Scripture contemplates a day or time of visitation (Jer. 8:1212Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:12); Luke 19:4444And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:44); 1 Peter 2:1212Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)). Such a day may come on an individual (1 Peter 212Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)), on a city (Luke 1944And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:44)), or on a nation (Jer. 822Speak, Thus saith the Lord, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. (Jeremiah 9:22)). It is either in mercy (Luke 1944And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:44); 1 Peter 212Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)) or in judgment (Jer. 822Speak, Thus saith the Lord, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. (Jeremiah 9:22)). And again, it may either be used so as to glorify God by it (1 Peter 212Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)) or it may be slighted (Luke 1944And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:44)). The visitation in mercy goes before the visitation in judgment, and the interval may be long or short. We see this in the moral history of different nations, such as Egypt, Israel and the world itself.
Mercy
As to Egypt, Joseph was given to that land in mercy; by him God made it the head of the nations and the granary of the whole earth. But Joseph was forgotten, mercy was slighted, and then Moses and the plagues were sent. As to Israel, Jesus was given, Messiah was sent, healing was dispensed, and covenant blessings were brought to the door. But Jesus was rejected, and now desolation and captivity have succeeded. As to the world, the death of Christ is now preached in its saving virtue, as that which has fully satisfied for sin. But that being slighted, the same death of Christ shall be visited in judgment upon the world that is guilty of it. What simple consistency and moral perfection is found in God’s ways! What a relief to discover it, in the midst of all earthly confusion!
Judgment
As I have already noticed, the visitation in judgment may not follow till after a long interval, for the present day of grace has been long indeed. But again, the interval may be short. However, if that day is slighted, such a day of visitation leaves the place or the person in a worse condition than before. I believe that Bethsaida, in the history of the gospel, illustrates this.
That city had a day of visitation. It had been greatly favored. The Lord’s mighty works had been done there beyond the common measure, and Andrew, Peter and Philip, three of the Lord’s apostles, had belonged to that town (John 1:4444Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. (John 1:44)). But such favor had been slighted. The place had not turned to Him; it had not repented (Matt. 11:2020Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: (Matthew 11:20)). Still, it is not altogether beyond the reach of the abounding grace of Christ. After all this, the Lord visits it, and He has the resources of His grace and power with Him. However, the way in which those resources are now brought forth, after they had been slighted, is full of meaning and has a great moral lesson for us (Mark 8:22-2622And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. 26And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town. (Mark 8:22‑26)).
Outside the Town
A blind man at Bethsaida is brought to the Lord, and they beseech Him to touch him. Surely a touch or a word would have been enough, and healing would have followed at once. But there is reserve and delay — a more gradual process than the power of Christ would have demanded. We have to mark it carefully. He takes the blind man by the hand and leads him out of the town. This was significant; Bethsaida had lost title to see the works of Christ. He had done His works there already, and they had not repented. He now takes the blind man out of the town, as of old Moses had taken the tabernacle out of the camp (Ex. 33). Both of these acts were judicial. They spoke of a distance which the Lord had now taken in righteousness, whether from the camp or from the town. But this reserve or distance left each individual Israelite at liberty to seek the Lord at the tabernacle outside the camp, and here this blind man may meet the healing power of Christ outside the town. What consistency in the ways of God! How bright they shine! How divine glory is stamped on Scripture!
Slighted Mercy
But while this man of Bethsaida shall meet the healing virtue of the Lord, it must be after a manner that shall eminently distinguish itself. He spit on his eyes, put His hands on him, and then asked him “if he saw ought” (Mark 8:2323And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. (Mark 8:23)). This was peculiar. Had the Lord ever hesitated before about the perfection of His acts? No — nor does He in this case. But He must give character to this occasion. He would have it now be known that slighted mercy is sensitive. It ought to be so; it is so even with ourselves. Would we repeat our kindnesses to those who had already despised them, without at least letting it be known that we felt something? Let the goodness be exercised surely, but it is morally fitting that some expressions should accompany it. And if it is thus with us, so is it with God. The whole current of the Book of Judges lets us know that. Each succeeding deliverer is raised up on behalf of Israel with increased reserve, because Israel had been sinning against the earlier mercies. And so is it with the Lord Jesus in His doings with this town of Galilee.
The Second Time
The healing proceeds slowly. To the inquiry, if he saw anything, the man has to reply, “I see men as trees walking” (Mark 8:3434And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)). How strange this is! It was not thus with the blind man at Jericho, and the blind beggar in John 934They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. (John 9:34) has but to say, “I went and washed, and I received sight.” But here the healing is tardy and labored. Jesus has still to work. He put His hands a second time upon him and then made him look up. And not till the end of this lengthened process was his sight restored. Before this point, he had not been fully brought under the grace and power of the Son of God, for that is our restoration — becoming nothing less than what that grace and power would make us. “He saw every man clearly.”
Tell It Not in the Town
Valuable, serious, weighty narrative! Oh, the marvelous moral variety and fullness that are found in Scripture! Bethsaida was not a fresh material in the hand of Christ. It had been untrue to Him, and it must know that this is felt by Him, though His grace abounds. And when the mercy is perfected and the blind man sees every man clearly, the Lord closes the scene by saying to him, “Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town” (Mark 8:2626And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town. (Mark 8:26)). As a town, Bethsaida’s day was past; its condition was sealed. Judgment because of slighted mercy was before it, and the Lord had already distinctly told of it, in Matthew 11:2222But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. (Matthew 11:22). Therefore, is it now said, “Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”
Fresh Material
In contrast with this case, what comfort is to be found in a fresh material! The Lord Himself found it so in Samaria. How free and happy He was there, whether at the well of Jacob, or in the village of Sychar. He was there, as at home, for two days, for the ground had been freshly plowed up and visited. Sinners were learning salvation, and their faith spread a feast for Him. He had meat to eat there, which was not to be supplied to Him even by the diligence of those who were constantly with Him.
The Spirit still finds it so. He would have us always “as new born babes” — coming with freshness of taste and desire to the milk of the Word which He Himself has prepared and provided for us (1 Peter 2:2222Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (1 Peter 2:22)). And we ourselves find it so in our experience of this present day through which we are passing, in the grace of God.
The Lord Jesus invited Himself to the house and hospitality of Zaccheus, who was then in his freshness, with the bloom of early affection upon him, but “He made as though He would have gone further” (Luke 24:2828And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. (Luke 24:28)), when He reached the house of those who had been for a long while walking with Him, but who had just been reasoning with thoughts arising in their hearts. Surely again I may say, What wondrous moral variety is to be found in the Word of God! And what expressions of divine secrets, the secrets of grace and of wisdom, what indications of divine sympathies and sensibilities, do we get in the pathway of the Lord’s Spirit through the circumstances of life, as He went through them day by day!
J. G. Bellett (adapted)