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Job
19:1-7, 14-27 My Redeemer lives
Acts 13:13-25 Sermon at Antioch
of Pisidia
John 9:18-41 Blindness
Job’s friends blamed Job for his suffering. Job admited that his words may have erred, but that
they did not constitute sin against God or other people. Job’s
situation had reduced him to less than human dignity, but he reminded
his friends that if they exalted themselves in comparison to Job and
made Job’s humiliation an argument against
Job, that it was God who had allowed Job's suffering, and that did not
mean that they are more worthy of honor than Job.
Job felt completely alienated from God and mankind. His kinfolk and
close friends had failed him. His servants refused to acknowledge him.
He was repulsive to his wife and brothers. Job mourned that his friends
attacked him instead of showing him compassion. Job longed to be
vindicated by posterity, his story recorded in a book, or engraved on a
monument.
Job expressed faith that his “Redeemer (or Vindicator) lives and at
last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Job believed that after
his flesh had been destroyed by physical death, he would see God for
himself, with his own eyes. Job warned those who seemed intent on
unjustly blaming Job that there will be a day of judgment when
wrongdoing will be punished.
On Paul’s first missionary trip, after the conversion of the Roman
proconsul at Paphos on Cyprus, Paul and Barnabas went to
Antioch of Pisidia (in Asia Minor north of
Pamphylia; distinct from Antioch, which is in Syria).
On the Sabbath they attended the Synagogue, and the leaders of the
Synagogue invited them to preach.
Paul began to preach the Gospel by reviewing the history of God’s
deliverance of his people from Egypt, God’s leading during
the forty years wandering in the wilderness, bringing them into the
Promised Land and giving them victory over the people who had occupied
the land. God had given them judges. Then they had asked for a king and
God had given them Saul and later David, of whom God declared, “…a man
after my heart, who will do all my will” (Acts 13:22). “From this man’s
posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as
he promised” (Acts 13:23; Psalms 89:20-36). John the Baptist had come
before Jesus, preaching a baptism of repentance. John had said that he
was not the promised Savior, but preceded the Savior’s coming.
On a Sabbath, Jesus had healed a man who had been born blind. The
religious leaders considered this a breach of Sabbath Laws and began to
investigate (John 9:1-17). After interrogating the man, they didn’t
believe that the man had been born blind so they questioned his
parents.
The parents verified that the man was their son and that he
had been born blind. The parents said they did not know who healed him
or how, but they told the authorities to ask the son, who was of age
and could speak for himself. The parents feared the religious
authorities because the authorities had warned that anyone who
confessed Jesus to be the Christ (Messiah) would be expelled from the
synagogue.
The authorities called the man and told him to give praise to God for
his healing, and they declared that Jesus was a sinner. The man replied
that he did not know if Jesus was a sinner, but he knew that he had
been blind but now he saw. They asked him again how he had been healed,
and the man asked them why they wanted to hear it again. He suggested
that perhaps they might want to become Jesus’ disciples.
The authorities reviled the man, saying that he was Jesus’ disciple;
they were disciples of Moses. They said that they were certain that God
had spoken to Moses, but they did not know where Jesus comes from. The
man was amazed that in spite of evidence that Jesus had healed the
man’s blindness they were uncertain about Jesus’ authenticity.
The man
said, “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a
worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him" (John 9:31).
Never before in human history had anyone been healed of blindness. If
Jesus were not of God, he could do nothing. The religious authorities
replied, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us" (John
9:34), and expelled the man from membership in the synagogue.
Jesus heard that the man had been expelled, and came to him and asked
if he believed in the Son of man. The man expressed willingness to
believe and Jesus revealed himself to him as the Son of man. The man
called him Lord, and declared his faith in Jesus as the Son of man, and
he worshiped Jesus. Jesus declared that he had come into the world to
heal the blind, and to cause those who see to become blind.
Some
Pharisees overheard this and asked Jesus if he thought they were blind
also. Jesus replied that if they were blind they would have no guilt;
but since they declared that they could see they were accountable for
their guilt.
Job longed to be restored to fellowship with God. He longed to be in
God’s presence; to see God. Job’s experience of alienation from his
family and friends is an accurate picture of how the world responds to
the “down-and out.” The world tends to blame the victim. Job longed for
a Redeemer, a Vindicator, who would vindicate Job and restore him to
fellowship with God, and Job expressed faith that his Redeemer lives
and that the Redeemer would be revealed.
God had been revealing himself to Israel through her history.
God delivered Israel
from bondage to sin and death in Egypt. God led them through
the wilderness by his Spirit in the pillar of smoke and fire. God led
them into the land he had promised to give them.
God demonstrated
government by a righteous judge. When they wanted a king, God raised
Saul and then David. God had promised to bring forth from David’s
descendants an eternal king, the Messiah (Christ), who would be the
righteous judge of all the earth, a Savior, Redeemer, and Vindicator.
Israel
was looking for the coming Messiah. John had come to prepare Israel
by leading them to repent and to look for the coming of the Messiah.
Paul and the followers of Jesus were proclaiming the good news that God
had fulfilled his promise; that Jesus is the Messiah; God’s anointed
eternal king and promised Savior.
The scriptures contained God’s promise to send the Messiah. The
religious leaders claimed to know and believe God and God’s word, they
claimed to be looking for the coming of the Messiah, yet they stood in
his very presence and with their own eyes saw him reveal who he was and
still refused to believe. That is spiritual blindness!
The man who was
healed of his blindness was willing to believe. He listened to Jesus’
words, he trusted and obeyed Jesus (John 9:7), he was willing to
believe and obey (John 9:36) and Jesus revealed himself to that man
(John 9:37). The religious leaders were spiritually blind and yet
emphatically denied it. The result was that they were not healed of
their blindness; they did not see their Savior and Redeemer, and their
sins were not forgiven.
Jesus is the Savior, the Redeemer, Vindicator, and Righteous Judge who
will return to Judge all who have ever lived on Earth. Those who have
trusted and obeyed him will receive eternal life in the Promised Land
of Heaven with Jesus as our eternal King. Those who have rejected Jesus
and have refused to trust and obey Jesus will receive eternal death in
Hell with all evil (Matthew 25:31-46).
Is Jesus your Savior and Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you
trusting and obeying Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit since you
first believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ
and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20? Do
you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John 5:11-13;
Ephesians 1:13-14)?
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