The eye is probably the most used organ of our body during our waking hours. Not until we experience the misfortune of impaired eyesight do we appreciate the value of this little but wonderful member of our body.
When the Scriptures tell us that conditions in the Garden of Eden were “very good”, we can gather that everything had beauty of design and colour, some resemblance of which we can see today, even after six thousand years’ existence of the curse. It provides pleasure to the onlooker, but still more important, provides evidence of the work of a divine creator – a visual aid as we call it today.
We know this principle of the visual aid is largely adopted by our educational systems in order that the pupil, however young or old, may see how things work, and nature develops, and calculations work out.
The eye, however, like the tongue, can, we know, so easily be used for things which are bad, and that with far less effort, in fact with no effort at all – a situation described by the Apostle as the “Lust of the Eye”. When the serpent misled Eve in the Garden of Eden, the first of the senses to re-act was the eyesight. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes”. It was this little organ which first began to operate and lead the whole human race along a path of sin and death, pain and sorrow, which we see in evidence every day of our lives.
In contrast, then, to the situation in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, the eyesight is something to be regulated and controlled. With all the modern media of entertainment it is mostly the “eyes” to which the appeal is made. The television set has changed the lives of millions of people all ‘over the world; but not.for the better, because of its exploitation of the “lust of the eye”. The misuse of the eyesight by Adam and Eve was but the pattern of how human nature has fallen ever since.
We go to the days of Joshua after the entering into the land, when the whole nation was distressed, and Joshua for a short period regretted passing over Jordan. However, when enquiry was made one man was found to be responsible, and his confession was, “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them,and took them ” (Joshua 7:21).
“And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house; and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon”.
Another misuse of that little organ called the eye, which changed the course of history, particularly for David and the woman concerned. It was an occasion which, without the exercise of divine authority, would have resulted in death for both the man and the woman (Lev.20:10). In God’s eyes there was always “the woman in the case”, and here of course it was Bathsheba, who overstepped the bounds of modesty and discretion by bathing before an open window. Had she not done so, the tragic sequence of events would never have occurred.
Jesus said,
“Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart”.
And here again is the woman in the case, and the responsibility of every sister in Christ to see that her personal attire is not likely to exercise the lust full eye of the opposite sex. “Whosoever”, says Jesus, not just her own Brethren in the Truth.
Conversely, we must see to it that the eye is put to constructive use, and construction, in contrast to lust, requires effort. We go back to the days of the emergence of Israel from Egypt at the institution of the Passover Feast (Ex.12:25-27), when God foresaw the time when the keeping of this feast would excite the curiosity of the children, and the people were given specific instruction to take pains to explain to the youngsters what the Passover was all about.
Again, when Joshua led the Israelites over the river Jordan he was specifically commanded to take twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, to be placed in the midst of the river (Joshua 4:6-7), for one specific reason, that when the youngsters became curious at this odd sight of twelve stones protruding out of the water every care should be taken to explain the object lesson behind the visual aid, to testify to the occasion of the manifestation of divine power.
Here we have underlined the seriousness the Almighty attaches to bringing up our young people in the right and narrow way which leads to the Kingdom of God; to see to it that any question they may ask, however young they are, or however odd the question might be, we take care to answer it as carefully as we can – a principle we would commend to all our young parents. Let them begin as soon as possible to explain the things contained in the Bible, as to why we do this, and we do not do that.
One of the major failures of the nation of Israel was the negleot to teach their own offspring. How differently these people would have turned out had they heeded the commandment given through Moses: “And these words, which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently (margin: Heb. whet or sharpen them; cause them to want more; create an appetite) unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up”. Not something to be left to the Sunday School teachers, C.Y.C. or Y.P.G., but something to be followed up in the home, and what an excellent opportunity for using the daily readings as a visual aid in these things.
Christendom had adopted all kinds of visual aids to a spiritual life, from figures of Christ dead upon the cross, to pictures of the Virgin Mary, but the object lesson commanded to be followed by His true disciples is the memorial service – a visual aid to the memory of His sacrifice, the value of which depends upon the spiritual discernment of those who take part.
Like the gaping crowds at the time of the crucifixion, we may just sit and mentally watch Him there, or we may, as we should, see the manifestation of the love of God, His Son made sin for us, who knew no sin.
Our knowledge of the life and death of Jesus is, of course, our aid to a higher and nobler life, for we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.
The Apostle Paul, through his own character, was able to use his own life as a visual aid when he said:
“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you,”(Phil.4:9).
To those who claimed to share the same truth he said:
“Only let your conversation (manner of life) be as it becometh the gospel of Christ” (Phil.l:27),
or as Jesus said,
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.
Those who have obeyed the Gospel call have themselves to be visual aids to one determined end, both to those who share the call as well as to the world outside, both in the things in which they engage, as well as those things from which they refrain – the Sister in her modest apparel, the Brother in his neat and tidy appearance, the employees working “not with eye service as men pleasers”, but “an epistle” – a visual aid – “known and read of all men”.
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay