"I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you..."
That's what Yahweh said to Pharaoh as recorded by Moses in Exodus 9:16 as He used the king to bring Israel out of Egypt and glory to His everlasting Name. Paul uses the quote again in Romans 9:17 in reference to God's sovereignty regarding Israel, and indeed, all humanity.
We will revisit this in a bit. Now we need to look at John 9:1-3.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Interesting that these all come from chapter 9 of their various books. I'm sure it's merely coincidence...or maybe not. Whatever the case, it all paints an amazing picture of how God works in time and the events of our lives to make things happen to everyone's advantage.
A couple of questions arise when we look at this passage from John.
First, why would Jesus' disciples automatically assume that sin was at the root of the blind man's blindness?
Answer: it was the thinking of the Jews that God would visit the punishment for the sins of the father on the sons as far as the sixth generation. It was also thought by the ancient rabbis that it was possible for the unborn to sin in the womb. It was a teaching of the time that Esau had tried to kill Jacob in Rebekah's womb. The psalms of David also point to the possibility of sin in utero -
Psalm 51:5,6...
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Also,
Psalm 58:3
Even from birth the wicked go astray;
from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
This is not to say that the Hebrews and later the Jews were of a Calvinist / Augustinian mindset. I do not believe they were. They were, however, familiar with how all human flesh has been broken since the fall from God's grace. They knew all humans have an overpowering tendency toward sin to one degree or another. Since the time of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit though, God's new nation, the Church have more power to resist the brokenness of the flesh. This is not to say we use it like we should, but we have more than the mere intellectual enlightenment of the law to tell us what sin is.
Jesus states unequivocally that no one sinned. He says that the man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him. Wow.
So the really big question here about the John 9 passage :
would God really cause a man to be blind from birth, simply to show His power through the works of His Son? Is that fair? The man had been blind for decades.
God may not have purposely caused the man's blindness. It might simply be that 'brokenness of the flesh' thing again that God simply makes use of. But I do not think so...
We who are of an Armenian theology tend to gloss over God's sovereignty in favor of humanity's free will when God's fairness in human eyes is at stake. This is an error that we must learn to get passed. The human idea of fairness tends to be based on what we see in the 'here and now'. We do not see time, history or the end game as the Lord does. Human fairness and divine fairness are far apart and we do not always understand what God has in mind as He uses His divine sovereignty.
I would suggest that God did indeed cause this man to be blind from birth for the purpose of displaying His works. I would go further. I would say that God might even ratchet up a man's propensity to sin to show His works in the life of the sinner.
Yes. I say this believing that God created me same sex attracted. He made me as I am that he might show me His never ending mercy and grace. In some ways I am grateful for this gift. I might never have realized how dependent I am on Him had I been born any other way. I cannot get through a day without Him, without His mercy and grace and most assuredly without the power He daily gives me to stand against my desire.
Romans 9:14-21.
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f]
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
God uses us according to His foreknowledge of who we are to predestine us to be what He intends. He did it for Pharaoh and He does it for His own.
Romans 8:28-30.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
If you read the rest of John 9, you will know that the formerly blind man did bring glory to God by confessing His Son as Lord before witnesses. Armed with this knowledge, I will continue daily to do the same despite my disability.
Seeing things for the first time at my age is a mighty gift. Lord help me to see in the right direction. I love you.
