It is a good thing to receive sight. However, be prepared to suffer persecution at the hands of blind religion. The blind man who received his sight was cast out (9:34), meaning that he was excommunicated, ostracized, from the Jewish synagogue. This means that he was put out of the sheepfold, as spoken by the Lord in 10:3-4. Although he was excommunicated from Judaism, he was received by the Lord Jesus.
The blind man came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God (9:35-38). The blind man received his sight by a kind of obscure believing. He believed, but he was not clear. He was simply innocent. He believed without really knowing who Jesus was. He believed in an innocent way. Although he did not know adequately who Jesus was, he did believe that Jesus was someone special and he argued about this with the Pharisees. Eventually, the Pharisees cast him out. Then, the Lord Jesus found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” (9:35). The blind man replied, “And who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” (9:36). He believed, yet he did not know the Lord Jesus. Then the Lord said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the One who is speaking with you” (9:37). Then the blind man declared, “Lord I believe. And he worshipped Him” (9:38). He believed that the man Jesus is the Son of God. Thus, the blind man not only received his sight, but he himself was received by the Lord Jesus.
This means that the Lord, as the shepherd, entered the sheepfold, saw a little, blind sheep, opened his eyes, and then led that sheep out of the sheepfold. In one sense, the sheep was cast out; in another sense, the Lord led him out. The Pharisees cast him out, but the Lord Jesus carried him out. The Lord did not carry him out of hell but out of the sheepfold. As we shall see more in the next message, the sheepfold was Judaism, the law-keeping religion. The blind man, like the blind and lame people on the porches in chapter five, was kept on the law-keeping porch. Then the Lord Jesus came, not only as life, but also as the shepherd, to lead him out of the fold.
The Lord is sovereign. Many of us were in the fold of religion. Perhaps you were there as one who was lame. We all were on that porch. Thank the Lord Jesus for His sovereignty. He came as life to heal our blind eyes and as the shepherd to lead us out of the fold.
In 9:39-41, Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no sin; but now that you say, We see, your sin remains.” The Lord told the Pharisees that He came to judge. But He told Nicodemus that He came not to judge but to save (3:17). He found a seeking soul in Nicodemus; therefore, He will not come to condemn the world, but to save the world. However, He saw pride in the Pharisees; hence, He will come to judge them. Whether the Lord will come to judge or to save you depends upon your attitude. If your attitude is like that of Nicodemus, He will come to save you. If your attitude is that of the Pharisees, He will come to judge you. Whether the Lord will become a Judge or a Savior to you depends upon your attitude.
The Lord will seriously vindicate Himself when anyone is proud to assert himself with many claims. This simply indicates that he does not need the Lord. Consequently, the Lord will leave such a person in his blindness. We must be very careful not to proudly say that we can see. If we claim that we see, the Lord will leave us blind. The Lord said that He will give sight to those who cannot see, but that He will make blind those who claim to see. This is a serious vindication of the Lord. Thus, we must be humble and not proud. Pride simply means blindness and darkness.