JESUS MADE CLAY
John 9:11 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.
According to the very words of our Sovereign Lord this man was denied that which the majority of the human race get at birth, and feel that it is “normal” to have it so! He was denied eyes! And the reason the Lord said it was so was that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
And what are the works of God for? John 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: The works of God are for the manifestation of Jesus of Nazareth as the very Son of God!
John 9:32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. The one who made Adam with all his body organs and parts out of clay would now have to repeat what he did back then in order to create this man some eyes! He would again have to change clay into human flesh as he did, as recorded in Genesis 2:7!
But there, as his own human body has as yet been formed in the virgin’s womb he is called by another name! He is that same Person! And He deserved that same respect and honor! But now his human name of “Jesus,” is little respected, either in that day, nor especially in our present day!
Let us read by what name he was referred back then. Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The Jesus who made clay in John 9:11, is here called the LORD God!
And do you know what those words mean? They mean the “Eternally Existent deity.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God! He only recently came to have the name Jesus at his Incarnation. Matt. 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. But he has always existed, for he is the Eternal Son!
The very issue that caused him to pass by from the people in the temple in John 8:59, and to pass by to see this blind man in John 9:1, was his revealing his personal eternality! Here are those verses: John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
And not only is he Eternal God, but he is also Creator God! Nothing that was made was made without him! John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Therefore this work of God revealed him to be God at work! And those who watched Jesus make clay, were getting a glimpse of Eternal, Creator God doing that which he did at the beginning! Therefore he told them that it was on this basis that they should believe in his oneness with God, the Father! John 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Dust Made Flesh
It was the breath of his mouth that made dust into clay and then into flesh! And it is that very spirit removed from man that causes the reverse! Eccles. 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
This is what we call death, which is the separation of the soul from the body. And this we have promised to us by God in the first Adam! Gen. 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
And this can only be remedied by the last Adam – Christ! For this was a personal issue of faith to him concerning his death! Psa. 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. The Apostle Paul expounds this as recorded in Acts chapter thirteen. Acts 13:34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
Both our justification and regeneration were provided through Christ’s resurrection! Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. And if you take time to read John 5:25-29 you would see that the Lord not only couples regeneration with resurrection, but he also uses the resurrection of the natural body from the dust to prove regeneration!
Christ alone, the last Adam, shall forever free us from the dust of death! For when he rose again, he not only freed his own body from corruption, but all of the redeemed children of God as well! 1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Dust Into flesh Once More
We all had better believe in this man called Jesus making clay into flesh! For without his ability to do so none of us shall ever rise up from the dust of death (Psa. 22:15), to be forever with the Lord!
Phil. 3:20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Pastor Gene Breed
August 20, 2010.
