When the blind man came to Jesus to receive his sight, Jesus said to him, "Your faith has saved you." (Luke 18:42)
In another article we have seen that this was done to show how we may receive the forgiveness of sins. This will be seen the more clearly if we compare it with the case of the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus. The case is recorded in Luke 7:36-50. Jesus was eating in the house of a Pharisee. A woman in the city, who was a sinner, came behind Jesus as He reclined at the table, and, weeping, washed His feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed them with precious ointment.
The Pharisee with whom Jesus was dining was indignant at this, and said to himself, "This man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches Him; for she is a sinner." (Luke 7:39)
Jesus rebuked the Pharisee for his unkind thought both of this woman and of Him, and then said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven." (Luke 7:48)
Then those who sat at the table began to murmur because Jesus had said that, thinking that He had no right and power to forgive sins. "And He said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace." (Luke 7:50)
This is the same language that Jesus used to the blind man when He gave him his sight. Just as he received his sight by faith, so she received the forgiveness of sins by faith. The one case was intended as an illustration of the other. We can grasp the fact of a man being blind and receiving his sight, for that is within the range of our senses. So it is given as an object lesson, to help us to comprehend those things that are not within reach of our physical senses.
Notice that in both these cases there was an effort to keep them away from the Saviour. In the case of the blind man, the more they tried to make him keep still, the more he cried out. So with the woman; she would not be driven from the side of the Saviour by the harsh looks of the Pharisee. This also was recorded for our learning.
Whenever any one feels the need of the Saviour, the devil is ready with his discouragements. He will even attempt to use Scripture, to keep people away from the Lord. He will remind the sinner that God is of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity, (Habakkuk 1:13) and that evil cannot dwell with Him. He whispers, "You are altogether too sinful to come to the Lord; He will not have anything to do with you."
How often the convicted one hears the whisper from the devil, and does not know that it is from him, but thinks that it is only a proper sense of his own unworthiness. He is sure that he ought to get himself better before he presents himself to the Lord, and as he cannot find any way to do it, it often happens that he is kept away altogether.
Now let us learn a lesson from the blind man and the sinful woman. The more they were discouraged from coming to the Lord, the more they persisted in coming to Him. And in this they both found their salvation.
The Pharisee thought that a sinner ought not to come near Jesus. But it was in coming nearer to the Saviour that the woman found pardon. So when the devil thinks to frighten us away from the Lord, by quoting the Scripture, and telling us that evil cannot dwell with the Lord, we will rejoice thereat, and come the more readily; for if evil cannot dwell with the Lord, and we come to Him, then the evil will be driven away, and that is just what we want.
So then let every sin-sick soul come to the Lord, knowing that He is calling for him, and that He has said, "Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)--Present Truth, October 20, 1892.