SIGHT, OBJECT, SATISFACTION
[p. 124] SIGHT, OBJECT, SATISFACTION
Luke 18: 35 - 43; Luke 19: 1 - 10
In the incidents I have read there are three points on which I want to touch. The first is the opening of the eyes of the blind man. The second is the result of that; that is, he followed Jesus, glorifying God. The third point is seen in another incident. In chapter 19 Christ becomes the satisfaction of the heart. Now in our experience things follow pretty much in that order. The first thing is for the eyes to be opened; the next thing is to find the path, and the path is there. The Lord often speaks of it, it is to follow Christ; and in following Christ we find satisfaction for our hearts. It is a great thing to reach that point. It will remind us of what the Lord said in the fourth of John, “whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”.
I speak first in regard of the opening of the eyes of the blind man. It was not an uncommon miracle with the Lord. It has been said that there was an idea among the Jews that opening the eyes of the blind was a miracle reserved for Messiah. I do not think you will find any case in the Old Testament of the eyes of a blind man being opened. I would not lay much stress upon that, but as a matter of fact, we know that was one of the particular things which the Lord did. He did it literally, but He did it morally too. In the case in John 9 it was not only that the man’s eyes were opened literally, but the eyes of his mind were opened. What came to pass was analogous to what we get here, Jesus revealed Himself to him as Son of God, and he worshipped Him. That was the end of it. In other words, the man recognised Jesus in that way and did Him homage. I think that was really the work of Christ, for the Lord evidently did not attach much importance [p. 125] to the miracles He did except in so far as they were witnesses to who He was and whence He came. The Lord did not attach importance to faith which rested simply on miracles, “many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men”. The point was this, that a link between God and man should be formed by the word of God, not by miracles. People might be struck with wonder at miracles, and forget all about them, and therefore they were not any real link between man and Christ. Those who have a real link are those that hear the word of God and do it. Nothing ever proved how completely blind man was, like the coming of Christ into the world. If a man is short-sighted and you draw his attention to some object in the distance, he may not see it, but that man sees the sun. If a man does not see the sun you have proof that he is blind, and that was the case when Christ was here. The proof of the condition of man spiritually was the coming of Christ into the world, “I am come a light into the world”. One might almost render it, ‘a luminary’, and the light was not apprehended of men. “The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not”. The Jews at the first had a certain regard to Christ on account of what He did and said. It could not be denied. Even their messengers had to say, “Never man spake like this man”. Man ought to have seen in Christ, and did see in a kind of way, though he would not acknowledge it, that God was presented in Him. He was the Light; He declared God. No one had seen God at any time, the “only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. He did not speak from Himself. Whatever He said or did had its source in the Father. He did the Father’s will and spoke the Father’s mind. There was something totally different in Christ to anything that had been seen or heard before. He declared God. Every word He spoke told of God. The Lord could speak of things He knew and of what He had seen. No prophet could ever have spoken in that way. A prophet could not say, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen”. Christ alone could say that. He made known what was in the heart of God toward man. Not only what God was in His blessed nature; but in His disposition toward man down here, that came out continually in Christ. I do not think anything describes adequately what Christ was down here save to say that He was the expression of God’s disposition toward man, and the truth is not less than this, that God was brought close to man where man was, and men found themselves in the light of divine goodness. We talk a good deal about the new covenant, but Christ was the new covenant. God would no longer approach man by law and prophets as in old times, but by the Son. The law was the old covenant and when the people had broken down under the old covenant, God sent prophets to recall them to allegiance — but Christ was the new covenant. He was the expression of God’s disposition toward man down here; like the warmth of the sun brought close to man. Do you think, when the Lord Jesus was here that any person had cause to be afraid of God? God was brought near to man in goodness. The Lord could be severe on hypocrisy, but we would not have it otherwise. There would be no security for you and me if there were the least dark spot in God. I have often thought that a great deal of infidel reasoning which would go to prove that God is unjust and arbitrary, would make a very poor look-out for you and me. The best security for us is that God is good and only good, and that was made manifest to man in the presence of the Lord Jesus here on earth. God had brought Himself close to man, and man could see what was in the heart of God, not toward good men but toward sinful men on earth. You will find this coming out in the case of Zacchaeus; it was really God come into the house of the sinner to bring salvation to that house. Zacchaeus was hardly converted yet. He did not know much about the Lord, but there was a desire which no doubt grace had wrought in him to see Christ, and Christ came into his house, and in the fact of [p. 127] being in his house He brought salvation to the house. The disposition of God to the sinner was salvation.
Now the great mass of people were quite blind. They did not discern the light; they did not care about God. People in the present day, too, think a great deal more about the almighty dollar than about God. They do not care much for goodness or grace or righteousness or love or holiness. I never came across a man who naturally cared to hear about holiness and righteousness, what is morally perfect. That is too severe for people. They are content to accept things as they are. They are much like the people of Gadara, more content to have the man with the legion of devils than to have Christ who cast out the devils. Whatever may be the evils of the world, and people admit them — man would rather have the world as it is, and the devils, than have Christ here who would talk to them about the love and the holiness and the righteousness and the faithfulness of God. People take no account of these things, and yet any sober person must admit that they are right. Surely there are such things as holiness and righteousness and truth, all have come to light in the revelation of God. In Christ that revelation was there.
But there was another thing that should have been apprehended in Christ, that was, He was a Man pre-eminent above all other men. This came out at the birth of the Lord, in the acclamation of the heavenly host; then again, at the baptism of the Lord the Spirit of God descended upon Him; then on the mount of transfiguration the voice came from heaven; it was evidenced repeatedly that He was not like any other man. He was the anointed Man and pre-eminent; the first, and qualified in that way to be intelligence for man down here. He was on the one hand the revelation of God, bringing home to man what the disposition of God was toward man, but by the very fact of that, He was the one Man, and the only One who was competent to be intelligence for man. The apostles found that out. If I may use the expression, they gave up their own heads and trusted Christ, and they were right.
[p. 128] Christ guided them. So with Mary of Bethany, Mary Magdalene and others, they gave up their own heads. No other intelligence than Christ was any good to them. They had been drawn to Christ by grace, and they accepted Christ as their intelligence and Christ led them to a very blessed result. He led them to the Spirit, and He could not have led them to any better end.
As a matter of fact, very few eyes were opened. There is a remarkable expression in regard of the Lord in the prophet Isaiah, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain”, and yet there was result, so that the Lord Jesus could say, “Behold, I and the children which God hath given me”, but the mass of people who came in contact with the Lord were manifestly blind. They did not see God when God was there, in the divinely-appointed Man who alone was qualified to be wisdom for man. He is made wisdom to us, that is, intelligence. He alone could lead men through the perplexities of this world of moral confusion, where there is no way.
I go on to the next point and that is as to what the blind man did. He followed Jesus, glorifying God. Now, I want to say a word or two in regard of following, because our eyes have been opened that we might follow Christ. The earth does not travel, so to speak, of its own will; it follows in its own appointed orbit. You get the thought in regard of the sheep, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. Just as the sun holds the earth to itself by the power of attraction, so Christ holds the sheep to Himself by the like power. “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”, and so in the passage I just quoted. All is, of course, moral, not physical, as in the universe. Jesus says, “and I know them”, that is, I hold them to Myself, “and they follow me”. The expression is a strange one. You could have understood the people following the Lord when He was here upon earth, but it is a little more difficult to entertain the idea of following at the present time, because [p. 129] Christ is no longer here, but sitting at the right hand of God — and when He moves from the right hand of God it will be in the execution of judgment for the age to come. But at the present time there is such a thing as following Christ, and if you do not follow Christ it is not a good sign. If I were not following Christ I would be settling down content with the present order of things in this world. If you follow Christ you are always in movement, for the Lord is in movement, not in actual physical movement, but He walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks, and ever will be in movement until He brings about the result which God intends. You remember the word in Psalm 40, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart”. Until Christ has accomplished the will of God and has made righteousness to be the law of the moral universe, there will be no cessation in the activity of Christ; and I think it is an immense point to follow the activities of Christ. If we trace the history of christianity we can see all along the line the activities of Christ, and we can discern those activities by the Spirit at the present time; it is a great thing to be aroused out of quiescence and satisfaction with the course of things down here to feel the activities of Christ, and to have our minds set on the result that Christ will bring about for the glory of God, “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”. Jesus alone glorified God and you will only glorify God by following Jesus; there is a way of acting as He acts, and it is for us to follow Him in that way of activity, and to have clearly and definitely as the standard before our minds the great result which Christ intends to bring about for the glory of God. It is all-important to us to see that everything is to be headed up in Christ for God’s glory.
Now, if we have reached the second step and are following Jesus, we shall find Jesus the satisfaction of our hearts. Look again at the case of Zacchaeus. The people said, “He is gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner”. They only thought of Zacchaeus as a lawless man, but they [p. 130] were all lawless. They did not believe in the Lord; they mistrusted Him, and yet were continually complaining of what He did. Now, Zacchaeus did, in a way, believe in Christ. I do not know how far this may have gone; but the Lord had called him down from the tree and said, “today I must abide at thy house”. ‘Today’ is an expressive word in Luke. The same expression was used to the repentant thief on the cross. Now the Lord brought satisfaction to the heart of Zacchaeus, for He was Himself salvation. I believe it is that to which Christ would bring us now and not simply in the future; and I want to say a word in regard to what I understand salvation to imply. It is such an important point, and is continually presented in Scripture as the satisfaction of the heart of the pious man. I believe salvation to be a present reality. In the Old Testament we find a passage like this, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” I recall another passage, “say unto my soul, I am thy salvation”. In the New Testament we have, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”. So, too, Paul in preaching to the gentiles, says, speaking of Christ, “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth”. So he laboured for the elect, “that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”. Here it is, “This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham”. You will never know what salvation is if you do not apprehend that Christ Himself is it. It is not that He has acquired salvation, but that He is salvation and nothing short of Christ is it. What do you think is going to be salvation in the world to come? I have no doubt there will be a very great and universal display of salvation then. In the world to come Christ fills all things, the vessel will hold no more, and the very fact of its being filled by Christ will exclude that which is not of Him. In the world to come Satan and death will have no power. Death will be swallowed up of [p. 131] victory, and Satan will be bound. They will have no authority there, they will be excluded, because all will be filled by Christ. Hence in that day it is not at all difficult to see that Christ will be salvation. So you can understand the expression in the Psalms, “say unto my soul, I am thy salvation”, for the Psalms are all looking on to the world to come. Now you and I have to abide within the limits of Christ. You may think that a strange expression, but I am sure it is important. You may remember the case of Shimei with Solomon. Shimei was liable to death, but Solomon appointed certain limits to Shimei in Jerusalem, outside of which if he went, there was death. I think in the present day God has appointed certain moral limits in regard to us, outside of which there is only moral death, and our wisdom is to abide within the limits which God has appointed. I will give you another case, that of the man-slayer in Israel, he fled to the city of refuge and abode there until the death of the high priest. Now we have fled to a city of refuge, and have to abide there until the change of the priesthood. My point is that you and I have to abide within the limits of Christ down here. I see a very great deal in christendom which is outside the limits of Christ; the world and Christ are so mixed up that there is a vast deal entirely outside of the limits of Christ. There is such a thing as Christ down here, and the limits of Christ down here are coextensive with the limits of the Spirit, and the point for us is to keep within the limits of the Spirit which are found in the true people of God. Therefore I would say, if you want to realise salvation, to be free of the influence and power of the world, and of Satan, and of moral death, keep well within the bounds of the Spirit. Be careful to keep clear of the flesh and of associations that do not take their character from Christ. The Spirit is here, not on His own account, but as the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit will maintain everything here according to Christ; and there is such a thing as to retire from that which is outside of the boundaries of Christ within the limits of the Spirit. It is a great thing to abide in [p. 132] Christ, so as to be free from the lawlessness of man. It may be said there is difficulty about it. But it is simple, and if we have discernment we ought to be able to distinguish between what is of the Spirit and what is not of the Spirit. Every influence outside of the boundaries exposes us to the world and the god and prince of it. Christ is salvation to you; keep within the boundaries of Christ and you are in salvation. It is a blessed thing to see that there is salvation, and that it lies in the saints, for when we speak of Christ being here, it is in the saints; therefore salvation lies in the association of the saints, and it is a great thing if we accept that and seek to be more qualified for associations which are of the Spirit and according to Christ. That is what I would enjoin, to seek that Christ may be the unfailing satisfaction of your heart, and you cannot have Christ in your heart without the saints, because Christ is here in the saints by the Spirit. It says in 1 Corinthians 12, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ”. You get the thought in the prayer in Ephesians 3, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height”. Cultivate relations with the saints which are in the Spirit, for in so doing, you are furthering that which is of Christ, and that is a point to which we ought to be bent down here. The effect will be, as it was with Zacchaeus, that Christ will be the satisfaction of your heart.
If you profess to regard Christ and ignore the saints, you will not give pleasure to Christ, because Christ has pleasure in the saints, and there is activity on the part of Christ to promote Himself in the hearts of His people down here. You can afford to turn your back on the world and to follow Christ in the blessed activities which lead to the divinely-appointed result, and as surely as you keep well within the limits of Christ, so surely will you find [p. 133] yourself free from the bondage of the world and the fear of Satan and of the last enemy, that is death. You will have salvation for the satisfaction of your heart, and will be able to say, “The Lord is my light and my salvation”.