Reading 4—Wednesday afternoon
John 9: 1-12, 24-38; 10: 1-5, 14-18, 27-30
A.J.G. In these chapters we have hostility to Christ. At the end of chapter 8, they took up stones that they might cast them at Him; in chapter 10: 31 they again took up stones that they might stone Him. But the man born blind, who was the subject of God’s work, had his own experience with this enmity, that is, the work of God was shown in the presence of opposition. Life develops only if we confront the opposition, so that the more we read in chapter 9, the more the man born blind increases in strength. It is good that we keep in our minds that God has a world of life before Him, and the very fact that the saints have to confront the opposition to the truth becomes the means in the hand of God to bring them on in the truth.
Therefore, the first feature of life in Genesis 1 was that the earth brought forth grass. Outwardly, there is nothing weaker than a small blade of grass, but we see the power of life in it as it makes its way through the earth. We see this in the man born blind. The power of life came to light with him when he had to confront the opposition. So he was born blind, that the works of God might be revealed in him.
A.S.T. Is there any meaning in the fact that the works of God are in the plural?
A.J.G. These are all the details in which the work as a whole is shown. Do you think so?
A.S.T. I believe that. Details come to light throughout the chapter.
A.J.G. From a spiritual point of view, we are all blind from birth, but when we then receive light from Christ, then the light becomes life, so to speak, and the purpose is that, the more this light is attacked, the more the power of life in victory over everything that is opposed to it comes to light.
C.deK.F. The Lord went out of the temple in the previous chapter, and in chapter 9 the opposition to the Lord is needed to drive this man born blind out of the temple.
A.J.G. That is why God does not intend that those in whom He works should remain in the world, whether in the religious world or the political world or in any other feature of the world.
E.B. What does the mud from the spittle that has been put on the blind man’s eyes mean?
A.J.G. I think the spittle speaks of the excellence that is in the Person of Christ because of who He is, and that connected with earth, resulted in the mud that was put on the eyes of the man born blind. This is an allusion to the fact that Christ became Man and that He was recognised as the sent One, namely because He came in a certain way from God to present the light of God to man and to make it effective through His death.
E.E.P. Have the eyes of our hearts been opened in this way?
A.J.G. I think so. We have the sovereign work of God to open our eyes, and yet we see the moral principle coming in, as the man was obedient. No one comes to the blessing if he is not obedient to the gospel. That is why the gospel is proclaimed for obedience of faith. It is very interesting in this way that, while on the one hand everything is due to the sovereignty of God, the moral principle is always brought in.
E.E.P. Our obedience becomes increased the better we learn to observe things. This man here observed things well.
A.J.G. Yes, and the more obedient we are, the greater our blessings. So the Lord said, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent”. Because the man was obedient, he was brought into moral correspondence with Christ. Christ was sent, and the man was also sent.
E.E.P. I thought, when we read it, that he is now one who speaks the same language as his Master who had helped him, v 27.
A.J.G. What are you referring to?
E.E.P. What is said in verse 27: “I told you already and ye did not hear”.
A.J.G. Yes, he presented what their true state was to the consciences of those who opposed.
E.B. What does the water of Siloam represent?
A.J.G. Well, the pool of Siloam means, “Sent”. The man should wash his eyes in the water of the pool that meant, “Sent”. I believe that this includes that light comes into the soul when one apprehends who Christ is, who has been sent by God. That is why John’s letter says: “And we have seen, and testify, that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world”, 1 John 4: 14.
Ques. Is there any meaning in the fact that the man stayed where he was, and the Lord came to him?
A.J.G. This seems to emphasise more the sovereign work of God rather than the plight of the man.
C.deK.F. Why is the work of God first shown to the neighbours? It reads: “The neighbours therefore, and those who used to see him before ...”
A.J.G. It may be that it is the grace of the Lord that connected him at first with a more compassionate element than with a hostile element. The neighbours were largely sympathetic. The parents were not exactly opposed, but they did not commit themselves; but the Pharisees resisted, so the ordeal that came upon this man became ever greater as he progressed.
W.Schr. Why do the disciples associate the blindness of the man with sin?
A.J.G. Well, there was ignorance on their side. It was impossible that he was born blind as the consequence of his own sin.
A.S.T. Do we not often tend to think more about man’s need than what the heart of God is?
A.J.G. That is true, and it is striking when we look at the work of God as it manifests itself in persons while tremendous power in the world is against it. It is a great testimony to God when one sees the work of God in persons who overcome the world.
E.B. Is it not interesting that he clearly confessed and said in verse 9, “It is I”?
A.S.T. He did not go and show them the works of God, but the works of God proved themselves.
A.J.G. That is something very important. If we are faithful to the work of God in ourselves, it will manifest itself. Now, it is one of the most important things that we should be victorious over the world in all its features. The Lord’s last word, before He turned to the Father, was in John 16; 33: “I have overcome the world”, as if the Lord wanted to show that He came out of the world as One who had overcome the world. I believe that the Lord had it before Him that before we leave the world, we too should overcome.
Ques. Was this man a living witness to the work of Christ?
A.J.G. Yes, and to the work of God. We must always remember that the conflict exists between Satan and God, and man is the battlefield. The pleasure of God is in men, the delight of wisdom was in the children of men, and the sabbath was on account of man. Man is in the thoughts of God, and man is also the point of attack with Satan. That is why Satan has devised a great world system with manifold divisions to keep man in bondage in this world.
Now, the work of God desires to take man out of this world system completely. Thus, in his first letter, John exposes the whole world and says, “the whole world lies in the wicked one”, 1 John 5: 19. In those in whom He works, the work of God gives a complete victory over the world.
A.S.T. He secures this by a Man, “a man called Jesus”.
A.J.G. Yes, and others are then brought into moral correspondence with Him. Chapter 10 shows that these individuals are then gathered into a flock.
E.E.P. This flock is gathered because the sheep have seen and learned a great deal in relation to the works of God from one another.
A.J.G. Quite so. Each of them have had an intimate link with the Shepherd.
E.O. Is it important to see the definiteness of the man here? He says, “he has opened mine eyes”.
A.J.G. It is very interesting to see this man getting bolder and braver.
W.E. In Luke 16 the rich man’s eyes were opened when he was in hades and in torment.
A.J.G. What do you think about it?
W.E. Because it was eternally too late for him.
A.J.G. Yes.
E.E.P. Does this courage that we see here only come to light when we confess the Name of Jesus? He says, “A man called Jesus”.
A.J.G. Well, this is a good start. The man was characterised by the fact that he said only what he knew. He even said, “If he is sinful, I know not. One thing I know ...”. But afterwards he made it very clear that He could not be sinful, for he said, “If this man were not of God he would be able to do nothing”.
C.deK.F. Is this really the work of the Spirit, because the man was supported when he testified?
A.J.G. Yes, that is the case. “One thing I know ...”. He stood firm.
E.E.P. This should always help us, and will it always help us, if we only talk about what we know from our own experience?
A.J.G. Yes, quite so.
W.Schr. He was very simple and associated it with his obedience. He said in verse 11, “and having gone and washed, I saw”.
A.J.G. It is very interesting that he himself insisted that he was obedient.
C.deK.F. Afterwards he spoke of the obedience of the One who had helped him, v 31.
Th.B. What the man said to the Pharisees was much shorter than what he said to the neighbours.
A.J.G. That is also interesting. He opened up everything to his neighbours, because they were friends; but he was very short with the enemies.
E.E.P. Do you think that if we make long speeches, then it opens up the way for compromises?
A.J.G. Yes.
R.D. Naaman initially refused obedience, but then he went down into the Jordan.
A.J.G. Yes. God used his servants to help him—first a little girl and then his servants. But the man here had no help, so to speak, only the work of God in this man is demonstrated. It is very interesting to see the works of God in Genesis 1 showing how life developed. At first it was just grass, as a blade of grass comes out of the earth, and then it was other things, like herbs and fruit trees. Then we have living souls in the water. They had scales and fins and were thus able to pass through the water without the water being able to enter them. Then there was the fowl that could fly above the earth. This is something in which we should all develop, the ability to rise above the earth in the Spirit. Then we have the different types of cattle. Undoubtedly, these all represented certain characteristics of the glory of God. Thus, Genesis 1 is very important in relation to the gradual development of life in all its diversity, and I believe that this person reveals the way in which life manifests itself.
W.Schr. The opposition even used a lie to deny life. They say, “we know that this man is sinful”.
A.J.G. Yes. The opposition always has its origin in the father of lies. This is another feature of John’s writings—that he traces things back to their origin.
A.S.T. Thus the man was honoured when they said: “Thou art his disciple”.
A.J.G. And then it came to light that the man would check everything, whether they were of God or not. He said, “If this man were not of God he would be able to do nothing”. On that point, they cast him out. They did not like what the man raised as to whether things were of God or not.
E.E.P. The man came to a conclusion here in relation to all his exercises, for he thought about how things were for God.
A.J.G. Yes.
Th.H. Does this confession have a parallel with Gamaliel and his utterance? He said in the council that it would become clear whether the work was of God or not.
A.J.G. I think you have in your mind what Gamaliel said in the council in Acts of the Apostles chapter 5. It says in verse 38 and 39: “for if this counsel or this work have its origin from men, it will be destroyed; but if it be from God, ye will not be able to put them down”. Therefore, it is a feature of God’s work that it traces everything back to God. Thus this man said, “If this man were not of God he would be able to do nothing”.
W.Re. Do we have that in Romans 10: 10? There it reads: “For with the heart is believed to righteousness; and with the mouth confession made to salvation”.
A.J.G. Yes, that is the confession. This man here certainly took his position: “If this man were not of God he would be able to do nothing”. But then he was cast out. It is very interesting that it says, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out”, that is, there was one who was interested in the man and spoke about him to Jesus.
A.S.T. Is it interesting that he says in verse 31: “But we know that God does not hear sinners”?
A.J.G. Do you think that he is referring to something that could still be of God in the Pharisees?
A.S.T. I wondered if he did not have an awareness in his soul that he was not entirely alone in this matter.
A.J.G. It is a good thing to speak in such a way that the work of God can respond to it in other people as well.
E.E.P. Is this an encouragement for the brethren who stand alone and remain faithful to the testimony in any locality, so that they have this confidence, that the Spirit, the wind, blows where He wills, and that God can add another by such awakening?
A.J.G. Yes.
E.B. Does “and having found him”, mean that the Lord had pursued him?
A.J.G. Yes, I think so. The Lord was already outside. One can perhaps say that the Lord was stoned morally, for they took up stones, that they may cast them at Him, and so He was already outside. Now He finds the man who was cast out to make Himself known to him as the Son of God. This means that although the Lord had been cast out of this world, he rose from the dead and became the beginning of a new world. It says in Colossians 1: 18: “who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead”. Therefore He is risen from the dead the beginning of the world which will remain for the pleasure of God. He is marked out as the Son of God in power by the resurrection of the dead, Rom 1: 4.
E.E.P. In this unfolding on the part of the Lord in verse 35 to 38, the two were alone; the enmity was eliminated, and the neighbours were not there either.
A.J.G. That is right. We see that with the personal work of the Lord with the woman in John 4 and the result is that she came to know Him as the “Christ”. Here the personal work of the Lord in this man had its result in getting to know Jesus as the “Son of God”. There was a certain finality in the exercises of these two people.
E.E.P. The man was already so closely connected with the Person of the Lord Jesus that he recognised Him immediately and said “Lord”.
A.J.G. “And he did him homage”.
Rem. The verses up to verse 35 show that the man born blind was true to what he knew.
A.J.G. Yes, and because he was so true and so faithful to God’s work in himself, he was cast out.
C.deK.F. Why is so much emphasis being placed on right and wrong hearing in this chapter?
A.J.G. What are you referring to?
C.deK.F. I thought of the way in which the man speaks of hearing; he hears and the Lord hears, and the Pharisees hear. In the next chapter, we have the right hearing, which is to hear His voice. Is chapter 9 the introduction to this?
A.J.G. Well, that is interesting because we already had the hearing of the voice of the Son of God this morning.
Ques. Is it good for us if we are cast out?
A.J.G. Quite so, because it brings us in accordance with Christ. Therefore it is said: “therefore let us go forth to him without the camp, bearing his reproach”, Heb 13: 13.
K.Pf.sen. This is true assembly material.
A.J.G. Yes, that is right. This is where we come to chapter 10. Chapter 10 begins the collective side of truth in John’s gospel; and we find that it is now about those who have been cast out and who then move as a flock.
H.Mö. Casting out is probably the result of confession.
A.J.G. It was the consequence of being faithful to what he knew.
K.H. Does casting out of the religious world correspond to what we find in chapter 10, that He calls and leads out His own sheep by name?
A.J.G. That is right. It is interesting that the calling by name in chapter 10: 3 has in mind that He leads them out. Once the souls are out, I do not think that they are called by name, for they will move together with the other sheep as a flock. The calling them by name seems to be connected with the exercises of becoming free from the things that are against God. Therefore, the Jewish fold was something which God had worked in order to set them free from.
P.Sch. Is the fold connected to darkness as in chapter 8: 12?
A.J.G. Yes, that is right. The Lord said, “he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”. It is worth remembering how often and how much the Lord has the thought of life before Him. He gives eternal life to the sheep.
A.S.T. Is there any reference to sonship at the end of the previous chapter, because the Lord first reveals Himself as the Son of God and says, “he that speaks with thee is he”?
A.J.G. I think so, that is, the Lord connected the man with Himself.
A.S.T. This “with thee” shows that there was a close bond.
A.J.G. This is something very important, because the sheep are the saints, who are characterised by this matter, namely that as a result of God’s work there is a close connection between them and Christ, so that they recognise the voice of the shepherd and reject the voice of every other.
H.Mö. That was a complete devotion.
A.J.G. Yes, devotion to follow the shepherd, but it is actually about divine feelings. Usually the sheep know the voice of the shepherd, and the shepherd knows every single one of His sheep.
E.E.P. When danger approaches, the sheep go together much more.
K.Pf.Sr. But the Lord goes before the sheep.
A.J.G. It is very interesting that Christianity should take this form. One cannot think at all that the saints should be independent of each other; they should move together as one flock, and the one voice of the shepherd is there for the whole flock. So the saints, when they are attentive throughout the earth, will find that the same ministry is given to them all, in whatever part of the earth they may be, because there is one Shepherd for all the flock and also one voice for the one flock.
A.B. Can we think of Mary in John 20? When she had heard the name “Mary” she also received the message: “Go to my brethren”.
A.J.G. I think so. I also thought of the other Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His words. You could say she was also a characteristic sheep. Her only thought was to listen to what the Shepherd had to say.
C.deK.F. Do you have an impression in this connection of the Spirit with the Lord Jesus in verse 3 of this chapter?
A.J.G. “To him the porter opens”. Do you connect that with the Spirit?
C.deK.F. Yes. I thought of how you brought before us the thought of the work of the Holy Spirit here, and how the Lord Jesus is connected to it and carries it on.
A.J.G. Surely, that is right.
J.deR. Is not the fifth verse a great consolation if we follow the Lord in faith: “But they will not follow a stranger, but will flee from him”?
A.J.G. Yes, they do not know the voice of the stranger. Here the Lord presents the truth, so to speak, in its normal characteristics, and it is a normal feature of the sheep to hear the voice of the shepherd and not to know any other voice.
A.S.T. The expressions “his own” in verse 3 and 4 are very touching.
A.J.G. Yes, His own sheep. We have the same expression in chapter 13 that He loved His own who were in the world. Now the Lord in verse 14 seems to bring in the idea of great reciprocity between Himself and the sheep. He says, “I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me and I know the Father”. So He now brings us to very elevated ground, because He introduces that the same kind of close, mutual knowledge that exists between Him and the Father should now develop in the sheep in relation to Himself.
E.E.P. All because of the rest?
A.J.G. Well, it leads there. The Lord leads His sheep. We come to verses 27 and 28, because the result of the sheep hearing His voice and following Him is that they come into eternal life. This is so if we come into line with the Lord’s service to us. Peter could say, “thou hast words of life eternal”, John 6: 68. The Lord always wants to put us in the direction of God’s purpose and pleasure.
E.E.P. So the man of whom we read in chapter 9 was one who now found himself here in this flock and as such came into the good of these relationships; probably he was occupied with the ministry which is before us today that there is one flock and one Shepherd.
A.J.G. It is very interesting that the Lord brings the other sheep: “And I have other sheep which are not of this fold”, John 10: 16. So John represents the truth of the one body, the Jew and those from the nations are brought together into one flock.
A.R. Does Psalm 23 fit in here in regard to the good Shepherd?
A.J.G. There David speaks of Jehovah being his shepherd. It is David’s experience of the Lord’s grace towards him, and it is truly the experience of the Lord’s grace towards him on his responsible path. So his soul is refreshed, he is led in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, experiences the benefit of the fellowship, that is, a table is prepared before him in the presence of his enemies. But I believe that what we have in John 10 goes beyond that. Psalm 23 was David’s personal experience of the grace of Jehovah to him on his path of responsibility, but here the Lord presents Himself as a shepherd who leads His flock and brings them into eternal life. That is, that we are already being introduced into heavenly things in order to find our part in it together in the power of the Spirit.
K.H. If we consider this prophetically in the order of the Psalms, Psalm 22 is the sufferings of the Lord, Psalm 23 Him as the Shepherd in His present activity and Psalm 24 then as the King; then this Psalm also has a present meaning for us.
A.J.G. I think that these psalms also apply to us. As you say, Psalm 22 is the Psalm of suffering, Christ in His atonement as the foundation of everything. And, as you say, Psalm 23 is His pastoral care for us as individuals, and Psalm 24 brings in the light of the day of glory, so that our heads rise in view of the King of glory coming in. Every time we break bread, we remember it. We proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.
E.B. Why is there this double assurance? In verse 28 it says, “I give them life eternal; and they shall never perish”, and verse 29 says, “and no one can seize out of the hand of my Father”. Once they have eternal life and shall never perish because the Son holds them in His hand, and then “no one can seize out of the hand of my Father”. It is a double assurance.
A.J.G. Yes, that is so. The Lord took the opportunity to say, “My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all”. The Lord always sought to make much of the Father. In chapter 14: 28, He said: “for my Father is greater than I”, and here he said, “My Father … is greater than all”.
A.S.T. Could you open up to us verses 17 and 18 where it is said that the Lord lays down His life that He might take it again?
A J.G. It is very important that we keep this whole verse before us: “because I lay down my life that I may take it again”. He actually had to give His life to accomplish salvation, but it happened in view of Him taking it again, so that in life beyond death He brought out the character of life, into which we too are to be brought. Then not only did this happen, but there is also the fragrance of Christ’s love all over the scene. I believe that the more we touch the present enjoyment of the divine purpose, the more we get an impression of Christ’s love, both of Christ’s love for the Father and of Christ’s love for His own. Everything was brought about in the power of Christ’s love. What do you think about it?
A.S.T. Yes. And were not the forty days in resurrection also connected to it, even if it were not yet final?
A.J.G. By taking His life again and moving on the earth for forty days among His disciples, I believe that the Lord was accustoming them to spiritual conditions; for the Lord came in through closed doors and presented Himself to them living, and therefore the world could see nothing at all of these movements of the Lord Jesus.
E.E.P. In verse 17, we see His obedience to death, and thus we should be exercised in relation to our obedience and the obedience of faith.
A.J.G. And that we should pass into that which is spiritual, for the spiritual alone is final.
K.H. Is it not clear from what He says that He is one of the Godhead and acts in authority?
A.J.G. Yes, and yet, as One who has become man, He did not desire to lay down His life without the authority of the Father, even if He had the power to do it. He had the power to give His life because He is one of the Godhead. That is why chapter 19: 30 states: “and having bowed his head, he delivered up his spirit”. That was His own act. But because He became man, He did not want to do it without authority from His Father. Thus, in Christ, there was a complete connection between the Godhead and what corresponded to the position of manhood that He had taken up.
C.deK.F. It is quite significant how often the Father is mentioned here: the work of the Father, the commandment of the Father, the Name of the Father, and then He also speaks of the love of the Father?
A J.G. And then we have this remarkable verse that we have already touched: “On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again”. We have in Ephesians 3 in the apostle’s prayer that we know the breadth and length and depth and height, and that we may come to the scope of all that the Father has before Him, and then he adds, “and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”. I believe that this is Christ’s love for the Father and for the saints; the whole position is brought about by the power of Christ’s love, and in eternity we are sustained in this position by the power of Christ’s love.
E.E.P. May I ask if we are included here in the “me” in verse 17: “On this account the Father loves me”? It is said beforehand: “one flock, one shepherd”. Are we here also included in the “me” in the love of the Father, because the Lord said to Saul on the way to Damascus, “Why dost thou persecute me?”
A.J.G. In the word of the Lord to Saul, “Why dost thou persecute me?” there was without a doubt the light of the body of Christ, so that in it we have the thought of the one flock. But here, where the Lord says, “On this account the Father loves me”, it is to Christ personally.
W.Schr. So the greater side is that He laid down His life for the Father, it is greater than that for the sheep.
A.J.G. Yes, He gave His life in relation to the will of the Father, in order to take it again. But everything was before Him, for it is the whole realm of the good pleasure of the Father which He wanted to bring forth, and for this pleasure we are necessary. God did not need to enter into an Economy, and the Persons of the Godhead did not need to come into any relationships, as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as God has been revealed. It was only in view of the fact that man should be brought into the knowledge of God. That is why Christ, in His movements in devoted love, had the Father and His will before Him. But this will include us.
E.E.P. That is why we are now also in the hands of the Father, not only in His hand.
A.J.G. Yes.
W.E. Did not the burnt-offering point to this? It ascended to God.
A.J.G. Yes, you refer to this as something like the burnt-offering: “On this account the Father loves me?” It is the fragrance of Christ’s sacrifice that is constantly before God. “A continual fire shall be kept burning on the altar: it shall never go out”, Lev 6: 13. I believe that every time we speak to God in the name of the Lord Jesus, even in such a simple matter as when we give thanks for our food, it means that the fragrance of Christ is brought before the Father again.
A.R. Is this already the case when we say: ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus’?
A.J.G. Quite so. The Name of the Lord Jesus—how much He means to God!
E.E.P. When the man born blind said, “A man called Jesus”, God recognised this and helped him.
A.J.G. Yes.
K.H. Can you say something about the saying, “lays down his life for the sheep”; it does not say for all people?
A.J.G. The Lord laid down His life for those that the Father had given Him. From a different point of view, He gave Himself as a ransom for all, and that became the basis for the testimony of the glad tidings. But the sheep are those which the Father gave Christ and in which He worked.
Rem. That is why it is touching that verse 14 says, “I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine”.
A.J.G. Yes, the fact that the Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep becomes the bond between the sheep and Himself.
E.E.P. That is why we should not be afraid of the stones.
A.J.G. You mean the stones they picked up to cast at Him? Yes. The disciples must have been aware that this enmity directed against the Lord was also against them. They were with the Lord and saw the enemies picking up stones to cast at Him.
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