And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Those who were with Him from the Pharisees heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you maintain, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” (vv. 39-41)

John 9 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Whenever I read it, I get fascinated by the story. Here we see a man born blind. This man is different from the man who appeared in John 5. His blindness is not because of his sin.

Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” (John 5:14)

Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (v. 3)

We need to be careful when interpreting verse 3 because this blind man is not born sinless like Christ. He is one of the dry bones that appear in Ezekiel 37 just like any of us. Verse 3 tells us that his blindness is not because of a sin he committed. When a disaster strikes us, it can be interpreted as God’s wrath or His love towards His saints because He brings good out of bad. The blindness became a blessing to him and his parents because he came to know Christ through this event. For this reason, I do not believe those Christians who boast about their wealth, children, social or political status, their position in their church, health, and/or beauty. I do feel sorry for these people because they think they are doing well in this world. They say that they are blessed by God and that is why the world praises them. God’s blessing is in suffering. And this suffering is not self-inflicted.

Being born as the descendants of Adam is a curse but it becomes a blessing to the saints because of Christ. There is no doubt that this blind man became a disciple of Jesus and preached the good news to others during his life. Therefore, he was washed at Siloam, which is translated as Sent. (see verse 7) Christ was sent by God and this man, united with Christ through the Holy Spirit, undoubtedly did exactly what Christ did after his eyes were opened. Here, we understand the mystery of the union with Christ and the kingdom of God.

… but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life. (John 4:14)

Christ who is the water that gives us the eternal life lives in each saint. We preach the good news as the Holy Spirit instructs us. With that in mind, it is not wrong to say that the church ministers on the earth just as Christ did while He was living on the earth. However, the church I am referring to is the saints, not the visible churches. The saints can belong to a visible church, but the visible church is not equal to the invisible church. It is the Word that gives us the eternal life. Therefore, if a visible church preaches lies about God, it is a church of the devil. God still saves the saints in the false church who mourn over the abominations happening within. In this evil and adulterous generation, the saints suffer within the visible churches they are in because they speak the truth of God. Others block their ears and try to kill the saints because they hate God. They claim that they see and know God. But Christ simply says that they will perish because of their sins. Unless the Spirit comes and opens their ears and eyes, they remain slaves to sin.

For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, The fountain of living waters, To carve out for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That do not hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13)