KNOWING THE SON OF GOD
John C Gray
John 9: 1-3, 6, 7, 18-21, 24-38
I was thinking of the greatness of what it is to come to know the Son of God, and the steps that it takes to reach that. The history of this man is well-known and often used, but we must apply it to ourselves to see how we work out our spiritual history. The disciples are often like ourselves; we look at things historically and naturally, “who sinned, this man or his parents …?”, but that is looking at the thing naturally. The Lord is intent on securing what is of the work of God. It is an exercise, and we are thankful that in this place and in this area that that has been encouraged and deepened in the present course of things. If there is conflict in the testimony, the Lord gives something to deepen our spiritual capacity and therefore add something to us: it will shine in the day to come. We go on patiently, but we need to see that we arrive at something specific, and in this chapter what is arrived at is the knowledge of the Son of God.
The work goes on: the Lord “spat on the ground and made mud of the spittle, and put the mud, as ointment, on his eyes. And he said to him, Go, wash”. There is a man here who was obedient; it is evident that God was working. The Lord says, “but that the works of God should be manifested in him”. Now that is a challenge for each one of us as to “the works of God” being “manifested” in us, and it is so that progress will be made as we appreciate Christ in all His greatness and what He has done for us. The greatness of His stoop in incarnation is the first thing; the spittle draws attention to that. John’s gospel says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (chap 1: 1), and then it says, “And the Word became flesh” (v 14); that is, that He has come into conditions where He can draw near to us and be with us. What a wonderful matter that is: the Son of God with us! That is who was there, and this man, although he is lacking in knowledge in his initial steps of spiritual growth, clung on to the fact that here was a Man who had given him his sight. How great that the light of God had shone in his heart, and that was the first step in his salvation!
But then he goes on because the parents, quite naturally, do not want to be excommunicated; so they say he will speak for himself, "ask him”. So we get this statement, “He answered therefore, If he is sinful I know not. One thing I know, that, being blind before, now I see”. That is, he clings on to the fact that he had been saved by Christ and was making progress in relation to the understanding of what Christ had done to him.
But, as we go on, we find that the Pharisees ask him twice; they are perplexed; they cannot fathom this work of God in a man who was previously blind. We have all been morally blind. We come to that in the gospel, of course, and God gives light and we see and come into clear vision of what Christ has done in His work at the cross, and His being buried and raised again and glorified, the Spirit coming to make it real in our souls as to what has actually happened. If anybody knew Christ in the flesh, “yet now we know him thus no longer”, 2 Cor 5: 16. We know Him in the capacity in which the Spirit reveals Him, bringing in the powerful idea that we are entering into a spiritual realm, and soon we are going to have spiritual bodies to fill that out, but in the meantime it makes no difference that we are in bodies of flesh and blood, and which are failing, because the work of God in the believer stands by itself in all its greatness and glory, and we see that in this man, and it goes on.
When the Pharisees ask him a second time, he begins to take issue with them. They had said, “we know that this man is sinful”: what a thing to say about the Lord Jesus! They had no appreciation at all, and he begins to take up an attitude of maintaining defence of the testimony, because when they railed at him he says, “Now in this is a wonderful thing, that ye do not know whence he is, and he has opened mine eyes. But we know that God does not hear sinners; but if any one be God-fearing, and do his will, him he hears. Since time was, it has not been heard that any one opened the eyes of one born blind. If this man were not of God he would be able to do nothing”. Wonderful thing now: he is able to give a testimony. The work of God in him is strong enough to bear testimony to these people who thought they knew everything about the law of Moses, and they probably did know in the theory of it, but they did not understand that what Moses spoke of was in type what Christ was Himself, so they were really blind. The Lord says that at the end but He leaves the door open that they should still see.
Then this man is excommunicated on that account, and as soon as we are able to leave what is religious and formal, then we will have a revelation of the Son of God, and that is what I wanted to come to, the greatness of what Paul says, “But when God … was pleased to reveal his Son in me”, Gal 1: 15, 16. “In me”, not ‘reveal His Son to me’ - that was one thing - but revealed his Son “in me”. That is what this man came to. Now it is a great thing when we come to it, I believe, and I would like to understand it more fully, beloved brethren, that we come to the knowledge of the Son of God; that is what we had as to “the full-grown man”; “the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man”, Eph 4: 13.
How wonderful it is then that Paul was the one who immediately after his sight was restored “preached Jesus that he is the Son of God”, Acts 9: 20. How quickly he arrived at that in his soul! You say that this man took a while to arrive at things, and we all do. We have to say that we are slow learners, but God is patient with us, and the Spirit is patient with us that we should come to it that once we have left all this religious and formal background that relates to Christendom, which all of us have a judgment of, then the Lord finds him and reveals Himself as the Son of God. Wonderful thing that is! The greatness of the One who was here!
If He reveals Himself as the Son of God, it is that there is a Father. The Son of God involves that there is a Father, and making that known was the mission of the Lord Jesus. John’s gospel particularly brings that out to reveal God as Father, and only the Son can reveal God as Father. It is a wonderful thing to come to that. It is important therefore that we have not only an affection for Christ who has died for us and risen again and been glorified, and an appreciation that He is able to help us in testimony and in every exigency of the way as High Priest, and maybe even as Patron, but that we understand Him as the Son of God because He will help us in our understanding and response in divine service. The sisters may say, ‘We say nothing’, but you enter into it, beloved sisters, in spirit, and it is very important to follow what the brothers respond in because the Spirit is with them in response, and the sisters are together in that so that when we act together, it makes the singing richer, and it makes the response from the brothers richer, and we need therefore to be together in the matter that there might be a unified response because spiritually sisters are sons of God just as the brothers are.
The Lord replied when the Sadducees, who said there is no resurrection, asked about the woman marrying seven brothers, which of them was going to be her husband, that they “are as angels of God”, Matt 22: 30. It is a spiritual world where the sons of God are responding, one and the same, and the knowledge of the Son of God brings us into that because it helps us to understand that God is our Father, and that is an area of love: “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Gal 2: 20. We need to understand the depth of that.
No matter what trouble comes to you, beloved brother and sister, the Son of God is there as the help and the entrance into what is spiritual and living, the knowledge of the Father. “The Father himself has affection for you”, John 16: 27. Think of what the Lord says about the Father’s care: one sparrow “shall not fall to the ground without your Father”, Matt 10: 29! Does He not therefore care for you? Of course, He does. Far more! So the knowledge of the Son of God not only induces worship in our hearts because of who He is in His Person, but His entrance into manhood as the Son of God – He was never known as the Son of God before entering into manhood - would give us to come to see the glory of who the Father is, and worship follows, and this man comes into a wonderful area.
Of course, in the next chapter, as we have often been taught, we can say he is there as part of the flock, and so are we, part of the flock: “and there shall be one flock, one shepherd”, v 16. How great that is! What an area that is that we were speaking of recently, as to the functioning of the body, the secret side of the assembly, the functioning side inwardly that makes way for what the assembly can do, and what it does do.
May our hearts be encouraged to come to the knowledge of the Son of God that it may enrich us and help us in divine service for His Name's sake!
Word in meeting for ministry in Grangemouth
5th June 2018