Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
These words were spoken by the man born blind after Jesus restored his sight, in direct answer to the Pharisees who had declared that Jesus was a sinner, and he used them to challenge and overturn their accusation. In the fuller story Jesus healed the man born blind and afterward revealed Himself to him as the Son of God, and the man then worshiped Jesus. The saying means that God does not hear sinners so as to work through them, but He hears any man who is a worshiper of God and does His will. From this principle the healed man reasoned that the restoration of sight to one blind from birth proves that Jesus is from God and is heard by God, because such a work had never been heard of since the world began and without God Jesus could do nothing.
That testimony exposed the envy, jealousy, prejudice, unbelief, hatred, and spiritual blindness of the Jewish leaders, who refused enlightenment, chose darkness, tried to smother the man's testimony, and cast him out of the synagogue rather than admit that Christ's mission was true. After his rejection Jesus as the compassionate True Shepherd sought the outcast man and gave him a place in the fold, anxious to save him. That compassion reached him even when he did not yet know who Jesus was.
The restored blind man stands as the poor sinner pictured by the lost sheep wandering far from the fold, whom the Shepherd seeks and calls to look to the cross. In contrast, the self-righteous Pharisees held him worthy only of sneers, hatred, and contempt and despised the purchase of the blood of Christ, showing they were working not in harmony with God but uniting with the adversary of God and man. When the delusions of Satan are broken from the mind and the sinner looks to Calvary and sees the costly offering given to save an apostate and ruined race, he contemplates the love of God and is deeply moved and becomes repentant. Beholding Christ he is changed and transformed in character from glory to glory and enters the conflict between light and darkness.
These words were spoken by the man born blind after Jesus restored his sight, in direct answer to the Pharisees who had declared that Jesus was a sinner, and he used them to challenge and overturn their accusation. In the fuller story Jesus healed the man born blind and afterward revealed Himself to him as the Son of God, and the man then worshiped Jesus. The saying means that God does not hear sinners so as to work through them, but He hears any man who is a worshiper of God and does His will. From this principle the healed man reasoned that the restoration of sight to one blind from birth proves that Jesus is from God and is heard by God, because such a work had never been heard of since the world began and without God Jesus could do nothing.
That testimony exposed the envy, jealousy, prejudice, unbelief, hatred, and spiritual blindness of the Jewish leaders, who refused enlightenment, chose darkness, tried to smother the man's testimony, and cast him out of the synagogue rather than admit that Christ's mission was true. After his rejection Jesus as the compassionate True Shepherd sought the outcast man and gave him a place in the fold, anxious to save him. That compassion reached him even when he did not yet know who Jesus was.
The restored blind man stands as the poor sinner pictured by the lost sheep wandering far from the fold, whom the Shepherd seeks and calls to look to the cross. In contrast, the self-righteous Pharisees held him worthy only of sneers, hatred, and contempt and despised the purchase of the blood of Christ, showing they were working not in harmony with God but uniting with the adversary of God and man. When the delusions of Satan are broken from the mind and the sinner looks to Calvary and sees the costly offering given to save an apostate and ruined race, he contemplates the love of God and is deeply moved and becomes repentant. Beholding Christ he is changed and transformed in character from glory to glory and enters the conflict between light and darkness.