Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.   I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.   As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbours and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

 He answered and said,”A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

John 9:1-11 NKJV

I have read this story and probably preached from it on a number of occasions, but as I read these verses a while back, I believe that the Holy Spirit began to show me something from this event that could be a prophetic statement about the present apostolic restoration of the Church which is sweeping through world today.

Jesus saw a man who was born blind, that means he was oblivious to his environment, sightless, he was at the mercy of everybody and anything, sightless, he was dependent on others for identity, description and direction. He was prone to being misled, deceived and confused.

This man was physically blind but the same is true for many who are physically sighted but spiritually blind. There are many who have come to faith in Christ Jesus but are unable to perceive the spiritual realities around them.

They were born blind, the scribes and Pharisees were the spiritual leaders of the Jews but Jesus described them as the blind leading the blind, what did he say about that again? He said they would fall into a ditch; Physical blindness is terrible but spiritual blindness is much worse.

I want to establish the reality of spiritual blindness, sometimes when we refer to it, we think about the irreligious, the unconverted but as we have seen here even the converted can suffer from the same affliction.

Jesus spoke of those who had eyes but could not see and ears but could not perceive ( Matthew 13:) spiritual blindness is not the exclusive preserve of any set of people, even prophets and kings can be afflicted with it.

In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;  for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.”

Luke 10:21-24 NKJV

Spiritual blindness is a terrible affliction, it hinders us from discerning times and seasons, it keeps us from beholding the glory of the Lord in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, it causes sincere faithful people to oppose the will and work of God simply because they do not recognize Him at work. Whatever limitations physical blindness would impose on a man spiritual blindness would do the same and more.

No wonder Paul the apostle encouraged the Church to pray that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened, (Ephesians 1: 17-19)  I prayed that prayer for myself for quite a long time and I still do today.

Every true restoration or revival has come because people saw something of what the Lord was seeking to do and prayed until it came to be.

For the past 10 -15 or more years a silent reformation has been taking place in the Church, it is the apostolic and prophetic restoration, many people are still blind to this present work of the Holy Spirit, some even fight the truths being established through this restorative work of the Spirit of God, they do this because they are blind to it, nothing reveals the purpose of God for the Church and the glory of Jesus like the apostolic restoration, the early Church were an apostolic and prophetic company, their singular passion was to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ and to make Him KNOWN JUST AS the master revealed THE Father and made him known. Jesus is returning the Church to her apostolic foundations so that we may walk in the same spirit and power of the apostolic fathers.

The Church has come a long way from the protestant reformation and now we are about to enter into the place where the Church walks in the same integrity, spirit and power as the first church, some call it this the season of the manifestation of the Sons of God, I call it a return to the apostolic roots of the Church.

Jesus gave the Church a mandate, he said as the father has sent me so send I you’ the Church was called to be to this world what He was to the nation of Israel. This is the apostolic mandate of the Church.

Walking in this mandate will make the Church an enigma to the world just as He was an enigma to the Jews, they could not comprehend him, he spoke of God in a way that they could not relate with, He spoke of God as His Father, he knew the Father and the Father knew him, the words he spoke were so full of wisdom, though  he often quoted from the writings of the prophets  which they were familiar with and distilling such wisdom and light from them that they (the people) were blind to. He attributed the miracles He did to the Father at work through Him, these miracles were not restricted to special occasions but happened any and every where people looked up to God for them in faith.

This was the apostolic spirit at work. The author of the word had sent Jesus and He( Jesus ) was in a living relationship and fellowship with Him. Jesus took every opportunity to remind the people that the Father sent Him and all that He did and taught he did at the instance of the Father. This is where the Church is been led to through this work of restoration.

This man was born blind but he needed to have his sight restored, the Church in many places is in the same position, many are stuck in man made traditions, stuck in truths of the years past unable to embrace the present truths of the time, they are the kind of people Jesus referred to as old wine in old wine skins, people have created practices and institutions that have no place in God’s word, today in many places the Church is trying to align itself with world trends in order to remain politically correct or relevant. Jesus did not call us to be politically correct; He called us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Walking in a consciousness of our sent relationship will keep us spiritually sharp, relevant and useful to the Master.

The Church like Jesus is called to be the living expression of the mind and will of God to a darkened and sin struck world but how are we going to be this unless we receive sight, spiritual sight to discern the will, mind and face of God for ourselves and those who look to us for direction and guidance?

The answer is found in the instruction of Jesus to this man.

Jesus said to him, go and wash in the pool called Siloam, he went and washed and came seeing, sight recovered, it was only then he could recognise that it was a man called Jesus who had aided the recovery of his sight.

Church, only Jesus can recover our sight, this is not a theological exercise but a revelation of the Lord that transforms our life and walk. My observation is that in many places the blindest people are often those who are laden with all kinds of theological pretensions. What Jesus offers us transcends theology it is the revelation of the life and person of Christ.

Siloam means sent, the same word that describes the nature of the relationship between Jesus and the Church and Jesus and the Father, this same word is a derivative of the word from which the word apostle is gotten. A pool is a body of water, students of the word know that water is often used in scripture figuratively to represent the truth of God’s word so we can say that the pool of Siloam can speak figuratively of the body of apostolic truth or teaching, which if the unsighted washes in will receive sight in order to see the Lord more clearly.

Jesus said

As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me

John 6:57 NKJV

If we are going to receive spiritual sight we must wash in the pool of Sent, this means we must receive the revelation of the apostolic nature of our relationship with Jesus, we must understand that just as Jesus called the first disciples and they followed him, we too must recognize that we have been called by him in much the same way and must follow him by his word and Spirit. This mindset is the apostolic mindset which Jesus possessed in relationship to the Father and the early disciples/apostles possessed in relationship to Jesus.

This makes your walk with God a personal one with the word and Spirit to guide you.

Without this insight what we will have is a synthetic faith, a religion of dos and don’ts the kind Paul described by the Spirit as a form of godliness without the power thereof (2Tim 3: 5).

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,  traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,  having a form of godliness but denying its power

2 Tim 3:1-5 NKJV

Can you identify these characteristics in the lives of many Church leaders and members today and in your own life too ?

It is time that as Church leaders we begin to lead people to Jesus and teach them to follow him themselves, I feel that we have led people to our church groups and denominations rather than Christ, now we must begin to lead them to Christ, it is not enough to tell people to give their hearts to Christ, we must tell them to begin to follow him in every area of their lives, to recognize that he has called them and has promised to make them fishers of men as they do this. We must teach them to listen to the voice of Jesus through the word and the Spirit, to be faithful to Him and to obey Him in all things just as Jesus was faithful to the Father and obeyed Him in all things.

Do you see why many ‘believers’ are losing their faith and turning back to the world or false religions? It is largely because they have no consciousness of a living vibrant relationship with Jesus, sincere they might be but there is more to this life than sincerity, we need a reality of Jesus in our lives.

There is something the early apostles had that we cannot have until we wash in the pool of Siloam and it an experience of Jesus.

Hear the apostle John

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life — the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us —  that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

1 John 1:1-4 NKJV

Jesus is sending you to the pool of Sent (Siloam) will you wash and receive your sight?