CONTENTS
Jesus giveth Sight to a Man which was born blind. The Pharisee are enraged at it. Jesus preacheth a sweet Sermon on the Occasion.
(John 9:1) And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Such seems to have been the importance of this miracle of Christ, as it related to his own glory, and as it related to his Church, that the Holy Ghost hath been pleased to cause the relation of it to occupy an whole Chapter, of more than forty verses. And excepting that memorable one, in respect to the resurrection of Lazarus, John 11:1 and which, for very obvious reasons, may be considered as demanding also the special attention of the Church, we do not find any of the Lord's miracles on the bodies of men, so largely dwelt upon. Under the apprehension therefore of its greater importance to our regard, than some of the more ordinary miracles of Christ, I hope the Reader will indulge me with calling his more immediate attention to it: and may both Writer and Reader seek of that wisdom which is from above, in the perusal of it, that we may enter into the design of God the Spirit, in the large relation he hath given; and the glories of God the Son in so distinguishing an act of grace as is here shewn; and to the praise of God the Father, whose name is glorified in his dear Son. John 17:1
And here, according to my view of the subject, and among the other designs of God the Holy Ghost, in the special, and large relation of this miracle; I humbly conceive, that beside the thing itself in so divine an act of Christ, in displaying the Godhead of his nature, and identifying his Person and Character, as God-Man-Mediator; it was intended as a beautiful illustration of the recovery of every individual member of Christ's mystical body, from the blind estate in which they are all born in the Adam-nature of the fall: and out of which the Lord Jesus alone brings them, as the life and light of his people. If the thought be well founded, and is of God's teaching; and if both Writer and Reader be enabled to consider it through the whole in this point of view, and the Lord should be pleased to bless their attention to it with his grace, both will then find cause to say, as one of old did concerning Jesus and his works: My meditation of Him shall be sweet. Psalms 104:34
Let us enter on the Chapter. It is said, that as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And who so blind as even God's dear children are to spiritual things, when first born in the Adam-nature of original sin, and transgression, sinners from the womb? Scripture saith, that they are children of wrath even as others, and consequently, until called by grace, have their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. Ephesians 4:18. They are, in the fullest and strictest sense of the word, blind to the knowledge of God the Father, and his everlasting love to the Church in Christ! Blind to the Person, work, grace, mercy, favor, and all the ten thousand beauties, and excellencies which are in God the Son, in his Mediator-character, as Head, and Husband of his Church, and people! Blind to everything relating to the eternal Power and Godhead of the blessed Spirit, both in his own essence and glory; and in his grace and mercy to the Church: so that in point of knowledge, as to their own apprehension in spiritual understanding, they have never so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost! Acts 19:2. And of their own utterly lost, ruined, and undone estate, in the Adam-fall of nature, they are perfectly unconscious! Reader! Pause, and ask, whether there can be a blindness like this! And yet whether you are now conscious of it or not: this is the real state of every son and daughter of Adam by nature. None so near to us as God: and none so little known, or so little regarded!