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In this message we will consider the aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ in chapters nine and ten of the Gospel of John.
Chapter nine presents Christ as the light and the Healer of the blind.
The Lord Jesus is the light of the world to give sight to the blind (vv. 1, 4-5). Blindness, like sin in chapter eight, is a matter of death. A dead person surely is blind. “The god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers.” Hence, they need “the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ” to shine upon them (2 Cor. 4:4) “to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18).
The man whose eyes were opened by the Lord Jesus in John 9 was born blind. This signifies that blindness is in the nature of a person when he is born. We sinners were blind by nature because we were born that way. Therefore, a person needs not only to confess that he is sinful but also admit that he is blind.
To the blind man in John 9 the Lord Jesus, as the light of the world, imparted sight in the way of life (10:10b, 28). When the Lord Jesus saw this blind man, He said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (9:5). The Lord Jesus is the light of life (8:12). Blindness comes from the shortage of the light of life. Every dead person is also a blind person. Everyone who is spiritually dead is also spiritually blind. The blindness in John 9, therefore, indicates the lack of life. If we have the divine life, we will have sight, for the light of life opens our eyes. For this reason, the Lord Jesus first pointed out that the blind man needed the light of life.
In John 9 we see that there is a connection between light and blindness. Blindness not only indicates death but also denotes darkness. According to the Gospel of John, blindness issues in darkness. If you were blind, you would be in darkness, unable to see anything. According to 1 John darkness also causes blindness: “He who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (2:11). On the one hand, blindness causes darkness; on the other hand, darkness causes blindness. According to the Gospel of John, blindness comes first and then darkness. In John 9 blindness equals darkness. Hence, the blind man in this chapter needs Christ as the light of the world.
Christ is not only the light of the world (v. 5) to give sight to the blind; He is also the Healer of the blind (vv. 6-7).
How can the light come into us, who were born blind? According to verse 6, in order for the light to come into us, we need the anointing. The words out of the Lord’s mouth (signified by His spittle), being the anointing Spirit (6:63), mingle with humanity (signified by the clay) to bring sight to the blind. If we would understand this, we need to know the significance of the clay, the spittle, and the anointing itself.
In John 9:6, after the Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as being the light of the world, He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the blind man’s eyes with the clay. Clay here, as in Romans 9:21, signifies humanity. Clay signifies the natural man, the man created by God. As those created by God, we all are clay. Spittle here, as something that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (Matt. 4:4), signifies the Lord’s words, which are Spirit and life (John 6:63). The Lord’s making clay of the spittle signifies the mingling of humanity with the Lord’s living word, which is the Spirit. The word anointed in John 9:6 proves this, because the Lord’s Spirit is the anointing Spirit (Luke 4:18; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 1 John 2:27). Here the Lord Jesus anointed the blind eyes with the clay made of His spittle, that they might have sight. This signifies that by the anointing of the mingling of the Lord’s word (which is His Spirit) with our humanity, our eyes, which were blinded by Satan, can have sight.
We need to be deeply impressed with the significance of the mingling of the clay with the spittle. Our humanity (clay) is mingled with the element of the Lord in His word (spittle). This indicates that the Lord mingles His element with us by and with His word. This means that the clay has received something that has proceeded out the Lord’s mouth and has been mingled with it. This mingling of divinity with humanity is the most prevailing ointment, and no other ointment can surpass it. According to John 6 the anointing of the Spirit follows the mingling of the Lord in His word with the clay. From experience we know that immediately after we receive the Lord through His word, we have the anointing of the Spirit. As a result our blindness is healed, and we receive our sight.
Now we can see how the light of the world, Jesus Christ, can come into a person who was born blind. The light of the world comes into a blind man through the mingling of the life-giving Spirit with his being. In order to come into us, Christ became the life-giving Spirit. Now as the Spirit He is able to come into us and mingle with us and anoint us. This is the significance of the clay, the spittle, and the anointing in this chapter.
John 9 also reveals that we receive light for our sight through our obedience, which washes away our old humanity. In verse 7a the Lord Jesus said to the blind man whose eyes had been anointed with the clay, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is interpreted, Sent).” Here to wash is to cleanse away the clay. This signifies the washing away of our old humanity, as experienced in baptism (Rom. 6:3-4, 6).
John 9:7b continues, “He went therefore and washed and came away seeing.” His going and washing indicates that he obeyed the life-giving word of the Lord. So he received his sight. If he had not gone to wash off the clay after having been anointed with it, the clay would have blinded him even more. Our obedience to the Lord’s anointing cleanses us and brings us sight.
The word Siloam means “sent.” Once we have been anointed by the Spirit, we will be in the position of being sent. The anointing puts us on the ground of being sent. Therefore, we must obey. The Lord Jesus Himself always stood on the ground of being sent by the Father and was always obedient. Now the Lord puts us in the same position as His sent ones. After we receive Him in His word and have His anointing, He puts us in the position of being sent, and we must now be obedient to His sending. In particular, we must obey His sending us to the pool of Siloam for the washing away of our old man. Even though we have believed in the Lord Jesus and have entered into an organic union with Him, we may still have the clay of the old man on our eyes. Therefore, we need to obey the Lord, go to the pool of Siloam, and wash away our old man. This is the way to receive the divine light.
In John 10 Christ is unveiled as the Shepherd of the sheep, the door of the sheep, and the pasture of the sheep. This chapter also reveals the matter of the Son and the Father being one.
In verses 10 and 11 we see that Christ is the Shepherd of the sheep.
In verse 11a the Lord Jesus said of Himself, “I am the good Shepherd.” He calls His sheep by name and leads them out of the fold (v. 3). Then He goes before the sheep, and they follow Him (v. 4). As the Shepherd Christ takes the sheep out of the fold through Himself as the door and into Himself as the pasture.
In verse 11b the Lord Jesus continued saying, “The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” The Greek word for “life” here is psuche and refers to the soul-life. The good Shepherd, Christ, laid down His soul-life for the sheep that they might have the zoe life, the eternal and divine life. In verse 10b the Lord said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” Here the Greek word for life is zoe, the word used in the New Testament for the eternal, divine life. As a man the Lord has the psuche life, the human life, and as God He has the zoe life, the divine life. He laid down His soul, His psuche life, His human life, to accomplish redemption for His sheep (vv. 15, 17-18) that they may share His zoe life, His divine life, the eternal life (v. 28), by which they can be formed into one flock under Himself as the one Shepherd. As the good Shepherd He feeds His sheep with the divine life in this way and for this purpose.
The real Shepherd is the living Christ. As our Shepherd the Lord not only gives life to us; He is life to us. The living of Christ within us is actually His living shepherding. Hence, the Lord Jesus shepherds us by being life to us and by living in us.
Today Christ shepherds us inwardly in the way of life, not in the way of outward activity. Inwardly we have Christ as our Shepherd, as a Shepherd of life and in life. Because Christ shepherds us by being life to us from within, the more we live by Him as our life, the more we experience and enjoy His shepherding. On the one hand, Christ lives in us. On the other hand, we live in Him, by Him, with Him, and through Him. When we live in the Lord in such a way, we are under His shepherding. As we are under Christ’s shepherding, there will be a life-consciousness within us and also an instruction, a guidance, in life. The life within us, which is actually Christ Himself, will indicate that the Lord intends to lead us in a certain way. This life-consciousness with its leading and instruction is an indication that we are under Christ’s shepherding.
Verses 1-4 and 9 show us that Christ is the door of the sheep.
Christ was the door of the sheep for the Old Testament saints to go into the law as the custody (v. 9a). The fold in John 10 signifies the law and also Judaism, the religion of the law. Before Christ came, God put His chosen people under the custody of the law. God did this through Christ as the door by which God’s elect entered into the custody of the law. The law was the fold where God’s people as the sheep were kept and protected temporarily until the pasture, the permanent place for the sheep, was ready.
Christ is the door not only for God’s elect to enter into the custody of the law, as did Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah in the Old Testament time, before Christ came, but also for God’s chosen people, such as Peter, John, James, and Paul, to come out of the fold of the law now that Christ has come. Thus, the Lord Jesus indicated in verse 9 that He is the door not only through which God’s elect may go in but also through which God’s chosen people may go out.
God no longer intends to keep His chosen people in the fold of the law. He wants them to come out of the law into Christ. Now, during the New Testament age, God intends to bring His people out of the law through Christ as the door. Christ has come, and the pasture is ready. There is no need for the sheep to be confined any longer in the custody of the Judaic law. They must be released from the fold of the law to enjoy the riches of the pasture. Christ is the door through which His believers may come out of any kind of fold and come into Him as the pasture.
As the door of the sheep to leave the fold, Christ is our freedom from legality. In Christ we have the freedom to go in and to go out. This means that we do not have any legality. The freedom we enjoy is Christ Himself. Because Christ is our freedom, our door, we are not bound by any legality. This, of course, does not mean that we are free to indulge the flesh (Gal. 5:13). In Christ we are not in bondage to legality. Because Christ is our door, we have true freedom.
Today we may experience and enjoy Christ not only as the Shepherd and the door but also as the pasture. For Christ to be the Shepherd of the sheep, He has to be the door for the release of many sheep of God’s flock in Judaism. Now after setting them free from the Judaistic fold as the door of the sheep, Christ feeds them with Himself as the rich pasture of the sheep. John 10:9 says, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and go out and shall find pasture.” The pasture here signifies Christ as the feeding place for the sheep. When the pasture is not available, the sheep must be kept in the fold temporarily. When the pasture is ready, there is no further need for the sheep to remain in the fold. The sheep should come out of the fold and remain in the pasture permanently. To be kept in the fold is transitional and temporary. To be in the pasture enjoying its riches is final and permanent. Before Christ came, the law was a ward, and being under the law was transitional. Now that Christ has come, all God’s chosen people must come out of the law and come into Him to enjoy Him as their pasture (Gal. 3:23-25; 4:3-5). This should be final and permanent.
The Lord Jesus said that He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. This means that, because Christ is the pasture of the sheep, He came to impart Himself as life into the sheep. As long as the sheep stay in the pasture, they will have the supply of life abundantly. By feeding on the pasture, the sheep experience and enjoy the pasture as their abundant life supply.
In order to be the pasture of life to the sheep, Christ had to die for them. Hence, He laid down His life for His sheep, dying for the sheep in order to minister Himself as life to them and thereby be the pasture to them. Today our pasture is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit. In our daily life we should have the definite realization that we are in the pasture experiencing and enjoying Christ as the rich supply of life.
Christ is the pasture of the sheep for the Old Testament saints, who go out of the custody of the law, to feed on.
Christ is the pasture for the New Testament saints, who become one flock with the Old Testament saints under one Shepherd, to feed on. In John 10:16 the Lord Jesus said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.” The one flock signifies the one church, the one Body of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16; 3:6), brought forth by the Lord’s eternal, divine life, which He imparted into His members through His death and resurrection. The fold is Judaism, which is of letter and regulation, and the flock is the church, which is of life and spirit.
As the One who is the Shepherd, the door, and the pasture, the Lord Jesus forms His sheep into one flock, the one universal church, the one Body of Christ, consisting of all the believers in Christ. The Lord supplies the sheep with Himself as life so that there may be one flock and one Shepherd, one Body and one Head. This one flock is different in nature from a fold. A fold is a religious organization; the one flock is the church. Christ has brought us out of the fold into the flock, where we are in Him as the pasture experiencing and enjoying Him as our life and life supply.
For us to be fed with Christ as the rich pasture of life is for us to be flocked together with God’s other sheep to be His organic Body to arrive at the ultimate goal of God’s economy — the New Jerusalem. When we feast on Christ as the pasture, we like to be flocked together with others. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we like to fellowship with others. If we feed upon Christ as our pasture in the morning, enjoying Him as the feast, we will eagerly go to the meeting in the evening.
In John 10:30 the Lord Jesus declared, “I and the Father are one.” Here the Lord asserted His deity, that is, that He is God (v. 33; 5:18; 1:1; 20:28; 1 John 5:20; Phil. 2:6).
According to the context the Lord’s word in John 10:30 signifies that the Father and the Son are one in shepherding, freeing, and feeding God’s chosen people.
The believers, as God’s flock, enjoy the care of both the Son and the Father. In verses 28 and 29 the Lord Jesus said, “I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” These verses speak respectively of the Son’s hand and of the Father’s hand. The Father’s hand, by which He chooses in His love according to His purpose (17:23; 6:38-39), and the Son’s hand, by which He saves by His grace for the fulfillment of the Father’s purpose (1:14; 6:37), both of which have the keeping power, are for the believers’ protection. Eternal life, which is for the believers’ living, will never fail. Hence, the believers are eternally secure and will never perish.
Grace and love are not two separate matters but two aspects of one thing. Love is in the Father. When this love reaches us in the Son, it becomes grace. When through grace we return to the Father, we enjoy His love.
Both the Son’s hand of grace and the Father’s hand of love are of the divine life. In the Father the divine life is the source, and in the Son this life is the course. In the Father the divine life is love, and in the Son the divine life is grace. Because we enjoy both the Son and the Father, we enjoy both grace and love. The result is that we are preserved, and nothing can snatch us out of these two hands — the Son’s hand of grace and the Father’s hand of love.
