Did Jesus Need Clay to Heal the Blind Man's Eyes?

Tom:

We are continuing with the gospel and we are in the Gospel of John and if you are a new listener and I know I keep harping on this Dave, but we encourage people to read the scriptures, to read God’s Word and this is a good place to start in the Gospel of John and right now we are in John 9 and we’ll pick up with verse 4, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”And of course this our Lord speaking to, not necessarily the religious leaders but there were many who had come to him which we’ve been talking about for the last few weeks.“I must work the works of him that sent me…” and of course Jesus is referring to his Father.

Dave:

To the Father, yes.“…While it is day….”Well, I guess you could refer to the scriptures.“Today is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation.”In other words man has—we don’t know when the day ends for each human being.Some of us have a longer life, some a shorter life and it could be cut off at any moment.So while it is day, in that sense, come to the Lord.And Jesus is still at work, although he’s gone to his Father’s house, but we’re here working in his name while it is day calling people to Christ, to faith in him; to believe in him as the One who paid the penalty for their sins.Because it goes on to say, “…the night cometh when no man can work.”I think that would indicate the end of the day of grace; the end of God’s pleadings with and dealings with man.The opportunity for salvation is gone.There is no work that can be done then.You can’t change anything.

Tom:

Dave, do you think that this refers to the latter half of the tribulation when God begins to pour out his wrath?

Dave:

Well I think it could have that application, but of course it has the application in every person’s life.

Tom:

Sure, as you said earlier.

Dave:

“And it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment.”That’s Hebrews:9:27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
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Tom:

Let’s pick up with John:9:5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
See All..., “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay….” Now this seems like a very strange thing to do.Jesus always spoke; he didn’t go through some process or some method here.How do you understand that?

Dave:

Well then he tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam.John:9:6When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
See All..., “And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.” I don’t know exactly why Jesus was doing this.He didn’t have to of course as you said he could have just spoken and the man’s sight would have been restored.In fact, he was blind from birth so he never had any such sight to be restored.Now Benny Hinn, he claims he knows what happened.The man had no eyeballs in his sockets and Jesus rolled up some dirt and some clay and stuck these things in his empty sockets like God creating Adam and Eve.It doesn’t say so.It says very clearly—well this is one way you would check up on Benny Hinn as a Berean, just as the Bereans checked up on Paul.Verse 6 very clearly says he anointed the eyes of the blind man so obviously he had eyes.

Tom:

It doesn’t say sockets.

Dave:

He put this clay on the eyes of this blind man.

Tom:

Dave, could this be an indication—?There are many ways of healing.God uses nutrition, he uses medical doctors with skills based upon how he created human beings that we can go in and fix things certainly.Do you think this is saying it isn’t just by—it’s all by God’s grace—but it isn’t by (we talk about the gift of faith will heal a person that’s sick and so on), is this a little different?[Is] this showing us there are other ways?

Dave:

Tom, truthfully, I don’t know what the significance of this is.Jesus for one thing is showing us that he is sovereign.He can do what he wants to do and as you mentioned, he can heal people in whatever way he wants to.That would certainly be a lesson.He certainly didn’t need to use the clay.Maybe to confound the rabbis, maybe to make the rabbis think, oh well, he has some technique.But no he doesn’t.This is the only occasion when he used that.I don’t know.“He said unto him, ‘Go wash in the pool of Siloam.’And he went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”On another occasion Jesus did something similar to this and the man says that he sees men like trees walking and his vision was still blurred.And then Jesus really heals him.Tom, I do not understand totally what this means, but certainly he’s showing us that he can heal in whatever way he pleases.

Tom:

Yes, you know I think there’s another aspect of this and it has to do with obedience.Jesus did something and the man was then to do something.I think of Naaman as well.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

Naaman says well why are you making me go through this for?

Dave:

Go wash in the Jordan, it’s a dirty river, we’ve got better rivers in Damascus than this.

Tom:

Yes, so I think obedience does play a part.

Dave:

That’s a good point.He’s doing something strange to this man and then the man obeys him.

Tom:

He has to put his trust in him.

Dave:

And then he’s healed.Verse 8, “The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.” Well this seems to be a little confusing because here’s a man that can see and he looks just like the blind man and that would be confusing.Well it couldn’t be the same guy because that guy couldn’t see and this guy can.And he clears it up.He says yes, I am the one.I am he.I am the one who couldn’t see.John:9:10Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
See All..., “Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?”Well this is an obvious question.I mean what happened to you?You were born blind, now you can see, what happened?You know Tom, I would hope that we would have friends—some of you out there maybe fairly new converts, newly come to faith in Christ—I would hope that your friends from the past would recognize something has happened to you.You eyes are opened, you have new sight, you have new life and that they would ask, well how did this come about?

Tom:

Yes, beyond just, he got religion.

Dave:

Yes, right.

Tom:

How many times have you heard that?

Dave:

That they would see something that would be intriguing.This was intriguing.I mean here’s a blind man and now he can see.We hope that they would see a big change in your life and those of you who haven’t received Christ; we would urge you to do so.He died for your sins; he paid the penalty that you couldn’t pay.He rose from the dead.He wants to come into your heart and into your life.He wants you to believe in him as your Savior and you will be saved by faith.You can’t do anything.You can’t earn salvation; it’s a gift.You can’t pay for a gift.So we would hope that you would do that and as you do that something will happen.You will be changed.People will want to know.

Tom:

Once I was blind, but now I see.

Dave:

Right.How did this come about?How did it happen to you?And they said how were thine eyes opened?Verse 11: “He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.”Tom, another reason he may have done this would be wow, you hear that description everybody’s going to try this now.We’ve got some blind people, put a little clay on their eyes and then we’ll have them go to pool of Siloam and wash and they should be able to see.So then they would learn that it wasn’t in that, but the power was with God.That Jesus Christ had done this.Verse 12, “Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.”Well, we better leave that verse for next time, Tom.Of course they were going to bring him to the Pharisees.I mean here’s a miracle worker.Somebody is doing miracles.The rabbis ought to know about this.Maybe he’s the Messiah and then we will find out for those of you who haven’t read this, get a Gospel of John and read it.We’ll find out the reaction of the rabbis.They are not happy at all because this is taking their power and authority away from them.People are now turning to Jesus; they can’t heal like this.Tragic that they would put their selfish interests ahead of the truth, and yet this is what people do even today.

Tom:

Yes, in the name of God and in the name of religion.

Dave:

Sad.