THE WORK OF GOD (2)

^[p. 386] THE WORK OF GOD (2)

John 9:13 - 20; John 10:1 - 42

JT This morning we referred to the difference in the answers of the blind man to the questions asked by the neighbours and by the Pharisees. To the neighbours he said, “Having gone and washed, I saw”, and to the Pharisees “I washed, and I see” (verses 11 and 15). The Pharisees set forth the religious leaders and when you are talking to them it is important that they should know that you see. We applied the chapter to a young believer at his home, who is answering to his neighbours about the work of God and then also to the religious leaders who are sounding him. The consequence of the work of God in this man, and of his confession, was a division among them.

HD'AC To the Pharisees he does not speak of the pool of Siloam.

HH For our walk it is very important that the neighbours are those with whom we have lived and shall have to live, but the Pharisees those with whom we shall always have conflict. It is the religious opposition. The work of God is necessary, to maintain us in the presence of both.

JT A division among the Pharisees weakens the opposition against the truth. There is a great difference between causing a division among the brethren and causing one among the Pharisees. The more divisions among the Pharisees the better; it weakens the opposition.

HH That is allowed in the government of God for the testimony.

JT I think from the tower of Babel onwards God has weakened the opposition by dissensions.

PL According to Psalm 2, the kings of the earth will tremble in view of ^[p. 387] Zion.

JT The more unity prevails in the world in a political and religious way, the more power Satan has against the truth. Acts 4:27 refers to the unity which Satan brought to pass against God and His anointed. On that account every dissension which is caused or maintained in the world, be it religious or political, is to our advantage.

L You emphasise the words ‘I see’. Do you mean to say that it is in the living power of this we can go forward against the opposition?

JT It is not only a matter of having the right teaching, but of seeing.

PL Paul met the religious leaders at Corinth with “Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” (1 Corinthians 9:1).

HD'AC The Pharisees pretended to see, although they were blind.

JOS The parents said, “He is of age”. Does that follow the seeing?

JT Just so. A feature with John is that the work of God speaks for itself, therefore it says, “He is of age: ask him”. The emphasis in the translation is on him and in this way the object in view is the presence of the work of God.

AB In connection with the detailed account to the neighbours, was your thought that the Lord by it would secure some of them for the local company?

JT One should expect that God works through the testimony of such a man as that. What is stressed here is how the works of God become manifest just now. You cannot count on one of the nearest on the line of nature helping you, even the blind man’s parents shrunk back from the persecution which the confession of Christ involved.

HD'AC Nature fails.

JT Then they call him the second time. The interval afforded him opportunity to consider the consequences of his testimony, and now he is just as ^[p. 388] faithful as on the first occasion, indeed he turns to attack.

HD'AC You are thinking of the words, “Do ye also wish to become his disciples?”

JT He answers like a man of war, as one in conflict should do. He says, “I told you already and ye did not hear”. It was now theirs to defend themselves. That shows that the power of the work of God increases as we follow the light.

PL Do the words, “He is of age” answer somewhat to the book of Numbers? Is it like the twenty years and upwards in chapter 1:3? Is he, as it were, numbered for war? He maintains the testimony in every way and does not only speak of the benefit which had been rendered to him.

JT They can only have recourse to abuse, and that is morally worthless; there is nothing of God in it. They said, “Thou art his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses”. Now we know where they are. We have now two kinds of disciples, those of Christ and those of Moses.

HD'AC But Moses spoke of Him.

L It is something grand when the opposers say of you, “Thou art his disciple”.

HH He not only knew that he was of military age but also to what tribe he belonged.

FWK What do you mean by that?

HH I think he was the subject of the work of God, and that took on a new form which he answered to. He knew that he belonged to that order of things.

JT When the opposition gathers under a definite banner then the ground is clear and we see where we are.

HPf At first there seemed to be a division among the Pharisees but here they become one.

JT Here we have the second, the renewed, attack. They had doubtless come together again, and then the blind man proceeds to attack and says,

“^[p. 389] Now in this is a wonderful thing, that ye do not know whence he is, and he has opened mine eyes”. This passage shows, as already remarked, that a young believer through the force of circumstances comes into conflict and this man’s horizon seems to widen out in a wonderful way. He enters now, as it were, upon moral territory and says, “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if any one be God-fearing and do his will, him he hears”.

Rem It is beautiful and at the same time encouraging to see that this young believer keeps strictly to the truth.

HSt Can one say that he knows himself to be in fellowship, for he says, “We know”?

JT I think that expression simply denotes knowledge. How he, a man blind from birth, came to it is the wonderful thing. He proceeds, “Since time was, it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind”. How did he know that? It shows that if we are drawn into the conflict and remain faithful, we become equipped with all that is required. He did not say, ‘I have not heard that since time was’, but “Since time was, it has not been heard”. He spoke, as it were, with authority; he emphasises “it has not been heard”.

Rem Had the Lord not said earlier that, brought before the authorities, they were not to be careful for it would be given them what should be said? (Matthew 10:19,20; Luke 12:11,12).

JT Very good. Then he proceeds further, “If this man were not of God he would be able to do nothing”, and in this way connects the help which had been received with God.

HD'AC They had said the opposite, “This man is not of God, for he does not keep the Sabbath”, and now they tell a lie point-blank, “We know that this man is sinful”, and also what they say to the blind man, “Thou hast been wholly born in sins, and thou teachest us?”.

JOS That was the worst of all.

HSt That was the opposite of what the Lord had said, “Neither has this man sinned nor his parents”.

Rem The Pharisees feared for their power, but they recognised the other power which rose up against them.

JT One who was blind from his birth speaks with such assurance and says, “It has not been heard”.

PL Do you mean that that which Paul says of himself in Colossians 1:29, was also true of this man, “Whereunto also I toil, combating according to his working, which works in me in power”?

JT You mean the working in power. This man is a warning to all religious leaders who trust in their human culture. It tells them that God can get along without them, for in fact this man was teaching them. Now we come to fellowship, “They cast him out”.

Rem The Lord must find him outside in order to bring him into fellowship.

JT When the Lord heard about it, they had already cast him out.

HD'AC Morally the Lord had gone out previously, but it is very painful to be thrust out.

PL That encourages us greatly to pray for those who are thrust out. Someone must have told it to the Lord.

JT It appears as a beautiful feature in this history that Jesus heard of it. Although “Son of God” and “the Word became flesh”, He takes in love the place of a servant, “Jesus, heard”.

Rem According to that the work of God is synonymous with being taught of ^[p. 391] God.

HH It will have greatly strengthened him in his exercises that they would not have what he had recognised as true.

JT They were to him as those who were opposing the truth which he had accepted.

HH He may have had exercises as to whether he should stay with them, but they would not have him.

Rem In Hebrews 13:13 it says, “Let us go forth to him without the camp”, and at the end of the previous chapter the Lord had gone out, so that He was already outside. Is there a difference between going out and being cast out?

JT Just so. According to 2 Timothy 2:19, everyone who names the name of the Lord is to withdraw from iniquity.

HD'AC We should not wait to be cast out.

JT We have here the works of God before us and how they reveal themselves. In virtue of them, the believer who is the subject of them is characterised by the fact that he comes to correspond with Christ. This is first seen in that this man was sent and later in that he was cast out. It happened to him as also to the Lord, who according to the prophetic word was to be “despised and left alone of men” (Isaiah 53:3), and this gospel regards Him from the outset as rejected.

L Peter speaks of Him as cast away of men (1 Peter 2:4), and this man was thus far in correspondence with Christ. Because he was able to speak for himself, that brought out the opposition.

AB The Lord had been cast out because He did not fit into their religion, and it was so also with this man, who was in correspondence with Him.

FHR What a happy moment it must have been, as they both found themselves outside, both ^[p. 392] rejected!

JT Just so. Now he is morally suitable to be the companion of the Son of God.

AB It is light, attractive light. The Son of God is now waiting upon him. Consequently life shows itself in him, answering to the light.

JT In the title “Son of God” it is not the rejection that comes into view, but One who established another world. God is, as it were, bound to do this.

Man will not have the fruits of His work down here and thus the next chapter opens a way out of the religious order of things, which had shown itself opposed to Christ.

JOS When the Jews said, “Until when dost thou hold our soul in suspense?” He then refers to what the sheep did (John 10:24,27).

HPf Was the education of this young believer finished at the end of chapter 9?

JT For him as an individual, yes; he is a worshipper of the Son of God, and could be in that world in the full recognition of the Person of Christ and that really forms the basis of chapter 10. There the Lord now shows that there is a way out.

Ques Into the fellowship of the Son of God?

JT Quite so.

AB Would you tell us something about the personal revelation that the Lord gives of Himself as the Son of God?

JT He challenges the man and says, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” And he shows how prepared he is for this revelation, for he says, “And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?” He recognises the supremacy of the Lord and in answer, the Lord refers him to his experience and says, “Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he” (verse 37). He says “with thee” and not ‘speaks to thee’ and by this the Lord refers, I think, to the fact that the relations should be mutual.

^[p. 393] Ques Is it of importance that it says Jesus found him? (verse 35).

JT That He heard of him and found him is of special beauty; it shows how fully the Lord took the place of a servant.

Rem And that of the good Shepherd.

JT He hears and He finds; that shows how fully He was Man. The faithful constant service of Christ is seen in it. And then He speaks with him, not as God from the top of the ladder spoke to Jacob, but here He talked with him.

Ques. As with Abraham?

JT Just so. It says that he stood before Him (Genesis 18:22).

HD'AC Can we expect Jesus to speak to us in this homely way?

JT We have a lovely type of it in Elijah and Elisha when they had crossed over the Jordan and “as they went on, and talked” (2 Kings 2:11). Here we have a suggestion of mutual relations, the Lord talking with him. Then in chapter 10 He shows that the knowledge which the sheep would have would be the same as that which existed between Himself and the Father (verse 15).

Ques Was the blind man now suitable to be brought to the flock?

JT I think that; he had come to it, that he was in the position to enter into these relations with the Son of God. According to Matthew 17:26, the Lord says the sons are free, and then the stater was given for Him and for Peter. Every believer, according to my judgment, can enter into the same blessed relations with Christ which the Lord’s remark, “for me and thee”, denoted.

HH It is wonderful that it was one stater for the two persons.

JT This believer was brought into a wonderful company. Whoever may come or go, you do not ^[p. 394] leave this company. That is a link which is formed not only for time but for eternity.

AB Now we have come to where we have no more individuality. The truth is enjoyed in the light of the whole company and even if you have to stand alone, you can have the light of the whole.

JT In the next chapter the flock comes before us. Personally the individuals are viewed as sheep, but the basis of that thought is that all are bound up with the Son of God. Every believer has his personal link with the Son of God, as Paul says, “The Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

HD'AC We must begin with the personal side, the love of Christ to me and what Christ says to me.

JT It is a wonderful link and it goes right over into eternity.

HD'AC In the vast assembly in glory every one will be conscious of a special part with Christ; he will never lose that. In Revelation 1:5 it says “who loves us”, but in Galatians 2:20, “who has loved me”.

AB In our chapter we have a similar thought. In Galatians Paul says as to himself personally “who has loved me and given himself for me”, but here the Lord says, “I lay down my life for the sheep”.

Ques Is it not important that the Lord speaks of sheep which He is to lead out of the sheepfold?

JT Yes. At the end of chapter 9 He leaves the Pharisees in their sins — He says, “Your sin remains”; and now He stands there morally justified in leading the sheep out of such a condition of things.

RSt That the Lord had results from it, the last verse of chapter 10 shows, where it says, “Many believed on him”.

HH I think it is important to see that the sheep are to follow Him out of ^[p. 395] love.

JT It is, as our brother says, well to notice that many believed on Him, but they believed on Him there. That means that the attention is directed to the place which He now takes up, and that was where John was baptising at the first. That means that the Lord, now that the Jews had rejected Him, has returned to first principles.

Ques Do you wish to emphasise by that, the inward relation between the individual and the collective?

JT We have to consider chapter 10 from the divine side. There we see in verses 1 - 5 what the Lord now undertakes and that in an allegory, as verse 6 tells us. He now guides our attention to His own attitude to the Jewish religion and says that He is the shepherd of the sheep, and that the porter has opened to Him.

JOS Is that John the baptist?

JT Whatever had been brought about in the regular way, whatever answered to the thought of the porter, recognised Him.

Ques Was the Lord here the shepherd of the Jewish sheep?

JT In a general way that is the thought. “He that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep” is naturally an allegory, according to verse 6. When they did not understand this, He said, “I am the door of the sheep. All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers”. He had entered the fold by the door, but now He becomes the door of the sheep.

Ques. What was the door?

JT That is a figure. It signifies how the Lord came in. He appeared among the Jews, but He did not force His entry.

FWK Does that allude to His answering to the promises which were prophetically stated of ^[p. 396] Him?

JT I think He would emphasise that He came as pre-destined. No one who serves can forcefully claim a place. He came as marked out beforehand, others came as thieves and robbers. The porter refers to that which was of God there, and it acknowledged the Lord as He drew near.

The door in verse 7 has to do with the way out. When you find the way out of the fold, that is, out of a system which had got into a bad state, you will be saved and you are free to go in and to go out. The Lord is alluding to sonship, I think. There is salvation and then liberty to go out and in and to find pasture. Believers in John are persons who are trustworthy and know liberty, as we see in this man of whom it says, “He will speak concerning himself” (chapter 9:21). He was given, as it were, free rein, because he could be depended upon. And then further on, Lazarus was loosed and let go, without any kind of impediment. So here the sheep are those who go in through the door. Such an one will be saved and go in and out and find pasture.

HD'AC They are trusted with freedom, because they will be sure to go God’s way.

JT Whither they go is left unspecified. The main thing is they go in through Christ, and then all is well; we come in truth into the realm of liberty.

Ques Had the Lord not spoken of it in chapter 8:32,36?

JT Just so, the truth makes free and then also the Son.

Ques Is what we have here not referred to in Galatians 4:4,5, “Come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship”?

JT I think sonship is the basis. It is not only that the person concerned may go in and out, but that he will do it. It seems to refer to the liberty which he gets by going in through Christ. The blind ^[p. 397] man, as I take it, is a kind of figure of it. The Lord wanted to give him, as they met and talked with one another, an idea of the liberty in that realm.

HH Is the other world to which you have already referred, fully accessible now to the saints? Is eternal life in connection with it?

JT The Lord says, “I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”, and, “I give them life eternal; and they shall never perish”. In this way all hangs upon our coming in our souls into touch with the Son of God. Going in implies that we reach all in the Son of God.

HD'AC In this way we really go in to God and to all that He is.

L And so we find salvation actually in the christian company; it says “he shall be saved”.

JT I think the truth here comes to that. All of that takes form in the christian circle, but all hangs on the fact that we come in touch with the Son of God. He brought it all down here; all was present in Him.

HH So in christianity all depends on a Person, not on familiarity with the truth, however right or important this may be.

Rem It is divine liberty.

JT Quite so, and then we see in verse 15 the kind of knowledge. There we learn to know the higher kind of knowledge which exists between the Lord and the saints, and in that way, according to John, we come into correspondence not only with Him, but with the Father, and that to all eternity.

AB Here we come in a certain sense to that which is the main subject of John’s gospel.

JT Yes, that is more opened out to us from chapter 13 to chapter 20, where we are formally recognised as the Lord’s brethren, and He speaks of His Father and our Father and His God and ^[p. 398] our God.

HD'AC There we arrive at something much higher, we leave the ground of the sheep and the shepherd and come to a higher plane.

AB Is that not already referred to here in the going in? When you arrive at sonship you go in. Has the going out to do with testimony and the going in with our privilege?

JT I think that. In Revelation 3:12 it says, “He shall go no more at all out”. I take it, that refers to the eternal state; but the going in fits us for going out.

HD'AC Now there is no fold.

JT Only the flock and it is mobile.

HD'AC But later on we arrive at something still higher, at the relationship of Christ with His brethren, to that between the Father and the Son and that of the brethren with Christ. There we have no sheep.

JT The figure of the sheep is to show our helplessness and defencelessness and yet we are at the same time precious to Him who is the Good Shepherd. He wants in that way to impress us with what we are to Him: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”. He says that twice, in verse 11 and then in verse 15, where it says, “I lay down my life for the sheep”. Then in verse 17 He says, “On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again”.

HD'AC As long as we are on earth we are sheep which, given to Him of the Father, are under the care of the Shepherd.

JT Quite so, and the laying down of His life gives us the assurance of what we are to Him. What He gave has to do with that which He was here as Man in relation to God and His promises. Over and against that He gives Himself for the assembly.

HD'AC I believe “himself” (Ephesians 5:25) is a ^[p. 399] still greater thought.

JT Just so, that is why I mentioned it.

HH The blind man is one of the sheep. The Lord has done as much as that for each one. The work of God is manifested in every sheep.

AB Hearing His voice and following Him sets forth a certain state, does it not?

JT Quite so. Then a further thought is that the laying down of His life for the sheep proves His love to them, and is at the same time the ground of the Father’s love to Him. What wonderful love we see in all this.

HH It has moreover to do, not with the love of divine Persons as such, but with the love of the Father to the Lord Jesus, because He laid down His life and so gave Him an occasion for love.

Ques Was it a new cause, for there were others?

JT It gave Him a fresh cause, and that in view of the sheep.

Ques Do we see Him in it as the offering?

JT No doubt, but what it comes to is that He did this for the sheep, and that gave the Father a fresh motive to love Him.

Rem How wonderful to be a sheep!