders of Israel, they were blind to the work of God and the presence of His Son in their midst. Rejecting the Lord Jesus as sent by God, despite irrefutable evidence, ensures people remain trapped in sin.
Are You Going to Heaven?
We live in a world where the vast majority of people are spiritually blind and therefore, “there sin remains.” Jesus said this in John 10:37 & 38: “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand [see] that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” The Lord could have just as easily asked the Pharisees, “Are you blind?”
In 1546, John Heywood was quoted as saying, “Thers’s none so blind as those who will not see.” Isaiah had this to say 800 years before the Lord Jesus was born: “And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9-10)
The Pharisees undoubtedly had enough evidence to believe in Jesus and accept salvation. Sadly, they rejected the evidence and rejected Him. Why is this? Their arrogance and jealousy had blinded them to the point they sought to kill Jesus. Even Pontus Pilate, the pagan Roman governor of Judea, knew that envy was the motivating factor in the Pharisees hatred of Jesus: “For he [Pilate] knew that it was because of envy that they [the Jewish leaders] had handed Him over.” (Matthew 27:18) The Greek definition of “envy” is ill will, jealousy, and spitefulness.
Are You Blind? Learn to Recognize the Signs
The apostle Paul offers a harsh critique of those who reject God’s truth despite overwhelming evidence. In Romans 1:18-22, he writes: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.”
Not only were the Jewish leaders guilty of “suppressing the truth in unrighteousness,” people throughout the ages have been guilty of the same. The Lord came to save all the Jews, including their religious leaders. He also came to save the gentiles. Why would anyone reject the forgiveness of sins and the certainty of avoiding an eternity in hell? Nevertheless, willful blindness still prevails to this day for so many. 2 Corinthians 4:3 provides some insight into man’s stubbornness: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Don’t you see, Scripture Truths Provide Light?
Remember what Jesus said in verse 41, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” To reject Jesus and maintain that you don’t need Him to save you is to say, “I see.” The reality is that this person is spiritually blind; he or she can’t see.
The blind man, in John chapter 9, knew he was blind. He allowed Jesus to apply mud to his eyes. He also obeyed Jesus when he was told to “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” His faith and obedience gave him sight. If he chose to disbelieve Jesus, he would remain blind.
Paying for Sins
The Lord Jesus was using the example of blindness and sight to explain the necessity for spiritual sight. Not only would the believer receive spiritual sight through faith in Him, it would also lead to eternal life. Among other blessings, eternal life equates to forgiveness of sins and eternity in Heaven.
So, the question remains, “Are you blind?” Continuing to suppress the need for salvation through the Lord Jesus, renders your ability to reason as futility. It also causes your heart to be senseless, leading to darkness. (Romans 1:21)
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (Eph 1:19)