After the blind man’s eyes had been anointed with the clay, he was more blind than before. Now a thick layer of clay covered his eyes. The Lord told him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (9:7). The man went, washed, and came seeing. To wash here is to cleanse away the clay. This signifies the washing away of our old humanity, as we have in baptism (Rom. 6:3-4, 6). That the blind man went and washed means he obeyed the life-giving Word of the Lord. So he received sight. If he had not gone to wash off the clay after being anointed with it, it would have blinded him even more. Thus, our obedience to the anointing brings us sight.
The word Siloam means sent. This is very meaningful. The anointing of the Spirit of life means that you are always in the position of being sent. The anointing puts us on the ground of being sent. Therefore, we must obey. The Lord Himself always stood on the ground of being sent by the Father and He was always obedient. Now the Lord puts us in the same position as His sent ones. After we receive the Lord in His Word and have His anointing, He puts us in the position of being sent. We must now be obedient to His sending. After you receive the Lord in His Word, what is the first step that you should take in order to be obedient? Once you have believed in the Lord and received Him in the Word, the Lord will ask you to go to a “pool.” The first step is that the Lord will send you to a “pool.” He will send you to wash and be baptized. From then on, you must daily and throughout the day apply this washing. Day by day, you must realize that you are being washed during the whole day. Even today, I have been washed several times. An order from the Lord always follows the anointing of the Spirit of life within you: “Go and wash.”
This chapter portrays the blind man, the Lord making the clay, the eyes of the blind man being anointed with the clay, and the Lord telling him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. Once the blind man washed his eyes, the clay was gone. What is the clay? It signifies the natural life or the human self. When you went to be baptized, the old man, the old clay, was washed away. After the washing, it was buried in and under the water. Your old man was buried in the water after you were baptized. However, do you also realize that you must apply the washing of the baptism day by day? In every day of your Christian life you have to apply the washing of baptism by putting the self and the nature of the old man under the water of death.
You must remember that the anointing within always demands that you apply the washing of baptism to yourself. If you do not apply this, you can never be obedient in following the anointing. The anointing within always demands that you go to Siloam and put yourself to death. You must bury yourself as the clay under the water of death. Perhaps you received an anointing this morning. If you neglect to apply the washing of baptism to yourself, you cannot obey that anointing. The command to put yourself under the water of death immediately follows the anointing. The anointing demands that you eliminate the old clay. When you do this, you will receive sight and light. According to our experience, after we follow the demand of the anointing to put ourselves into the water of death, we are very much in the light with the sight. Everything is clear to us because now we have both the sight and the light. The sunshine is actually within us. Our eyes are opened and we can see very clearly because we have received sight and are now in the light.
What would have happened if the blind man had refused to obey the Lord’s command to go and wash? Although his eyes had been anointed with the clay, his refusal to obey would have made him even more blind. What the Lord had done thus far would have been a veil or a covering instead of an unveiling. Likewise, if we do not obey the anointing of the Spirit of life, the anointing will become a veil that covers our eyes instead of opening them. However, if we obey the anointing of the Spirit of life and put ourselves into death, our eyes will be opened. In short, we will have sight and will be in the light. Otherwise, our disobedience will cause the anointing of the Spirit of life to become a veil covering our eyes. Then we will become more blind and will be brought into deeper darkness.
When I first received this interpretation, I laughed. I said, “My, the mixing of the clay with the spittle was strange enough. Now I have been given such a strange interpretation.” At first I could not believe it. However, as I prayed and checked with my experiences, I came to believe it. If you do the same, you will see that this is the correct interpretation. Many times you have received sight by the Divine Spirit being mingled with your humanity. For a short while, your eyes were covered and, temporarily, you were more blinded than ever. Eventually, after obeying the life-giving Word, your old nature was washed away. Then you had a clear sky. Please check with your experience. This was the procedure every time you received light.
Simply reading or studying the Bible is inadequate. Without the mingling of the divine life with your humanity, you can never see the light of the Word. You may read it, but you cannot see it. Perhaps you have read a certain sentence in the Bible many times. But you just could not see the light in it. One day, you begin to see. Immediately your eyes are covered and temporarily you are even more blinded. However, if you obey the living Word and say, “Amen, Lord Jesus,” you immediately have the sensation that something has fallen off your eyes and you have light. Your old humanity has fallen away and you can see into the heavens. This is the way to receive light.
There are three steps which we must follow in order to receive sight for our eyes. First of all, the clay must both receive and be mingled with the spittle. In other words, you, the old man, the clay, must receive the Lord’s Word as the spittle and be mingled with the Lord in His Word. Then the second step will follow—that is, after you have received the Lord in His Word, you will have the anointing. Finally, the third step follows the anointing: the demand to put the old self to death. The old clay must be put into the water of death. By these three steps your eyes will be opened. You will then have the sight and will always be in the light. Brothers and sisters, even today if you are going to have the sight and be in the light, you must first receive the Lord in His Word. Even though you have been regenerated, you must receive the Lord in His Word and be mingled with Him more and more. You are still clay and you need the spittle out of the Lord’s mouth, which signifies the very essence of the Lord Himself. Each time you receive the Lord in His Word, the anointing will follow. Then the anointing will command you, as a man of clay, to be put into the water of death and stand in the position of a sent one. A sent one never does his own will; he does the will of another. As a sent one, you must work and act as a sent one. A sent one does nothing according to his own will, but everything according to the one who sends him.
Do not consider that this story of healing the blind man is so simple. When I was young, I thought that it was simple and even funny. If I had been there, I probably would not have allowed the Lord to do this. I would have said, “It’s not healthy and not sanitary. How terrible! How dirty! Both the clay and the spittle are dirty. You just put dirty things on his eyes. No, no! I would not do this!” This story seems quite funny, but with the help of the Lord’s Spirit we can realize the wonderful principle contained in it. We can see that we must first receive and be mingled with the Lord in His Word. Then we will have the anointing of the Spirit of life within us, which will put us all into the position of being sent ones. We will then be willing to be put aside and to eliminate the clay that is in us. We will be willing to be buried under the water of death in order to put the self to death. Finally, our sight will be recovered and we will enjoy the light. We must live by this principle daily. This also is the changing of death into life.