We welcome you to the second part in the message ‘Arise and Shine’ by Kiruba Stephen where we learn more about how the Lord Jesus comes into our lives and causes us to shine for Him in this dark world. Let's listen.
John 9: 1-12
Here we are going to read about the blind man, how Jesus healed the person who was born blind. And this blind man, his life was very different from the others because this man did not do any sin; his sickness was not as a result of sin. So we see the difference between this person and the previous person that we saw, who Jesus healed.
We are going to read from Verses 1 to 12
1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
4. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
6. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
7. And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
8. The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
9. Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
10. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
11. He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12. Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
If we read from Verses 35 to 41, we will see how Jesus talks to the man and how He is introducing Himself to the man. This man did not actually know who Jesus was.
And we would just read that also
35. Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
36. He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
37. And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
38. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
39. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
41. Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
For we see from Verse 35 Jesus is introducing himself as a Son of God to this blind man. He did not know anything about Jesus, he was born blind from birth and he couldn't see. But now Jesus goes to this man and He is healing him; what He is doing is, He is putting the clay that He made with his spit on his eyes and it saysHe anointed his eyes. The Lord Jesus actually, it was not an object that He put, he anointed his eyes and He is telling him, "Go, wash your eyes in the pool of Siloam." So this man didn't know who Jesus was, but he knew that he had to obey. And his lights came at that time.
All these years he was blind, he couldn't see, but we see over here," As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world," Verse 5. That Light, Jesus Christ, came and He stood before him. When He came and He spoke to him and He said, "Go do this, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash your eyes." And he did that, he obeyed that.
Imagine he did not go, imagine he said Who's this man? He is putting some wet stuff on my eyes. “What are you doing? I don't even know who you are. I am not going to go, make a trip.” He didn't do that but he listened, then he went; he went by himself and he washed his eyes. When he obeyed, he was able to see. The Lord opened his eyes. When the Lord Jesus put the clay on his eyes and anointed his eyes, he was healed. He was already healed. But his obedience caused him to inherit that blessing. So Jesus comes to us and He tells us, no matter what your situation is “Arise, your light has come. Tonight it has come.”
For this month God is going to do something, you were notexpecting; God is going to do something that you never thought was going to happen. You might have prayed and prayed and prayed, and almost felt like giving up. The Lord says, “I am going to break that which is pressing your heart. I am going to take that burden off. I am going to give you what you have been yearning for, what your heart has been longing for.” God says, “I am going to do it.”
Are we willing to believe? Or we are going to say that, "This is going to be another day like yesterday, this is going to be another day. Every year it's like this, every month it's like this; every week, every day is like this. This is how it's going to be.” Are we going to settle for that? Or when Jesus comes to us and says, "Arise, Your light is come; God's glory has come on you."
Are we willing to say,” Lord I am going to get up, I am going to do what you're telling me to do, I am going to believe. I am going to inherit everything that You have for me, even though I don't know what God is telling, even though I am not able to see the light”, like these people. They didn't know who Jesus was, they didn't know that Light. So Jesus, the Light of the World came and stood before them, they didn't know that light.
It is like in Isaiah 60, God is saying, “Arise and Shine for your light has come”; if we can see the light, obviously we will get up already. Nobody needs to tell that our light came, but everything still looks dark. But obedience matters!
When the Lord speaks to us, even before we see, (that's what faith is - Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.) when we act upon God's word, when the Lord speaks to us, "Arise, your light has come" and when we obey Him, we see that light shine in our lives.
So the Lord speaks to us tonight saying, “When I come to you and when I speak to you that I am rolling your burden away, I am taking your sorrow away, I am going to take away the thing that has been weighing heavy on your shoulders, that yoke that was not from me, I am going to remove that. I am here, I am the light, I am going to take the darkness away.”
And God says Arise, that's an act of faith. The man who could not get up, who was there thirty eight years, he could not get up. But he got up, when the Lord said Arise, he got up. Because he believed, even though his body was dead, he wasn't able to get up, he believed and he got up. So similarly, when the Lord told this man to go wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam, he went and he did it, even though he did not know that that light was in front of him. This night that same Light is in front of us, He is on us and He is telling us, “Arise and Shine, the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.”
And the reason why the Lord has come to us tonight is God wants us to shine for Him. God wants us to shine for him. In his light that lights every person, in His light that drives out every darkness; when that light comes on us, it makes us to reflect Him. That is the purpose, that people may be drawn to Jesus Christ.
For we read here in Mathew Chapter 5 Verse 16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Jesus was talking to his disciples, to the people who are following Him, listening to Him - that light that God puts in us, His Light, let it shine. It should shine in a way, that people would see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven.
If we see the previous verse, it says,
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
The purpose why God is giving us light is for us to shine, so that the people will see that light and glorify the Father which is in heaven. The light is not for us to just keep it in, that's why I was saying that it was a twofold blessing. When the Lord comes to us, when His light shines on us, it is a twofold blessing. One is first personally - our darkness has been removed. Number two is, people see that and they are drawn to the Lord. So that is the purpose, He says let them see that light and be drawn to the Father which is in heaven. Let them give glory to the Lord.
So we have to say, “Lord, I want to be that light that you want me to be. Lord, I know you're here to remove my darkness. I know you're here Lord, to remove that which I was thinking which is not even going to happen. But Lord I believe. Because you're speaking to me, because you're telling me to Arise I am going to Arise. And I am going to do what you tell me to do, Lord, as an act of faith. Lord, I believe your glory has risen upon me even though, I do not see anything.”
See that is the point of this message, even though we do not see anything, even though our circumstance stays the same, looks the same, God sees it completely different because His light is on us. He is able to see it; we will not, until we wait, until we step out in faith. Only when we step out in faith we will see the glory lighton us. And the people around us will see the glorious light on us. So we have to be those people who took that step of faith, who walked to the pool of Siloam, who got up, took up the bed and walked so that people saw them and they glorified God.
When we see these two people's life, they never hid it. After receiving the healing, they never hid it. They were going telling everyone, even though they did not know who Jesus was, they were telling, this man did this to me and that's how I got healed. I know I was blind, but now I can see. That's what Jesus is talking about, people will see what God has done, they will see that light that God put in your life and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So they did not hide it under bushel, they let their lights to shine. So that's what we have to do.
Our responsibility is, when that light comes on us we want that light to shine, so kings will come to the brightness of the light, so that gentiles will come to that light. And that light will draw, and that light will surely draw, it has to draw. Just like we cannot cover the moon, when the light of the Lord comes upon us, we cannot cover it.
So we have to realize say, “Lord, I want to be that light Lord; I want to reflect your glory. Lord, this month I believe you are going to do something new. Lord I believe, what has been stagnant in my life, Lord you will remove that for me.” And say, “Lord As you're speaking to me this night, that burden that has been weighing heavy on my life, Lord you're going to remove that off of me because you have promised your light has risen on me. And you're going to do this in such a way that not only my burden is going to be gone, people will see that on my life and they will glorify God.”
So we have to remember that it is a twofold blessing, what the Lord will do for us. One is He will take our darkness away. Number two is he will cause the gentiles to see that light to be drawn to Jesus.
We do trust that the Lord has blessed you with this second part in the series on Arise and Shine. If you like to email us, please send your emails to godofwondersradio@elbethelinternationalministries.org or you can write us at elbethelinternationalministries, PO Box 966 Goshen New York 10924, USA. You can also visit us as at on the web at www.elbethelinternationalministries.org
Shall we pray? Blessed Heavenly Father, you are the light of the world and you said, that whoever follows you will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Bless the listeners richly Oh Father and cause them to inherit all the blessings that you have for them as they put their trust in you. In Jesus Name we thank you Lord, Amen. May God richly bless you until the next time!
