The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-15
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What Blind Bartimaeus Saw
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 What Blind Bartimaeus saw.-Mark 10:46- 5S-July 19.
 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be rnstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing Isaiah S55. 6.
 It was Passover season, and many were jcurneying toward Jerusalem. Barti- maeus, blind beggar sat by the way side hoping to receive charity from the passersby. Hearing an unusual commo- ton, he inquired the cause. The answer was that Jesus the Nazarene had just passed by.
 Bartimaeus had heard that Jesus was the reputed Messiah, who, according to the scriptures, would eventually bless the whole world and do away with sin sick ness, sorrow and pain He had heard that already Jesus was performing cures, heal ing the sick, casting out demons and open ing the eyes of the blind. His faith and hope famed up, and he shouted aloud, Jesus. thou Son of David, have mercy OF mel" Be quiet Make less noisel Do not interrupt the great Teacher; He is talking with others, sad the passersoy But Bartimaeus felt that 1t was now or never with him. He lifted his voice above that of the multitude and shouted more than ever, Jesus, thou son ol David, have mercy mel
 Jesus heard the voics and ever ready to be gracious to those who call for mercy He bade the blind man come to Him. It would show his faith; it would be the more important lesson to the multitude | thus. Helped by others, Bartimaeus final | ly found himself in the presence of Jesus; nd he. Mo ct cafd. 'f\[hat wilt thou that I should do unto thee?' Promptly came the answer: 70 Lord, that l might | receive my sight," Jesus said unto nm, | "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole" Immediately he received sight, | and became one of the followers in the | concourse, praising the Divine power and acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah.
 Jesus. Thou Son of David" | Tho blind mans words. Jesus, thou
 Son of David" had special significance to
 the Jews of his day which is lost so far | as the nultitides of today are concerned.
 The Jews knew that Messiah as the great High Priesr was in a measure pre- | figured by Aaron, and as the great law l giver was typited by Moses, and as the | great King was prefigured, or tvpined, by 1 Solomon, Dayid's wise rich, influential
 son, his successor in the kingdom The uniting of all these lines of prophecy in
 
 Melchizedek who was a priest upon his 1 throne; that is to say, he was a priest oi | God at the same time he was prince or l ruler-he held double office.
 St, Paul calls our attention to this fact | that Jesus is not to be ultimately priest | a after the Order of Aaron-merely sacri-
 ficing priest without any reigning power | but He Is to be a Priest after the Order | Of Melchizedck. OIebrcws 7) On the basis l of this prophetic statement St. Paul
 shows the Divine forentention in respect | to Jesus and the character of the Messl- | anic kingdom
 The committee arran,yng these interna- | tional Bible studies evidently had in minc the fact that Jesus miracles at His first | advent were the mercst foreshadows ol the gr reater works which He will accom- | plish at His second advent. In line witt this thought they have given us as tht golden text for today's lesson Isaiah: prophecy respecting Messlahs kingdom This agrees with the general trend of th' Apostolic teaching to the effect that th' miracles which Jesns performed were
 adows CT illustrations, of the greater work to be accomplished oy the estaDnsh mcnt of His millennial kingdom. We
 read, These things lid Jesus, and mani q. fested forth His glory, l. e., showed II
 advance His kingdom glory and power.
 We are not to think for moment tha Jesus and His disciples attempted to hca al; the sick of Palestine. On the contrary while any ere healed, they were mcrel,
 such as manifested special faith Bar tin seus was only of many blind beA
 gars by the wayside, we may be sure; fo Palestine, Syria and Egypt are the land
 of blind beggars The Lord had alread,
 passed by him, not offering to heal him He had his eyesight restored because h
 cried out, because he would not listen t,
 those who sought to still his voice ant
 turn aside his faith.
 All the Blind Eyes Shall be Opened Whoever in reading golden tex thinks merely that all natural blindnes
 will be done away in Messian's kingdom
 sees only a small portion of the gloriou
 vcrk to be accom- plished. The blindnes
 of ignorance and superstition with whicl
 satan has afflicted the race is far wors ttsn physical blindness. The scrptIra declaration, Every eye shall see Him and they also that pierced Him. has un !. doubtedly special reference to the eye | of understanding. Jesus declared to HI / disciples, Yet little while. and tn world seeth Me no more but ye shall se Me" Yet. says the Apostle John, w ? shall be like Him; for We shall see Hir as He is.
 By the miraculous change of the frs ) resurrection the church will be mad , spirit beings. and then will see the Mas | ter face to face, because spirit being : like Him. But the world will see Hii only with the eyes of their understa nc ing opened, just as believers now see tn FCther and see Jesus )y the eye of faitl liust as we see the things which eye hat inot seen neither have entered into tn