NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 51
NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 51
It is very affecting to note the Lord’s interest in the man who had been blind. This man knew the work of His grace, and had suffered much for his faithfulness; he was refused by every class of society - by his neighbours, by the Pharisees, by his parents, and eventually by his nation. Cast out of the synagogue, he was outside all that is esteemed and respectable among men, he is now in the solitude of light, but the blessed Lord finds him, he is now to be made acquainted with the Lord. When the Lord had found him, He said unto him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” Does your faith rest on the living Stone,
[p. 103] disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious? Does our faith rest on Him risen from the dead, declared to be the Son of God with power? Now verses 14, 15 of chapter 10 are fulfilled; in fact chapter 10 mainly sets forth the new ground on which the sheep, set forth by the man who was cast out of the synagogue, are set. In christendom they attempt to find room for the christian in the Jewish system; this scripture is not apprehended, and hence these two verses are not understood. The meaning of them evidently is that Christ and His sheep should be in the same kind of intimacy as that between the Father and the Son. Most blessed and inconceivably great! You enter on a divine sphere. This man, who was in the solitude of light outside everything of man, was ready for this great grace. Many seek to be separate from system and the like, but they are not absolutely outside and apart from man, for if they were, the Lord in His unfailing interest in His own would not leave them solitary, but would come to them, and make Himself known as the One “chosen of God and precious”. (1 Peter 2: 4) The answer of this man was, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?” He was ready for it. Blessed moment when we make acquaintance with the Son of God! no longer in solitude, but in company with Him who can fully satisfy the heart. Wonderful moment when you hear the word, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee”. This blessed intimacy has begun for this man, for he says, “Lord, I believe”, and he worships Him. He had been cast out of the place of worship, but he has found the One who draws forth the worship of his heart. He is detained by the Object that controls him, and his delight is in doing homage to Him.