I do not know if you are aware of how many blind people there are in the world. I just recently looked this up. There are estimates of between 40-45 million legally blind people in the world. I thought that this was kind of a low number considering that there are nearly seven billion people; but still, out of these 40-45 million people who are from all of the different nations, 1.4 million of them are children. Most people become blind as they get older. They lose their sight as it gets worse and worse until they are legally blind, but there are 40-45 million blind people.
We know that all throughout history there have been blind people. We read of Christ opening up the eyes of the blind in the Bible. Someone who is totally blind will have no perception of light. Others can be legally blind, but they can still perceive some light. They can maybe make out some things. If you remember, there is one account of a man in the Bible whom Christ healed. It was a two-part healing. In the first part, he saw “men as trees, walking.” Things were still very blurry; he could not quite make things out. Then Jesus completely healed him and he saw things normally, just like we see today.
Most people see normally. We can see the trees. We can see the grass. We can see mountains and streams. We can see other people. We see colors and shapes, and it is really a great blessing to be able to see; and yet there are some people who have always been in the world as people who cannot see.
Those who are physically blind are actually a great example of something that the Bible talks about, which is spiritual blindness. Spiritual blindness is on a different realm. It is not associated with physical blindness. We understand physical blindness. We expect certain things of physically blind people because we know that they are blind and that they cannot see; but spiritual blindness is on a totally different level. We do not know if someone is spiritually blind or not, but one thing we do know is that everyone born into the world is spiritually blind. This is because we are born in sin and we are brought into this world in this sinful condition.
Let us look at some of what God says about spiritual blindness. We read in 2 Corinthians 3:12-14:
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded…
A little further on in 2 Corinthians 4, there is another reference to being blinded, but these are two different Greek words for the word that was translated “blinded.” This particular word is a word that is used, for example, in John 12:40. We read in John 12:37-40:
But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias [Isaiah] said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart…
The word “blinded” in John 12:40 is not the same word. The word “hardened” is the same word that we find translated as “blinded” in 2 Corinthians 3:14. In 2 Corinthians 3:14, it says:
But their minds were blinded…
And here in John 12:40, it says:
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart…
He has blinded their minds or hardened their heart, which is basically another way of saying the same thing.
Let us finish this verse in John 12:40, and then I will return to 2 Corinthians 3. It says in John 12:40:
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
Who hardened their heart? Who blinded their eyes? It was God. We will talk about this a little bit later. For now, let us go back to 2 Corinthians 3. We read in 2 Corinthians 3:14-18:
But their minds were blinded [or hardened]: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Chapter 4, 2 Corinthians 4:1-4:
Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
God is saying that man is blind. Mankind is blind. If you remember, we read in the Fourth Gospel 1 that the world was in darkness and then came the Light into the world, which was Christ. It says, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” God uses this figure because mankind is in darkness, and this is about the best way that we can explain blindness. If you are blind, you are in the dark and you cannot see. If you are blind, you cannot see anything.
I am sure that just about everyone at one point or another has tried to experience what it is like to be blind. You close your eyes and try to make your way across the room, even though this is not what it would be like in every case because there are levels of blindness. In those who have no light perception, this is exactly how it is. It is dark and you cannot make things out.
Once again, it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not…
Who is it who blinded the people whom we read about in the Fourth Gospel? Was it Satan? No; it was God. Who is “the god of this world”? He is God. God is the One who blinds. We do not read about Satan blinding anyone, but we do read that God is the One who blinds.
Look at Exodus 4:11. By the way, just to make sure that proper credit is given, I heard this in one of Mr. Camping’s studies. This is not something that I discovered. In Exodus 4:11, we read:
And JEHOVAH said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I JEHOVAH?
God makes blind; God makes deaf; He makes dumb. This is true on a physical level and this is true on the spiritual level. This is because it is God who cursed man. He cursed man when man sinned. As a result of this curse, He spiritually blinded man. Actually, we say that man is spiritually blind, but the condition of mankind is far worse than this. We are also deaf, we are also dumb, we are also lame, and we are also dead. This is why we are blind, because we are dead. This is why we are deaf, because we are dead. This is why we are dumb, because we are dead. This is why we cannot walk in the commandments of God. We are lame because we are dead. We are dead in sin.
The Bible tells us this very clearly in Ephesians 2:1:
And you hath he quickened…
What does “quickened” mean? Even though it is in italics, it carries the idea here of being brought to life. It continues:
And you hath he quickened [made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins:
We were dead. We were dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, spiritually dead. It is like taking your Bible and going to your local cemetery. There is a nice, big one near me. So go take your Bible, find a nice area, find a nice tombstone, one that you think will give you the best possibility for some individual to come out of the grave and arise, and start preaching to them. Start preaching to them.
As you start preaching to them, what is the individual in the grave going to hear? Preach to him from sun up to sun down. What is he going to hear? He is going to hear nothing. What is he going to see? He is not going to see anything. Is he going to rise up? No, he is going to stay dead.
This is a good illustration for us. It should really cause us to relax when we are sharing the Gospel and to not get uptight or to definitely not get angry with others. Do not get frustrated because what do you expect? What do you expect when you share the Word of God and people do not understand about May 21 or any other teaching from the Bible?
Does anybody in the cemetery understand? Do they see it? Do they get it? No. No. Well, obviously, you would not get frustrated with them. If you were in a cemetery, you would just walk away and think, “That was a foolish thing for me to do! It was foolish for me to expect them to hear, to expect them to understand, to expect them to rise up.”
The only difference is that people who are alive but spiritually dead still have physical life. They have physical life. This is why when we do speak to others, we can sometimes misinterpret the fact that they have physical life to indicate that they have spiritual life and that they should see and that they should hear and that they should understand. No; we should never make this mistake.
You might ask then, “Well, why teach? Why preach? Why share the Gospel?” We do this because there is God who raises the dead. He raised Lazarus. He raised the widow’s son. He raised the twelve-year-old girl. There is God who told the prophet Ezekiel to preach to the dead bones. God asked Ezekiel a question back in Ezekiel 37. Let us go there. We read in Ezekiel 37:1-3:
The hand of JEHOVAH was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of JEHOVAH, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord JEHOVAH, thou knowest.
From our perspective, if it was just us, could those bones live? No. There would be no possible way that they could rise up, but we know that God is the One who told us to go into all the world with the Gospel, just like He is telling Ezekiel to preach to the dry bones. Ezekiel obeyed what God commanded him to do in Ezekiel 37:4:
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of JEHOVAH.
“Hear the word of the LORD.” God commanded Lazarus, “Lazarus, come forth.” How did he hear this? Lazarus was dead, so how could he hear? We know that Lazarus heard because he got up and came out of the tomb with his grave clothes on, and then he approached Jesus. Lazarus heard because Christ gave him life and ears to hear. It was because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
This is why we preach. We share Scripture. We give a tract. Whatever we do, we do it because we have hope. We know that God is going to save a great multitude today, and it could be any one of the dead. It could be any one of those who are presently dead in trespasses and sins, and God is the One who has blinded the minds of them in this world.
We could also look at 2 Thessalonians 2. This passage does not mention blindness; but, spiritually, this is actually a part of being blind. We read in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12:
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
God is blinding their eyes in a spiritual sense, so let us look at what actual spiritual blindness is.
By the way, I forgot to ask this question at the beginning. The question is: are you blind? Are you blind? Do you know it? Of course, you would know this if you were physically blind; but how many people are spiritually blind and yet think that they can see? We would guess over two billion, because this is the estimated number of people who think that they are Christians. They think that they have “eyes to see.” But really, “Are you blind?” is the question that I think God wants each of us to ask. How would we even know?
First of all, let us see what spiritual blindness is. We read in Ephesians 4:17-18:
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
This is spiritual blindness. It is ignorance.
God tells us, “Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Be not ignorant! Do not lack understanding of this, because it would be spiritual blindness if you do.
Spiritual blindness is “having the understanding darkened.” Romans 3:10 tells us, “There is none righteous.” How many understand? Romans 3:11 says, “There is none that understandeth.”
This tells us that everyone, every human being, is spiritually blind. This is where we are. We have no understanding of the truth of the Word of God. We are in darkness. God addresses this in Daniel 12. Just keep in mind that spiritual blindness is ignorance. It is a lack of understanding. We read in Daniel 12:10:
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
“None of the wicked” refers to those who remain in their sins. We are all wicked. None are righteous. We all began this way, but God saves some and He gives the Spirit of Christ, which enlightens the darkness within us and opens up our ability to understand the Bible so that we can see.
There are many hymns that have been written about spiritual sight and being able to see. God is indicating today that when He opens up the Bible, after having it sealed for so long, that none will be able to spiritually see these things that He is revealing, only His people.
Or go to Proverbs 28 and look at Proverbs 28:5:
Evil men understand not judgment…
Again, they have no understanding, which indicates spiritual blindness. It continues:
…but they that seek JEHOVAH understand all things.
This is a matter of light and darkness or day and night. This is why the Bible says, “The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness” and that “the way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.”
This is the condition of mankind, and so we should not be surprised that so many people lack understanding, that so many people cannot see that Judgment Day is right at hand. They do not understand it.
We also should not be surprised that the churches and congregations cannot see this. They say, “No man knows the day or hour.” In other words, “The coast is clear. I do not see anything. I do not see Christ coming. I am watching. I do not know what you are seeing, but I certainly do not see any danger ahead. There is peace and safety.” This is what they are saying.
Let us take a look at what God has to say about His people, beginning in Jeremiah 8:7. Again, keep in mind that, spiritually speaking, a lack of understanding is blindness. We read in Jeremiah 8:7:
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of JEHOVAH.
We will look at a few other verses. Look at Hosea. (Hosea comes after Daniel.) We read in Hosea 4:6:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Or look at Luke 19:43-44:
For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Again, we see a lack of knowledge, a lack of understanding. The reference to “one stone upon another” is speaking of the church under God’s judgment today. His people knew not the time of His visitation. The Jews did not know that Messiah was there when He stood right in front of them.
How could they miss the Lord God Almighty in the flesh? There is only one answer that I can think of. They were blind. They were blind to the fact that He healed the blind, that He gave ears to the deaf, that He raised the dead, that He performed many miracles, that He multiplied the loaves. They were blind, and so God stood right in their very presence and they knew not the time of His visitation.
In our day, the church has learned from Israel, right? The churches and congregations of our day are in much better spiritual condition than Israel was. Is this so? No, it is not so. The churches of our day give every evidence of having very little understanding of where the Door to Heaven is, which is very similar to those who pressed upon Lot’s house to get in and God struck them with blindness “so that they wearied themselves to find the door.” This is the condition of the church and congregations of today.
So when the church is telling us that we do not have anything to worry about in relation to Judgment Day because we cannot know the day or hour, this should not really give any of us any comfort. It should not give anyone a sense of security that the church is telling them, “Do not worry about this.” This should actually concern us.
Look what Christ says in Matthew 15:14:
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
This is referring to the spiritual leaders of Israel as well as the spiritual leaders of our day. They are “blind leaders of the blind.”
Look at Matthew 23:16-17. It says:
Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
We also read in the same chapter, Matthew 23:24-26:
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
They are blind, blind, blind. They cannot see. They have no understanding of the truth, and so Christ identifies them as spiritually blind guides who are trying to lead people into Heaven but are falling into a ditch themselves.
There is another reference that God gives that relates to today. We read in Isaiah 56:10:
His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
God is putting the two together here: they are blind and they are ignorant. To be ignorant means that you lack understanding, and so the watchmen are blind and ignorant and they are dumb dogs.
You can find a watchdog in most junkyards. They put a dog out there. They do this because as soon as a dog hears something, it goes running towards the sound, barking very loudly. If you get a big enough dog, it can really protect your property. He will chase anyone who is trying to break in. These are classified as watchdogs.
But God says that the watchmen are blind and ignorant and that they are like “dumb dogs.” A dog that cannot bark is not much use as a watchdog. It might be moving its mouth a lot, but it is not making any sound and you cannot hear it barking. This is because it is dumb and it cannot speak.
Well, Christ set watchmen in the churches and the congregations. He set watchmen among His people and told them to “watch therefore.” If you remember, Ezekiel 33 speaks of the watchman. When he sees “the sword come upon the land,” he is to “blow the trumpet, and warn the people”; but what if you are blind? What if you are blind and you are a watchman?
I hate to do this, but I cannot help it. “F Troop” was a 1960’s TV show that had a blind character by the name of Vanderbilt. He was someone who we would say was legally blind. He wore very thick glasses that he would have to squint through in order to see, but they would put him up in a watchtower. They would put him in a watchtower to watch for Indians, which was a running joke because this was a comedy.
We expect something like this from a comedy, but what is happening in the churches of our day is a tragedy. It is a tragedy to have blind people standing watch for a sword that they cannot see. They just cannot see it, and this is what God is getting at.
What makes this even worse is that these watchmen think that they can see. They believe that they can see.
Go to John 9, which is the account of the man born blind. If you remember, the spiritual leaders of Israel gave him a very hard time because he testified that Christ had given him sight. Towards the end of this account, we read in John 9:39-40:
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?
They are at least asking this question, even though it was most likely in a sarcastic way, but this question is for us today. Are we blind? Are you blind? Am I blind? Would you know if you were spiritually blind? Would you know?
It continues in John 9:40-41:
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.
This is because they thought all was well between them and God. They were the leaders. They were the teachers of Israel: the masters, the rabbis. They were the ones who instructed the people that it was the harlots and the publicans who were the sinners, “They are the sinners. They are the ones with the problem; not us.”
If you remember, God gave us this example in Luke 18 of the publican and the Pharisee. We read in Luke 18:10-12:
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
The Pharisee was basically saying, “I am righteous. I can see. All is well between me and God”; but what was the truth? What was the truth?
What this man was doing is what we read about in Revelation 3:17:
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not…
Here is a reference to the lack of knowledge once again. It continues:
…and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
They do not know. They think that all is well, that everything is great and wonderful, but they do not understand. This is actually part of the blindness. Part of being spiritually blind, a big symptom, is not knowing it and not realizing it. Many people are in this condition, and God says to them that they know not that they are blind. Then we read in verse 18, Revelation 3:18:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Of course, this is through reading the Word of God, through reading the Bible. This is how Christ can anoint someone’s eyes. This is how He opens someone’s eyes, and all of the healings of the blind point to this.
Let us look at this. Look at Psalm 146:8. It says:
JEHOVAH openeth the eyes of the blind: JEHOVAH raiseth them that are bowed down: JEHOVAH loveth the righteous:
So there is a cure for spiritual blindness. It is not found in the world. It is found in God’s hands.
Look also at Isaiah 35:3-5. It says:
Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Do you see how this is connected? “He will come and save you.” It is then that your eyes are opened. It is then that your ears can hear.
Also in Matthew 9:27-30, we read:
And 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; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
This is not too hard for God. He just touches them. We read of Him spitting and making mud and putting this on one man’s eyes, but He did not even have to do this. He does not have to do anything like this. He can just as easily from Heaven will something to be so as someone is praying to Him, “O Lord, have mercy. O Lord, open my eyes and help me to see.”
Do you know what you will see if God does open your eyes? You will see that we are at the very edge of the end of the world. You will see that it is not as the world says.
Some people might wonder, “How could Judgment Day be next year, which is less than 8 months away? How can Judgment Day be on May 21, 2011? Look at the world. Everything is just going along like it normally does. Everything is just continuing on. People do not look afraid. People do not look concerned. People do not look worried. They are still planning their educations and planning their future careers. They are still making plans for their marriage or for buying a home. People are still planning for retirement.”
All of this is still going on because the world is in darkness. This is a simple reason, but this is the true reason. The world is blind and cannot see these things, and this is not going to change. This is why the end of the world is going to come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly. The Bible refers to this as “sudden destruction.” They will be “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,” because there has been a complete ignorance and lack of understanding. They have a spiritual blindness towards these things, and so many people will hear about this Day and dismiss this and ignore it and continue on with their lives until they see it with their physical eyes. At that point, it will not take spiritual sight anymore because they will know that this is so. At that point, they will know that God was telling them exactly what He was about to do well in advance of doing it.
Let us go to Matthew 20:30-34. It says:
And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
Again, if God opens your eyes, you will see that where you thought you were in history, which is that you thought that you had plenty of time left in your life like another 20-50 years, you will find that you are right at the edge of the end of your life. It is like someone who is blindfolded and playing a game where they are spun around. They start walking and everyone is laughing and joking, and yet there is a cliff right in front of them and they are about to fall off the cliff and perish.
If you remember, the prophet Elisha had a servant after the servant Gehazi, because Gehazi was struck with leprosy; and so we read that he had another servant. We read about this true historical story in 2 Kings 6. This servant is a little fearful because an army has encircled them. It says in 2 Kings 6:15-17:
And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, JEHOVAH, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And JEHOVAH opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
This is just one stage of this story, but God has always told us, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” We have nothing to worry or fear because God is with His people.
As we share the Gospel, we can see the world with our physical eyes and sometimes the enemies of God can really multiply and it can look like there are a lot of them; but really, spiritually, if God gives us eyes of faith, we understand that there is nothing at all to fear. God will protect us. He will fight for us. We can have great confidence in this.
This story continues, though, and we read in 2 Kings 6:18:
And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto JEHOVAH, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
God opens eyes; God closes eyes. He is the One who makes blind. We read earlier of “the god of this world” in 2 Corinthians 4. You should really cross out the small letter “g” and put a capital “G” there. This is referring to the Lord God. It is “the God of this world” who has “blinded the minds of them.” God is always the One who blinds.
So here in 2 Kings 6:18, Elisha is praying:
…Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
Then we read in 2 Kings 6:19:
And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.
Were they struck with physical blindness? If so, how could they follow him? Or were they struck with ignorance? Were they struck with a misunderstanding? They did not know where they were, and so Elisha steps in, “Here, I will lead you exactly where you want to be.”
So Elisha leads this army of the blind and he leads them right into Samaria. The king of Israel becomes very excited and asks Elisha, “Shall I smite them? Shall I smite them?” This is like a gift!
In those days, war was very hard and difficult. Here, the enemy came marching right into their very hands and it would have been a simple matter to destroy them because they had no idea where they were. To them, they could have been taking a leisurely stroll. They were casually walking around with a total lack of understanding of the great danger that they were in as they marched right into the camp of Israel.
The question for you and for me is where do we think we are? Where do you think you are? What do you think that you are doing? Where do you think that you are going?
The answer for all of us is that we are speeding along like a bullet train to May 21, 2011, Judgment Day. If you think that you are going to Disney World or if you think that you are going to the beach or if you think that you have some future beyond this date in mind, there is only one thing to ask yourself, which is, “Are you blind?”
The answer to this would have to be, “Yes.” Yes, you do not understand. You lack understanding of what God is revealing. The only way that you can be content and to continue to live as you do in the manner in which you are living can only be because you are blind. This is the only answer.
Let us go to another verse. This is an encouraging verse. If you remember, Christ opened up the Bible and read from Isaiah. We read about this in Luke 4:17-20:
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book…
This is what the Gospel is doing today. It is preaching to the blind. It is recovering your sight. You can see. You can see. This is possible if God so wills. He can give you sight just like He gave sight to blind Bartimaeus, and we should approach Him, just like blind Bartimaeus, and cry out “Thou son of David, have mercy on me”; and like the Lord asked Bartimaeus, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” our answer should be, “That I might see. That I might understand. That I might know that my days are numbered. That I might realize that I have very few days left.”
Let us look at one last passage. Jesus opened up the physical eyes of the blind man, and here we read of Him opening up the eyes of the spiritually blind. It says in Luke 24:44-45:
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
This is what happens when we are given spiritual sight. This is what we need at this time when God is opening the Scriptures. The Word was sealed and He is opening it up.
Do you understand? Do you know that the church age is over? Do you know that God has “appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world”? Do you know that Christ was “slain from the foundation of the world”? More than this, not only knowing this in your brain, but do you really know and understand these things?
Let us turn to one more verse. This is a necessary verse. We read in Job 28:28:
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
If you truly see this, you will not only see this intellectually, you will turn from sin. It is repenting and departing from evil, like the Ninevites. This is true understanding.
Let us close.