IN this day of religious doubt and confusion, and removing of ancient landmarks, it is infinitely happy, and calculated to strengthen faith, to turn from the many thoughts of man to that which God has spoken. It is only as we listen to Him, only as we, in simple earnest faith, come to His Word, in order to find therein something on which the soul may rest, that we find relief from the vexed questions of the day.
I have quoted above, a saying of that blind man whose case is so elaborately given in John 9. This man was born blind, and had reached maturity, ere the Lord Jesus effected his complete and astonishing cure. He not only gave him sight natural, so that he could present himself sound to his parents and neighbors, but He gave him sight spiritual, as well, so that he could see, in his Healer, the Son of God, and worshipped Him, too!
But the cure was performed on the Sabbath day, and, thus, a handle was, apparently, given to the enemies of Jesus to condemn Him for breaking the Sabbath. They said accordingly, “He is a sinner.” A sinner, forsooth, for doing good on the Sabbath day! Alas, the religionists of that day had forged their own superstitious chains, and placed themselves under cruel bondage. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” God would share His rest with man, for such was the grand idea in the Sabbath (see Gen. 2:22And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2); Ex. 16:2929See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. (Exodus 16:29)), but man turned that rest into thralldom, and himself into a slave!
Well, these enemies informed the blind man (now healed) that they knew Jesus was a sinner. They could prove it. How then could a sinner do such miracles? How could One, who had, as they alleged, transgressed God’s law, have power bestowed on Him so that He could remove life-long blindness? Impossible. It was in this dilemma that they placed their victim. Their question seemed unanswerable, and his difficulty hopeless. How could he successfully vindicate his Healer when so many wiser than he condemned Him? They had the advantage of sight, and learning, and wealth, and they could apply all the resources of criticism so as to arrive at a perfect and self-evident result!
He was ignorant, and poor, and hitherto dependent on the charities of others! The battle was desperately unequal; the odds against him were enormous; and, yet, spite of all, he came off the victor. Never did general select a more perfect field of battle, or gladiator choose a more suitable weapon. This poor man felt his inability to meet the questions of the enemy. To contend on their field of “scientific criticism” was only to court defeat; and, therefore, instead of allowing them to choose the ground, he took up with wondrous wisdom a position which he knew to be impregnable; and, planting his foot thereon, he dared all his foes!
What a sight! one poor, ignorant, friendless man facing confidently a world! One confronting a thousand! aye, and putting them to flight, too! Wherein lay this wonderful courage? What enabled him to smile, like a hero, before the field was fought? What rendered him consciously invincible? Learning? No. Crowds of followers? No. Bold self-assurance? No. There he stood, hailed, besieged, alone, knowing but one thing!
Yet, that “one thing” he knew; yes, he had (as the Greek word signifies) the inward consciousness of it. It was as certain a fact to him as his own life. If only “one thing,” he knew it, and could stake all thereon. This one fact was worth a bushel of theories, this one bit of experimental knowledge was of far more practical value than the mere brain-acquired lore of ten universities. He could speak experimentally of one thing. This was his vantage ground.
One thing received from God is of infinitely more value than all that you can receive from Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, or all the schools of religious learning put together. Man can never, in the things of God, give you absolute certainty! God alone can do that. Hence, dear reader, in order to enjoy perfect certainty in such things, betake yourself, not to man―his words, or his writings―but to God and His Word. On so doing you will find what you want. Kindly analyze our sentence, “One thing,” not many things, but one; not many truths, but one; if many, so much the better; but, better one than none―one thing.
“I” in my own personality, independently of another human being, irrespective of parent or child, husband or wife, priest or pastor, as though another being did not exist on earth, I myself.
“Know,” yes, I am certified of it, deep down in my inner consciousness, ―I possess it not as seen in a book merely; I hold it, as received from no mere creed, confession, or declaratory act whatever, but as communicated by God to my soul! “One thing I know, that whereas I was blind now I see!”
Very well, you who once were blind are thankfully conscious of your newly given eyesight, and others can witness the bright sparkle of your eye. They may not believe how, or from whom, you received it. Never mind, the witness is there; and you can testify to the fact, and to the Healer.
I would therefore affectionately ask you to consider these four words, “One thing I know,” and by grace to lay hold in like manner of at least one thing―one solid stem for your soul―one everlasting fact of Scripture obtained from God Himself, so that your fragile bark may not be tossed on the rising tide of doubt or reasoning, or superstition.
David slew Goliath with one stone. True, he had four others in reserve, but one sufficed.
One truth known in divine power is more than a match for all the unbelief of the day.
J. W. S.