THE MAN OF OPENED EYE
[p. 129] THE MAN OF OPENED EYE
Mark 8: 22 - 26; Numbers 24: 1 - 9
I wish to speak, dear brethren, about eyesight. This section of Mark is characterised by intense feelings on the part of Christ, in regard of conditions which He found in men whom He sought to serve. In John we have a corresponding section of intensified feelings on the part of the Lord, that is, chapters 11 and 12, feelings mainly occasioned by pressure upon the family of God; but Mark has men as such in mind, and the Lord here as serving them and feeling the state in them occasioned by sin. In chapter 7 we have a man who could not speak right and could not hear: the Lord sighed in regard of him. Then, in this chapter 8, the Pharisees asked for a sign and He sighed again. Then we have this blind man — presenting a different condition to that in chapter 7.
I read the passage so as to link it on with Numbers 24, as calculated to amplify what we find in Mark 8. The subject is of the deepest importance; for we have to do today with peculiarly darkening influences, such as perhaps have not existed before; and hence the greater need for eyesight, a clear vision. If the visibility is bad, there is all the more need for power of vision; and the horizon today is terribly darkened, the darkness being intensified, so that it may be felt, and is felt, by those who are with God. Throughout Scripture you find allusions to the danger of poor sight. Peter speaks of some with whom certain features are not found, and says, “he that lacketh these things is blind” 2 Peter 1:9. They are nominal christians, perhaps real christians, but they are “blind, and cannot see afar off”, and have forgotten that they are purged from their former sins, a most distressing state for any nominal christian to be in. Peter shows that it is because of their not having certain features in their faith, such as virtue, knowledge, and so forth. They are persons who “cannot see afar off”, and that raises the question as to the extent of our horizon.
In our meetings for prayer, for instance, do we include the whole field? It is said that the Lord bought the field, because of what was in it, and He is operating in it and looks for co-operation from us, and in no way can we co-operate more effectually than in prayer, and for this we must learn to include the whole field to enlarge our perspective. Then, another thing which is suggested in not seeing afar off, is the want of occupation anticipatively with the future.
You will remember the distinction made in 1 Samuel 9: 9 between a “seer” and a “prophet”. Those who at that time were called prophets, were in earlier days called seers, that is, persons who saw. Not persons who went about the world to see the scenery; the Spirit of God attaches no importance to that whatever. The men of faith were not occupied with such things; they looked at spiritual things. We are told that they saw the promises afar off and embraced them (Hebrews 11: 13); they looked for a city too, we are told, and the Lord Jesus said of one of them that he “rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8: 56); he saw it afar off. So that the idea of seeing laid hold of men, and men who saw things were subsequently called prophets.
These remarks will lead you to see what is in my mind, and also, I hope, will lead to an enquiry as to our practical eyesight; how we look at things, and even if our horizon be limited, whether we see the limited sphere clearly; even if it be a local matter to be settled or adjusted. That we may see and feel the difficulty is one thing, but to see all the circumstances attaching to it is another matter. The Lord would have us to see “all things clearly”.
I want to point out from this scripture in Mark, how concerned the Lord was as to this matter; for Mark is building up circumstances that enhance the testimony,
[p. 131] that is the preaching and the teaching; and he presents the Lord as intensely concerned as to these cases of hearing and speaking in chapter 7, and of seeing in chapter 8. He takes the blind man outside of the town. If I have my eyes opened in the town I am apt to be influenced by what I see. Things are extremely irregular in the town; in the country things are ordered generally as coming from the hand of God. The creation of God is perfect in itself, and would never stumble or mislead anyone. A city will; a city is calculated to entangle; it is a formation that the devil has had to do with. The first city was built by Cain, and you may be sure Satan had a hand in that. When a murderer is occupied in building a city Satan makes some suggestions as to it, which would mean fall-traps for men. The cities are full of those things, and if one gets his first view in the city he will get a wrong one. It is no such view as God intended for a man. He never intended modern cities as proper places for believers; they present the very opposite.
So the Lord took the man outside of the town, and He put His hands upon him. I wish you to notice how important this particular case is. The details are remarkable, and they point surely to far more than the mere opening of the eyes of one man in the far-off village of Bethsaida in Galilee. They have a worldwide meaning. The details refer to what the Lord is doing now, and what He has been doing for centuries, that is, laying hold of persons, of men and women for Himself. “He laid his hands upon him”, not His hand only, but His hands; it is His complete committal to that person. He secured the person, and secured him as useful, not to be a stumbling block, nor as a blind man who leads the blind so that both fall into the ditch. The Lord intends to secure this man as one that sees, and can go straight ahead according to God, so that others may follow; for that is the thought in one seeing. So He lays both His hands on him, and [p. 132] spits upon his eyes — a remarkable thing as entering into the importance of this miracle of the Lord’s. Then He asks the man if he sees anything; a very good question, a question which one should always ask oneself, and a wholesome question to ask the brethren too. What do you see? Do you see anything? The man answers and says, “I see men”. Well, that is good, to see men is better than seeing the town they built; the town will be destroyed, the cities of the nations are to fall, but men are to be secured for God. He says “I see men”, but then, is that all? No; he says, “I see men as trees, walking”. Well, that shows a defective vision; that is poor sight. It is not that the men were actually like trees, but they were seen “as trees”. It is not the normal visibility that is in question, but the power of vision.
We have to see to this matter, dear brethren; and in speaking thus, one is led to say that there are things constantly coming up among the people of God that require clear vision, and in nothing is it more necessary than in conflict. One could cite instances in conflict where men thought they saw just a shadow when it was an army, as in the case of Abimelech; Judges 9: 36. Well, it is a very serious matter to think an army of opposition is just a shadow. How defective such sight is! how disastrous it must prove! Then, too, in looking into matters, how important that we should be able to see round a thing. This man says, “I see men”. It is good so far to see men, but how do you see them? One of them is, perhaps, your father: he is much bigger in your eyes than in those of others; but you think he should have the leading place in the meeting. Or perhaps you would claim this for your brother or husband. You think the brethren are belittling, but the truth is that you are thinking your husband’s gift is more than it is. Others do not see him as you do; you see him out of proportion to his real stature. On the other hand, others might see him as a dwarf — their eyesight [p. 133] is poor, too; but you see him out of proportion to what he is. So, in many, what is needed is a sense of due proportion. We all are essential to the testimony, but if our sight is not good, we shall err in judgment and may also mislead other people.
Hence the Lord touched this man again; He “put his hands again upon his eyes”. He will not leave any of us in this half-blind state; He needs us too much. The Lord is very urgent about this matter. Here He puts His hands upon him again, and now the man says he sees distinctly. It is the second touch that most of us need. Most of us are content with the first touch. There is often what is spoken of as a second conversion; sometimes a third is needed, but the second is usually confirmatory. As Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The thing is established”, Genesis 41: 32. The second touch establishes you: you want to be clear, and to see whether that brother, or husband, or father is as big as he seems. If you do not you will be a hindrance, especially in matters that require careful attention.
So the Lord put His hands upon this man a second time, and “he saw distinctly” as it should read and “... saw all things clearly” not only men but things. Take any case causing anxiety to the saints: Am I able to gauge all its phases, and come to a true judgment of them as before God? I can have no useful part in the care meeting, no part in the government of the assembly, unless I see all things clearly. A judge on the bench is bound to look at a case all round, and weigh things and see what is wrong and put a name to it. This man “saw all things clearly”, and the Lord says, Do not go into “the town” again, the idea being that the town confuses and distorts; things are not right in the town; truth is called error, and error is called truth. The newspapers and other such mediums distort the truth, and lies are propagated. So the man is not to go into the town, he is to go into his house; that is the place to go to first, to get everything regulated; seeing all things [p. 134] distinctly, you do not see your relatives out of proportion, but just as they are. You know they are not like trees, and you would not assume that they are such in the assembly.
Well, I want to show you how Balaam’s history illustrates all this. This is the third blessing or prophecy of Balaam; there are four of them. Some of you perhaps may not know his history, but it is well known to most of us, and I only wish to touch on what bears out what I have been saying. In Numbers 23 you have his two first pronouncements, and you will discern that in making them he was governed by double motives. He was there for the “reward of unrighteousness”, 2 Peter 2: 15. He was hired by Balak to curse Israel, and the reward of unrighteousness was in his mind, and what he would like to do was to curse Israel. As is often the case in matters that we have to deal with, we pre-judge them and we would like that judgment to go through.
I am only speaking of Balaam as an illustration. He was a wicked man; but for the moment, he is under God’s hand in a remarkable way. He left his place in Syria as a hireling, pretending that he would not say anything that God did not wish him to say. How often it is so with us! We say that we would not think or say a word that God does not wish us to say, and yet we pre-judge a matter, and we wish the thing to go according to our pre-judgment. But God is standing in the way, and He will not let it go that way. So what you find with Balaam is that God met him. You cannot overcome God. As you pre-judge a matter, He is standing athwart your judgment, and hence it cannot prevail. And Balaam’s did not. Instead of cursing he is obliged to bless Israel.
The second time he also goes to seek enchantments, because he wanted his own judgment to carry and earn the reward of unrighteousness; but Jehovah met him and put a word in his mouth, and he has to bless [p. 135] again. That is, God is forcing him to do what he did not wish to do. We are not stronger than God; my judgment is not going to be carried, something else is, and that leads me to this chapter. It says, “when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel”. What a fine day that was! The thing is clear now; his pre-judgment is simply to be cast to the winds. God has another mind altogether, and God is stronger than we and He carried His thoughts through. It may take time, but we may as well make up our minds that He will have His way. Balaam saw that, and seeing it he did not seek enchantments any more. Thoughts that led to my pre-judgment of the matter have to be given up. Now it says, “he set his face toward the wilderness”. That is a sure sign under those circumstances. That is a spiritual touch; I do not say that Balaam was a spiritual man. He was not; the New Testament tells us he was a wicked man, and so does the Old, but for the moment he is held under God so that he actually comes to God’s way of thinking. Such is God, and how encouraging it is to pray to God. If He can turn round a wicked man like Balaam, imbued with the greed of reward, He can turn anyone — surely He can turn a christian, and He is doing it in many instances.
When Balaam saw that it was God’s mind to bless Israel, he did not seek enchantments any more; he turned his face to the wilderness. There is nothing there to allure the flesh, there is no reward of unrighteousness there. What is there? What a view was in the wilderness! The only view worth seeing in the whole world today is what is seen in the wilderness, and that is the people of God dwelling “according to their tribes”. You will understand I am not speaking locally, I am speaking of the true meaning of the terms, and there is nothing at all in this world worth going to see but the people of God dwelling according to their tribes. What does that mean? It means the saints dwelling assembly-wise; it means the saints dwelling [p. 136] in love. There is no greater sight in heaven or on earth than that, and it is to be seen today, thank God! Balaam saw it, and he stresses the fact that he saw it. It is for me to see it, it is for you to see it; it is for me to have eyes opened to see and appreciate it, to go to the highest point and see it. Balaam did so: “he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam, lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him”. This is the first time you have this about Balaam. God can so bring a man round to His thoughts that the Holy Spirit Himself acts upon him. It is wonderful victory! It brings in the power of God, by which we can overcome the greatest difficulties in assembly matters.
Now we see that God is not only bent on blessing His people, but we see the people are so beautiful, so attractive, so lovable, that God Himself blesses them. Is it not right, beloved, to think of God loving what is lovable? Surely it is; and Balaam is led in the power of the Spirit of God to see what is lovable. God has those in the wilderness today, amid the general apostasy and darkness that there is, in a simple but true way, what answers to Israel abiding “according to his tribes”. There are twelve of them; which implies that in our meetings, as we dwell together in love, we embrace all the saints. It is a Colossian thought. We love all the saints; we are not unduly local, we are universal in our view. I embrace in my affection every saint on earth every gathering certainly — but everyone who seeks to walk in the commandments of the Lord, as loving Him. That is the idea. Those truly of the assembly are dwelling in that way, not simply so many christians living in a certain place, but dwelling “according to their tribes”.
Then Balaam begins to say things authoritatively. “He took up his parable and said, Balaam, the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: he hath said ...” Those three expressions “hath said” are authoritative, as you will notice in the better translation. The point is, not that he had said those things, but he is saying them. Instead of “hath said” we should read “saith”, as in the New Translation. It is the first time he uses this word, evidently it is because the Holy Spirit is upon him; if I have the Holy Spirit upon me I can speak authoritatively. Balaam uses it three times over. He is speaking all the time about the saints. Sometimes speaking about the saints is criticised. Heaven is occupied with the saints. As God looked down from heaven in a former time to see if there were any good, so He looks down today, and what does He see? He sees, as it were, “Israel in tents dwelling according to his tribes”. It is delightful to God. Were you to hear the conversation in heaven, you would hear much about the saints. There would be no doubt much about Jesus, for He is worshipped and honoured as God there: He “who is over all. God blessed for ever”! Romans 9:5. But there is a great deal of conversation in heaven about the saints. One repenting sinner causes joy in heaven; how much more joy is there as you have a hundred or a thousand saints sitting together in love! There is nothing to excel it in the whole universe. I am speaking now of creatures, of the saints dwelling together in love, that is, abiding according to their tribes.
Balaam, goes on to say, “the man whose eyes are open”. Notice how he mentions this. I believe the idea is he had had his eyes shut to the beauty of Israel, but now they are open; that his eyes were shut would mean that his will worked. He would wish to curse the people; but now his eyes are open, and he accepts God’s purpose to bless, and the Spirit comes upon him as he accepts it. So it is that as we abandon our pre-judgments and our own thoughts and leave ourselves open to God’s thoughts about His people, we see all things clearly and are in a position to make authoritative pronouncements. We do not traduce the Lord’s people, we speak well of [p. 138] them, and that is what happened here. So the speaker goes on to say, “which heard the words of God”. The words of God are entering his ear. He heard them, and moreover, he says, “who falleth down”, that is, he is eclipsed as to himself. He has renounced all his own pre-judgments and thoughts, and he is now in the presence of God. What a change! How God would speak! And so it is as to all matters with which we have to do, when we get into God’s presence, and get the “vision of the Almighty”, “from the top of the rocks”.
Then he goes on to say, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters”. Look at that beautiful description! One would dwell upon it; heaven dwells upon it. It is the Spirit of God speaking through a changed man. That is the point, to get changed, to get a right view, to get alongside of God to see things from His point of view, to speak authoritatively, and then beautifully of the people of God, according to the divine view of them. “As the valleys are they spread forth”, he says, giving the suggestion of fertility in rich soil in which God sows and reaps. “As gardens by the river’s side”: there you have a more restricted thought than the valleys. That is to say, the saints as a whole are spread out by God. Concentration is good in a way, but spreading out is better. The meaning of the name “Japheth” is “spreading out”, and I believe he is the great yielding ground for the assembly, if you understand me. So it is that the saints are spread forth. The more meetings there are, the better; these convey the great idea of a spreading out; a rich valley is where God can operate, can sow and reap. And then “gardens” are special, they are more limited places, where the waters flow and where you get richness of growth. Then, “as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters”. These lign aloes allude no doubt to the cone-shaped tents of Israel spread out in their regularity under the vision of the prophet here; but I believe they allude also to the saints in their distinction, and as co-related to one another; they hold themselves in regard of one another. But then, there is personal greatness also which marks God’s people; they are “as cedar trees beside the waters”. The cedars denote, as their use in the temple indicates, the dignity of men in Christ. The man at Bethsaida saw men as trees walking, but here what is in view is the dignity of the trees, as drawing their supplies from the waters.
Well, all this is the result, as I said, of the renouncement of pre-judgments, and seeing that God’s judgment must go through. That is what Balaam arrived at, and hence these wonderful statements. So he goes on to say, “He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted”. There is now what Israel does, what the saints may do as things are adjusted according to God. As they are seen, and as they move, and are set together according to God, they have buckets of their own, and they can supply water to others; they have drawn from the rivers and now they have water for others. And “his seed shall be in many waters”, meaning a great enlargement or spreading out of this wonderful seed, for in truth it is to fill the earth. What is of God is to fill the world; all else has to go. So he goes on to say, “his kingdom shall be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, ... : who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee”.
You see thus, dear brethren, how the matter stands with clearness of vision from God. I see His people as [p. 140] He sees them, I see them in their beauty, in their love, in their order, and then I see them spreading out until they fill the face of the world, for that is the great view here. Israel is to overwhelm every other nation and to fill the world. What a great prospect! How important to get a right view! for by and by in the heavenly city we shall love to look down on the renewed earth, with the nations subservient to Israel, all under Christ, in perfect order in life. We shall look down and see it as heaven looks down now. It will be our part in the heavenly city to see these wonderful results of the death of Jesus on the earthly side. God would help us to perfect our vision, to learn to see things afar off as well as what is near, and to see all things clearly. That is to say, in matters of judgment we must judge righteous judgment, so that we come under the blessing, and there is no one that can curse us. There are those who attempt to, but God gives commandment to bless — Yea, “and he hath blessed”, and none can reverse it. May God bless the word.