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Thursday, January 2, 2014

We Beheld His Glory # 38

Christ and the Sabbath Again

There are two other elements here to be noticed. This thing was done on the Sabbath day. Because it was done on the Sabbath day, it roused this fury among the Jewish elders. All the trouble which followed was largely related to that, or at least that was the pretext, it was done on the Sabbath day. The works of God bring those who by nature are blind and in the dark into spiritual enlightenment and understanding, and are connected by the Lord Jesus with the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day is seen all the way through to be a matter of Christ Himself. That is the heart of this chapter; we shall come to that presently. Christ is God's Sabbath: that is,all the works of God are completed in Christ. God comes to His rest in His Son, and looks upon all things in Christ with good pleasure, saying: It is very good. The "It is finished" of Calvary was the establishment of the spiritual truth of the Sabbath rest in the Lord Jesus; and coming into spiritual enlightenment and understanding, is a matter of coming into the finished work of God in Christ. Or to put that another way, a coming into an apprehension of Christ as the One Who has finished the works of God.

The Works of God

The other thing is this remarkable statement in the correct translation, which is not in the Authorized Version - "We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day." That is undoubtedly the correct translation. It is not "I must," it is "we must," and that, being the accurate translation, carries with it something of great importance and value. The Lord links with Himself His Own in the works of God for the enlightenment of those who are blinded and in the dark. He is saying in effect: We, these who are My coworkers, co-partners, to bring into spiritual enlightenment and understanding. Paul entered into those works of God under commission. You remember he tells us what the Lord said to him, as to his commission: that he was to go, and that he should stand before rulers, kings, Gentiles, and that the object was: "... to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God..."  He was one of the workers together with God in opening eyes, that they might turn from darkness to light, and he did it by the Spirit. In our spiritual life we are enjoying the good of all that. You will remember his words in the Ephesian letter 1:18:  "... that... 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, that ye may know..." And then he tabulates some of the things they might know by way of having their eyes enlightened with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. We, beloved, are called into the fellowship of God's Son in this ministry, and we come right into that little fragment of John 9:4 - "We must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day," and the works of God are: "... to open their eyes." Thus they are connected with man's state by nature, of his being born blind.

What the Knowledge of God Is

Now, in connection with the truth of spiritual enlightenment and understanding, it does not come by the presentation of truth. We may have heard much of the truth, and may be well informed in the doctrine, but we may yet be without spiritual understanding. Understanding does not come by a presentation of the truth. Understanding comes by a definite act of Christ in our hearts. It is a work which is done. An apprehension of Christ is not merely along the lines of formulated doctrine. An apprehension of Christ is by reason of a living touch. He touched, He anointed his eyes. It is a living touch. It is an anointing of those inner eyes. There are deeper depths here to which we might go, and these may be touched as we proceed. But recognize what has been said. I want to emphasize, because of Israel's history which comes to its culmination in this chapter; the end of this chapter is the culmination of Israel's history, as a blind people, because there was no inward faculty of spiritual understanding, and yet they had all the oracles of God. You look at such a tremendous passage as Deut. 29:4: "But Jehovah hath not given you an heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day." You know that all the Law had been given; a tremendous presentation of Divine things had been handed to Israel at this point. They had come by a way of wonderful manifestations of God; the very full, rich history of God manifesting Himself in word and in deed, making Himself known to them. Now Moses was closing his career; in a very little while he would sing his song, as in the later chapters of this book (Deuteronomy), and would be buried by God. Gathering all that up, all that history of God's manifestation to them, He said this remarkable thing in chapter 29:4. Leaving the question of God's responsibility in the matter, Moses was simply taking account of the fact that after all they were not seeing, after all they were not hearing. Hearing they did not hear, seeing they did not perceive; having had presented, they did not know in their hearts. Now that history went on and on and on, centuries after Moses, and culminates here in John 9. With all that followed Moses, all the centuries of the monarchy, all the ministry of the prophets, in John 9 they are still blind; they have all this mass of truth but no understanding, no eyes to see, ears to hear, nor hearts to understand. Well might the book of Proverbs put understanding at a high price. Understanding is put above the price of rubies. It is a tremendous thing  is spiritual understanding. It comes in, note, at length, by a living touch with the Lord Jesus, and is a priceless thing. Israel had to obey commands; they did not have understanding. The feature of the new covenant is not obeying commands given us from without, it is having inward revelation of the Lord. "But this is the covenant that I will make ... I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it." The revelation of God is Christ within. "For God ... hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 39)

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