16.r. “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.”

John 9:24   So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

John 9:30   The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

John 9:39  Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

2 Corinthians 4:4-6   In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 6:9   And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.

2 Thessalonians 2:9  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

The man born blind showed a simple and profound wisdom in his back-and-forth with the esteemed and educated religious leaders. If they kept asking the same question, they would keep hearing the same answer.  The healed man said this about their unbelief, not about the miracle of Jesus. It was if he told the religious leaders, “Your unbelief and ignorance in the face of the evidence is more of a miracle than my cure.”

For judgment I have come into this world: John recorded these words of Jesus as part of a larger theme in his Gospel – that men were divided over Jesus, with some accepting and some rejecting. This is one way Jesus brought judgment…into this world, by being a dividing line. In this sense, Jesus is like the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains; a single place where an entire path is decided. Jesus is “the pivot on which human destiny turns.” (Tenney) That those who do not see may see: Those who admit their spiritual blindness can find sight in Jesus. But those who see may be made blind – that is, those who falsely claim to have spiritual sight will be made blind. Jesus used blindness in a spiritual, metaphorical sense – of those who cannot see the light and truth of God, especially as it is revealed in Jesus Christ. One may say that this entire chapter paints a picture of how Jesus heals blind souls. There is a great difference between the one who is blind and knows it, and the one who simply shuts his eyes. “To b so self-deceived as to shut one’s eyes to the light is a desperate state to be in: the light is there, but if people refuse to avail themselves of it but rather deliberately reject it, how can they be enlightened? As Jesus said, their sin remains.” (Bruce)

Know that I am God

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!”

Psalms 100:3  Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Psalms 95:3     For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Deuteronomy 4:35     To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

Deuteronomy 4:39     know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

John 17:3     And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Acts 17:23-24     For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,

2 Corinthians 4:6     For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 4:8-9     Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.  But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

From John Gill’s exposition:

if the Lord has made us, and not we ourselves, then we are not our own, but his, and ought to serve and glorify him: we are his by creation; “we are also his offspring”, we are his people; by choice and covenant; by his Father’s gift, and his own purchase; and by the power of his grace, bringing to a voluntary surrender and subjection to him; even the Gentiles particularly, who were not his people, but now his people, and the sheep of his pasture; his sheep also by gift and purchase, called by him, made to know his voice, and follow him; for whom he provides pasture, leads to it, and feeds them with it himself.

Your Face I Seek 1

” For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

“You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek”

Psalms 27:4  One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

Jeremiah 29:13   You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Daniel 9:3    Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Matthew 6:33   But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 7:7-8  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 13:24  “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Hebrews 11:6   And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Psalms 63:2-5  So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.  So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips

We have God’s promises; “Seek and you will find”, “knock and it be opened”.  There are qualifiers to these promises.  They require faith.  “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” And seeking with all of your heart. “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” In our culture where everything seems to be just a click away from finding what we want I wonder if seeking God day after day is even a thought on our hearts and mind.  When I think back at the times I have been earnestly seeking God for resolution to something, there were times it was immediate and other times it was only months afterward that I was able to see how God had been leading.  God does not leave His children.  He is ever present.  He will be our rock and our refuge but that would mean we need to turn it over to Him and trust whatever the outcome is and know that it was His plan for us.  Faith is required.  Trusting is required. Believing is required.  Relying is required. Seeking is required.  Knocking is required.