The Man Born Blind (16)

The Lord Jesus has heard that the healed man who was blind from birth was cast out. This message moved the Lord Jesus. The way this man had to go was a deep way. The deep ways for His people are never sought but are directed by the Lord. The deep way had its origin in a divine wonder. This man was not the cause of the excommunication; the work of God in him was the reason for being cast out by the Pharisees.

The text says that the Lord Jesus found him. Notice who is searching—the One who was so hidden for the healed man. The knowledge he had of the Lord Jesus was limited. That must also be a question for you and me. Do we have knowledge of the Lord Jesus? The work of grace will not be in just speaking about receiving texts or speaking about remarkable deliverances. The work of grace also is not in just having a favorite author who explains your life best, or about sermons that explain your life. True conversion is about the knowledge of who God reveals Himself to be. This knowledge was small in the healed man but evident. The way of conversion is summarized to be orderly in misery, deliverance, and gratitude, yet the Heidelberg Catechism, based completely on God’s Word and the experience of a living soul, is bringing that knowledge across to be found in whom God reveals Himself to be.

The Lord is going to increase the knowledge of the Person of the Mediator for the healed man. May the Lord also give this in our day; we must be cut off from what we can hold on to. This man was cast out; clearly this was necessary for him to be found of Jesus. We said earlier that the casting out was a result of the work of God in Him. We need to lose our texts, our favorite authors and ministers. Why is this necessary? That is very simple, dear reader, when you die, you cannot take your favorite text with you; you cannot take a single book with you, and your favorite minister cannot be your mediator. This healed man was being prepared by God to meet God. The man had nothing and had no one anymore. Yet, what this man possessed was what God was going to establish. That was the true saving faith which the Lord planted in his regeneration. Oh, how rich God’s people are; they have a seed which God planted and which God is going to nurture by the exercises of true faith.

How will his true saving faith be established? “Jesus found Him”—that is the wonder in these few words. The Lord, in Jesus Christ, is coming to the healed man. Do you know what that means? The Lord is coming back to His own work! The way was difficult, but it comes to two meeting each other. The rod of chastisement was heavy for this man, but the honey at the end of the rod was that Jesus found him. This text reveals a treasure in the Scriptures—Jesus finding His people. The Lord Jesus will later pray to His Father, “Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me.” Those words reveal that the Father gave His elect children to His Son as Mediator, and here it is recorded of a meeting between the Mediator and the sinner. Behold here the clarity of the lesson in true saving faith—so flesh-crucifying but Godhonoring and therefore soul-saving.

In this meeting we must also notice that the healed man does not know who Christ is in His person. He knows of His power. The power which was summarized as “one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” This power was of Christ. Then you see how in the life of healed ones, whose way is full of riddles and whose way ends in being cast out, that His power is not unknown. Do you know of His power but miss Him revealed to your soul as Mediator? Then the text has instruction. He finds the ones who have experienced His power. Oh, souls who miss Jesus, lay your finger by this text and point it out to the Lord; Thou has sent Him to seek and to save that which is lost. The Word of God shows He finds His people in their deepest needs. For those needy ones it says, “when He found him.” He finds them not with answers but with riddles. He finds them so that He can become their Way, Truth, and Life. Do you notice how personal? He, Prince Immanuel, finds His cast out ones so that for them He becomes their Saviour. What a wonder lies in these few words—the eternal God assumed the human nature to find His people. He comes to reveal Himself to establish them in their most holy faith.

(To be continued)

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