But Now I See

John‬ ‭9:25‬ ‭- He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

I began reading a book called Jewish Culture and Customs by Steve Herzig. He a Messianic Jew meaning He has become a believer in Jesus Christ! While the book is about customs and culture the first chapter explains how Herzig became a believer after a life of Judaism and "kosherness." 

He questioned his believing sister one day after giving his life to the Lord, How do you know that you are born again? He questioned because he didn't feel any different. Her answer was that God would make HIM the best person HE could be and not to compare himself with others. And he stated that he now understood what the scripture above meant.

The blind man from John 9 is a wonderful story of healing, not just physical but spiritual. Only one who is born again will fully understand it.

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” ‭‭(John‬ ‭9:1-3‬)

Like this man, we are all born spiritually blind. We did not ask for this. We are blind until God reveals Himself to us. It's a personal thing. It can happen at any time, anywhere. But it comes only through an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow He starts poking at your spirit. He might send a person or persons into your life who agitate! They press spiritual things on you, like attending church, or talking about their church and Bible studies they attend. This happened to me and I was agitated.

Then one day you completely fall apart. You can no longer resist His urgings. And He walks into your life and you don't know at first what hit you. With that the scripture above becomes reality.

I can't say I was fully aware immediately that my sight had come to me but I saw things differently. I had a desire to know things. I understood when I studied the Bible. I understood, in time, what being born again meant. The eyes of my heart were open to the things of God. And it was addicting.

Like I said, until we have this type of encounter with Christ we will continue to be blind. We will read what God's Word has to say and for the most part get it from one level. In Christ, with His Spirit in us we will begin to understand more, but we will never understand everything. The more we want to learn, however, the more He will reveal. A pastor can help but we are not to rely on just a man for our spiritual understanding. We go directly, humbly, to our God and His Word and He will show us.

I am so thankful for God's relentless bugging me! It took years and I remember the day before how I so strongly resisted only to receive Him the next morning. I feel ashamed at times for the resistance but I know I had to go through it to realize where I had been and where I am now.

It's not good to resist. We are to resist the devil and flee from him...but not resist and flee from God. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

Then our sermon in church yesterday was about the parable of the sower. The Word of God is preached and it can fall on four types of ground: the wayside, hard and impenetrable; stony places with little earth; thorny places where the growth of the seed is choked out; good ground where the seed will be nourished. Which soil has the Word fallen on in your life? Listen to what Jesus said: In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them" But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. (Matthew‬ ‭13:14-16‬)

This is the miracle of new birth. Once blind, we see. We are all born blind sinners until we have an encounter with Jesus and become healed. Then others will see and know what God has done. He gets the glory. I'd love to hear testimonies!!!

April 18, 1999   (my testimony)

John‬ ‭9:26-27‬ ‭- Then they [religious leaders] said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”
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LIES, LIES, LIES

John 8:43-45 - Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 

I was deeply saddened this morning. To the point of weeping and crying out to God and screaming at the enemy for all the damnable lies he has thrust upon the people of this world all these years.

When I speak of "we" I speak in generalities. I was once part of the "we" group. This "we" group gets larger and larger as the days go on. As I write I'm torn between anger, frustration and grief over those I know who are victims of satan's lies.

Oh, people, understand that we have so walked opposed to God and we don't even know it. We believe the lies. We fall prey to the stupid...no, wretched...lies that anything God says, anything He has commanded, is wrong and not to be paid attention to. It's passé. Ancient history. Times have changed. Well, times have changed but our God has not. He is still the same today as He was when He created this world and all that is in it...and wrote commandments that we should live by.

We do not like, nor do we listen to, what God has to say anymore. Or at least the majority of the people do not. There is a remnant adhering to the things of God, those narrow path walkers. The rest...sadly, and why I'm filled with remorse this morning, want nothing to do with Him. Some do not want to know they are wrong in some of their beliefs. Others just follow what others have said. They have not dug for answers themselves. They are blind to the truth that sets people free keeping them bound in the chains the enemy has wrapped around their hearts and minds.

Hear my heart: Without the truth these lives will be lost forever in the great day when Jesus Christ returns. If I have remorse I can't imagine what God must feel. He loves greater than I ever could.

Whatever we see happening in this world is all a byproduct of the enemy's lies. Pride, greed, lust, anger...just a very few of the sins that control this world. Pride in thinking we are so great when we are not, that we can do whatever we want because we are who WE say we are and no one will tell us otherwise. Lust and greed just naturally follow our pride. Anger that anyone would confront us with truth.

There is no man worthy of anything. Yes, we do good things, patriotic things, honorable things. Sometimes it is for very good reasons. But it is still not enough in God's eyes unless in anything we do we give God the glory. You see, it's always been all about God.

Why all this? Briefly, I was stirred when I saw a post on Facebook which is pro abortion that a friend "liked." I read the malicious comments. I knew deep in my heart these people are so unaware. I'm saddened by the belief that what is so wrong is so right to some. The devil has so blinded them. God specifically states that some things are wrong. Others don't see it... Have I missed the mark here and there? Oh, yes. And for that I am truly sorry. But when these deep-seated tears came this morning, I knew they are just the tip of the amount of remorse and sadness God Himself feels. He knows the life's end of unbelievers. He wants none to perish. Sadly, some will.

It all boils down to what we have seen creeping, now catapulting...the lack of God in lives. I assume some have had so many issues because of the fallen world we live in that they have shaken their fist at Him instead of embracing Him for His strength and guidance through the truth of His Word. They may not understand why He allows bad to happen to good people. Again...none of us are good. None. None... When sin entered this world, we were all deemed sinners. Some find Christ; some do not.

I also know it ain't gonna get better. It's only going to get worse. Lord, strengthen me...strengthen us. We who know You as Lord and Savior need your strength to withstand all that is going to come at us. The persecution for our "narrow" beliefs which are Your truth. Give us the right words to speak, in love. I thank You, Lord, for being on what You call the narrow path that leads to life. I pray for those who are on the wide path where lies abound. That path leads to destruction. There are many I know on that path. Open their eyes. Open my eyes even further also, even if it hurts all the more to see others drifting away while I draw closer. Draw me closer, Lord. Draw others. 

Jesus was falsely accused and crucified. He did it on His own for each of us. All we need to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, to trust Him for our lives, to listen to His words of truth. To be set free from spiritual death. To see what truth actually is. There are people all over weeping as I wept today. I pray the Spirit of God would move.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight...who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent...for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. (‭Isaiah‬ ‭5‬:‭20-21,24‬)

For Judgment I Have Come

John 9:34-41

They answered and said to him, "You [the blind man] were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.

Jesus heard that they cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." Then he said, " Lord, I believe!" And he worshipped Him.

And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." 

Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains."


The Pharisees now began to berate the blind man for the truth he told...that they could not believe: He was blind but now he saw. They cast him out of the temple for this statement. And what about those who are in a relationship with Christ today and say the same thing, I once was blind but now I see? 

Hmm, they were pretty much trying to cast Jesus out also for what they believed to be blasphemy. The Truth stood before them; they heard Him speak, saw Him do miracles, but they could not get beyond what they had always known. The Truth stood before them!

As stated, Jesus found the man and wanted him to know for a fact who He was and who had healed him. Oh, Lord, that people would ask, "Who is He, that I may believe in Him?" That they might begin to see like the blind man because you have opened their spiritual yes and the eyes of their hearts to the knowledge of You. That they might shout, "Lord, I believe!" And worship You.

Jesus makes an odd statement, that those who are blind might see but those who can might be made blind. Think about it. The man was blind, healed and now could see. He knew a miracle had occurred and was willing to believe. Those who are able to see, in the natural, who have seen or heard how others changed yet believe it's something "those people" needed but not themselves will be judged by Jesus and forever made blind. We all need Jesus.

It is God's desire that all should believe and be saved, but that will not happen. There will always be some who just can't or won't do it. And for that reason they will be judged. When one is determined not to believe in God or not to believe a relationship with Christ is necessary, nor believe in the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives, one remains spiritually blind. ...with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved, ...for this reason God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie... (2Thessalonians 2:10-11)

As was testified in church yesterday, God will open doors for us to witness to others. Even those hard-hearted who do not want to hear might come to a place in their lives when they "give in." Their hearts are finally willing to hear and believe the truth of Christ. We must never give up in prayer. We must always be aware of God's leading, His guidance. The timing will be perfect if in His will. God would rather not judge against. Do not say you see, yet see not, by forsaking Christ.

Ezra 8:22 - ..."The hand of our God is upon all them for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those those who forsake Him.” 

It's Called Faith

John 9:17-33

They said to the blind man again, "What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes" he said, "He is a prophet." But the Jews did not believe concerning him., that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself."

His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! we know that this Man is a sinner." He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."

Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples we know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from." 

The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."


I'm certain this lengthy account of the blind man is long for one reason...it is important that God make a point about blindness and skepticism regarding eyes today being opened spiritually.

We see again the angst among the Jews. They had no answer for the miracle of a blind man's eyes being opened. They didn't want to hear or believe Jesus...who claimed to be the Son of God, or believe He could do this miracle. All they wanted was a scrap of evidence to accuse Him of sinning and blasphemy so they could do away with Him according to their understanding of the laws.

They just couldn't believe the blind man so they went to his parents who sent them back to the now seeing man. Aren't we like this sometimes? Skeptical of one's beliefs...especially when it comes to God? You say Jesus is the only way? Prove it. You say He is absolute truth? Prove it. You say only He brings eternal life? Prove that, too. What about my way? What about my beliefs? Why can't there be more than one way? 

It is a narrow road Jesus walks on. It's why this is in the Bible. We don't always want to be told this. I struggle with the thoughts I want to write. There seems to be a deep knowing or confidence/assurance in my belief that so go beyond the words I believe. I'm not trying to sound super spiritual. This happens when you come to Christ and know that you know the way, truth and life is through Jesus alone. It's called faith.

While we all know what faith is but here's the definition anyway: strong belief or trust in someone or something; belief in the existence of God; strong religious feelings or beliefs; a system of religious beliefs. We can have faith in things other than God, but that faith can surely fail. God will not.

Like the blind man said: "This is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!" I concur with this statement. I marvel at my knowing Christ. I marvel that He took me to a different place in my life, that He opened my spiritual eyes, that I might see Him for who He is, like the blind man. He's right here for all to see but not all do.

He loves, forgives, heals, sets free, encourages, supplies, protects. He is all we need. He is a wonder. Yet some have a hard time taking Him seriously. It is such a thrill to read His Word and know that He speaks to us through it. He commands, enlightens, rebukes, desires. He wants only that all know Him. His desire is that all should be saved. Look outside right now. You can see His glory. It's all around us. Sometimes we see but do not comprehend. Let this be the day your eyes are opened.

Matthew 13:14-15 - And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 

hearing you will hear and shall not understand,

and seeing you will see and not perceive.

For the hearts of this people have grown dull. 

Their ears are hard of hearing, 

and their eyes they have closed, 

lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, 

lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, 

so that I should heal them.

How Were Your Eyes Opened?

John 9:8-13

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, "Is this he who sat and begged?" Some said, "This is he." Others said, "He is like him." He said, "I am he." 

Therefore they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" He answered and said, " A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and received my sight."

Then they said, "Where is He" he said, "I do not know." They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.


Previously in John 9 Jesus restored the sight to a man who had been born blind.

Here those who knew this man questioned the whole event. Is this he who was blind? Yes. Or someone like him. The man himself exclaimed it was he. Two thoughts go through my head: It's like Jesus claiming Who He was and people in various places of belief or disbelief. And like when one is born again, is changed and others find it hard to believe...or wonder why they had to change. Is this he/she who used to _____ (fill in the blank)?

The big question is, How were your eyes opened? Or how will they be if they have not been? In this case it was an unconventional means, spit and dirt! My testimony will be different from someone else's. We are "captured" when and where we will "see" and understand we have been touched by God. He is amazing.

The next step this once blind man was to do was go and wash. Reminds me of baptism. We are called to step out in faith and when we do, He becomes real to us. Without physically seeing Him today, we see spiritually. We know with our whole being we have been touched by God. Our eyes were opened and we see...and we share what we know.

1John 1:2-4 - ...the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us--that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Blind From Birth

John 9:1-7

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 

Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

When He said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.


No pun intended but, the way I see it, we are all born blind from birth. We are in a spiritual blindness until we hear of, believe in and receive Christ. As He says here, He is the light of the world.

When we are spiritually blind we live in darkness of the things of heaven. When the truth of Jesus Christ shines upon us and we receive Him by faith, as this blind man did, doing as Christ said by doing no more than going and washing his eyes at a particular pool, we receive our sight. He becomes our light.

As was also pointed out, again, we are born spiritually blind so that when we meet Christ the works of God will be revealed in and through us when we receive Him. Words from a popular hymn:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

It takes an action to receive Christ. We must go...and be washed in His blood.

I think of Saul who persecuted Christians until He met Christ on the road to Damascus. God blinded Him. But he knew he had met God, had seen the light (of the world) and his life was turned around miraculously.

The name Saul means desired. Perhaps Saul's desire was to persecute but perhaps God desired for him to be changed. God's glory would be seen in the miracle. Saul's name was then changed to Paul which means small. Paul no longer looked at himself as this giant of a persecutor but as a man who now humbled himself before God and powerfully preached Christ. A miracle. God's glory seen.

I love this account. How God can open blind eyes that we might see Him as He should be seen, that we can worship Him in spirit and in truth. The light of the world now part of our lives.

The Jews could not understand. They were spiritually blind to the truth. They understood the laws of the Old Testament but they could not see that Christ was there to bring newness of life, through faith in  Him, not death through rules, regulations, works. Praise God for Jesus, the Way.

2Corinthians 4:3-4 - But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Life in Heaven or Death in Hell?

Luke 16:25 - "But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.'"

Jesus tells of a very brief account in Luke about Lazarus and a rich man.

Lazarus was a beggar (not to be confused with Martha and Mary's brother). He sat at the gate to his city. Not a lot is said about him but we learn in the very few words a lot about him: ...there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (Luke 16:20-21) Quite the picture, isn't it? On the other hand there was a rich man, with fine clothing and good food in abundance.

They both died. Lazarus, it is told, was carried by the angels into the bosom of Abraham, which tells us he went to heaven because he was a godly man, probably trusting in God in all circumstances, not prone to despair over his plight and certainly not complaining (just speculating...). He knew his God and what was in store in death.

The rich man, however, died and was buried. No one to carry him anywhere. If anything he might have plunged into Hades where he was "tormented in this flame." I'm intrigued by the fact that this probably prominent rich man is not named where lowly Lazarus is. God elevates the humble and lowers the proud.

Well, this rich man could look up and see Lazarus resting peaceably in Abraham's bosom. He called out that he might be allowed one drop of water to quench his tongue of just a moment's heat. Abraham reminded him that he had already obtained all the good things of this worldly life that he desired. Lazarus, though, had nothing of consequence; it is said that he had been afflicted with evil things.

But God...delivers both the wicked and the just into their "just rewards." There is a gulf, as seen between these two men, both in death as in life. That gulf today is between men and God. We are separated from Him because of our sins. To close that gap can only be done through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. He will take us from death in this world to spiritual, eternal life. But we must forego all the things we once have thought as important and right, including the things this world has deemed right (morally and socially) in the eyes of man which are blatant sins against God. They are the things this country (and the world) is so divided over.

Like Lazarus, I'm glad I'm on the side of the minority. I'm glad that I am the one being mocked, jeered and called intolerant. It means I'm on the right side. The rich man isn't necessarily portraying a wealthy man. He portrays a man who is spiritually dead, whose wealth is more important than God. He is one who looked only to himself and his own beliefs and "tolerances" of life, apart from God. He did as he desired. He accumulated earthly things and gave no credit to God for what he had.

Lazarus had nothing apart from God. I'd like to know how Lazarus started out...how he got where he was. What was his story? We all have stories. For a lot of us we might have related once to the rich man. On the other hand, many know very well the life of Lazarus.

Many of us may have stuff in our lives. It can be a lot of stuff or a little. But when it becomes more important than Jesus, it is a stumbling block. If we can look at what we have and say we could live without this or that and still be happy because we have what matters most, a life in Christ, we truly have arrived!

The rich man was rich in world stuff and world views; Lazarus had all that mattered, God. I'm assuming that despite his sores and place in life, he was provided for. God may have given him just what he needed, no more, because Lazarus trusted Him. Maybe God kept him in this place that he would stay focused on Him.

It is the world that is the great gulf. It blinds us to and separates us from the things of God, His righteousness, His goodness and mercy, His life. If a decision for Christ is not made before death that gulf is permanent. No one, no thing will remove one from death in hell to life in heaven. It is eternal.

The rich man called out that if he could not be taken from his place in torment could someone at least visit his brothers and warn them. The thing is, people can be warned and warned, but only that person being warned can make the final decision...world or God. They have to be open to receive. I shudder, I truly do, at the people some day who all along thought they were right in their own eyes and unknowingly mocking God, and who find themselves at the bottom end of the gulf. A decision can be made today to change all that. Seek God for the answer. Seek Him for salvation.

Read the whole account here. It's short!

Luke 16:30-31 - "And (the rich man) said, '...if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But (Abraham) said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

Blind

John 9:25 - ...One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.

We are delving into chapters 8 and 9 of John next week. Jesus is more assertively telling the people, and being questioned repeatedly by the Pharisees, who He is. There is division. The Pharisees have this preconceived idea who He should be, where He should come from and it upsets them that He is indifferent to their understanding of the laws Moses taught (which especially meant no work on the Sabbath).

He came to show us: He is the light of the world. He can testify about Himself because He knows where He came from and where He will return...He and His Father are one. He comes from above. Sounding a bit like any politician having to dispute accusations, Jesus has to say He does not have a demon in Him and He only does what His Father tells Him to do. He knows His Father. He claims "I am."

You have  to understand that the statement I AM seemed blasphemous to the religious leaders because I AM is speaking of God and who is this Man who claims He is God.

Jesus heals again on the Sabbath when He recovers a blind man's sight. For this He is called a sinner. In the end He says: For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind (John 9:39).

This scripture tells us that those who hear about Him and believe and follow will have their spiritual eyes opened. They once were blind but now they see...like the blind man claimed in front of the Pharisees.

But there's more to this. Those who see, hear or are confronted with Jesus and reject Him, although they see, their spiritual eyes will be blinded to the truth if they reject Him. Isaiah 6:9-10 describes what Isaiah prophesied long before Jesus even was born. It speaks to what will happen to those who take lightly the claims of Jesus, who follow their own ways, who avoid the narrow path He demands:

And He [God] said, "Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’  Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed." 

In other words, “Do not try to understand or see...see what I (God) will do then.” Sounds like a judgmental and harsh God. He is, as well as He is loving. He loves so much and He tries so hard to get people’s attention. However, He will never force Himself on anyone, but will in time leave them to their own devices...dulling their hearts and ears. He requires righteousness...through Jesus Christ. Reject the Son, reject the Father.

An interesting explanation of the meaning of light of the world: as long as I am in the world. Meaning, as long as He was in the world He was the light; when He departed, He left His Spirit to convict people of their sins and to empower His followers to be the light. 

The Pharisees knew the teachings on light. They understood God is light because light has the extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality, Strong’s Bible Concordance tells us. They did not accept Jesus as God. God to them was without sin; they wrongly and foolishly accused Jesus of being a sinner because of some of the things He said and did they did not agree with.

Isaiah 60:19 - the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.

Exodus 13:21 - And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

He had always been there for them. But not Jesus is claiming the same thing. For some reason they just could not “see” Jesus as that light. Another definition for light of the world is Messiah. Their human perception would not allow them to see Him this way. 

We are all born with spiritual blindness. There are lights shining all throughout this world who proclaim the name of Jesus. These lights will never be put out until He returns. Then there is little hope in receiving Him. Spiritual blindness cannot be irradicated except through Christ alone.

Matthew 13:19 - When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.