PARABLE, MIRACLE, AND SIGN
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that the same word is used for the action of the Pharisees, and of the Lord. `They cast him out' (9:34). `When He
putteth forth His own sheep' (10:4). The Lord overrules the wrath of men. They may cast out, but the Good
Shepherd will use their action as a putting forth of His own sheep.
Returning for a moment to the body of the narrative, we cannot but feel the sincerity of the testimony of verse
25. The Pharisees said, `We know that this man is a sinner' (24). The blind man replied, `Whether He be a sinner or
no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see' (25). The man's theology was perhaps
lamentably crude. Yet he knows `one thing'. We in our turn may not be able to answer all the questions which
tradition, hatred, or ignorance may put to us; but `one thing' we know too. Here is a fixed, subjective, personal
commencement. This is not creed, but conviction, not theology, but truth, not so much light, as it is life. If there is
an element of vagueness in the words, `A (The) man that is called Jesus' in verse 11, there is none in the concluding
portion of the statement, `I went and washed, and I received sight'. His knowledge of the Person of his Saviour
grows constantly upwards from `The man that is called Jesus' to `a prophet', `a man of God' to the `Son of God' and
`Lord'. His sight was immediately and completely given. He did not, as one on another occasion, `see men as trees
walking', he `came seeing'.
If we collect the testimony of Scripture concerning the blindness of Israel, and consider the testimony alongside
of this sign, we shall see much that is parallel and prophetic. Let us praise God for the revelation given concerning
the duration of this condition:
`Blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be
saved' (Rom. 11:25,26).
(7)
The Raising of Lazaras
John 11
We reach, in this seventh sign, the lowest depths of Israel's night. In the parallel sign - the second (4:46-54) -
the nobleman's son was `at the point of death', and the cry was, `Come down ere my child die'. In this sign death
has come, `Lazarus is dead', and the cry is `Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died'. While the
second sign shows the national life almost flickering out, the seventh shows life extinct.
In the sign of the healing of the blind man the Lord said that the man was not born blind because of his own sin
or that of his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. In the seventh sign a somewhat
similar expression occurs:
`This sickness is not with a view to death merely (free rendering of pros), but for the glory of God, that the Son
of God might be glorified thereby' (11:4).
In all the eight signs there is some element of test; something that necessitates faith apart from sight or
evidences:
(1)
THE MARRIAGE AT CANA.- Woman, what have I to do with thee? (2:4).
(2)
THE NOBLEMAN'S SON.- Except ye see signs and wonders (4:48).
(3)
THE IMPOTENT MAN.- Wilt thou be made whole? (5:6).
(4)
THE FEEDING OF THE 5,000.- Whence shall we buy bread? (6:5).
(5)
THE WALKING ON THE SEA.- Jesus had not yet come (6:17).
(6)
THE MAN BORN BLIND.- The works of God manifested (9:3).
(7)
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS.- Not unto death, but for the glory of God (11:4).
(8)
THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES.- Have ye any meat? (21:5).
It is not always possible to understand the reasons for the many dispensational dealings of God, but one thing we
know, that whatever the outward appearance may seem, He abides faithful; He is still the God of love.