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Scripture Reading: John 9:1-3, 6-7, 14-16, 22, 24-25, 28-30, 33-38; 10:1-11, 14-16, 21, 26-31, 38-39
Now we come to chapter 9 of John, where we find another Sabbath. We have already passed through three Sabbaths, and now we come to the fourth. In all of them the Lord Jesus did something to break them. The Lord Jesus always acted deliberately and intentionally to break the Sabbath. He was an excellent Sabbath breaker. We must not think that it was just by accident that He performed these things on the Sabbath day. No, He did it with a definite purpose. He did it to purposely break the regulations of religion.
Let us review briefly the Sabbaths through which we have already passed. It is interesting that in the record of Matthew there are two Sabbaths, and in the record of John there are another two Sabbaths. The first Sabbath was a case of hungry people: the Lord Jesus brought His disciples into the grainfields and gave them full freedom to do as they liked. The grainfields were not the synagogue or the temple; they were a rather wild and uncultured place. Would you rather sit in good order in a cultured synagogue, or would you prefer to be in the grainfields, picking the ears of grain, without keeping any regulations? What kind of person would you prefer to be? The grainfields were an eating place, a place of liberty from all religious regulations.
The second Sabbath was a case of a withered member, which the Lord Jesus likened to a sheep fallen into a pit. The withered member was the fallen sheep without rest. So the Lord broke the Sabbath in order that the withered and fallen member might find rest. In the second case the object of the Lord’s concern was not in the grainfields but in the pit. When we are withered, we are simply in the pit; we are bound and have no rest. But, hallelujah, the Lord Jesus has lifted us up! The Lord Jesus has healed us, and now we are out of the pit and dwelling at home. The church is first a grainfield and then a home.
The third Sabbath is the case of an impotent man lying in a religious portico, waiting for something to happen. The Lord Jesus saw him and by His word imparted life into him. The Lord Jesus has not only fed us and lifted us up but imparted His life into us. Now we not only have satisfaction and freedom, but we are made alive.
Now we come to the last Sabbath, the fourth case. It is a case of a blind man. We may be whole and perfect in every sense and yet, like this man, be born blind. The only problem with this man was that he did not have sight, and the Lord Jesus clearly implies in the following chapter of John, chapter 10, that this very man was one who was in the “fold.” In one sense the fold is a good place, but in another sense the fold is not good. The fold, you know, is the place where the flock is kept at night, in the wintertime, or when a storm is raging. In the day, when the sun is shining, the sheep should not be in the fold, but in the pasture. The destiny of a blind man, however, is to be in the fold, kept and preserved in the night. A blind man never has a sunny day: even if the sun is shining, he cannot enjoy it. To the blind man the day is as the night; he is always in darkness. If you are blind, you are in the fold.
When we were in the denominations, we were blind. I do not believe that any dear Christians who have really received sight from the Lord could still remain in the denominations. Everyone who sees must leave the fold and enter the pasture, under the sunshine, in the fresh air, in liberty. Where are you now? Are you in the fold, or are you now in the pasture? Allow me to say this: if anyone is still in the fold, he is blind. Of course, a blind person requires the fold to keep him. But when he receives his sight, he will swiftly leave the fold for the pasture, for the sunshine, for the fresh air.
Do not think that these four cases on these four Sabbaths are speaking of four different persons. I tell you, spiritually speaking, these four cases are four aspects of one person — us. We are the hungry ones, we are the withered members and fallen sheep, we are those who have been impotent for so many years, and we are just like the blind man. We are hungry, withered, fallen, impotent, and blind. Before we were saved, before we were brought into the church life, we were this kind of person. This is a real portrait of our condition at that time. I can testify that before I was saved and came into the church life, I was really hungry, I was so withered and fallen, so impotent and blind. In one sense I was waiting for something to happen, and in another sense I was truly blind. I did not know in what direction I was moving; I could not discern whether it was day or night. I was in the fold. But, hallelujah, the Lord Jesus came to feed us by breaking the Sabbath. Hallelujah, the Lord Jesus came also to lift us up out of the pit by breaking the regulations of religion. Furthermore, the Lord Jesus came to impart life into us. Formerly, we relied on something happening to us, but now we can take up our mat and walk; we have life. The Lord Jesus did this also by again breaking the regulations of religion. Eventually, hallelujah, the Lord Jesus came and opened our eyes, and we were cast out of the fold by the religious people into the pasture. Hallelujah! How wonderful to be cast out of the fold into the pasture!
Now in the church life we are no longer hungry — we are in the grainfield. Now in the church life we are no longer in the pit — we are at home. Now in the church life we are no longer lying impotent in a religious portico — we have life; there is no need for others to help us; now we can carry everything. Now in the church life we are no longer in the fold — we are in the pasture. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory!
Eventually, we are not only in the pasture but also in the flock — praise the Lord! We are not a fold but a flock. The fold is a place to keep us, but the flock is a composition of all the saints. The church is not a place; the church is a flock. If we are a denomination, if we are a synagogue, if we are a sect, then surely we are a fold. But, hallelujah, we have all been flocked together as the church. We are the flocked sheep in the green and tender pasture, enjoying the unlimited Christ all the time. Are there any regulations? No. Are there any forms? No. Is there any bondage? No. We have green pasture; we have liberty; we have life; we have open air; we have sunshine; we have all we need. We have one flock with one Shepherd. This is where we are today. Are you here? The Lord broke all these four Sabbaths to bring us here.
Let us now consider the case of the blind man in more detail. The Lord Jesus passing by saw this man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” (9:2). The disciples’ question was entirely religious. Since the man was blind, they reasoned, someone must have sinned, either he or his parents. But Jesus answered, “Neither has this man sinned nor his parents” (v. 3). If you read the Gospel of John carefully, you will see that people frequently came to Jesus with questions requiring a yes or no answer. But Jesus never answered yes or no. He always said in effect, “Neither yes nor no.” For example, the Samaritan woman in chapter 4 introduced the matter of worship. She said, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship” (v. 20). But the Lord Jesus replied, “Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (v. 21). The Lord’s answer to His disciples in chapter 9 was of a similar nature. The Lord Jesus never answers yes or no; He always answers according to life. With Him, it is not a matter of right or wrong, yes or no, good or evil, or anything of the tree of knowledge; it is entirely a matter of God, a matter of life. The Lord Jesus told His disciples, “Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but he was born so, that the works of God might be manifested in him” (v. 3). The question of the disciples was one of religion; the answer of the Lord Jesus was one of revelation. Jesus took away the veil of religion: He said in effect, “Forget about religion. It is not a matter of this or that but a matter of the works of God being manifested.”
The Lord Jesus spoke very little after this. Immediately following this statement of His, we read that He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle (v. 6). Scientifically and culturally speaking, spittle is a very dirty substance. But the Lord Jesus spat on the ground and even mixed the spittle with the clay. Then, with this spittle, we read, the Lord anointed the eyes of the blind man and told him to go and wash. He did, and he returned healed. The Lord Jesus in performing this sign acted not in a miraculous way but in an uncultured, unrefined way, totally contrary to human concept. People would say that what He did was coarse and foolish. Who would ever think that the Lord Jesus would use spittle mingled with dirt, of all things, as a kind of ointment to anoint a blind man. But the Lord is always acting contrary to our religious and human concept. Spiritually speaking, what He did is full of meaning. Something out of the mouth of the Lord was mingled with something of the ground. We are the ground. Therefore, what the Lord did signifies the mingling of divinity with humanity.
We were all born blind. In what way did we receive sight? We received sight by being mingled with the Lord Jesus as a divine person. Some element of Christ must enter into us and become mingled with us. Most of us can testify from our experience: the day we received Christ was the day we received our sight. Even today there is no other way to receive sight but by the mingling of Christ within us. Let Christ put something of Himself into you, and you will receive sight.
The man received sight. It was wonderful. Again the Pharisees, the religionists, were on hand to condemn. They discouraged this poor man who received his sight from following Jesus. Reviling him, they said, “You are His disciple; but we are disciples of Moses” (v. 28). They called Jesus a sinner because He broke the Sabbath, but the blind man exclaimed, “Whether or not He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (v. 25). The blind man did not care about right or wrong; he only cared that he received his sight. Whether right or wrong, whether yes or no — it mattered nothing to him. He only cared for seeing.
They reviled him. In that day to say that you were a follower of Jesus was a vile thing. Then they cast him out. They cast him out of the synagogue, out of Judaism, out of the Jewish religion. Hallelujah! But we must realize that in that day to be cast out of the Jewish synagogue and religion meant that there was no way to live. You could not keep your job; your living was ended. To be an outcast from the Jewish religion in that day was very serious. But the Lord Jesus met him and asked, “Do you believe into the Son of God?” (v. 35). He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe into Him?” Jesus replied, “You have both seen Him, and He is the One speaking with you,” and he said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped Him (vv. 36-38). Today, when we read the record, we feel that it was so simple and not of too much consequence; but, I tell you, in that day it was not so simple, and it was of tremendous consequence.
Immediately upon the casting out of this man from the synagogue, the Lord Jesus gave the people a message, telling how He is the door of all the sheep within the sheepfold. He said that all who came before Him were thieves and robbers; He is the only One who came to impart life to the sheep. He is the One who leads the sheep out of the fold, through the door, into the pasture — He is the Shepherd. He also told them that He had other sheep which were not of that Jewish fold — them also would He lead, and they would be flocked together with the sheep from the sheepfold to be one flock. It is all so meaningful.
Many dear saints, when reading that Jesus is the door in John 10, conceive of Jesus as the door to heaven. That concept is utterly mistaken. In John 10 Jesus is the door, not of heaven but of the fold. Judaism, the Jewish religion, was the fold. We must realize that this fold was first established by God in the Old Testament. God put all His dear saints into it to be kept, waiting for Christ to come. They were put there, not over the walls but through the door, and that door was Christ. David was put there; Jeremiah was put there; Daniel was put there. They were all put into the fold through the proper gate, Christ. Those Old Testament saints who believed in the coming Christ found entrance into the fold through Him. Christ was the door through which they entered. Then Jesus came; the night was over, and the day had dawned. There was no need for the sheep to be kept in the fold any longer; they must go out and find pasture. The winter was over, and spring had come; Christ, the pasture, was there. Before He came, Jesus was the door by which they all came in. Then when He came, He said in effect, “Now I am the door for you all to get out.” In the Old Testament time Christ was the door for the saints to enter the fold, and now in the New Testament time He is the door for all the sheep who are in the fold to come out. Then when He leads them out, He is not only the door but also the Shepherd. They are the sheep, and He is the Shepherd, leading them to the green pasture. He is the pasture too. He led Peter out of the fold, He led John out of the fold, He led James out of the fold, and He led this blind one who received sight out of the fold.
Then He told the people that He had other sheep in the Gentile world, the heathen world. Later, He came to America, a part of the heathen world. One day, praise the Lord, the Lord Jesus also came to my country, another part of the heathen world. We are all the other sheep, and He brought us all together into His green pasture. We are one flock.
When Jesus walked on earth, Judaism was the fold, but today there are new folds. There are so many denominations, sects, and Christian groups — all these in the eyes of the Lord are today’s folds. Although people within these groups may have good intentions as far as the Lord is concerned, yet the result is disastrous — the result is division. They may intend to keep the people of the Lord as a fold, but eventually they cause a division. The Lord today is doing the same work as He did in John 9: He is opening the eyes of many who are held by the folds; He is leading them out of the folds and putting them together in the green pasture as one flock. After you receive your sight, those who run the folds will no longer be willing to keep you there, and on the other hand, you will be quite willing to come out. Christ is the door for you to come out and join the one flock with the one Shepherd.
Originally, we were hungry, fallen, impotent, and blind. Hallelujah, today we are the flock, the church, the bride for the Bridegroom. Today we are no more in the pit, no more in the religious porticoes, no more in the fold, but in the pasture which is Christ Himself. We have been lifted out of the pit, released from the portico, led out of the fold, and flocked together as the one flock with one Shepherd, feeding on the green pasture. This is the church life.
Let us return now briefly to see how the trouble between the Lord Jesus and religion began. According to the record of the four Gospels, it all started with the matter of fasting and praying. The Lord Jesus came into an atmosphere utterly impregnated with religion, and the break began. It did not start with Him or from Him, but from the religious people, the disciples of John and of the Pharisees. We have already seen how they came to the Lord Jesus inquiring about fasting. That was the beginning of the break. The Lord did not keep fasting; He broke this religious thing. Following His breaking of the fasting system, He began to break the Sabbath — the four cases we have seen. When we come to the last case, we have come to the climax. This is the ultimate station; we do not need the fifth Sabbath. Now we are on the mountaintop; now we have a flock, and we are the flock, the church. We reach this point by coming out of the fold through the door, by following Him under His shepherding, and by enjoying Him day by day in all His riches as our pasture. It is by this that we are all together. We are not organized together; we are flocked together by the Lord Jesus as the door, the Shepherd, and the pasture. It is by this that we become the church, the ultimate, eternal intention of God. Everything is now accomplished. It is all His wonderful doing.
It was in 1932 that I first came into the local church. The Lord Jesus led me out of the “synagogue” into the “grainfield” to feed on its riches. Oh, the church to me at that time was just like the grainfield: I could pick all the ears and enjoy the grain. Then He lifted me up out of the pit; I was a withered member, I was waiting in the portico, waiting for something or someone, but He imparted life into me and made me an active member of the Body. I was impotent, I was blind, but He put something of Himself into me, not just that I might have life, but that I might have it abundantly, and in so doing, I received my sight. Then I was made clear; I could see Him as the door and follow Him out of the fold into the pasture. Now I can testify that day and night I am in the pasture enjoying Him. How good it is to be in the flock! Hallelujah, we are flocked together. We never try to unite; we are flocked together. We are not united by any charters or creeds made by human hands; we are united by the Lord Jesus as the door, the Shepherd, and the pasture.
When the flock comes into being, everything is completed. Now we really have a Sabbath. We do not break this Sabbath; we keep this Sabbath for eternity. Day by day we are resting in Christ; we are enjoying the real Sabbath. All the working Sabbaths are over; we are now in the resting Sabbath. We are resting in the flock.
Chapter 10 of the Gospel of John must be put together with chapter 9: these are not two separate records but one record in two chapters. In chapter 10 the Lord Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (v. 10). Many times we have quoted this verse in an isolated way, neglecting the context. Now, by putting these two chapters together, we see the way whereby the Lord imparts life to us. The blind man was there, a man made of mere clay. But the Lord Jesus healed him and recovered his sight by emitting something out of His mouth and mingling it with the clay. With such a strange kind of ointment, the man was anointed and healed. Without chapter 10 it is rather difficult to understand the significance of the Lord’s act in mingling the spittle with the clay. Chapter 10 interprets it by showing that in so doing, He imparted life: something out from Him entered into the blind man and mingled with him. What the Lord did in chapter 9 was a sign, signifying a spiritual reality. The Lord Jesus came to impart life to us by something coming out of His mouth and mingling with us. When we come to chapter 20 of this Gospel, we see how the Lord Jesus after His resurrection came to His disciples and breathed into them. This breathing was in a sense a kind of spitting. Something came out of His mouth and entered into His disciples, mingling with them as with the clay. That is the imparting of life. Life is nothing else but something of the Lord Jesus breathed into us and mingled with us. It is by the life then that we receive sight.
In what way could we have something coming out from the Lord and into us to mingle with us today? In either of two ways: (1) By calling upon His name. When we call upon His name, we breathe Him in. (2) By pray-reading His Word. The spittle today is the living word, and we are the pieces of clay. The more we pray-read, the more something of the Lord Jesus comes out from Him and into us. It is thus that something of the Lord is mingled with us, and we not only have life but have it abundantly. It is by this life, then, that we are enabled to see.
You may say that whenever I speak, I always return eventually to the matter of calling on the name of the Lord and pray-reading. It is really so. I have not found a third way. In all my years of experience with the Lord, I have only found these two ways: calling on the name of the Lord and pray-reading the Word. I do know of a certainty that this is the best way for the Lord to mingle something of Himself with us.
Do you realize that you are merely a piece of clay, born blind and kept in a fold? If so, you must let Christ emit something out of Himself and into you. Then you will have life and receive the sight to see; you will be out of the fold and enjoy the pasture. There is no other way but by calling on His name and pray-reading. All the day we need to say, “O Lord, Amen! O Lord, Amen!” All the day we also need to pray-read the Word. Then the spittle from the mouth of the Lord will mingle with us the clay. We will have the anointing, for this is the anointing. Hallelujah! The more we call on the name of the Lord and pray-read the Word, the more we are anointed. This anointing is so sweet, so refreshing, so new. It is by this that we experience Christ as the door, the Shepherd, and the green pasture. It is by this that we are now in the flock, the church.
Eventually, we have nothing and keep nothing but Christ and the church, the Head with the Body. The Lord in the last days of this age is recovering this; He is recovering Christ as life with the proper church life. Now the Lord is doing something to put the enemy to shame. God the Father can point to the enemy and say, “Satan, look, even on this earth, in this dark age, My Son Jesus Christ could have such a Body.” Not only is this a shame to Satan, but it is also a beachhead for Christ to gain the entire earth. The church life will be the beachhead for Christ to return. The Lord is doing this, not in a human way but in a divine way; not in an organized way but by the transforming Spirit.
