This chapter is based on John 8:12-59; 9.
(HLv 313)
“I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
(HLv 313.1)
It was morning; the sun had just risen above the Mount of Olives, and its rays fell with dazzling brightness on the marble palaces, and lighted up the gold of the temple walls, when Jesus, pointing to it, said, “I am the light of the world.” These words were long afterward reechoed by the apostle John in that sublime passage, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”“The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.” John 1:4, 5, 9, RSV. God is light; and in the words, “I am the light of the world,” Christ declared His oneness with God and His relation to the whole human family. It was He who at the beginning had caused the “light to shine out of darkness.” 2 Corinthians 4:6. He is the light of sun, moon, and star. As the sunbeams penetrate to the remotest corners of the earth, so does the light of the Sun of Righteousness shine on every soul.
(HLv 313.2)
“That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Men of giant intellect and wonderful research, whose utterances have opened vast fields of knowledge, have been honored as benefactors of their race. But One stands higher than they. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.”“No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” John 1:12, 18. We can trace the line of the world’s great teachers as far back as human records extend; but the Light was before them. As the moon and the stars of the solar system reflect the light of the sun, so, as far as their teaching is true, do the world’s great thinkers reflect the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. The true “higher education” is that imparted by Him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3. “He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
(HLv 313.3)
When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” the people could not fail to recognize His claim to be the Messiah, the Promised One. To the Pharisees and rulers this claim seemed arrogant. That a man like themselves should make such pretensions they could not tolerate. They demanded, “Who art Thou?” They were bent upon forcing Him to declare Himself the Christ. His wily enemies believed that His appearance and work were so at variance with the expectations of the people that a direct announcement of Himself as the Messiah would cause Him to be rejected as an impostor.
(HLv 314.1)
But Jesus replied, “Even what I have told you from the beginning.” RSV. He was the embodiment of the truths He taught. “I do nothing on My own authority,” He continued, “but speak thus as the Father taught Me. And He who sent Me is with Me.” He did not attempt to prove His Messianic claim, but showed His unity with God.
(HLv 314.2)
Among His hearers many were drawn to Him in faith, and to them He said, “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
(HLv 314.3)
These words offended the Pharisees. “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, ye shall be made free?” Jesus looked on these men, slaves of malice, and sadly answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” They were in the worst kind of bondage—ruled by the spirit of evil.
(HLv 314.4)
Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power. He is in the most abject slavery, his mind under the control of Satan. Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
(HLv 315.1)
In the work of redemption there is no compulsion. Man is left free to choose whom he will serve. When the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself. When we desire to be set free from sin, and cry out for a power out of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul are imbued with the energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the dictates of the will in fulfilling the will of God.
(HLv 315.2)
The only condition on which the freedom of man is possible is that of becoming one with Christ. Sin can triumph only by destroying the liberty of the soul. Subjection to God is restoration to one’s self—to the true glory and dignity of man. The divine law, to which we are brought into subjection, is “the law of liberty.” James 2:12.
(HLv 315.3)
The Pharisees had declared themselves the children of Abraham. The true children would not try to kill One who was speaking the truth given Him from God. A mere lineal descent from Abraham was of no value. Without possessing the same spirit and doing the same works, they were not his children.
(HLv 315.4)
As descent from Abraham was proved, not by name and lineage, but by likeness of character, so apostolic succession rests not on the transmission of ecclesiastical authority, but on spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, the belief and teaching of the truth they taught—this is the true evidence of apostolic succession.
(HLv 315.5)
Jesus said, “Ye do the deeds of your father.” In mockery the Jews answered, “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” These words, in allusion to the circumstances of His birth, were intended as a thrust against Christ in the presence of those who were beginning to believe on Him. Jesus gave no heed to the base insinuation, but said, “If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I proceeded forth and came from God.”
(HLv 315.6)
“You are of your father the devil,” said Jesus. “Your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him... . If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” RSV. The fact that Jesus spoke the truth with certainty was why He was not received by the Jewish leaders. The truth offended these self-righteous men. The truth exposed the fallacy of error; it condemned their teaching and practice; and it was unwelcome. They did not love truth.
(HLv 316.1)
“Which of you convicts Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” RSV. Day by day for three years Christ’s enemies had been trying to find some stain in His character. Satan had been seeking to overcome Him but had found nothing in Him by which to gain an advantage. Even the devils were forced to confess, “Thou art the Holy One of God.” Mark 1:24. Jesus lived the law in the sight of heaven, in the sight of unfallen worlds, and in the sight of sinful men. He had spoken, unchallenged, words that from any other lips would have been blasphemy: “I do always those things that please Him.”
(HLv 316.2)
The Jews did not recognize God’s voice in the message of His Son. They thought themselves passing judgment on Christ; but they were pronouncing sentence on themselves. “He that is of God,” said Jesus, “heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”
(HLv 316.3)
Many who delight to quibble, to criticize, seeking for something to question in the Word of God, think that this is evidence of independence of thought and mental acuteness. But hunting for sticks and straws betrays a narrow and earthly nature, a heart that is fast losing its capacity to appreciate God. As a flower turns to the sun, that the bright rays may touch it with tints of beauty, so will the soul turn to the Sun of Righteousness, that heaven’s light may beautify the character with the graces of Christ.
(HLv 316.4)
Jesus continued: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Abraham offered up the most earnest prayer that before his death he might behold the Messiah. And a supernatural light was given him. He was given a view of the divine sacrifice for sin. Of this sacrifice he had an illustration in his own experience. The command came to Him, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, ... and offer him ... for a burnt offering.” Genesis 22:2. Upon the altar he laid the son of promise, then with knife upraised to obey God he heard a voice from heaven saying, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.” Genesis 22:12. This terrible ordeal was imposed on Abraham that he might see the day of Christ and realize the great love of God for the world, so great that He gave His only-begotten Son to raise it from its degradation.
(HLv 317.1)
By making an entire surrender, Abraham was shown that in giving His only Son to save sinners from eternal ruin, God was making a greater and more wonderful sacrifice than ever man could make.
(HLv 317.2)
In God’s provision of a sacrifice instead of Isaac, it was declared that no man could make expiation for himself; the pagan system of sacrifice was wholly unacceptable to God. No father was to offer up his son or daughter for a sin offering. The Son of God alone can bear the guilt of the world.
(HLv 317.3)
Christ’s words concerning Abraham conveyed to His hearers no deep significance. The Pharisees saw in them only fresh ground for caviling. They retorted with a sneer, as if they would prove Jesus to be a madman, “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham?”
(HLv 317.4)
With solemn dignity Jesus answered, “Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
(HLv 318.1)
Silence fell on the vast assembly. The name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence, had been claimed by this Galilean Rabbi. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2.
(HLv 318.2)
Again the priests and rabbis cried out against Jesus as a blasphemer. Because He was, and avowed Himself to be, the Son of God, they were bent on destroying Him. Many of the people, siding with the priests and rabbis, took up stones to cast at Him. “But Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.”
(HLv 318.3)
“As Jesus passed by, He saw a man which was blind from his birth. And His disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him... . When He had thus spoken, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.”
(HLv 318.4)
It was generally believed by the Jews that sin is punished in this life. Satan, the author of sin and its results, had led men to look on disease and death as proceeding from God. One on whom some great affliction had fallen had the burden of being regarded as a great sinner. Thus the way was prepared for the Jews to reject Jesus. He who “hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” was looked upon by the Jews as “stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted,” and they hid their faces from Him. Isaiah 53:4, 3.
(HLv 318.5)
The belief of the Jews in regard to the relation of sin and suffering was held by Christ’s disciples. Having anointed the eyes of the blind man, Jesus sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and the man’s sight was restored. Thus Jesus answered the question of the disciples in a practical way. The disciples were not to discuss as to who had sinned or had not sinned, but to understand the mercy of God in giving sight to the blind. There was no healing virtue in the clay or in the pool where the blind man was sent to wash; the virtue was in Christ.
(HLv 319.1)
The Pharisees, astonished at the cure, were more than ever filled with hatred, for the miracle had been performed on the Sabbath day.
(HLv 319.2)
The neighbors who knew the young man in his blindness looked on him with doubt, for when his eyes were opened, his countenance was changed and brightened, and he appeared like another man. Some said, “This is he”; others, “he is like him.” But he settled the question by saying, “I am he.” He then told them of Jesus, and by what means he had been healed, and they inquired, “Where is He? He said, I know not.”
(HLv 319.3)
Before a council of the Pharisees the man was asked how he had received his sight. “He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day.” The Pharisees appeared wonderfully zealous for the observance of the Sabbath, yet were planning murder on that very day. But many were convicted that He who had opened the eyes of the blind was more than a common man. They said, “How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles?”
(HLv 319.4)
Again the rabbis appealed to the blind man. “What sayest thou of Him, that He hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.” The Pharisees then asserted that he had not been born blind. They called for his parents and asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?”
(HLv 319.5)
There was the man himself, declaring he had been blind and had had his sight restored; but the Pharisees would rather deny the evidence of their own senses than admit that they were in error. So powerful is prejudice, so distorting is Pharisaical righteousness.
(HLv 320.1)
The Pharisees had one hope left, and that was to intimidate the man’s parents. They asked, “How then doth he now see?” It had been declared that whoever should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ should be “put out of the synagogue,” that is, excluded for thirty days. The sentence was regarded as a great calamity. The great work wrought for their son had brought conviction to the parents, yet they answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: but by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.” Thus they shifted all responsibility to their son.
(HLv 320.2)
The Pharisees’ questioning and prejudice, their unbelief in the facts of the case, were opening the eyes of the multitude. The question in many minds was, Would God do such mighty works through an impostor, as the Pharisees insisted that Jesus was?
(HLv 320.3)
The Pharisees could not deny the miracle. Filled with joy and gratitude, the blind man freely related his experience. Again the Pharisees tried to silence him. “Give God the praise; we know that this Man is a sinner.” That is, Do not say again that this Man gave you sight; it is God who has done this.
(HLv 320.4)
The blind man answered, “Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
(HLv 320.5)
As these hypocrites tried to make him disbelieve, God helped him to show, by the vigor and pointedness of his replies, that he was not to be ensnared. He answered, “I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be His disciples? Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art His disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is.”
(HLv 321.1)
The Lord gave the man grace and utterance so that he became a witness for Christ in words that were a cutting rebuke to his questioners. Here was One performing miracles, and they were confessedly ignorant as to the source of His power. “Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” RSV.
(HLv 321.2)
The man’s reasoning was unanswerable. The Pharisees were spellbound before his pointed, determined words. For a few moments there was silence. Then the frowning priests and rabbis gathered about them their robes, as though they feared contamination from contact with him. “Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?” And they excommunicated him.
(HLv 321.3)
Jesus heard what had been done, and finding him soon after, said, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?”
(HLv 321.4)
For the first time the blind man looked on the face of his Restorer. He had seen his parents troubled and perplexed; he had looked on the frowning faces of the rabbis; now his eyes rested on the loving, peaceful countenance of Jesus. Already, at great cost to himself, he had acknowledged Him as a delegate of divine power; now a higher revelation was granted him.
(HLv 321.5)
To the Saviour’s question, the blind man replied by asking, “Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him?” And Jesus said, “Thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.” The man cast himself at the Saviour’s feet in worship. Christ had been revealed to his soul, and he received Him as the Sent of God.
(HLv 321.6)
A group of Pharisees had gathered near, and the sight of them brought to the mind of Jesus the contrast ever manifest in the effect of His words and works. “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” The people at the Saviour’s advent were favored with a fuller manifestation of the divine presence than the world had ever enjoyed before. But in this very revelation, judgment was passing upon men. Their character was tested, their destiny determined.
(HLv 322.1)
Some of His hearers, feeling that Christ’s words applied to them, inquired, “Are we blind also?” Jesus answered, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.” If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. “But now ye say, We see.” You believe yourselves able to see, and reject the means through which alone you could receive sight. The Pharisees refused to come to Christ, hence were left in blindness. Jesus said, “Your sin remaineth.”
(HLv 322.2)