Reading:
Mark 10:46-52.
THE WHOLE RACE IN ADAM BORN BLIND
What is
in view here is the question of sight. In our earlier
meditations we were occupied with the matter of seeing
the face of God. In different ways we have sought to show
that, in Adam's sin in the garden and his unholy attempt
to see what God had hidden from him - hidden from him, as
it proved afterward, in great love and mercy - in his
unholy grasping after that seeing, Adam lost his sight,
and the whole race in him has been born blind, blind as
to the face of God. The race has, deep down in its very
constitution, a cry and a sigh. Although it is not
expressed in words, or understood for what it really is,
it amounts to this: 'If only we could see the face of God
- if only we knew that God's face was toward us!' The Son
of Man came into the world, and He said, "The Son of
man came to seek and to save that which was lost"
(Luke 19:10). One of the great things that was lost was
that sight, that conscious enjoyment, of the face of God.
As with
all blindness, when that loss occurred, a whole world, a
very wonderful world, was lost, was closed, was shut up.
The reality of things, things as they really are in that
world, was understood no longer. It is a very wonderful
thing when anyone who has never seen receives sight -
when something is done by an operation to give sight.
What a wonderful new world! It had been a world of
surmise, of imagination, of ever straining to understand,
to know, and now that whole world is suddenly opened up.
What a wonderful day! Sight is a marvellous thing; but if
this is true in the natural realm, it is infinitely more
true in the spiritual.
When we
were in America a few years ago, we met our dear old
friend Mrs. Lemmel, who wrote the chorus:
Turn
your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Mrs.
Lemmel was practically blind; she had to be led
everywhere. But she was fulfilling a marvellous ministry.
Because she was blind, hosts of people were visiting her,
thinking, perhaps, to console or befriend her; but she
was ministering Christ to them, and it was they who were
getting all the benefit and the blessing. Then a surgeon
offered to perform an operation with a practical
certainty that he could restore her sight. She weighed
this up before the Lord in prayer for a long time, and
then, she told us, 'I decided not to have the operation:
by my blindness many are seeing what they would never see
if I had my natural sight; I have chosen that they should
see that greater world than the natural sight can see.'
Well, that was a noble decision; but my point is that to
her the seeing of the things of the Spirit, the things of
heaven, the things of God, infinitely transcended the
having of her natural sight.
CHRIST CAME TO RECOVER LOST SIGHT
Oh, yes,
there is a world - a world that God wants us to see, in
the light, glory and fullness of which He wants us to
live, ever making fresh discoveries of what is there. He
wants us to have eyes that can see the tremendous values
of His own eternal things. Yes, the value and importance
of spiritual sight is so great that the very Son of Man
came from heaven to recover it - "to save that which
was lost". It was a very costly thing, in heaven's
estimation, that kind of knowledge. If we want further
confirmation of it, we have only to take account of how
fiercely and maliciously the enemy fights against the
people of God coming into any further knowledge of God's
eternal thought, or of any soul being enlightened as to
its salvation. How bitterly the enemy contests that! You
know something of that; I need not dwell upon it. I am
simply saying that from heaven's standpoint there is a
tremendous value bound up with this question of sight.
As with
all others mentioned in the Bible, this man about whom we
have read is not there just by chance, as something that
just happened in the way. They are all here in the
sovereign orderings and movements of God; they were moved
into these positions to stand out as examples, parables
and indications of great spiritual things. This man
Bartimaeus comes before us in connection with something
more than his natural sight. It is a parable of what
Jesus has come to do for blinded sons of Adam. The crowd
surged, he heard the tramping of their feet, the feet of
the multitude, and asked what it was all about - 'Who is
it?' And they said that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was
passing by.
Jesus of
Nazareth. I think that name and the word 'Nazareth' bring
Him very near to us. It was a place of no great
importance and of no very high reputation. It represents
something very ordinary, common, without repute, without
honour, without glory, and Jesus has in history become
associated with Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth - how often
He was called that. But you see, it is JESUS of
Nazareth. There were, I expect, thousands of Jesuses in
Palestine. There had been thousands of Jesuses in the
history of Israel. Jesus - Jeshua, Joshua, Hoshea - was a
very common name. And God came right into the midst of
that which was common and humble and degraded and said,
"Thou shalt call his name JESUS". Oh, surely He
ought to have a better name than that - He ought to be
more distinguished than that! But with God the name given
to Jesus meant what it did mean. "Thou shalt call
his name JESUS; for it is he that shall save his
people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
Nazareth
- "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
(John 1:46) - Jesus of NAZARETH. You see
the point. It is Jesus touching the depth of human
degradation, coming right into association with our
fallen humanity, into touch with that which has lost its
Divine significance. Jesus - 'Jehovah saves', 'the Lord
saves' - that is the meaning of the name. But look at all
the Jesuses of Israel's history and see how many of them
were saviours. No, the name has lost its value and
meaning. It was everywhere but it meant nothing. Here the
name has recovered its meaning, come right down into the
midst of that which needed saving, as represented by or
typified in Nazareth and in all the other Jesuses who
needed saving. He had to go right down into that, in
closest touch with our poor, fallen humanity, in order to
save. Jesus of Nazareth.
This man
heard that. Oh, it is wonderful; there is so much in that
answer of the Lord to him. "Thy faith hath made thee
whole." This man knew where Jesus came from, but he
believed that He was something more than an ordinary
Jesus, an ordinary earthly association, He was more than
that, and he cried out, "Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy on me" (Mark
10:47). They tried to silence him, to sit on him,
to make him be quiet, and he cried out so much the more,
"Jesus... have mercy on me." They commanded
him to hold his peace.
THE NEED FOR VIOLENCE ON OUR PART
There
are two things in that connection that are, I think, very
clear and obvious. One is this, that this wonderful
blessing of an open heaven, that we have been talking
about - this recovery of the face of God, this entering
into that world of Divine fullness, this apprehending of
the thoughts of God which means so much - is not just
going to happen to us while we sit passively, hoping
something will happen. The Lord Himself said, "The
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence
take it by force" (Matt. 11:12). This man had
entered into that spirit. He had inwardly perceived what
a tremendous thing it would be to have his eyes opened.
And if you are concerned about a "spirit of wisdom
and revelation", "the eyes of your heart being
enlightened" - if this to you is of any concern at
all, you will not be passive about it. You will get on
your knees, and say, 'Now, Lord, this has got to be made
good.' You will cry and cry aloud. Are you doing that? It
is not enough for us to attend meetings and hear things
said, whether they be more or less wonderful, and just
think that we have got it. We have not got it, and a very
great deal of the failure of so much ministry to have a
real outworking is because we do not go at once to the
Lord and say, 'Now, Lord, I have heard that: mentally I
know it, I am informed about it; but that thing has got
to become a living revelation in my inner man.' I have to
SEE it, and I can only see it by a Divine touch,
by the finger of God, by a miracle from heaven.
We shall
never see Divine things by the aid of our reason. We
shall never see things because they are put plainly to us
by the one who ministers. No, it will only be as Jesus of
Nazareth comes into touch with us and we with Him. And
that applies to every stage of the Christian life.
If there
are any reading these lines, who have never in the first
place had their eyes opened to SEE, so that
the result is life eternal - for knowing is only another
word for seeing, and Jesus said, "This is life
eternal, that they should know thee the only true God,
and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ"
(John 17:3); "that they should know" - another
word for seeing - if you have not yet entered into life,
received eternal life, remember that it will not just HAPPEN
to you; it will not simply HAPPEN. You will
have to become tremendously concerned about this and show
the Lord that you mean business; you will have to be like
Bartimaeus, cry, and 'so much the more', cry. Remember
that the Lord does so often wait, delay, hold off, to see
if we really place value upon this seeing. We are tested
as to how much we esteem His things.
Here is
a man of great possessions, called a rich young ruler. It
was not that the Lord wanted him to become a
philanthropist and give away his money. It was the
question: 'Do you value eternal life more than all your
worldly possessions? Let us see! What value do you put
upon eternal life, upon having your blind eyes open? Do
you cry and cry so much the more, become desperate about
it?' The Lord waits to see that. We have known so many
cases, when sinners have been seeking the Lord, and we
would have thought that immediately they began to seek
the Lord they would find Him - and yet very often the
Christian worker has been greatly perplexed and
distressed. Days and nights pass in agony. There seems to
be no coming of the Lord to save. What is the Lord doing?
He is just bringing out that desperation that represents
a heart conviction that, unless the Lord does this thing,
there is nothing else to live for. It is a matter of life
and death, and it is not cheaply and easily got.
And what
is true at the beginning is true all the way along. There
is no end to Divine revelation; there is no end to our
seeing. Oh, how little we have seen, how little we know,
of the vast stores of Divine intention and thought and
purpose and meaning. We stand and paddle on the shores of
this vast ocean of God and of His purposes and meanings
in our creation. How little we know about it! - and we
are not going to know until we have deep heart exercise.
But it is there, and it is there for us, and oh, we have
got to come in this way - 'so much the more'. Are you
like that after a conference, or after any meeting in
which there has been a ministry of God's Word? Are you
sure you have seen all that God meant you to see? Are you
just hearing what is said? You agree - but what is the
effect? The real effect waits upon this heart exercise,
this crying out - and a crying out 'so much the more'.
The Lord is not close and mean, holding it from you, but
He is wanting to know that this is of greater price to
you than all else; if needs be, of greater price than
your sleep, your rest: you are going to give Him no rest
until He opens your eyes.
That is
very simple, but it is very important.
THE ENEMY'S ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE US
The
other thing in this connection is that there will always
be plenty of things to try to silence you, to make you be
quiet, to 'shut you up'. There were those who commanded
this blind man to hold his peace. There is always much to
command you to hold your peace. But much may depend upon
our not holding our peace. That applies in much larger
realms than just this one of receiving Divine
eye-opening.
Very
often we never enter into the real value of a thing until
we make a declaration of our attitude toward it. Very
often we do not enter into the real value of our
Christian life until we begin to proclaim something about
it. I expect some of you know that. I was a Christian for
some years; I had given my heart to the Lord. I believed
that I was saved, and I am sure I was, but I was not
enjoying it: I was not a free man, loosed inside, in the
real joy of the Christian life, until one night I stepped
right into the centre of an open-air meeting and gave my
testimony and began to talk from that testimony, and from
that day to this I have been a free man in the enjoyment
of salvation. At the time I wondered if it was only then
that I was really converted - so real was the difference.
That is very simple and elementary, but it applies all
the way along. There are plenty of things that will keep
us silent: shame, for instance - that will keep us
silent. Fear will say, Be quiet; will keep us with our
mouths shut. Despair is a terrible thing for quietening
us, or preventing us from speaking. And oh, what a veto
upon declaration is pride! Yes, there are many things
that are saying, Hold your peace! This man stood up to
them all, he resisted them all, and, although they said,
'Hold your peace, man, hold your peace!', he said, 'I am
not going to hold my peace', and out it came - 'so much
the more'. It is an impressive picture. It is almost
humorous if it were not so serious - a man absolutely
refusing to be bottled up, so much did he feel the
importance of the matter in hand.
It is
just like that over everything that the Lord has for us.
We are not to be silenced. We cry - and nothing happens.
We cry to the Lord, and nothing happens. And then the
enemy comes along and says, 'You may as well be quiet -
He is not hearing you! Do you think He will have regard
to you? He has got more important business than you! You
must think yourself very important if you think He is
going to turn aside from all His affairs to attend to
you!' The enemy talks like that and tries, by making us
feel our insignificance, to quieten us, to silence us.
But you be in the company of blind Bartimaeus, and say,
'No, I am not going to be quiet! I believe that what I
need lies in the power of that Man to give me, and I
believe that, being Jesus of Nazareth, having come down
to so low a level of association and fellowship, He will
have respect unto my cry. I may be a nobody, but He will
have respect to the cry of a nobody!' This is the kind of
spirit that will not be silenced.
Is it
too simple? It is important! As we get further and
further on, there is so much more for the Lord to reveal
to us of His fullness. It will always be the same -
plenty of things to silence, to put to quietness, to tell
us to hold our peace. You remember the Lord's parable of
the importunate widow and the unjust judge. He hung the
whole of that parable on this: that the man would not
have regard to her for any other reason than that she
worried the life out of him; and the Lord turns and says,
'If an unjust man will yield to importunity, how much
more the just Man - how much more One who is not like
that!' (Luke 18:1-8). And yet His Church must cry unto
Him day and night, not because He is unjust and unwilling
and unmoved, but because He must have in those who are in
need a deep enough sense of the importance of these
things. You say, 'Why speak like that? Don't we all feel
that?' Dear friends, while one is more and more hesitant
to say anything to criticize Christians or the Church,
surely it is true that there is not sufficient of this
downright earnestness to know all that God wants us to
know. We are too contented, too complaisant, too
satisfied with a little: we are not on full stretch for
all that God means, and He is not going to give it until
we CRY - and cry 'so much the more'.
"Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by." With Him is all the power
to give everything necessary to bring into all that God
intended - and He may pass by. He might have just left
Jericho and gone away. They were going out of Jericho; He
might just have gone out of Jericho and gone on His way.
But knowing, being informed - that was enough for
Bartimaeus. Being informed that Jesus of Nazareth was
passing by precipitated the whole matter. Oh, that we all
were sufficiently aware of how needy we are of having our
eyes opened to all God's meaning for us! Oh, that our
hearts were sufficiently concerned to enter into
everything God purposes for us! Oh, that we felt
something more of the strong meaning of "Things
which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered
not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared
for them that love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). It never will
enter into our hearts, it never will be seen by our eyes
or heard by our ears, until we realize, and lay to heart,
how important it is and how valuable, and we begin to cry
out, 'Have mercy upon me!' It is not only the cry of a
sinner, but the cry of a mature saint. 'Have mercy still
upon my lack of capacity, my limitation in apprehension,
my smallness of sight! Have mercy upon me!'
Paul's
prayer to God was "that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having
the eyes of your heart enlightened" (Eph. 1:17-18).
That was his prayer. It was not going to happen unless
someone stood in between the need and the supply and
mediated by prayer. It is a big matter. The Lord put that
spirit into our hearts. Do realize that a great deal does
hang upon this importunity, this seriousness, this laying
hold, and not just coming and going to meetings and then
wondering why we are so retarded in our spiritual growth,
so easily a prey to the forces around us in this world.
Perhaps it is because we have not yet expressed an
adequate appreciation of Divine things by laying this
matter to heart and constantly being before the Lord that
we may receive our sight. If at this moment you are
recognizing that "Jesus of Nazareth passeth
by", you have only to cry from your heart - He has
what you need. The Lord put the cry in our hearts.