On my last post we saw that spiritual sight is necessary to acquire Christian knowledge. As a matter of fact, if the devil can have it his way he will make us blind as soon as the opportunity presents itself, for he knows that a blind person can easily be deceived, misled and overcome. The story found in 2 Kings is a good example of it:
“So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.19 Now Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria” (2 Kings 6:18,19).
The moment the Syrians became blind, Elisha was able to mislead them with little effort. In the spiritual realm it works the same way. This is one of the reasons why many evangelicals are being misled and deceived; amoral practices are interring several churches and few seem truly aware of what is happening. I am not talking here about legalistic practices, but about immoral constituents the Scripture condemns.
As I wrote elsewhere, the person who refuses to follow Jesus on His terms will not be able to see what Jesus sees and know what Jesus knows. That person will be blinded by his own insubordination and easily recruited by blind leaders.
Spiritual sight & ministry
According to Jesus, spiritual sight is also indispensable to minister effectively.
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel” (John 5:19,20).
The ministry Jesus was carrying out depended, as a whole, of Him seeing the Father working. He confessed openly that “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do”. It follows that in a state of blindness nothing valuable or eternal can be done. One might dash in and out and work exceedingly, but without sight the results are doomed from the start. Jesus could not have put it any clearer when He said:
Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up” (Matt. 15:13).
The tragedy nowadays is that many of our so-called Christian ministers are blind men, or men suffering from myopia. We have come to believe that Bible schools have the ability to produce competent preachers, and that diplomas are sufficient to be spiritually productive, ergo, many are with their diplomas, running and sweating, preaching and working as to obtain some popularity, and few have time to contemplate God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ or to see the Father at work as Jesus saw Him. Let it be forever remembered: Our ministry cannot be greater than what we see from the Father.
The psalmist had come to the same conclusion:
Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us” (Psalm 123:1,2).
Spiritual sight engenders true worship
When the glory of God is seen there is fascination, admiration and contemplation; there is a spiritual awakening that propels the observer to a higher sense of the divine. It could be compared to a child lying in his crib, fascinated by the baby mobile hanging above his cradle. He wants to touch it, bring it closer to his eyes and play with it, for he is captivated by its colors and shapes. If the child would be blind everything would be monotonous; there would be no sense of attraction, no passion and no interest; but his sight triggers it all.
What about us? Do we see Him in the beauty of holiness? Do we see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? If we don’t, the life we are experiencing is infinitely less than the genuine Christian life.
A few words of warning
Most of the time, when our spiritual sight grows dim, we begin an unconscious search for material substitutes, and believe me, they are easy to find nowadays, for there are many churches marketing ways of entertainments which challenge the colors and attractions of Hollywood. Don’t misunderstand me! I am not insinuating that our meetings should be colorless or boring. I am only saying their colors don’t provide a gauge by which genuine spirituality can be measured, and if we are not careful, people might end up coming to our meetings not to behold the glory of God but to enjoy the charm of the entertainers entertaining skillfully.
In spirit and in truth
The true worshiper doesn’t need these earthly gadgets, for he has crossed the veil and beholds the Shekinah in its manifested glory—sharper the vision, greater the experience.
This, and nothing less, has been the experience of the saints of old. The motivating force propelling them forward was related to their acute sight. One doesn’t need to be a prophet to figure it out. The Scripture testifies time and again that without a sharp perception of spiritual reality a sure decline is on its way.
The church of Laodicea stands as a blatant example of the certainty of that principle. Their lack of spiritual sight had made havoc in their community and God had to exhort them saying: “Anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Rev. 3:18). Here lies the hope for a genuine revival, for without spiritual sight a person is foredoomed to be earthbound and moved by materialities. Such is the legacy of blindness.
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