Ending Satanic Infestation ...

There was a reason why Jesus had chosen to cross the Sea of Galilee with his disciples and the small band of follower’s intent on watching what happened next.  It was not a random act.  It was by intent.  For on the other side of the Sea of Galilee in the country of the Gadarenes was a man who desperately needed help only Jesus could provide.  This poor man was burdened with a Satanic infestation.  As we sit in our homes today, in the comfort of modern conveniences and advanced technologies, we do not dream of living in a condition where our decisions and actions are possessed by powers beyond our control.  There are very few actual demonstrations of supernatural power reflected through mankind today, and this too is by intent.  Atheists are constantly demanding “proof” of God, if Satan were to be too open in the demonstration of his own power, offering “proof” of God’s enemy might inadvertently prove the existence of God Himself.  So modern Christians believe they live beyond the reach of the supernatural, and cannot identify with someone whose decisions and actions are governed by a power beyond their own control.  The idea, that “the devil made me do it”, is now only a joke we recite about criminal defendants we believe have no real reason for their crimes and should suffer the maximum penalties allowed by law.  But are we yet again self-deceived?

To understand how real an infestation can be, one need only look at the nature of addiction itself.  An observer who is not burdened by addiction, looks at the actions and behavior of a drug addict, and simply cannot make logical sense of them.  It is clear that drugs have a horrible effect on our lives.  They destroy our health, evaporate our money, demean our relationships, and will ultimately kill us.  Apart from a momentary chemically induced “high”, they have no redeeming value.  And in point of fact, the “high” itself is based on the destruction of brain cells which do not regenerate.  Nothing about doing drugs offers the addict anything more than a rapid progression to the grave.  Yet the addict will pursue his next fix, with a dedication of singular intent.  Why?  This is not a logical course of action.  This is NOT in the self-interest of the addict.  This is the most self-destructive action the addict could possibly take, and yet he does it anyway in full knowledge of these facts.  An addict is not actually trying to commit suicide, but for all practical purposes, seems to be “unable” to refuse this course.  In point of fact, brain chemistry is altered over time, making doing this action easier than not doing it.

Once a person becomes an addict, they are going to need external help, to find a way out.  For the non-addicted person, this is hard to understand.  But before we look away from the plight of a drug addict, I would ask the non-addicted audience “why” do they still commit the sins they find pleasure in?  Sin, in every form, has the nature of addiction, in that while we know it is harmful to us, and destroys everything it touches, we still consciously choose to embrace it.  Sin is also degenerative in nature, meaning the more we embrace what looks at first like little sins, the more we find ourselves rationalizing bigger and bigger sins, until at some point we refuse to see sin as sin at all.  Could it be that we suffer from our own modern versions of Satanic infestations more than we would like to admit?  Could it be that our ability to “control” our desires and our actions was never in our control; that we are in fact out of control, as we have quietly ceded it to our enemy of souls?  Is it possible that ALL human behavior is enslaved to a supernatural influence, whether to Jesus in a journey of redemption and restoration, or to Satan in an illusion that tells us we remain in control when we do not?

For those who believe themselves to be fully in control of their own desires, decisions, and actions, I would pose the question … why have you not embraced perfection yet, when you clearly know what benefits it offers.  The lack of perfection in your life, is a reflection that how you are trying to achieve it is fundamentally flawed.  While you may be able to abstain and refrain from acting on your darker impulses, the desires for those darker ideas remains in place.  Only external help can break the chains of slavery that exist within our minds and hearts.  Only Jesus Christ can make us free from the bondage of souls we have ceded to the enemy of God over time.  Our apathy, and our greed, lead us into submission to Satanic influences, and only God can even offer us the clarity to make a different choice.  It is not our strength to combat these evil influences that is required of us, it is instead only our willingness to submit to a different power, to the power of the love of Jesus Christ that will make us whole.

Our societal advancements have lulled us into spiritual lethargy.  We no longer concern ourselves about behavior that might be governed by powers beyond our control.  We no longer believe it is possible to suffer from a Satanic infestation, particularly without our knowledge and consent.  Yet we remain dumbfounded as to why we do what we do.  And there are fleeting moments when we seem to be watching ourselves commit actions and deeds we know to be wrong, don’t even want to do, yet do anyway, as if watching a movie of ourselves committing these heinous destructive deeds.  There are no logical explanations for these events.  There are no psychological reasons that are anything other than self-destructive for the courses we pursue, yet we blaze down these paths of destruction attempting to accelerate our speed within them.  Perhaps, our false sense of security, and disbelief about the power of our enemy, has led us to this point.  Perhaps we, like the man Jesus was en-route to assist, need to be made free from the influences beyond our control.

Peter resumes the story of this man’s redemption in the beginning of John Marks gospel in chapter five and verse 1 saying … “And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. [verse 2] And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,”  It is perhaps no small amount of symbolism that a man burdened with a Satanic infestation chooses to live among the tombs of the dead.  For as we are slave to our sins, and our desire to sin, we too have found ourselves in a life more filled with the dead than with the living.  Our ability to love is stunted, our ability to do good for others dissipates until it no longer exists.  We become consumed with a level of selfishness that has no ability to be satiated.  Our hunger to please self grows like the mindless zombies of movie lore, until we stumble from one act of self-pleasure to the next one, not knowing or caring what will happen next.

The condition of this poor man, was known not only to God, but to those who lived in the area.  He had become a dangerous threat.  Peter continues to recount his condition before meeting Christ beginning in verse 3 saying … “Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: [verse 4] Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. [verse 5] And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.”  This is the level of depravity to which all sins leads, a level of self-destructive behavior that no sane person can understand.  The local residents were intent on squelching this threat.  Anyone willing to hurt themselves by cutting their own flesh with stones, obviously would have no problem hurting a passerby.  Anyone who ventured near the mountains or the tombs was sure to encounter this man, and could possibly be killed in the process.

So from time to time, the local residents would band together and attack this man in great numbers intent on putting him in iron chains and bracelets to bind him hand and foot.  This would easily subdue a normal person, it was how the Romans did it.  But not so for this guy.  Because of what resided within him, a supernatural power allowed him to break chains as if they were made of straw.  The iron bracelets seemed to shatter like glass on the stones around him.  What was fully capable of binding a normal person, was for him only a minor aggravation.  This man did not sleep like the rest of us.  What he ate and drank were unimportant to him.  He existed in the mountains and near the tombs of the dead perpetually looking for an opportunity to terrorize others.  Human abilities to contend with this situation had been exhausted.  No person could bind him, or tame him.  The best that could be done was to avoid him.  You can imagine that both Jewish Rabbi’s and Roman Authorities, had been employed at one point or another to fix this man, but neither were up to the level of this challenge, and both sought to simply avoid further confrontation.

But what man finds impossible, Jesus does not.  Satan tried to kill Christ before He could free this man in the storm that had come upon the lake during the journey.  Satan did not want to lose the value of this man in this region spreading fear.  The demons however, also knew what was coming, they too had fears as hard as that is to imagine for us as John Mark chronicles beginning in verse 6 writing … “But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, [verse 7] And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.”  What was left of the man inside this hollow shell sought out Christ to worship Him and fall at His feet.  Even in this act, the man could not control his own speech.  And instead of the words to cry for help that he longed to utter, came only the voice of demons entrenched in the body of this man. 

These demons spoke in front the disciples and of the crowd of followers who were there as well from the little boats that followed Jesus across the Sea.  They once again immediately identified Jesus as the “Son of the Most High God”.  This public declaration was not meant to flatter or uplift Jesus, it was designed to cause controversy and a crisis of faith in His followers who were not ready to accept this reality of truth as to the identity of Christ.  Each time before Christ had commanded the demons to keep silent, but this time perhaps the crowd was small enough, and perhaps dedicated enough, to accept that He may indeed be the Son of God.  So this time silence was not commanded of them.

The second part of what the demons spoke revealed their own versions of fear.  They ask that in the name of God, for Jesus not to torment them.  The torment they refer to here is not what you and I would immediately think of … some sort of interdimensional version of hell where a lake of fire tortures but does not consume its victims.  By that kind of traditional logic and thinking, the devil is supposed to be “in charge” of that place, and demons are merely his helpers tormenting the souls of evil men.  Hardly a place demons would wish to avoid.  If it were real, they would love to be there watching and helping men to suffer.  But that was not what the demons feared or did not want to be exposed to.  Instead it was something completely opposite.  The memory of the perfect harmony and fulfillment of love and life in heaven was what they did not want to have to endure again, in the degenerated state in which they found themselves.  To be exposed to the pure and intense and infinite love of God, and know by contrast how horrible it is to be separated from that love is what the demons wished to avoid.  It was too great a punishment for them to endure to be forced to remember how good was the life and existence they left, when they sided with Lucifer, and made war in heaven itself.

Now, in the degenerated state they were in, they were living inside a man, dwelling among the tombs of the dead.  Their entire demonic existed consisted in torturing and causing fear in men.  There was no love among them, or for them.  All love had gone away.  They had driven it out of themselves because of the degenerative nature of sin and self-love.  They were now only shadows of their former angelic state.  They were creatures far diminished from what once was.  They still had power, but had lost all love.  Then came Jesus Christ into their presence, and they were forced to confront the perfect love they had abandoned.  It was too much for them.  They did not wish to be reminded that redemption was possible.  They did not wish to see and feel the lure of love on their decrepit existence.  Better to be left alone, better to be sent away, they must hide themselves from the source of infinite love.  They must flee from the light in front of them.  Better to seek the abyss of darkness than stand in the light of love that emanates from the Son of the Living God.  So they beg for mercy to leave them to their suffering without the memory of how good, good can really be.

Peter continues to tell the story to John Mark in this gospel in verse 8 saying … “For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. [verse 9] And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. [verse 10] And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.”  The conversation between Christ and the demons continues as Christ does what He came specifically to do.  They are first commanded to leave the man.  There is no argument here about whether they will be able to stay in him or not, the commands of God cannot be argued with.  They will leave.  Jesus asks them their name.  The name is revealing as well.  For it is not just a single demon living in this man, but “many”.  A legion in the Roman vernacular referred to a thousand men.  Lest we think this Satanic infestation is limited to only one, it is not.  Lest we think we may only contend with a single demon in our struggle, we may face considerably more than that.  But it is in Jesus we find, that a single command has the desired effect to make us free from our slavery to self and to the enemy of souls.

The demons could not stand to be in the presence of Christ and His love, but they did not want to leave the country yet either.  They wanted to remain to torture men who refused the freedom Christ offered when He left this region.  So they begged to stay nearby.  A solution seemed to present itself to them as John Mark continues in verse 11 saying … “Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. [verse 12] And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. [verse 13] And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.”  Pigs do not have the same capacity for self-preservation as men do.  When Christ granted the demons request, the demons entered the pigs.  This proves that Satanic infestations are not just limited to mankind, but can impact creatures and animals in nature as well.  But the pigs fear and rage resulted in a quick stampede off a cliff into the sea.  The number of the pigs is also mentioned here as it turned out there were about two-thousand pigs (a great deal bigger than just one legion, but instead nearly two).

It is easy to focus on the demons in this story … how many there were, the conversation they had with Christ, the fears they revealed, and the end of their reign in the herd of dead pigs drowned in the sea.  But this is not a story about demons and their fate or pain.  It is a story about the redemption of a man beyond all human hope.  It is the story of a man who was infested by Satan with 2,000 demons and yet with a simple command of Christ was made free from this lifelong bondage.  While demons are entering pigs and stampeding to their doom, the man is completely restored to his own right mind.  He is offered clothing, perhaps borrowing from the disciples and other followers there with Christ.  He is calm.  He is aware of what has happened.  His gratitude is beyond measure.  He has a life for the first time in his memory.  And there will be witnesses to these events.

John Mark continues the story in verse 14 saying … “And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. [verse 15] And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. [verse 16] And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.”  The pig herders were watching all these events, and when they occurred they ran into town to spread the news.  Local residents could scarcely believe their ears, and went to investigate for themselves.  But upon arriving at the scene, they find the man perfectly restored, not a demon left in him.  The pile of dead pigs 2000 strong reveal the extent of the damage that had been in him.  Everything the pig herders had reported was true.  And the fear of these events continued to plague them.  Rather than embrace Christ now, they were not ready to do so.  So John Mark records their response in verse 17 saying … “And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.” 

The locals no more understood how the demons left this man, than they did who commanded them to do so.  They feared that Jesus having this much power, might be something worse than what they had already seen.  The residents did not hear who Jesus was as declared by the demons.  All they had heard about Jesus was from the religious establishment and none of that was very good.  Of course, none of this impacted the newly freed man in any way.  He was ready to be a disciple of Christ and was determined to follow the orders of Jesus to the end of the earth.  There was no doubt in his mind.  He jumped into the boat to leave when Christ left.  But Jesus had a greater mission for this new disciple.  John Mark continues in verse 18 saying … “And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. [verse 19] Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. [verse 20] And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.”

The personal testimony of this man worked.  ALL men did marvel throughout the entire region from the edge of the sea to the city of Decapolis.  This newly minted missionary was not subject to having demons re-enter him and take over once more.  The command of Christ to free him would last the entire length of his life.  It is thus with us.  When we submit to the power and authority of Jesus Christ to remake us, He can remove our sins, and our desire to sin, so that they do not return to us again.  This is the power the Lord has to alone break the cycle of addiction.  For it is not just our actions Jesus can alter, He can alter the underlying desires that fuel them.  It is the desire to sin that must be ended within us, if we are to know peace.  We are as powerless as this poor man, to change our desires.  But our Lord is completely capable.  The only caveat, is that Jesus will not force His will upon us.  We must ask for it.  We must allow it.  We must “let” Him give us the change and re-creation we so desperately need.

However, when once you have tasted the freedom the Lord offers from a sin or slavery you were once bound to, your personal testimony will begin to have great effect.  We will not become instantly perfect in this process.  We will not be instantly without “any” sin in this life.  In point of fact, starting this journey tends to reveal to us that the count of our demons was way beyond the one or two we were aware of.  And during the journey we should never look at each other as standards of the faith, but only to Jesus.  There will be those of us who fail, who slide back, and re-commit sins we thought ourselves rid of.  While these painful events may cause delays in our journey, the source of our freedom remains ever capable to restore us once again.  It is not our past that will dictate our future, it is our willingness to allow Christ to re-create our future, and thus alter our present that will dictate it. 

Our modern technology is no protection against the powers of darkness.  The same legion of demons that were once cast out along the Sea of Galilee have only degenerated further over the last 2 thousand years.  The same Satan who tried to kill Christ before He could free this man, is still actively looking to kill the followers of Jesus wherever he can.  The powers arrayed against us are still as intent and potent as they ever were.  And should we find ourselves deluded into the idea that they are no longer a threat, we are all the more likely to be suffering under their influence.  But the power of the love of Christ is no less today than it was then either.  His ability to utter a single command and drive the demons from our lives is no less potent today than it was on that beach so long ago.  We need only look to Jesus, and like the demoniac, fall and try to worship Him.  Jesus can and will save us.  Even if our speech is not our own, the intent of our hearts is known by our God.  He can, and He will restore us.  It is His greatest desire, and our sure-fire way to see a Satanic infestation finally come to an end within us …

 

League of Demons ...

Our nation grieves again this week, as deranged hatred was put on display.  In an act most believe is nothing short of demonic, a young man sat for an hour in a bible study group and then proceeded to execute those who had just opened the Word with him, for the crime of being born with black skin.  To carry this level of malevolence for anyone requires a commitment to hate that exceeds most “normal” human boundaries.  To carry this level of hate is to be in league with the kingdom of Satan; to be at the very least, a soldier in his army.  The question that remains is only … was the young man possessed by a demon; or was he simply this committed to hate all on his own, after an indoctrination in hate propagated by groups who at their core espouse the righteousness of God in the hateful actions they take and language they speak so carelessly.  The response to this man’s actions runs the gamut from full forgiveness offered to him by the surviving victims of this heinous crime and yet another appeal to seek Christ … to proposals to arm deacons with guns in order to kill threats in church if they are perceived to be threats.  It is Christians who offer ideas on both of these spectrums.  But this is not the first time, the question of how Satan and his forces operate.

Early in the ministry of Christ, it was plainly evident that evil spirits who possessed men in his day, were powerless to resist the love of Jesus Christ.  When confronted with this love, the evil spirits declared his identity as the literal Son of God publicly.  Jesus commanded them to silence, and without exception, the demons obeyed and left their hosts.  It is unknown to us, whether the hosts of these possessions were willing participants or victims who had refused the protection of God; only that having been possessed, they were made free in the presence of Jesus Christ.  In all of recorded history, this had never occurred before.  There had never been a Rabbi, or Prophet, who compelled demons to leave their hosts without exception, and of his own power.  Demons, outside of confronting the power of Christ, do not seem to need to listen to the will of mankind.  They appear to be able to supersede our desires and take up residence within us, if we refuse the protection of the power of Jesus Christ.  This is unnerving both then and now.  And whether these victims were even aware of their possession, or whether it was unknown to them until they were in the presence of Christ, is equally unnerving.

What was and is beyond question, is the Jesus Christ never so much as had a debate with any of the demons he came in contact with.  They were driven from the power of love of Jesus Christ as being in close proximity to it was too painful for them.  It reminded them of the absolute contentment and joy they had once known in the peace of loving others.  It was contrasted by the infinite hunger and emptiness they now found in the pursuit of loving only self.  Demons do not understand balance.  “Balance” is a lie the devil preaches to mankind to attempt to deceive him into thinking we can love both self and others, it is not an all or nothing choice, but in fact, it is exactly that.  Demons do not love us at all.  They have no sympathy.  They spare no believers, the heinous crimes in a Connecticut daycare / school, and recently in Charleston SC are evidence of that.  When once the love of self is embraced it takes over everything within the consciousness.  It represents the death of love for others in full.  There can be no “balance”.  So demons have no love for Satan, any more than they have love for God, or us.  They, like their “leader” love only themselves.  So the new question that emerges is, “how do they remain in league with each other”?

Peter recalled to John Mark in chapter three an incident where this topic was discussed.  It began in verse 20 with a description of runaway sized crowds attempting to get into the presence of Jesus Christ.  John Mark transcribes in verse 20 saying … “And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. [verse 21] And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.”  The size of the crowds who pressed in on Jesus were so enormous there was not room to sit and eat, sleep, or take any normal human comforts.  The response to being made free from possession, made free from the desire to sin, and restored to health no matter what the disease was overwhelming.  The people saw in Jesus Christ salvation for their entire being.  He restored their bodies, their minds, their wills, and their thinking.  He was more than just a healer of body, he was a spiritual healer that offered hope in place of condemnation.  And the lure of the love of Christ was so strong it drew all men unto Him.

His disciples feared all the demand on Christ was going to overcome Him.  They worried about His ability to hold up under this kind of press.  So they sought to get Him away from the crowds and give Him some relief and quiet time for a while.  But this was not to be.  The Sabbath Wars had begun, the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day had determined that Jesus Christ was a threat to their traditional way of thinking.  This “Upstart” defied their traditions about the observance of the law, and as a result they determined Jesus was a threat to the Law, and to the Temple.  He must be stopped at all costs, killed if possible.  Imagine the irony of seeking to kill the author of the Law, because He did not agree with how “you” thought it should be kept.  But none the less, Jesus had to die, and His words along with Him.  However for the religious leadership, the inconvenient truth of seeing demons flee from the sight of Jesus, declaring Him to be the literal Son of God, was a tough nut to crack.  The people witnessed these events in startling regularity.  So how could the religious leadership declare Christ to be evil, while at the same time demons were fleeing His presence declaring Him to be the literal Son of God?   This created quite a conundrum for the Pharisees.

They did however, come up with a strategy to defeat Christ and humiliate Him in front of the people.  They sent agents down to discredit Him publicly.  John Mark recounts in verse 22 saying … “And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.”  The hatred of the religious leaders for Jesus Christ was so great, they accused Him of being possessed by Satan himself.  The logic being, since Satan was the leader of the demons, he would have the authority to cast out demons himself.  He would also have the cunning to have those demons declare him to be the Son of God, in order to further deceive the people.  In effect the Pharisees proposed the first anti-Christ, was actually Christ.  Keep in mind, this entire concocted strategy came into being, because Jesus Christ kept Sabbath with Himself and us differently than the priests imagined He should.  Jesus had the temerity to heal and restore a man in need on Sabbath, and this was a bridge too far for the Pharisees.  To show love on Sabbath was less important to them, than to rigidly adhere to the traditions of keeping the Law as they had outlined.  So their opinions of Jesus degenerated to the point where they believed Him to be possessed of Satan, and carrying the authority of Satan over his troops.  There is no limit to where hate will carry your thinking, when once love of others has been rejected.

But the Pharisees did not understand the way a league of demons really works.  It is not built on authoritarian hierarchies as no one is willing to submit; it is instead built upon common cause and common purpose.  The love of self unites the league of demons only in an equal desire to see God suffer because they know they face their own demise and will see no redemption.  They cannot hurt God Himself physically as He is much too powerful for that.  They cannot defeat Him or Jesus in open conflict which is why demons flee from His presence so quickly and without struggle.  They can however hurt us, the object of the love of Jesus and His Father God.  Through hurting and deceiving us into hurting each other, they can and do cause pain to the heart of God.  It is their only weapon.  They have none other in their arsenal.  If demons were to stop working to hurt mankind, God the Father would stop suffering.  This is an outcome that none of them wish to see.  So the battle to hurt mankind must rage on, and the hate they can inspire within us must continue.

Jesus however, was intent on demonstrating to them, the fallacy in their thinking.  Peter recalls to John Mark in verse 23 saying … “And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? [verse 24] And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [verse 25] And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. [verse 26] And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.”  A common cause, and common purposes only succeeds if all the members continue to pursue it.  If Satan were to cause others of his league to stop their efforts to hurt God, it would offer God relief from the pain of watching us hurt each other.  This would bring comfort to God, and damage the only weapon Satan has against Him.  It makes no sense to see Satan pursue this strategy, and Jesus Christ is calling attention to it to those who sought to concoct this strategy to humiliate Him.  He is trying to enlighten them.  But His message has a deeper application for us.

The common cause of the league of demons is founded on hate.  It is the uniting principle behind the pain that will greet the heart of God who knows only love.  When mankind reeks acts of violence and hatred on each other, it is the heart of God who breaks to see what our free will allows for when we choose to love self over loving others.  The acts of the man in Charleston are horrific and based on a deep and abiding hatred for others that closely aligns him in cause with the league of demons.  However, the response to his acts of hatred often elicit hatred in the hearts of those who hurt, or those who merely observe.  In either case, when hate spreads like a virus, it is only the kingdom of Satan who gains ground … in common cause to hurt the heart of God. 

When religious leaders like the Pharisees of old, or the modern Christians of today, espouse hatred in response to evil (whether real or perceived), it spreads hate like a virus and works only to hurt the heart of God.  It is the temptation of Satan to greet violence with more violence, and hate with more hate.  It is the temptation of Satan to assert you could possibly “prevent evil” if you had weapons and willingness to kill at all times, even in church, even while worshipping the God of love.  To kill those who choose to kill, is at best, a strategy that promotes killing.  It forces the Christian to murder, and live with the pain of ending a life before it could be redeemed.  It may seem like the better choice, it may “feel better”, it may be viewed through the lens of preventing further or greater violence, but in the end, it is only uniting in common cause with a weapon that brings pain to the heart of God.

What we forget, and Christ remembers, is that the life of the victims is no less precious than the life of perpetrator.  God cares equally for both, as both are His precious children.  He grieves for both.  He wishes for “none” of us to know the pain of taking life.  He wishes for “none” of us to choose to so love self that we would even entertain the idea of hurting others.  But this wish extends far beyond matters of life and death.  When Christians choose to espouse hate to others in how we speak, and what we say, we equally align with the league of demons.  “Hate” itself is the disease.  Hatred enabled the psychotic killers of our day to do what they do.  When people are bombarded by the language of hate day after day, because we believe them to be making bad choices, we only propagate the weapon of the enemy.  Redemption and restoration cannot be accomplished through the means of hatred, only through the means of love.  It is not love to spout condemnation and ridicule; that is the language of hate.  We do not need to excuse sin, or think sin is in any way permissible.  But to focus on sin and be free with our condemnation of it, does nothing to show the victim a way to see the pain of sin removed from their lives … instead it only perpetuates their misery in the very sins we enjoy condemning.

Instead, when we point the erring to Christ, and LOVE them through their journey to Him, we enable them to find a way of relief.  When we hold our tongues of condemnation, and instead empathize that surrender of who we are is equally difficult for us, as it must be for “them”, we join them in the journey towards perfection.  It is not a race, but a journey.  It is a destination all who seek Christ will find.  But it is found in how we love others along the way.  “Hate” must and should be the enemy of the Christian in any form.  We should avoid embracing it, adopting it, or being perceived as speaking it in any form.  We must be extra vigilant to keep our speech free from it.  To love like Christ is to overcome evil, not embrace it.  Christ did not meet the hatred of the Pharisees, and the very real threat they posed to His life, with weapons of war.  He met them with the only weapon in the arsenal of God to defeat evil, He met them with love … for them.  Christ genuinely sought to redeem the lives of those who sought to kill Him, both then and now.

Peter continued relaying the counsel of Christ in verse 27 … “No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.”  Here Jesus is telling the scribes sent to discredit Him with a doomed strategy, that Christ is able to bind Satan and hold him powerless, while He casts out demons who align with Satan in common cause.  Neither Satan nor any demon aligned in league with him will be able to resist the power of love Jesus offers.  The memory of how perfect life was in heaven, with how wonderful loving others makes you feel, in comparison with how painful and empty loving self leaves you, was simply too much for demons who once knew what it was like to live eternally in the perfection of God’s love.  They do not want to be reminded of that perfect love.  They flee from it.  What they have now is only misery, and misery is what they seek to spread in revenge to God for crimes they alone are guilty of.  But the method of how demons are removed and by what power was still a question that required an answer.

Jesus continued speaking in verse 28 … “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: [verse 29] But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: [verse 30] Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.”  It is the power of the Holy Spirit that frees us from our sin, and our desire to sin.  It is the power of God made manifest through His love within us.  It is the Holy Spirit that changes the desires of our hearts and brings them into alignment with the Law of God, and an abiding love of others, not self.  When we cast aside the power of the Holy Spirit, when we accuse Him of being Satan, we cut ourselves off from the only power capable of removing sin.  In so doing, there is no repentance, because there is no desire to repent.  The still small voice within us goes silent.  We embrace our sin with full abandon, and want no part of God.  Without the Holy Spirit, our desire for something more goes away, and we become in league with demons aligned with Satan in the common cause of hurting the heart of God.

Jesus was careful to point out to his accusers that they could blaspheme His own name in any way they chose, but to reject the Holy Spirit, cut them off from the path of repentance and restoration.  Nothing has changed today.  When we embrace supernatural power for the purposes of control, we are embracing Satan’s power.  When we seek to heal others for the credit we would get for doing it, for the fame of being known as a great servant of God, we are attempting to “use” the Holy Spirit for our own selfish purposes.  When we reject the existence of God, and of His power, and deny the God of the Bible in favor of a more nebulous God, who “cannot be defined” in only one set of scriptures, but exists on a plane of many writings with many ideas, and paths to God, we are in danger of rejecting our only path to restoration.  God is not just a concept.  He is not just an abstract.  He has been defined, as has His Spirit, and the work of the Trinity for our redemption outlined in scriptures.  When we reject the work of the Holy Spirit, we cut ourselves off from the protection of God, the power of God, and our path towards restoration.  We embrace self in its stead, and wind up looking eerily similar to demons who league together to seek the common cause of hate.

If the shooters in Charleston, and Connecticut, and around the world have rejected the Holy Spirit and joined in league with demons, they will not seek redemption or restoration for themselves.  To see them redeemed it is we who must intercede with prayer on their behalf.  God cannot overcome their will and choice to reject Him, but He can reach out again to them in love in answer to our prayers on their behalf.  I imagine many, including me, will be praying for comfort for the victims of these shootings.  I wonder how many Christians will pray for the perpetrators of this hate, to see their hearts reformed and their lives redeemed and restored.  To see these shooters find redemption and restoration so that in the Kingdom of God they can be reconciled to their victims, and apologize with broken hearts for the evil deeds they did on earth is what restoration and forgiveness are all about.  When you think about it, how will our responses in heaven be any different than theirs?  We may not have killed another, but we have inflicted so much pain on others in the actions of self-love we chose to embrace while in this world of sin.  Through the lens of perfect love for others in heaven, it is our hearts that will be broken as we encounter the victims of our pain, and beg forgiveness for what we did to them while here in this world of sin.  If our future looks similar, can our present find common cause to align with the restorative mission of Christ for us here as well?  Can we look to end evil and hate, by surrendering to God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to put an end to hate within us?  Only in this way, can evil be truly defeated forever…

 

Interpreted to Death (witness number twenty) ...

Time passes, but people are not changed in a positive way by the passage of time, without a reliance on Christ.  It was winter, during a feast of dedication, and Jesus was in Jerusalem again walking and teaching in the porch of Solomon’s temple.  John’s gospel account continues in chapter 10 and verse 24 when Christ is confronted by the Jewish religious leadership who again ask Him to state plainly whether He was the long awaited Messiah or not.  This question however, was not designed to illicit a spiritual response, it was designed to illicit a political one.  The popular conception about the primary job of the coming Messiah was that He would liberate the people from Roman oppression.  The Pharisees and religious leaders had applied the texts in their scriptures regarding the final kingship of Christ and the overthrow of all evil in the universe to His first appearance by mistake.  They ignored all the references to the sacrifice the Messiah must make of His own life for our redemption, and applied only those that referenced worldwide dominion of His kingdom.  This was a popular view because it offered the people hope to live outside of oppression, with the possibility of power that would never reach an end.  The Pharisees, being the leaders of the people at the time, considered themselves to be the “first” to enjoy the privileges of world-wide dominion.  This was the idea of the Messiah they were invested in.  That the true Messiah might be the sacrificial Lamb of God, and never declare His own power, was inconceivable in their minds.

The Pharisees hoped that if Christ would simply declare Himself openly as the Messiah, the pressure of the people to liberate themselves from Rome would be so great, that He would either have to capitulate to their demands, or to lose them as followers.  In either case the Pharisees stood to gain the advantage.  Most of the traps the Pharisees laid for Christ were designed to be no-win situations, where either answer could be exploited for their purposes.  The fundamental they were relying on is the choice between two evils.  The truth they missed was that with God, we are never forced to make a choice where both outcomes are evil; there is always another choice through the power of God that can confound evil entirely.

So in verse 25 Jesus begins His response saying … “Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: …”  This question had been asked and answered, just not in the way the Pharisees had desired.  The work of the Messiah was NOT to be what they were looking for.  Jesus continues … “the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.”  The mission of the Messiah was to LOVE.  His sacrifice for our redemption was the epitome of Love.  Every encounter of Christ with our brokenness was to heal and restore us.  Every encounter of Christ with us sinful men, was not to condemn us, but to love us to redemption, restore us to His intentions, and focus us on what is truly important.  Christ freed no slaves from their owners.  But he offered each of us freedom from slavery to self, that whether bound or free, we are all subject to without His gift.  Christ did not nothing to overturn the power of Rome by force or by conflict.  But by meeting evil with love he started a movement that would turn the largest heathen power in the world into a different creature who would attempt to carry His name.  Christ knew that only Love can defeat evil.  Matching force with superior force does nothing to eliminate evil.  But matching evil with superior love, destroys and eliminates evil once and for all.  The deeds of Christ attest to the response of our God to us.  The deeds of Christ show the heart and motive of God.  Jesus did nothing for Himself, but everything for us.  Our God literally served us first.

But the idea that the most powerful being in the universe would stoop to serve others with no thought to Himself, was more than the Priests could take in.  It was baffling that one with so much potential power would use none of it to exalt Himself, and all of it in simple service of love to others, particularly to those who did not “deserve” these displays of love.  The priests, like Satan, reasoned that if “they” had that kind of power, “they” would rule the world (you know, in a good way).  But this is the contrast between God and Satan – God uses His power to show love to all.  Satan would use his power only on himself at the expense of others.  So the Pharisees did not believe in Christ, because Christ did not follow their logic or wisdom, or make sense to them.  All of their study of scripture had done nothing to melt their hearts from thinking first of serving only self.  Scriptural leadership had offered them power, and superiority over other people.  The concepts of service were replaced with self-aggrandizement.  And now this humble teacher showed a stark contrast between where they were, and where they should have been.

Jesus continues in verse 26 … “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. [verse 27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”  A sheep is a humble creature because they recognize their own need.  A sheep looks to his shepherd to meet his needs.  Therefore a sheep is happy to follow and trust instead of attempt to lead and teach.  Christ would gladly have accepted these very men as His followers, but they would refuse to follow.  They did not look to Christ as their shepherd, or leader.  Instead they expected Christ to submit to their own leadership and ideas about scripture and what it meant.  This conflict was not one brought on by Christ, it was one brought on by their own pride.  Are we any different?  Do we presume to teach others to listen to our own ideas about what scripture means and ignore the influence of anyone else?  Do we do this instead of teaching all believers to seek Christ first, even if that journey travels along a different road we do not understand?  Do we trust Christ to save the lost, or believe the lost can only be saved if they listen strictly to ourselves … like our Pharisee forefathers perhaps.

Jesus continues in verse 28 … “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”  Life is a gift of Christ.  Eternal life is a GIFT of Christ.  It is not inherent within us, nor something we achieve of our own.  We are saved by Christ.  We are not just saved for a moment, and then subject to the power of Satan once again.  Instead we are saved by Christ, and taken beyond the reach of Satan.  Our lives are transformed by the power of Christ so that temptation is no longer the temptation it once was.  When we look to Christ to be remade, we are remade.  Our problems come, because we look away from Christ.  We begin to think our transformation was something attributable to ourselves.  And as we focus on the mirror again, we find ourselves failing again.  Victories are given away to relapse because we let go of our cure, and look again to self for healing.  But when we focus on Christ, when we humble ourselves as sheep who long for a restorative shepherd, we FIND one in Christ.  And the wolves of this world, are powerless against the Shepherd we have put our faith in.  Once in the hand of Christ, we are beyond the power of those who would destroy us.  For our temporal life means nothing, our eternal one begins immediately.  While we may experience the sleep of death before His return, our sleep will be unperceivably brief, and carry no lasting sting.  Our lives, both now as He removes our pain, and then as His work is finally completed, will be lives of service to others for all eternity that are truly worth living.  This is His gift to us.

Jesus continues in verse 29 … “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.”  Lest you think Christ is alone in His mission to redeem and protect us from evil, think again.  His Father gives us to Him.  And even if you must choose to doubt the strength of the Son, no one can deny the strength of the Father.  The Father is greater than ALL.  No man can remove us from the hand of His Father.  We are not just in the hands of Christ, though that is plenty for me, we are also in the hands of His Father.  They are completely in sync in this effort.  They are completely of one mind on the topic of our redemption and restoration.  We are loved every bit as much by the Father as by His Son.  Every action of service Christ takes is the will of His Father on our behalf.  Every act of mercy and restoration, and healing, comes from the source of all Love who exists in heaven.  Christ was the physical revelation of the mind and heart of God, both Father and Son.  This level of unity cannot be ignored or undone.  And He states it plainly as He declares in verse 30 … “I and my Father are one.”  Not only do Christ and His Father share divinity, but they share Love for us, and the mission to redeem and restore us.  This is the true nature of God which Christ revealed in His visit to our world.  The life of Christ stands in rebuke to the imagery the devil would like to associate with the motives and desires of the Father.  The words of the devil are undone by the actions of Christ.  For love is fully defined in the life of Christ, and He states all throughout His ministry, that these actions are the specific will of His Father.

Predictably the Jewish leadership had only one response to the idea that Jesus was divine, they must stone Him.  Here again, were the learned men of the law, ready to kill someone who did not conform to their own ideas or leadership.  Here were men who believed themselves to be the leaders of the religion established by the most high God, ready to kill the most high God, because He would not agree with them.  What is more, they intended to kill Christ, in order to protect the honor of their God.  But in reality their “god” had become themselves.  Their religions had devolved into their debates about what they thought scripture meant.  Their interpretation of scripture allowed for the idea that they should kill others who did not accept their leadership.  In effect, Christ was about to be “interpreted” to death.

So Jesus asks a simple question of them in verse 32 … “Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?”  This question contains more than what might first meet the eye.  First; Jesus is not asking them if He is being stoned for what He says, but for what He does.  This is not just an ideological debate about the mind and heart of God.  Christ puts His argument in what He has done to make His case.  Second; Christ links the actions He has performed to the power and will of His Father.  He makes no personal claim for these great deeds, instead deferring all glory to His Father.  In effect, He is plainly stating that these miracles require the stamp of divine approval or they could not have been conducted.  Those picking up the stones at the moment, are not just rejecting Christ, they are rejecting His Father God, for Satan has never done such acts of mercy to any here on earth.   Lastly; Jesus is asking them to pause for a moment and consider the reasoning that would allow them to kill someone under the guise of a religion that was intended to be one where love to others was first and foremost.  The Ten Commandments after all, which is something they purport to most revere, state plainly “thou shalt not kill”.  It does not grant exceptions for those who do not agree with the law.  It does not grant exceptions for those who believe they know the law better than others.  It does not even grant exceptions for self-defense.  Yet all there this day, were willing to pick up stones and kill the author of their law, because they believed their interpretations of scripture allowed for it.

The Jews respond in verse 33 … “The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”  The Jews have interpreted the scriptures to allow for them to kill anyone who commits the sin of blasphemy.  Notice that they do not leave the act of judgment or condemnation up to God on a matter like this, they presume instead to take these actions into their ‘well-qualified’ hands.  Notice too, they do not allow for repentance to occur if it had been warranted, instead choosing to take immediate action to remedy the situation.  They are going to ignore the argument that proves the miracles of Christ come from God the Father, this is something they have no answer for; and they are going to kill Christ rather than accept that what He is saying may in fact be true.  Their interpretation of scripture allows for an on the spot murder conducted in anger, absent a trial, or opportunity for repentance, or even a discussion as to the merits of this claim.  Had Christ been a mere mortal who was making false claims of divinity, He could have easily been proven a liar and blasphemer.  But because of “who” He was, irrational anger was to rule the day.  If they could not prove Him a liar, they would kill Him to shut Him up.

The response of Christ was to cut right to the heart of their motives.  If they were to kill Him based on their interpretations of scripture, then Christ would call them to interpret something they would have no answer for.   Jesus responds in verse 34 … “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? [verse 35] If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; [verse 36] Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?”  Jesus refers here to a Psalm, a poem, included in the Old Testament whose themes were ones of justice for those in need, and refers to a counsel of the mighty where judgment was undertaken.  But in the poem is the exact reference Jesus quotes, the saying “ye are gods”.  If He is to be killed based on their interpretations, then what do they have to say about this text?  Jesus is making the point that not all scripture is so easily understood, or singular in its purpose.  This poem may well have been using imagery to make a point, not attempting to be literal in its interpretation.  And the fact that the men there have no answer for this reference is designed to teach them that their interpretations have room for growth.  They are not the end-all, be-all of scripture interpretation.

Again Christ turns the argument to focus on deeds over words and their interpretations.   Again he says look at the facts, the actions that He has taken and evaluate the reality of who He is, by the reality of what He has done.  Jesus continues in verse 37 … “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. [verse 38] But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.”  Miracles are not possible outside of the divine.  None of us by sheer will can undo the physics of disease.  But God can.  God can do what we believe is impossible.  God can restore what we are unable to restore, both physically and spiritually.  Jesus is saying to His listeners, if I can do these things, and they are not humanly possible, then I MUST have a connection with God.  And if I am the Son of God, and my actions prove it, why are you willing to kill me because I do not conform to your understandings and ideas.  Salvation is on the table, and to prove it, Jesus has done what no one else has ever done.  He has performed the miraculous.  Our reality has been altered by the deeds of Christ, not just by His words.

But simple logic, and yet another offer of proof that cannot be disputed, is not enough to change the mind of one who WILL NOT believe.  This is the problem atheist’s face in our world today.  They ask for proof, but were it given, they would find a “logical” reason to discard the miraculous even if it were done right in front of them.  This is because they have made a choice about what to believe in or not.  This choice will not be undone by that which cannot be explained.  And so the response to love and logic that cannot be undone recorded in verse 39 was … “Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,”.  Even after all this, they would have killed Him.  Nothing He could say would deter them.  Nothing He had done deserved this response.  But evil has only one response to love, and that is to kill it, or be conquered by it.

So Jesus left Jerusalem.  His effort to reach the spiritual leaders of His day had little success; a poignant lesson for the religious leaders of our day.  Christ then returned to the Jordan river area where John the Baptist used to minister, and John footnotes that a great many believed on Him there.  For what John the Baptist had said about Christ had been fulfilled completely in the sight of the people.  Those who were not blinded by the arrogance of their own ideas, were able to see the truth in the actions that Christ had done.  So they found salvation where the Pharisees would have killed it.  Are we ready to be led to truth, or do we believe it our job to lead others there?  Are we humble enough to be led by the child in our midst, or do we believe we have transcended from sheep to shepherd in some way?  The truth of Christ remains.  I wonder, would we too join our Pharisee forefathers and attempt to interpret Him to death as well?

 

Restored Vision of Love (witness number eighteen) ...

What might you do, if you encountered a crowd that hated you for loving them so much, that they picked up stones intending to kill you on the spot?  Most of us would flee if we could, but then we might be motivated by fear, by our fight-or-flight responses.  When Christ encountered this situation, I believe He had no such equal response.  At the end of chapter eight of John’s Gospel account, when the Jewish religious leadership was bent on stoning Christ to death, He simply “hid Himself” and passed right through the midst of them.  This was a miracle.  But it was not based in fear for Himself, perhaps because He knew He would be dying for the world anyway at some point.  Perhaps because He simply knew this was not yet the time for His sacrifice, that His work was not yet finished.  Perhaps even because He loved those who thought to kill Him, and was still hopeful He could turn them around.  But why I believe Christ was not leaving in fear; is because of the first words of verse one of chapter nine of John’s Gospel account … “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.”  Instead of being preoccupied with His own survival and escaping the imminent stoning, Christ notices someone else in need. 

When looking through the eyes of love, there is ALWAYS time for someone else, particularly if they are in pain.  Here was Christ who might have easily been killed for remaining in a place where there was a mob bent on doing just that; but He does not flee, He does not fight, instead He loves.  To refresh the scene, keep in mind that Christ has been preaching to the people in the treasury of the temple, during a feast, and as John will reveal shortly, on the Sabbath day. This was the day He set aside as Holy at creation, and reminded Moses of in the tablets of stone.  Love however, does not take the Sabbath day off.  Love was intended to be amplified on the Sabbath not stifled by it.  To be with God on the Sabbath, to commune with Him one-on-one, hang out with “Dad” so to speak, have playtime, or lunchtime, or help Him out if we could.  These were the desires of God to be with us on Sabbath.  And here on His way out of a life and death situation, Christ does not make His way out of the temple in such a hurry that He misses a need right in front of Him.  The God of love notices everything, and everyone, and on His day, He MAKES time to BE with US.  In this case, He made time to notice one in need, to heal the pain of this man’s life.

The disciples of Christ however, do not fully understand the nature of evil, or the nature of the mission of redemption of the Messiah.  Jewish tradition held, that bad things happened to those who sinned.  It was held that this was a “punishment” sent from God, not a natural consequence of the choice to embrace evil which brings with it pain and death.  What is more, the idea that the sins of the father, are in effect transferred to the son, carried with it the idea that punishment could be taken out on a subsequent generation.  These ideas were promoted by Satan.  For Satan loves the notion, that we would in effect “blame” God for the pain that comes from serving self.  Satan fosters the concept of God as “punisher in chief” instead of “redeemer in chief”.  Satan wants us to believe that God is unfair in punishing our children for what we do.  When in fact, our children are punished for what we do, but not by God, but by us.  A child will suffer the health consequences of what his mother chooses to do while pregnant.  But a child will also suffer with indifference or abuse if his parents continue to choose to seek their own pleasure ahead of his after he is born.  A child will inherit tendencies reinforced by genetics to repeat behavior long fostered in the generations that precede him.   None of this was the wish, or will of God.  Instead God longs to free our grandparents from the pain of their addictions, long before they can manifest in our parents, or in ourselves.  The intent of God was to remove the pain as soon as it was found, so that the ripples of pain end in us today, and are not carried to our children, or our children’s children through our genetics.  When we refuse the redemption and healing God offers, the effects of our choices do sometimes produce a harvest of pain, even in those we would least like to see it.  So it was, that the disciples of Christ had come to accept the concept of God as punisher for sin, instead of liberator from sin.

In verse 2 they inquire … “And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”  This question is akin to the old joke question … ‘have you stopped beating your wife yet?’  If you say yes, you are admitting you used to beat your wife, if you say no, you are admitting you still beat your wife.  It is almost the same thing the disciples are asking, did God punish this man, or did He punish this man because of His parents.  Either way, you beat your wife, and God punishes people with horrific health issues because they “sin”.  Neither is true.  Christ responds in verse 3 … “Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”  Christ is saying this is NOT a punishment for sin.  This man’s blindness was a birth defect, not one that came because he did something silly, or was abused by his parents, or because God likes to punish sinners with crippling defects.  Had our world refused to embrace evil back in the garden of Eden, the pain and deformities that follow evil would never have been known.  But because we turned away from perfection, imperfection has become our norm.  Many suffer from the degeneration of man from God’s perfect creation and intentions for us, to the decay of generations of choices that are not in our best interest.  Evil has made us less and not us alone.  Lucifer was once perfect, and majestic, and the third highest being in the universe.  Now he suffers from the effects of evil, and is no longer the perfect creation he was made.  He has decayed, as do we, as we embrace the evil of looking first to self.

Christ was revealing to us here that this man’s condition was NOT the intent of God, or the work of God.  However, what Christ was about to do, was to reveal what God wants to do with this man, and with His disciples, and with the world at large.  The actions of Christ would reveal what God wants as opposed to what Satan is happy to sustain.  Jesus continues teaching the true will of God in verse 4 He continues … “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. [verse 5] As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  The work of Him that sent Christ, the works of God the Father, are works of REDEMPTION and RESTORATION.  They are not works of punishment.  This man was a sinner, though his blindness was not a result of his sins.  This man was not theologically perfect, nor was he spiritually perfect.  He was still there begging, blind, poor, and sinful.  But the intent of God was not to foster his continued existence in pain, it was to fix his pain, on the spot.  God was not interested in his continued suffering, God the Father was interested in his immediate healing.  Here Christ is revealing that He, who is love, and truth, and the source of life, must also be the Light of the world.  We cannot find the truth while we embrace the darkness.  We must behold the Light and become changed by Him.  This man had been born blind.  He had never seen light of any kind.  He could not read the word, and the interpretation of scripture had gone so wrong, that the religious leaders were angry enough to kill Christ, because He had healed a lame man on the Sabbath.  The teaching of the word had been so perverted it would offer this man no comfort.  But the revelation of the Word incarnate, the revelation of Love in the restoration of this man, would offer something he had never known.  This was the work of the Messiah, to remove OUR blindness, so that WE could see the Word within Him.

The revelation of the motives of God having been stated, John records in verse 6 … “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, [verse 7] And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) …”  The Creator, who had formed man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life, now stoops and uses the same tools he did at the beginning – water and earth.  We are largely water and a few minerals.  The symbolism should not have been lost on the man, on John, or on us.  The Creator, who was Jesus Christ, had made man the first time, as He had also sanctified and made Holy His day called Sabbath.  The same Jesus had done both things at creation all those years ago.  Before Abraham was, I am – were the very words of Christ not just moments before.  Now here was the Creator, once again doing what He so longs to do, fixing the eyes of the blind that had never known sight.  Christ directs the man to wash in the pool of Siloam which John points out as meaning “sent”.  Christ sends a man so that He will see.  Christ had ALREADY done the work of healing him, BEFORE He sent him.  The washing was going to reveal the work that had already been done for the man.  The man did nothing to earn any of this.  John does not record this man calling out to Christ for healing.  Christ went to him.  The man did not refuse the work of Christ, he embraced it.  He did not ask for it, yet it was given to him.  He did not expect it, yet it was happening.  It was the love of God, that Christ, could not endure the pain of this man one second longer.  He so longed to heal him, and the man was WILLING to be healed.  So restoration was to come to this man who was “sent” of Christ.

The work of Christ bears fruit.  The work of Christ transforms a life.  The work of Christ is to restore us and free us from pain, not perpetuate us in our pain.  Verse 7 concludes “… He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”  Never having seen the light, Light had been restored to him.  He may well have not even had physical eyes before that day, for the Creator used dust and water from His own spit to make clay in his restoration.  But no matter, an encounter with Christ, when one is willing to be healed, we are MADE whole.  This is the very nature of the work of the Messiah, the work of OUR savior, to make US whole.  We are not made whole by our ideas about interpreting scriptures, we are made whole when we look to Jesus and let Him lead us to the revelation of Him throughout scripture.  We can be led to truth.  We can have our vision restored.  We can see truth, when we look first and only at Jesus, and NOT to our own ideas and our own ‘perceived’ wisdom.  The Pharisees were wise and learned men, who spent their lives studying the word, yet they looked away from the Light and found only darkness.  We too, can choose to think, we are wiser than Pharisees, and better at interpreting scripture, until we too, look away from Jesus to save us and make us free, thinking our own wisdom will accomplish this work.  It will not.  It never has.  Only Christ can make what was blind to see.  Only when we are led, can we find what He would lead us to.  This was the lesson that was amplified that Sabbath afternoon.

In verse 8 through 12 of John’s gospel record, the man reveals the work of Christ to those who knew him.  Everyone was amazed.  Some thought maybe this was a different guy, or just someone who liked the blind beggar they knew.  But he plainly states, it was him.  He knew it was a man named Jesus who had healed him.  Perhaps he had heard some of the sermon Christ had offered that afternoon.  But by the time he had returned, Jesus was not apparent to him.  He no longer knew where Jesus was.  It is hard to know why those who were there at that time, then brought the man to the Pharisees.  Sometimes this was done as a final step in a healing to be declared whole by them.  But, as might have been the case, this man was healed on the Sabbath, and being jealous to guard against the perceived demands of the law, they might need to get a ruling from the Pharisees on whether this was OK with them.  In any case, verse 13 and 14 set the stage for his encounter with those who refuse to see the Light.  The Pharisees now had another ‘situation’ to deal with.

Verse 15 continues … “Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.”  It was a simple story.  There were no incantations, or demands for an offering from Christ, or demands that this man do something first, in order to earn the favor of Christ.  Christ took nothing from him, but his pain.  Christ gave him a gift, a gift of healing and sight which he had never known.  But from the point of view of the Pharisees, the only thing that mattered was ‘when’ He did it.  Verse 16 reveals … “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.”  Herein was a sad revelation of the thinking of the Pharisees – they all agreed Christ had not kept the Sabbath day – because He loved, because He healed, because He restored that which was broken in this man.  To them, this act was not permitted on Sabbath.  No one appeared to debate this point.  But what caused division even within their ranks was the miracle itself.  Satan had never taken the time to heal a blind man before, and so this kind of action could only have come from God.  If God heals, then how is it a sin to heal?  This conflict was beginning to make them rethink their ideas of what keeping Sabbath might be about.  It was a logical conundrum that was making very difficult to stay united against the influence of Christ.

As if it mattered, or perhaps more to get the arguing in their own ranks to stop, they decide to question the man further.  Verse 17 states … “They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.”  The Pharisees had a problem.  They did not want to acknowledge that Christ was in any way connected with God, and they did not want to rethink their ideas about what is acceptable behavior on Sabbath.  But literally staring them in the face, was a miraculous act of love that could not be denied.  So they decide to verify the facts of this man’s condition.  Verses 18 to 23 detail the account of his parents regarding his birth, his blindness, and his identity.  On the matter of Jesus being the Messiah, it was a trap his parents were not going to fall into.  For by this time, anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah was cast out and dis-fellowshipped from the Temple.  Is it not interesting that religious leaders thought themselves worthy of deciding who gets to enter the Temple of God to worship?  And is this a tradition we like to maintain in our corporate bodies of worship today, perhaps judging for ourselves, who is ‘allowed” to join us in His house, on His day, to worship Him?  In any case, the man’s condition and identity had been confirmed, if the Pharisees were going to resolve this situation they must do it with the man who was healed.

In verses 24 and 25 they ask the formerly blind man to weigh in, on whether he will accept that God healed him, and that this man was a sinner.  But the restored man could only make the declarative statement, He did not know if Jesus was a sinner or not, but what he did know were the facts – once he was blind, now he could see.  This fact was something that all the conjecture and accusation of the Pharisees could not undo.  This fact was now compounded by the first healing of the lame man that was also done on Sabbath.  The ideas of Christ, who had originally blessed the Sabbath day back at creation, and the ideas of the Pharisees who saw this day only as a part of law that must be rigidly guarded were displayed in stunning contrast before the people.  God had created the Sabbath for us, as time He would set aside to be with us.  And we had turned His gift, and His offer of companionship, into a burden that would disallow for restoration and redemption, because of the timing.  Repeating the story would not change it, and the logical problem the Pharisees faced was becoming more evident to everyone there.  They were losing their argument.  They were losing their influence.  They were losing the people.

In verse 26 they ask him to repeat his story again, this would be the third time they had heard it (from the account of those who brought him, from the man himself before his parents, and again after his parents).  At this point, it is evident to everyone including the man, that the Pharisees have no answer for this conundrum.  So he begins to get a little cocky.  He asks the Pharisees if they need to hear the story again so they can become His disciple as well?  While this jab seems like he was only poking a bit of fun at their dismay, it reveals something else.  As of then, the man had decided to follow Jesus.  His exact words to the Pharisees in the end of verse 27 of his question were … “will ye also be his disciples?”  The word “also” implies he intends to follow Christ, and is asking if they intend to join him.  All of their debating and questioning has not pulled this man away from Christ, it has only strengthened his faith in Christ.  He sees now, that the teachers of the law, do not understand the law they teach.  He sees now that the maker of the law of love, was the maker who restored his sight.  He sees the love that was behind the law reflected in the actions of Christ on His holy day.  This contrast leads this man to see Christ as the Son of God, and to see the Pharisees for who they are … blind men … something he knows a lot about.

In verses 28 and 29 the Pharisees respond to his jab by reviling him.  They get defensive and call him out as a sinner, and contrast themselves as being followers of Moses who was confirmed to have spoken with God.  This “fellow” they know nothing about.  Again on display were the simple actions of Christ who loved this man, contrasted with the Pharisees who were content to throw this man away.  His faith grows.  Now He begins to instruct them again by restating the problem for them in no uncertain terms, using their own logic against them, the man reveals in verse 30 … “The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. [verse 31] Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. [verse 32] Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. [verse 33] If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.”  This man was now convinced “who” had healed him, the very Pharisees in front of him had made the case.  It was clear.  Nothing like this had ever been done, only God could do it, it was a marvelous thing, and the fact that you guys don’t see it, is a statement about you, not about Christ.  The Pharisees had done nothing but stand up another follower of Jesus.  So they responded with name calling and threw him out.

It is unclear where Christ was during these preceding’s.  Perhaps He was still in the area, or somewhere nearby.  Perhaps some time passed between these events and what followed.  But in any case, Jesus heard about what happened between the man and the Pharisees, and heard that the man had been cast out of the Temple (a really big deal in those days) for sake of his belief in Christ.  So love again takes time to seek this man out, and reveal the Light to his now restored eyes.  In verse 35 John’s story continues … “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”  Here Christ asks the man in person to answer what He has already heard, and what He already knows.  The man responds in verse 36 … “He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?”  Like the angels who sang at the resurrection of Christ … “Who is this King of Glory?”  because they so loved to hear the name of Jesus praised.  The man already knows the voice of He who speaks to him, because He refers to Jesus already as “Lord”.  But like the angels who long to hear the name again and again, He asks who it is He is to believe in.  Jesus knows his love and in verse 37 responds to it saying … “And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. [verse 38] And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.”  Jesus tells the man, it is He.  And the man again uses the term “Lord” and now falls to his feet worshipping Him.

This is the response of one who knew pain, and now finds it removed, by the miracle of Christ.  This is the response of one who knows what it is like to suffer, and find no one who could help, and cannot fix himself, but through the miracle of Christ, is healed anyway.  So it is with us.  When we see our condition, our pain, and our blindness, and find that Christ takes it away, and all we need do, is let Him, we respond likewise.  We do not worship God out of obligation.  We do not worship God because He demands it.  We worship God, because we cannot help but be grateful for the love he has ALREADY shown us, and continues to show us.  Love responds to love.  Love kills the evil in us, for evil cannot stand against it.  Evil thought to kill love, but it could not.  Love conquers all, because God is love.  When we experience redemption and restoration in a real way, we see His Light, His Truth, and our lives are made whole because of it, we respond in the only way we know how, we worship.  It is His Light that can lead us to His Truth in the Word, when we are willing to be led.  That revelation does not happen while we trust in ourselves and our wisdom, this is why the Pharisees remained blind.  When we learn to be led, we are led, and we finally see what we could not see before.  The man who was born blind could now see after an encounter with Christ.  We who are spiritually born blind, can now see, after an encounter with Christ, when we let Him restore us, like He restored that man who could not heal himself.