October 4

"Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee." John 9:37

This man had had his eyes wonderfully opened to see Jesus. Truly to see him, and not merely to judge him by outward appearances, is nothing short of of a divine miracle. Some in Galilee wrongly took Jesus for Elijah. Now Elijah was a prophet of action who faced opponents with courage and vigor, and the Lord Jesus displayed just such a decisiveness of action. When he found men defiling God's house of prayer with merchandise, he forcibly cast them out. He was a true Elijah.

Others mistook Jesus for Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a figure of divine compassion, a weeping prophet; and Jesus fits in here too. He ate at a table with publicans and sinners; he allowed a sinful woman to cry at his feet; and when he saw Mary weeping, he also wept. He was a true Jeremiah.

Nevertheless when people mistook him for either of these, they showed that they knew him only by appearances. It is the Father's revelation and that alone, that shows us who the Son really is. Praise God - the man who really saw Jesus could start where we do - "born blind!"