John 9 also reveals that we receive light for our sight through our obedience, which washes away our old humanity. In verse 7a the Lord Jesus said to the blind man whose eyes had been anointed with the clay, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is interpreted, Sent).” Here to wash is to cleanse away the clay. This signifies the washing away of our old humanity, as experienced in baptism (Rom. 6:3-4, 6).
John 9:7b continues, “He went therefore and washed and came away seeing.” His going and washing indicates that he obeyed the life-giving word of the Lord. So he received his sight. If he had not gone to wash off the clay after having been anointed with it, the clay would have blinded him even more. Our obedience to the Lord’s anointing cleanses us and brings us sight.
The word Siloam means “sent.” Once we have been anointed by the Spirit, we will be in the position of being sent. The anointing puts us on the ground of being sent. Therefore, we must obey. The Lord Jesus Himself always stood on the ground of being sent by the Father and was always obedient. Now the Lord puts us in the same position as His sent ones. After we receive Him in His word and have His anointing, He puts us in the position of being sent, and we must now be obedient to His sending. In particular, we must obey His sending us to the pool of Siloam for the washing away of our old man. Even though we have believed in the Lord Jesus and have entered into an organic union with Him, we may still have the clay of the old man on our eyes. Therefore, we need to obey the Lord, go to the pool of Siloam, and wash away our old man. This is the way to receive the divine light.
In John 10 Christ is unveiled as the Shepherd of the sheep, the door of the sheep, and the pasture of the sheep. This chapter also reveals the matter of the Son and the Father being one.
In verses 10 and 11 we see that Christ is the Shepherd of the sheep.
In verse 11a the Lord Jesus said of Himself, “I am the good Shepherd.” He calls His sheep by name and leads them out of the fold (v. 3). Then He goes before the sheep, and they follow Him (v. 4). As the Shepherd Christ takes the sheep out of the fold through Himself as the door and into Himself as the pasture.
In verse 11b the Lord Jesus continued saying, “The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” The Greek word for “life” here is psuche and refers to the soul-life. The good Shepherd, Christ, laid down His soul-life for the sheep that they might have the zoe life, the eternal and divine life. In verse 10b the Lord said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Here the Greek word for life is zoe, the word used in the New Testament for the eternal, divine life. As a man the Lord has the psuche life, the human life, and as God He has the zoe life, the divine life. He laid down His soul, His psuche life, His human life, to accomplish redemption for His sheep (vv. 15, 17-18) that they may share His zoe life, His divine life, the eternal life (v. 28), by which they can be formed into one flock under Himself as the one Shepherd. As the good Shepherd He feeds His sheep with the divine life in this way and for this purpose.
The real Shepherd is the living Christ. As our Shepherd the Lord not only gives life to us; He is life to us. The living of Christ within us is actually His living shepherding. Hence, the Lord Jesus shepherds us by being life to us and by living in us.
Today Christ shepherds us inwardly in the way of life, not in the way of outward activity. Inwardly we have Christ as our Shepherd, as a Shepherd of life and in life. Because Christ shepherds us by being life to us from within, the more we live by Him as our life, the more we experience and enjoy His shepherding. On the one hand, Christ lives in us. On the other hand, we live in Him, by Him, with Him, and through Him. When we live in the Lord in such a way, we are under His shepherding. As we are under Christ’s shepherding, there will be a life-consciousness within us and also an instruction, a guidance, in life. The life within us, which is actually Christ Himself, will indicate that the Lord intends to lead us in a certain way. This life-consciousness with its leading and instruction is an indication that we are under Christ’s shepherding.