The Man Born Blind (2)

The day He works the works of Him that sent Him

Dear Reader,

Last month we meditated on the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ said in connection with the man born blind, “I must work.” We often say we have work to do. It is good when a father of a family may have work. Business owners are happy when they get orders so that their employees have work, but the work that the Lord Jesus speaks of here is specific: “I must work the works of Him that sent Me.” Christ is speaking of a charge; He is sent. He has stopped by the man born blind and there He speaks these words. This declares the eternal love that the Father has for sinners. He sent! He sent a qualified one, His own dear Son. “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4&5).

There He stands, Immanuel, God with us. Oh, that blind man will no doubt be happy to have Christ by Him. That blind man will probably jump to his feet and embrace Christ. No, dear reader. There is a false doctrine that makes that presumable, but here you see that the Scripture leaves no room for such errors. Christ needs to be revealed, and for Him to be revealed, our blindness needs to be taken away. Do you read with me the scriptural order of conversion? Many theories have been made about how we must accept Christ, and how the command to believe is pushed to such an extent that with our responsibility we are able to believe. However, the infallible Word of God says that Christ was sent by the Father to a people who are blind from birth, whose eyes must be opened. His people are dependent on the work of the Holy Spirit.

Some people can get frustrated with these matters, but we are called to bring doctrine no different from what the Holy Scriptures reveal. It is the doctrine which Christ preached. I read that He preached in one place, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Yet, in another place I read, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him…” Here, Christ stands to declare that He has a work to do in which nothing of man can be added.

The work whereunto the Lord Jesus has been called is a holy work; it is a pure work. This work will be established in righteousness—that means a work right with God. Dear reader, has it become reality for you that you need to be made right with God? Then you read the callings in the gospel, but they are for someone else. Then you read the callings of the gospel, but you cannot apply them yourself. Those are a people who are glad that the Bible records that He has been sent to do that work—to make blind ones right with God. This makes those people seek God in their secret places and point to His Word. There is a Church that will be saved because the Father sent His Son to do the work which exalts the free and sovereign grace of a Triune God.

The Lord Jesus reveals a time period in these text words, “while it is day.” He has been sent into this world, and He placed Himself in the state of humiliation. He humbled Himself here, that is in the time of His life on earth. During that time, He did the work of Him that sent Him. One of the gospels records, “And He healed them all.” This “day” which Christ refers to was the time period to prove that there was not a case too hard for Him—to prove He was truly sent; to prove He was qualified for His Mediatorial work; to prove He is the Saviour. He is the Messiah sent of God.

He still is presented like that in the preached and written Word today. The apostle admonished the Corinthians, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” The psalmist of Psalm 118 recorded that, “This is the day which the LORD hath made.” My dear reader, I tell you it is still the day. Shall you take heed to that? If we are unconverted, we are blind. In your unconverted state we call out to you, “It is day.” The Holy Spirit will use the means to make the blind to see. Those means will be used to gather sinners while it is day.

The Lord Jesus revealed something else: “The night cometh, when no man can work.” By this He reveals that His work will once end—the work of healing; the work of standing by the blind. Oh, my dear reader, He reveals here to Israel that He has come to walk among them during the day, but the night cometh when no man can work. So, for you and me the time will come that He will pass by. Oh, then I must warn you, dear reader, that the night cometh. Shall we take heed to the time while it is day? Because upon every day follows a night.

Today He still stands by you my dear, blind, unconverted reader. The One stands there because He has been sent by His Father to do a God-glorifying work. Oh no, then He is not waiting. Nowhere in the Bible do I read that Christ was idly waiting. He came for the divine purpose to convert what is unconverted. He has prayed to His Father, “Those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.”

(To be continued)

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