In last month’s article, when we reviewed scriptural allusions to spiritual blindness, we saw that physical blindness was often used as a metaphor for lack of spiritual insight and for lack of faith. Those who lack faith are like blind men groping in the dark.
In this month’s article, we focus on the healing of spiritual blindness. We discuss the following topics: Isaiah’s prophecies of the day when the blind will receive their sight; Jesus’ healing the blind because they have faith; the two reactions of those who witness God’s healing power and the fact that our spiritual blindness can be healed today by the enlightenment of God’s word.
The blind shall see
Last month we looked at Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the blindness of Israel. Israel’s eyes were blinded; they would not repent and be healed. In contrast to these passages, we find Isaiah also foresaw a day when the blind would see.
“The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped…1 the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house” (Isa. 35:5; 42:6-7,16; cf. 29:18; 32:3-4).
Jesus fulfilling Isaiah
While these passages from Isaiah refer to the Kingdom age, they were partially fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry of healing.
This is made plain by Jesus’ response to John the Baptist, “Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them” (Mt. 11:4-5; cp. Lk. 7:21,22).
Besides the physical realities of the healings, each of these works of our Lord has a spiritual lesson behind it. The blind seeing refers to faith. The lame walking is the walk in newness of life. Lepers being cleansed refers to sins being forgiven. The deaf hearing is obedience to God’s command. The dead being raised up is the transformation from death to life. The gospel being preached is the good news of the kingdom. And the poor refer to those in whom God will dwell: “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word” (Isa. 66:1-2).
All of these works were started in Jesus’ ministry and continued in the acts of the apostles. The spiritual meaning can continue in our own lives if our natural blindness is replaced with the eye of faith.
Jesus heals the blind
While the prior faith of the healed was not always a prerequisite for the miracles, Jesus’ healing of the physically blind was an outward sign that they had had their spiritual sight restored already; that is, Jesus healed blind people who had demonstrated that they had faith.
- Two blind men — “When Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened” (Mt. 9:27-31).
This episode is about faith. The two men follow Jesus. They declare their faith in him openly, calling him the son of David, the king who would build a house for God. They cry out and ask him to have mercy on them. Jesus put their faith to the test by continuing on to the house, and they eagerly go to him. In the peace and quiet of the house, Jesus elicits a more reasoned declaration of faith, “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” They openly declare, “Yea, Lord,” making it clear that they know who Jesus is. Jesus opens their eyes according to their faith.
These two blind men had their spiritual sight even before Jesus restored their physical sight. The healing of their physical blindness was an outward sign of the inward faith they had already openly declared by their statements and actions (cf. blind Bartimaeus, Luke 18:35-43).
- The man born blind — The centerpiece of John’s gospel is the healing of the man born blind. Faith is the dividing line between the blind man and the Pharisees.
Jesus had said, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (Jn. 6:29), to which the people responded, “What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?” (6:30). The works of God to be manifest in this man born blind was the man’s faith. And the sign that should have convinced the Jews was the healing of the man’s blindness.
Jesus “anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing” (Jn. 9:6-7). Acting on his faith, the man did as Jesus commanded, so he received his sight.
The man recounts the facts to the people, then to the Pharisees. At the Pharisaic inquisition, he declares that Jesus is a prophet. After questioning and intimidating his parents, the Jews call the blind man to testify again. He responds by referring to his earlier testimony, saying, “I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?” (9:27).
When the blind man continues his testimony by indicting the Jews for their obvious lack of spiritual insight and belief, the Jews disfellowship him. “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?…And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (9:35-41).
We also must decide what is our reaction to the demonstration of God’s power. Are we too wise and prudent to be influenced by the Lord? Or are we babes, willing to embarrass ourselves by believing the truth?
God’s word is the source of our enlightenment
The key to a faithful reaction is our assimilation of God’s word, in which He reveals His plan, and by which He enlightens our eyes.
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2:9-10).
We must pray for one another as Paul did, “I…cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:15-19).
May the eyes of our understanding be enlightened, Amen.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One