LIGHT DISCERNED AND ITS EFFECT
[p. 429] LIGHT DISCERNED AND ITS EFFECT
Ques In what way does chapter 10 connect with chapters 8 and 9?
FER I think all three are connected, you can scarcely understand the chapter by itself; it is a conclusion.
Ques Well, what are the premises?
FER Well, they are the introduction of the light. The thought in the 8th is the coming in of light; the Lord says “I am the light of the world”, but then everything is reversed, as shown in chapter 10, by the flock which is composed of those who see. The blind man is a sample. The Lord comes out as the light, “then spake Jesus again unto them, I am the light of the world”. What occurred in regard of the woman proved Him to be the light because I think everybody was exposed; they were all exposed in their consciences by the light. Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground: that is His touching humanity and He left His mark. The introduction of a great luminary into the world showed the order and proportion of everything. He was the truth and so everything came out in its true order and proportion. The Lord making clay and putting it on the eyes only made the Jews the blinder. Those who saw were made blind and those who were blind saw, things were completely reversed. We see that in the flock, there is a great danger with the young, they become so used to the light that they in a sort of way become indifferent and get hardened. The Jews took the ground of seeing and they really were made blind. I think it was in a way judicial and so their sin remains. They said they had no sin.
Ques Is Christ the light of the world today?
FER No, not in the same way as He was when here. For the moment the light of the world is hid in heaven,
[p. 430] all the light in the present time comes from heaven, but the church is like the moon, it shines by reflected light. The Lord said “Ye are the light of the world” — it is not inherent light. The effect of Christ being the light of the world was to test it and it resulted in the judgment of the world because they rejected the light. The blind — those who make no pretension — are made to see. In chapter 8 you must take into account that those who saw were made blind or you would not have the premises of chapter 10.
Ques Does verse 12 not suppose that you follow the Lord into another world?
FER If you follow Him you will have the light of life; death or resurrection did not alter Christ as being the light — that which He was morally.
Ques What is the point of chapter 9?
FER I think, that those who see not, might see. Everything was overturned. All the pretension of man was exposed, the real source of it was chapter 8 — the devil. There was a regular lying spirit in them, the devil was a murderer and abode not in the truth. The effect of the sin of man is that man has become a liar, he has no sense whatever of his true position in regard of God and not only that but man is naturally a liar. In chapter 8 Christ was from above and spoke the truth.
Ques Would you say to an unconverted audience that they were children of the devil?
FER No, because we are only just out of the wood. In chapter 8 man was tested, of course it must be so at the moment. Christ came in because you not only have God revealed but Man according to God — a perfect standard — and everything was properly tested, by the standard. The great luminary, the light of God, had come in; not only that but Christ was the Luminary because there you get a perfect thought and order and proposition. The Jews were tested and proved all lawless by the truth. You get righteousness and man properly in his relation to God and proportion; so the [p. 431] Jew was tested. The first great lesson that the blind man had to learn when his eyes were opened was that everything was out of gear. It is a most painful experience to go through for one to find everything here out of gear, hollow and false.
Ques How would you explain the class, those who saw not?
FER The man who does not see is the man who makes no pretension of seeing.
Ques What was the significance of the Lord putting clay on his eyes?
FER It really made the Jew blinder than ever and they were hurried on to perdition like the parable of the demoniac.
Ques The opening the eyes of the blind?
FER It is by preaching, their eyes are opened, like Paul’s commission.
Ques Why was it on the sabbath day?
FER Well I think the Lord was continually putting a slight on the sabbath. What could it be to Him? It was made for man not for God. What was the worth of it? It was a sign of the covenant and they had not continued in the covenant. If a man’s eyes are opened it is that a man might get into gear to hold the Head, like the blind man; that a man may be attached to Christ and be brought into gear by holding the Head. When a man gets free from natural relations, he has not much left. What I understand by opening a man’s eyes in a moral sense is undeceiving a man. Men are all deceived. It is the apostle’s work or the work of the Spirit of God, it is Christ’s work but He does it through agents. The water of the pool of Siloam represented the word applied by the Spirit and the result was that the man saw. The pool of Bethesda represented a kind of providential benefit; the testimony of the sent One, of Christ, is what is used to open men’s eyes “except a man be born again he cannot see”.
Ques Is there any connection? Why born [p. 432] again?
FER Well because I think God just does as little as He can in that way, man must get everything through exercise. God in His sovereignty does what is indispensable, but all has to be wrought in a man morally. You might present the light but I do not get it from you, God has prepared me for it by exercise. I do not think there can be a doubt for a moment that people’s eyes are opened by the presentation of Christ. The mistake that people make sometimes is that they think they convert people. I do not mean anyone here. It is a tremendous thing to open men’s eyes, to undeceive people when it is a question of God.
Ques Do you not think it is a great danger to press people to decide?
FER Well with all respect, it is a dangerous thing to get a confession beyond what people are capable of. Chapter 10 brings in the issue. You have a parenthesis in chapters 8 and 9. In the 10th you get a flock of an entirely different character composed of those who see, the effect of the light of necessity carried people out of the fold.
Ques What fold are you in?
FER Well to tell you the truth I do not quite appreciate a fold. A fold was to keep people from the wolf, but a christian is kept now by attachment and appreciation of Christ. Let a man hold the Head and be will not be a bit afraid of the wolf.
Ques Is appreciation of Christ holding the Head?
FER Yes, because if you hold the Head you appreciate Christ. How is any one of us kept down here in the world? Not by a fold, it is perfectly powerless to keep you. It is by the appreciation of Christ “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved”.
Ques Would not seeking a fold now be going back?
FER The wonderful thing at the present time is that the Shepherd is absent and we are kept down here in the absence of the Shepherd without the need of a fold. The door is to lead us in to God to get the knowledge [p. 433] of God.
Ques What is the meaning of “am known of those that are mine as ... I know the Father”?
FER That is very wonderful. No one knew Him down here but the Father, now we may know Christ as He knows us. It is reciprocal. People will ridicule us if we say we know Him, it is “the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep” that there may be “one flock and one shepherd”. The people that claimed privilege and saw were those who were made blind and if the Lord could make those that did not see to see, on the same ground, the Lord could bring in the gentile that there might be one flock. A flock is not for heaven, a flock follows the Shepherd like Israel in the wilderness. All the flock is dependent on the Shepherd now like all animals are dependent upon man. All the creation is dependent on man in that kind of way to Christ. Everything in the moment depends on the Spirit; it is not public, it is spiritual now. Israel in the world to come will become Jehovah’s flock.
Ques What is life more abundantly?
FER Light has come in by the death of Christ and you can live in the love of God. “I am the door” that is evangelistic. You ought to preach the gospel from that.
Dr. W. John 10. Oh, I often do that.
FER The unity all depends upon life, upon the knowledge of the good Shepherd and upon affection. All unity must be the unity of spiritual affections; if we take the ground of loving Christ, we show it by loving one another.