Jesus, spit and the blind men

Thinking about Todd Bentley made me think about something.....I think Todd's ministry is false, as is the spirit behind it in the form of the angel (demon/false spirit) Emma, which leads him to operate under the power of demons and to visit violence upin people who are seeking (in the wrong place) "deliverance", "healing", or a "closer walk" or experience with "God".

I know this to be true.

But then I also thought, his behaviour is bad, but what - how could I explain why Jesus used spit to heal the eyes of a blind man? Something that i would find offensive if someone wanted to rub spit in my eyes for whatever reason. Ok, I know the men were blind and probably didn't mind as it would be worth it to get your sight back and be able to see, but I honestly didn't understand why.

But even so, I know that Jesus is holy and that there must have been a good reason.

Anyway, Google man.......Google is your friend! I did a quick search and this came up:

DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying this is the actually explanation as I will have to check and find out for myself. Just because Google is your friend doesn't mean it always tells the truth. But I found this interesting. If it turns out to be tosh I apologise in advance and will try to remedy it by putting up a correct explanation where I can. But best believe I ain't no false prophet tryna lead you astray so dont stone me yet. Ya heard? Aight........

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~lakolberg/transcripts/C101B.html

HC: The question sometimes is raised about this matter of the two miracles of Jesus that are recorded for us in the Bible, where Christ spit on the eyes of the blind man in Mark 8 before He healed him, or He spit on the ground and made mud or clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man in John 9. Now why did God do this? Why did Christ do this? I'd like to speak on this before we take our next call.

We know, first of all, that nothing that Jesus did or that is recorded for us in the Bible is there accidentally, nor was it done coincidentally or incidentally. Everything has a very distinct purpose. Now Christ obviously could have healed these blind men by simply saying the word. He didn't have to go through all of this strategy of spitting, and so on. He didn't have to do that. It is there, however, to teach us something.

Now secondly, we know that Christ was constantly teaching with parables. Every action has to be examined to see if there is a deeper spiritual meaning. A parable, in the easiest way of speaking about it, is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Well, these miracles were true historical events. But they are written to give us a spiritual insight. Now we know that the purpose of Christ's teaching was always to give us insights into the nature of salvation. And therefore we sense that the fact that He spit on the eyes of the blind man has something to do with teaching us about what our salvation is all about.

Now when we go to the Old Testament, we find at least two accounts of the meaning of spitting in somebody's face, and it's really quite bad. It's really quite shocking, in a way. In Deuteronomy 25 we have the account of a widow whose husband has died. And in accordance with the law God had laid down, if a husband died without bearing any children, then if that husband had a brother who was unmarried, he was to marry the widow, in order to provide children to perpetuate the name of his brother. And if the brother would not do this, then he was under the curse of God. We see this very vividly back in Genesis. There was a man by the name of Onan, who was supposed to go in to his brother's wife and bear seed for his brother, and he refused to do it. And so God killed him right on the spot. God killed him to show that he was under the curse of God.

Here in Deuteronomy 25, to show this curse, the Bible says this in verse 8: "If the brother [who is supposed to marry the widow on behalf of his brother, to provide seed] refuses to take her, then his brother's wife shall go up to him, in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his feet and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house." Now this spitting in the face here is to indicate that he was under the curse of God, because he was rebellious against God, in that he would not go in to his brother's widow to provide seed.

Now in Numbers 12 we have a similar account, showing that to spit in one's face is to indicate that they were under the curse of God. We have the account there of Miriam, a sister of Moses, who had rebelled against Moses. And so Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Now to become leprous also indicated that a person was under the curse of God. A leper had to remain outside the camp, and he was to say, "Unclean, unclean, unclean." Leprosy in the Bible is a figure of sin. Well, Miriam became leprous. And then Moses cried to the Lord, "Heal her. O God, I beseech Thee," in verse 13. And then verse 14 of Numbers 12 records that the Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days. And after that she may be brought in again." In other words, God is equating leprosy with having someone spit in your face. In other words, both are indicators. Both are literal things, of course. But they are figures of being under the curse of God.

Well, what does this have to do then with these miracles? Here's a blind man, he's physically blind. Why would Christ spit in his face? Well, you see, the miracle that Christ did in a physical way was a figure of a great spiritual truth. The blind man, who was blind physically, is a picture of figure of an unsaved man, who is blind spiritually. And when Christ spit on the ground and made mud out of the spittle and put it on his eyes (or in the case of the man from Bethsaida in Mark 8, where Christ spit in his eyes directly), this indicates that this blind man, who was blind spiritually, is under the curse of God. He is like a leper. He is to be . . . he is unclean. He cannot come into the body of Christ. He is a sinner.

So you have the physical situation. You have the physically blind man, whose eyes have been spit upon. You have the spiritual meaning of this. It is a figure of a person who is blind in his sins, he's spiritually blind. He is under the curse of God. He cannot come into the camp of the believers. He is an abomination to God. This idea is strengthened in Mark 8, where it's talking about this blind man there in verse 22: "They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to Him a blind man and begged Him to touch him. And He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. And when He had spit on his eyes, He laid His hands on him," and so on. And then the healing came. He led him out of the village. That figure also points to the fact that he is unclean. He is led outside of the camp of the believers, if you will. He can't come into the body of Christ because he is cursed by his sin. The spitting is emphasizing that before we are saved we are cursed by sin.

Now notice what happens in John 9, after He had anointed the man's eyes with the clay. He said to him, "Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam, which means scent. So he went and washed and came back seeing." Now here stands the sinner. He is spiritually blind. He is under the curse of God. He's like a leper. He's like someone who has been spit upon in the face. He is an abomination. And now God comes with a command: "Go, if you will, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved; you will be cleansed of your sin."

God gives us the command to be obedient to Him, just as He gave the command to this blind man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. In Acts 2:38 Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is discussing salvation. And he says, "Repent and be baptized in the Name of Christ for the remission of your sins." The word baptism means to wash or be purified. What Peter was saying was, "Repent and be washed in the Name (that is, on the authority) of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." And we are washed of our sins when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ and place our trust in Him. He cleanses us from all sins.

And so when we are obedient to the command, no matter how a great a sinner we might be, no matter how much we might be under the curse of sin, when we are obedient to the command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then we will have our spiritually blind eyes opened, just as surely as this blind man, who obeyed God in John 9. He went and washed, and he came back seeing.

So you see, when Christ spit on the eyes of these blind men, He did not do this accidentally. He did it in order to teach us that we who are spiritually blind are under the curse of God. We are an abomination to God. We are dead in our sins. But it is these kinds of people that Christ came to seek and to save. He came for sinners. Isn't that wonderful? No matter how great your sins might be, no matter how deeply you have rebelled against God, your salvation can be just as certain and sure as anyone else's. What a wonderful Savior we have!