Picture: “The Light of Life” 3TC 300.1
This chapter is based on John 8:12-59; 9.
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” 3TC 300.2
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 pointed to it and said, “I am the light of the world.” Long afterward the apostle John re-echoed these words in that sublime passage, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ... That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” John 1:4, 5, 9. 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 had caused the “light to shine out of darkness” at the beginning. 2 Corinthians 4:6. He is the light of sun, moon, and stars. As the sunbeams penetrate to the farthest corners of the earth, so does the light of the Sun of Righteousness shine on every person. 3TC 300.3
“That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” People of giant intellect and wonderful research, whose words have opened vast fields of knowledge, have been honored as benefactors of the human race. But One stands higher than all of them. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. ... No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has 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 planets 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 what Jesus gives, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:3. “He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” 3TC 301.1
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. They could not tolerate that a mere Man like themselves would make such bold claims. They demanded, “Who are You?” They were determined to force Him to declare that He was the Christ. His sly enemies believed that His appearance and work were so different from the people’s expectations that a direct announcement of Himself as the Messiah would cause them to reject Him as an impostor. 3TC 301.2
But Jesus replied, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.” He was the embodiment of the truths He taught. “I do nothing on my own,” He continued, “but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me.” NRSV. He did not attempt to prove His Messianic claim but showed His unity with God. 3TC 301.3
Many of His hearers were drawn to Him in faith. To them He said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” 3TC 301.4
These words offended the Pharisees. “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, ‘You will be made free?’” Jesus looked on these men, slaves of hatred, and sadly answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” They were in the worst kind of slavery—ruled by the spirit of evil. 3TC 302.1
All who refuse to give themselves to God are under the control of another power. They are in the deepest slavery, their minds under the control of Satan. Christ came to break the chains of sin-slavery from the heart and mind. “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” 3TC 302.2
In the work of redemption there is no forced obedience. We are left free to choose whom we will serve. When we surrender to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. Expelling sin is the act of the soul itself. When we desire to be set free from sin, and we cry out for a power outside of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul receive the energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the instructions of the will to fulfill the will of God. 3TC 302.3
The only condition on which our freedom is possible is that we must become one with Christ. Sin can triumph only by destroying the liberty of the soul. Submitting ourselves to God is what restores to us our very self—restored to our true glory and dignity. The divine law, to which we are brought into subjection, is “the law of liberty.” James 2:12. 3TC 302.4
The Pharisees had declared themselves the children of Abraham. The true children would not try to kill One who was speaking the truth that God gave Him. A mere ancestry that goes back to Abraham was of no value. Without possessing the same spirit and doing the same works, they were not his children. 3TC 302.5
As descent from Abraham was proved not by name and genealogy but by likeness of character, so apostolic succession rests not on the transmission of church governing authority but on spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles’ spirit, that believes and teaches the truth they taught—this is the true evidence of having received the apostles’ authority. 3TC 302.6
Jesus said, “You do the deeds of your father” In mockery the Jews answered, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” These words, in implying evil about the circumstances of His birth, were intended to discredit Christ in the presence of those who were beginning to believe on Him. Jesus paid no attention to this low insinuation, but said, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God.” 3TC 303.1
“You are of your father the devil,” said Jesus. “The desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ... If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” The fact that Jesus spoke the truth with certainty was why the Jewish leaders did not receive Him. The truth offended these self-righteous men. The truth exposed why error was wrong, it condemned their teaching and practice, and it was unwelcome. They did not love truth. 3TC 303.2
“Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” Day by day for three years Christ’s enemies had been trying to find some stain in His character. Satan had been looking for a way to overcome Him but had found nothing to take advantage of in Him. Even the devils were forced to confess, “You are—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 humanity. He had spoken, unchallenged, words that would have been blasphemy from any other lips: “I always do those things that please Him.” 3TC 303.3
The Jews did not recognize God’s voice in the message of His Son. They thought that they were passing judgment on Christ, but they were pronouncing sentence on themselves. “He who is of God,” said Jesus, “hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” 3TC 303.4
Many who love to quibble, to criticize, looking for something to question in the Word of God, think that this is evidence of independent thought and a sharp mind. But hunting for sticks and straws reveals a narrow and earthly nature, a heart that is quickly losing its ability to appreciate God. As a flower turns to the sun so that the bright rays may touch it with tints of beauty, the heart will turn to the Sun of Righteousness so that heaven’s light may beautify the character with the graces of Christ. 3TC 303.5
Jesus continued, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Abraham offered up the most earnest prayer, asking to see the Messiah before he died. And God gave him a supernatural light, a view of the divine sacrifice for sin. He had an illustration of this sacrifice in his own experience. The command came to Him, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, ... and offer him there as a burnt offering.” Genesis 22:2. Upon the altar he laid the son of promise. Then, with the knife upraised to obey God, he heard a Voice from heaven saying, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Genesis 22:12. God imposed this terrible ordeal on Abraham so that he could see the day of Christ and realize God’s great love for the world, so great that He gave His only Son to raise the world from its degradation. 3TC 304.1
By making an entire surrender, Abraham saw that when God gave His only Son to save sinners from eternal ruin, He was making a greater and more wonderful sacrifice than any human could ever make. 3TC 304.2
When God provided a sacrifice instead of Isaac, He was declaring that no one could atone for his own guilt, that 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. 3TC 304.3
Christ’s words concerning Abraham did not seem deeply significant to His hearers. The Pharisees saw in them only fresh ground for arguing. They retorted with a sneer, as if they would prove Jesus to be a madman, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 3TC 304.4
With solemn dignity Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” 3TC 304.5
Silence fell on the large gathering. This Galilean Rabbi had claimed the name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2. 3TC 305.1
Again the priests and rabbis cried out against Jesus as a blasphemer. Because He was, and proclaimed Himself to be, the Son of God, they were bent on destroying Him. Many of the people sided with the priests and rabbis and picked up stones to throw at Him. “But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” 3TC 305.2
“As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. ...’ 3TC 305.3
“When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” 3TC 305.4
The Jews generally believed that sin is punished in this life. Satan, the author of sin and its results, had led people to look on disease and death as proceeding from God. If some great affliction had fallen on anyone, that person had the burden of being considered a great sinner. This viewpoint prepared the way for the Jews to reject Jesus. They looked on the One who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” as Someone “stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted,” and they hid their faces from Him. Isaiah 53:4. 3TC 305.5
Christ’s disciples held the same belief about the connection between sin and suffering that the Jews held. After anointing the blind man’s eyes, Jesus sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and the man’s sight was restored. In doing this, Jesus answered the disciples’ question in a practical way. The disciples were not to discuss about who had sinned or had not sinned. They were to understand God’s mercy 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. 3TC 305.6
The Pharisees were astonished at the cure and were filled with hatred more than ever, for Jesus had performed the miracle on the Sabbath day. 3TC 306.1
The neighbors who knew the young man when he was blind looked on him with doubt, because when his eyes were opened, his face was changed and brightened, and he appeared like another man. Some said, “This is he”; others said, “He is like him.” But he settled the question by saying, “I am he.” He then told them of Jesus and how Jesus had healed him, and they inquired, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.” 3TC 306.2
A council of the Pharisees summoned the man and asked him how he had received his sight. “He said to them, ‘He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.’ Therefore some of the Pharisees said, ‘This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.’” The Pharisees appeared wonderfully zealous for Sabbath observance, yet they were planning murder on that very day. But many were convicted that the One who had opened the eyes of the blind was more than a common man. They said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” 3TC 306.3
Again the rabbis questioned the blind man.” ‘What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’” The Pharisees then claimed that he had not been born blind. They called for his parents and asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind?” 3TC 306.4
There was the man himself, declaring that 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 wrong. Prejudice is that powerful, pharisaical righteousness that distorting. 3TC 306.5
The Pharisees had one hope left: to intimidate the man’s parents. They asked, “How then does he now see?” The parents feared to compromise themselves, for it had been declared that whoever would acknowledge Jesus as the Christ would be “put out of the synagogue,” that is, excluded for thirty days. People thought that this sentence was a great calamity. The great work accomplished 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 sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” In this way they shifted all responsibility to their son. 3TC 306.6
The Pharisees’ questioning and prejudice, their unbelief in the facts of the case, were opening the eyes of the people. The question in many minds was, Would God do such mighty works through an impostor, as the Pharisees insisted that Jesus was? 3TC 307.1
The Pharisees could not deny the miracle. The blind man, filled with joy and gratitude, freely told his experience. Again the Pharisees tried to silence him. “Give God the glory! 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. 3TC 307.2
The blind man answered, “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” 3TC 307.3
As these hypocrites tried to make him disbelieve, God helped him to show, by the vigor and pointedness of his replies, that he would not be caught in any trap of theirs. He answered, “‘I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?’ 3TC 307.4
“Then they reviled him and said, ‘You are His disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.’” 3TC 307.5
The Lord gave the man grace and clarity 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 admittedly ignorant about the source of His power. “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” 3TC 307.6
The man’s reasoning was unanswerable. The Pharisees were spellbound at his pointed, determined words. For a few moments there was silence. Then the frowning priests and rabbis gathered their robes about them, as though they feared contamination from contact with him. “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they excommunicated him. 3TC 308.1
Jesus heard what had happened, and finding him soon afterward, said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” 3TC 308.2
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 face of Jesus. Already, at great cost to himself, he had acknowledged Him as One entrusted with divine power. Now a higher revelation was granted him. 3TC 308.3
To the Savior’s question, the blind man replied by asking, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” The man threw himself at the Savior’s feet in worship. Christ had been revealed to his heart, and he received Him as the One sent by God. 3TC 308.4
A group of Pharisees had gathered near, and the sight of them brought to Jesus’ mind the contrast always evident in the effect of His words and works. “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” At the Savior’s advent, the people had the privilege of a fuller revelation of the divine presence than the world had ever enjoyed before. But in this very revelation, judgment was passing on men and women. Their character was tested, their destiny determined. 3TC 308.5
Feeling that Christ’s words applied to them, some of His hearers inquired, “Are we blind also?” Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would have no sin.” If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. “But now you say, ‘We see.’” You believe yourselves able to see, and you reject the only means through which you could receive sight. The Pharisees refused to come to Christ, and so they were left in blindness. Jesus said, “Therefore your sin remains.” 3TC 308.6
