THE WHENCE OF THINGS

JOHN 9:2

A. "WE KNOW THAT GOD SPAKE UNTO MOSES; AS FOR THIS FELLOW, WE KNOW NOT FROM WHENCE HE IS"
  1. In making this assertion, the Pharisees revealed:
    1. Their ignorance of Bible prophecy
    2. Also, their blinding bias against the visible evidence of the presence of divine power, so eloquently demonstrated in the healing of the blind man
  2. Their assertion indicates:
    1. How prejudice blinds a person to facts
    2. How a closed mind functions in the face of undeniable proof - makes fools out of people
B. LET US CONSIDER OUR SUBJECT TITLE AND ITS IMPLICATION
  1. The whence of things:
    1. The dilemma of the Pharisees; this time they were not engaged with Christ over doctrines or the interpretation of prophecies about the Messiah
    2. They were in the presence of an accomplished fact - the blind man that now saw
  2. These willfully blind leaders of the blind:
    1. Were confronted with undeniable evidence of the power of God so wonderfully manifested by the Son of God
    2. What is more, the clear and irrepressible conviction of the one that was blind and now saw
    3. How they sought vainly to overthrow his testimony, attempting to use his parents
  3. These circumstances forced them to make an inadvertent confession:
    1. "As for this fellow, we know not from whence he is"
    2. Well did Jesus testify of them, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God" - Matt. 22:29
    3. For had thy known and read the testimony of Moses and the prophets, they could have known "this fellow" - Luke 24:25-28
    4. "Search the scriptures...they are they which testify of Me...For had ye believed Moses ye would have believed me; for he wrote of Me" - John 5:39, 46-47
C. THE TIMELY LESSON OF OUR OPENING TEXT
  1. How Satan uses:
    1. Ignorance to prevent men from coming into the light of God's saving truth; Examples: The Pharisees - leaders of the people, paraded as the teachers of Moses and the prophets; yet were totally unfamiliar with the teachings of Moses and the prophets - Matt. 22:29
    2. Bias or prejudice - how Satan has used this malady to close the hearts of men to God's word; Examples: Read the book of the Acts of the Apostles and their experience in the synagogues of the Jews, or think of modern Christianity and the prejudices of the professed followers of Christ
    3. This reminds us of the old adage, "There is no one as blind as he that refuses to see"
  2. Let us pray daily:
    1. That God will give us an open mind to facts, be they favorable to our way of life, or rebuke to our conduct
    2. That common sense may prevail when we are faced with truth
    3. That we may ever be willing to let the word of truth lead us into all truths
  3. For what was true of the disciples when Jesus said:
    1. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now" - John 16:12
    2. "Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth" - John 16:13
  4. We must never close our minds to more light from the word of God no matter what agent God may use:
    1. "The path of the just is as a shinning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" - Prov. 4:18
    2. The Bereans "were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so" - Acts 17:11
  5. For when we blind our minds to truth, we harm our own soul and may influence others to be lost too


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