16.r. “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.”

John 9:24   So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

John 9:30   The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.

John 9:39  Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

2 Corinthians 4:4-6   In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 6:9   And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.

2 Thessalonians 2:9  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

The man born blind showed a simple and profound wisdom in his back-and-forth with the esteemed and educated religious leaders. If they kept asking the same question, they would keep hearing the same answer.  The healed man said this about their unbelief, not about the miracle of Jesus. It was if he told the religious leaders, “Your unbelief and ignorance in the face of the evidence is more of a miracle than my cure.”

For judgment I have come into this world: John recorded these words of Jesus as part of a larger theme in his Gospel – that men were divided over Jesus, with some accepting and some rejecting. This is one way Jesus brought judgment…into this world, by being a dividing line. In this sense, Jesus is like the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains; a single place where an entire path is decided. Jesus is “the pivot on which human destiny turns.” (Tenney) That those who do not see may see: Those who admit their spiritual blindness can find sight in Jesus. But those who see may be made blind – that is, those who falsely claim to have spiritual sight will be made blind. Jesus used blindness in a spiritual, metaphorical sense – of those who cannot see the light and truth of God, especially as it is revealed in Jesus Christ. One may say that this entire chapter paints a picture of how Jesus heals blind souls. There is a great difference between the one who is blind and knows it, and the one who simply shuts his eyes. “To b so self-deceived as to shut one’s eyes to the light is a desperate state to be in: the light is there, but if people refuse to avail themselves of it but rather deliberately reject it, how can they be enlightened? As Jesus said, their sin remains.” (Bruce)

5.k. “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

Job 12:23  He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste. They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Isaiah 6:9-10    And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’  Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Psalms 107:40     he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes;

Isaiah 59:10    We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.

1 John 2:11   But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Isaiah 19:14   The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

These words of God were written thousands of years ago they still seem to ring true today.  When I look at our leaders and hear their speeches and read the news it is as if eyes are blind and any brain activity has ceased to function.  Boastfully they speak of things that are meaningless in the scope of eternity.  They speak of things temporal as if the course of these things alone will change the world forever.  God is not even a thought in their brains.  Self-serving, self-pride, self-worship, self-reliance, self-grandeur, and self-important all find there way to the surface of what comes out of their mouths.  It is these very people that lead capture the foolish weak-minded people and convince them with worldly speech on things they have no control over.  They speak of changes and future events as if they alone will accomplish that which only God is able to do.  God will confound and confuse these leaders and foolish followers to believe in this worldly wisdom as truth because they have denied God and that He exists.  We need to be mindful of this worldly wisdom and flowery speech and worrisome news reporting.  It can affect the hearts and minds of those who neglect and are complacent with God’s Word.  The reverence of God is the beginning of wisdom.  Without this ever-present reverence, we are never going to grow and mature in the wisdom of things of God.  If we would spend as much time in His Word as we do watching or reading news, or watching or reading about sports there would be such a change in the people of God that the whole world would see and know the difference God’s Word makes in the lives of those who intentionally choose to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, and obey Him.