The Man Born Blind (3)

As we continue with the history of the great wonder of how the blind man received his sight, the Lord Jesus is in the direct presence of the consequences of sin. My dear reader, the man in John 9 is blind, blind from birth! That means he never has seen the green grass, the colorful flowers, the blue sky, or the moon shining at night. He never has seen his parents’ faces. He never knew what his surroundings looked like. He sat by the temple but never has seen the priest, never has seen the sacrifice, never has seen the blood. The list can go on because all this man has seen is darkness, never a ray of light. We hear more often of people who become blind, but this man was always blind. The chief thing he does not see is the object of our text, “The Light of the world.” We, also, go to church, we hear much, and all of us have some knowledge of the truth. From our young days we have heard that we are conceived and born in sin. The question then becomes, have we ever seen what we have heard? We are blind to what we hear. We are blind to realize that we are under the wrath of God. We are blind to the precious callings that come to us under the gospel preaching. Dear reader, have we become convinced of our blindness?

“As long as I am in the world” refers to a period of time, the time of Christ’s earthly ministry. God’s Word reveals a fulfillment here. The Old Testament church was waiting for His coming, and now He has come. It is a fulfillment of four thousand years of promises: “I am in the world.” Christ speaks personally in this text. It is not the disciples who are speaking; very directly Christ says where He is, “in the world.” The world in the Gospel of John is a remarkable place. Really it is the place where all the inhabitants have said farewell to the Lord and, therefore, are in the darkness of sin. Yet, according to His sovereign decree there are sinners who need to be converted. The darkness is described in John 9 by the blindness of this man, but now Christ directly speaks to the place where He has come, the world in darkness. Isaiah prophesied, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2a). The Lord fulfills His word!

Christ also says what He will be while He is in the world, “I am the Light of the world.” This Light is Himself; He is not a reflection. These words clearly reveal that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and man in one Person. He is the express image of His Father. Christ, as Second Person in the divine Trinity, became man, but He remained very God.

He declares who He is when dealing with the blind man from birth. Do we know of such a wonder when we were in our sin and misery that God declared who He was? Dear reader, when the Lord converts a person, then He will declare great opposites. Shall I name a few? Then God is Holy and you are unholy, He is Just and you are guilty, He is Righteous and you are unrighteous. Here He declares, “I am the Light of the world,” but the man born blind from birth is blind. Oh, the reality is declared so clearly from God’s Word. Has God’s Word ever declared to us who He is and who we are?

How will the divine Light function in the world? Towards the end of the life of the Lord Jesus, the High Priest will examine the Lord Jesus concerning His disciples and His doctrine. As the Light of the world, He illuminated His doctrine that “no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” He accompanied that doctrine with proofs of divine power. The wonder of coming to God was clearly shown through His miracles. Those in whose heart the Light had effect believed His doctrine and became His disciples. So, as the Light of the world, He has gathered His followers who were drawn by the cords of love. He gave them to see that in Him was the Light of life, but His Light also had another effect: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). We also read that His illuminating words became a hard saying and “…many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.” How necessary to examine our heart!

Is that now all passed? When Christ ascended into heaven, did He take His Light with Him? No, dear reader, He ascended so that the Father and the Son would send forth the Holy Spirit. He told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would guide them. What light was given to Peter into the Scriptures in his Pentecost sermon. What a blessed effect, by the preaching of the Scriptures, was seen in three thousand hearts! Christ’s Light still shines today in the preaching of His Word, in the reading of the books based on His Word.

I close with a question: Have we been declared who we are by God already? Has it become personal? Church of God, in all your darkness see what He declares, “I am the Light.” God’s people may at times be so happy with what He declares Himself to be for His Church in the world. The apostle wrote to the Corinthians, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face…” For God’s true people what He has become He will always remain to all eternity, despite the remaining plague of darkness from their side.

(To be continued)

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