The Man Born Blind (10)

The man born blind has made his confession that the Lord Jesus is a prophet. He has clearly testified who the Lord Jesus is for him. By this confession he places the Lord Jesus on the level of the previous great men in Israel, such as Elijah and Isaiah. This stirs the anger of the Jews even more. The effect this has requires our attention. In verse 18 we read, “But the Jews did not believe concerning him.” The clear testimony is disregarded, their hardening increases. Instead of believing this credible and persuading confession, they continue in hardening their hearts.

This is a clear description of how the heart is hardened. Maybe you walk with questions about that: How does the hardening take place, and how does it reveal itself in its continuation? The answer here is very clear. First, let me say that hardening of heart is the greatest judgment on a country, church, school, family, and personal life. Then we willfully continue in our own way; we willfully continue to disregard the warnings and evident tokens of His power. The Jews here willfully do not believe the evidence! This is a serious sin, because those who know better and have the convincing evidence before them are not doing this for the first time. It is a continuation, and the harder the heart becomes, the more it will be given over to its sinful corruption.

This can be a struggle for some. They do not dare say that they are converted. Yet, they know of a time that their heart was tender. Sin was made sin; God had become real. They saw who He was: holy, righteous, and good doing. They remember when they cried to God to be taught. They cried for forgiveness. They remember that the world meant nothing; it had lost all its value. They made a choice— the choice for God, His service, His people, and His day. They thought about it during the night and during the day. The Bible was their delight. They thought to even have seen something of the possibility for their soul to be saved through Another. The Lord Jesus was made precious, but…it seems that it turned around.

They now must admit that it all seems so far away, so unreachable, so dark, so ruined. They are afraid that they are so hardened, and that no matter the callings or the tokens of God’s power it leaves them harder. They are afraid that they have been given over to themselves and their evil corruptions. We ask only one question, “Where does it bring you?” Is there then never a yearning in the heart for this to change? Do you always sit cold under the sermons? Is there never a portion from Scripture or something you hear or sing from the psalms of David that makes your heart tender? Is there never a cry with the psalmist, “When will I come again to stand before Thee?” Do you never fall on your knees so defeated and ask the Lord what it was? Do you never have moments in loneliness that you have to cry to Him?

Recalling days when faith was bright,

When songs of gladness filled my night,

I pondered o’er my grievous woes

And searching questioning arose:

Will God cast off, and nevermore

His favor to my soul restore?

These souls are not hardened then. They may not have the tenderness as in days gone by, but the Lord will teach His people. What they have confessed must be made true through the way of an exceeding great wonder. Then the Lord will cut off any expectation from self and from previous experiences. He makes room to reveal Himself as the Saviour of lost sinners! The longer it takes, the more convinced those people become of being a sinner. They are made seekers of the only Mediator who was sent to seek and to save what was lost. The more they hear of Him, the darker it becomes from their own side, and they yearn that He would reveal Himself personally to their heart. The shepherds in Luke 2 knew who they were waiting for, but it was so dark from their side. It was so impossible! It was to make clear the wonder of “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour.” The wise men from the East came to Jerusalem but were so disappointed. Yet, it was to make room for the joy they had when the star appeared and led them to the Child. No, they were not hardened; they were led—led by God away from self unto Immanuel: God with us.

I must also say something to hardened sinners—you who under the clearest callings continue in sin; you who always go on after the Sunday, who from Monday to Saturday do not have the least thought of God but just go through the motions. As a child, teenager, younger or older parent, or even grandparent, you are so busy that the busyness consumes you to not even think about your soul. Your life is so evidently a picture of the unregenerate. Oh, hardened sinner, you are one breath away from your eternal destruction—the breath you do not own—the breath God in His longsuffering gives you while you continue to sin against Him.

You are dead in sins and trespasses. You are under the wrath of a just God. The Lord is so holy that He did not spare His own Son under His full wrath, so He will not spare you. Hardened sinners, take the Bible in your hand in the time of grace. Hardened sinners, fall yet on your knees to ask Him for true conversion. Your case is so utterly desperate! The token that He is still able and willing to convert sinners is that He has not cut your life off yet. Maybe you say that it is beyond hope with me. Listen then: The God who you stand in account to is sovereign. The Lord Jesus testified “that the works of God should be made manifest in him”—that was so personal for this healed blind man. That can still be made personal for you. God performs wonders!

(To be continued)

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