561
THE KING’S BUSINESS
behind _was the Lord Jesus, Jehovah, appearing in human form before His later incarnation in Jesus o f Nazareth. Oh, what a wonderful One our Lord Jesus was and is. MondayL June is. John 9 : 1 - 3 . There are three words o f immense import in the first verse, “Jesus passed by." Great things may always be expected to occur when Jesus passes by. The case o f this man was absolutely hopeless, he had been “blind from his birth.” No human skill could touch his case, but Jesus “passed by,” and that changed everything. What man cannot do, Jesus can, and He is ever pass ing our way in these days, so we may con stantly expect wonderful things to hap pen . (John 14:12). This blind man is a suggestive illustration o f thé unsaved sin ner: blind (1 Cor. 2 :1 4 ); he never had seen; he was beyond human help (v. 32) ; his case was hopeless humanly speaking (doubtless he himself had given up all hope of ever seeing) ; he was without human sympathy, suspected and despised (vs. 2 , 34) ; he was poor, a beggar. But all his need was only an opportunity for God’s abounding grace in Christ. Note, too, that Jesus not only “passed by,” He saw. He ever sees us in our need and distress (cf. Ex. 3 :7 ; 6 :5 ). Contrast the feeling , o f Jesus’ disciples as they looked at the man, with that of Jesus Himself. Their feeling was one o f curiosity and contempt, His of deepest compassion (vs. 2, 4, 6 ). Are we likest to the Master or the disciples? What is your feeling as you gaze upon the poor, the outcast, the unfortunate, and the sin ful? Jesus saw in this man’s-misfortune a call to help; they saw in it only the just consequence o f sin. The disciples held the view that all sickness must be the direct, consequence o f sin. A good many hold that view today, but Jesus plainly declares that this is not so, that there is another purpose in physical infirmity, viz., “ that the words o f God should be made manifest.” They were made manifest in this man’s case by healing. Sometimes they are made manifest
by God’s sustaining grace in weakness (2 Cor. 12:8-10). Doubtless sickness often is the direct result o f sin (John 5:14; Mark 2 :5 ; Acts 12:23; 1 Cor. 11:30-32). In other cases it is the indirect result o f sin. When God’s children wander from Him He suf fers .sickness to overtake them to bring them to their senses and Himself (Job 33:14-30), but sickness does not always arise from this cause (Phil. 2i27, 30; 2 Kings 13 :14), W e live in a day when well- meaning but misinformed men are making sweeping generalizations about sickness from only part o f the date; Jesus did not teach by verse 3 that neither this man nor his parents had ever sinned, but that they “ did” (R. V .) not sin as the cause o f this blindness. . The parents, so far from being sinless, sinned before the chapter ends. Tuesday, June 13 . John 9 : 4 - 7 . . . That is a wonderful “must” in verse 4, “I must (R. V. we must) work the works o f Him that sent me, while it is day.” * Indeed we must. Night is coming fast (it never seemed coming faster than it does today). No man can work then, so up and at the work now. Oh, those solemn words, “ The night cometh,” the night o f death, the night when we sle.ep, not work, not unconscious it, is true, but shut out o f activ ity and shut up with Christ in blessed com munion (Phil. 1:23) and beyond the pos sibility o f finishing any work we have left undone here. And that is not the only night, it will be night when the church is taken away from this world, taken up, it is true, to be with Christ in conscious blessedness, but unable to do anything here on earth, and the darkness o f “the great tribulation” has settled down upon the earth. Note very -carefully the works that “we must” do; not our own works, but “the works o f Him that sent” Jesus.; It Is plain from a comparison o f verse 2 and verse 4 that Jesus considered delivering men from evil far more important than speculating about the origin o f evil. The philanthropist and the evangelist are o f far more value to the world than the metaphysician. . The
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs