“The Light of Life”
403
The dilemma in which the Pharisees were placed, their questioning
and prejudice, their unbelief in the facts of the case, were opening the
eyes of the multitude, especially of the common people. Jesus had
frequently wrought His miracles in the open street, and His work was
always of a character to relieve suffering. The question in many minds
was, Would God do such mighty works through an impostor, as the
Pharisees insisted that Jesus was? The controversy was becoming very
earnest on both sides.
The Pharisees saw that they were giving publicity to the work done
by Jesus. They could not deny the miracle. The blind man was filled
with joy and gratitude; he beheld the wondrous things of nature, and
was filled with delight at the beauty of earth and sky. He freely related
his experience, and again they tried to silence him, saying, “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.
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.”
Then they questioned again, “What did He to thee? how opened
He thine eyes?” With many words they tried to confuse him, so that
he might think himself deluded. Satan and his evil angels were on the
side of the Pharisees, and united their energies and subtlety with man’s
reasoning in order to counteract the influence of Christ. They blunted
the convictions that were deepening in many minds. Angels of God
were also on the ground to strengthen the man who had had his sight
restored.
[474]
The Pharisees did not realize that they had to deal with any other
than the uneducated man who had been born blind; they knew not
Him with whom they were in controversy. Divine light shone into the
chambers of the blind man’s soul. 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.”
The Lord Jesus knew the ordeal through which the man was pass-
ing, and He gave him grace and utterance, so that he became a witness