20/20 Vision
Since we’re in the year 2020, I thought I might look at how this correlates to our vision. It seems that the world is not always seeing things the way I do, so I wondered what the Bible had to say about vision… First of all I wanted to see what the Bible considered to be impaired vision; then I wanted to see what the Bible says will correct these vision problems.
*IMPAIRED VISION*
*Blindness
Obviously, blindness simply means we cannot see. The Bible refers to this in different ways. Blindness in the Bible, especially spiritual blindness, is often correlated with sin. Here are some verses that show blindness is a matter of the heart:
*Isaiah 44:9 says, “All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame.”
*Isaiah 59:11, “Like the blind, we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes.”
*Zephaniah 1:17, “I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind, because they have sinned against the Lord.”
*2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
*2 Corinthians 11:14, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
It looks like folks can be blinded – whether spiritually or physically – by not recognizing God or hearing His Word. Satan can easily betray, trick, or mislead us if we are not careful, and sin is sure to cause us to be blinded – especially when we have made up our minds ignore God’s leading and continue in our sinful ways. We sometimes tend to “look the other way” or “turn a blind eye” on things we know are wrong – and the more we do this, the easier it is for the enemy to mislead us. If we choose not to keep our eyes on Jesus, we can be blinded to the truth. Lamentations 5:16-17 says, “The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim.”
*Haughty Eyes
According to Webster, haughty eyes are ” eyes that look down upon others in a condescending way. We think more highly of ourselves than we should. Blatently and disdainfully proud. Opposite of humble.” The Bible has a few things to say about haughty eyes:
*Proverbs 6:16-19, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in a community.”
*Proverbs 21:4, “Haughty eyes and a proud heart – the unplowed field of the wicked – produce sin.”
*2 Samuel 2:28, “You save the huble, but Your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.”
*Psalm 105:5, “Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not tolerate.”
I’m sure we can all think of individuals that fit these descriptions. It’s unfortunate, but there seems to be more and more of this these days. So what’s the answer? What does the Bible say will fix these vision problems?
*VISION REPAIR*
*Light / Lamp
The Bible has much to say about light. It seems that light is the thing that most dim eyes need in order to see. Where can we find it?
*1 John 1:5, “God is light; in Him there is no darkness.”
*2 Samuel 22:29, “You, LORD, are my lamp; the LORD turns darkness into light.”
*Psalm 18:28, “You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; My God turns my darkness into light.”
*Isaiah 42:16, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.”
*Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.”
*Proverbs 6:23, “For this command is a lamp, tis teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way of life.”
*Matthew 6:22, ” The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”
*Luke 11:34, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness.”
*Ezra 9:8, “and so our God gives light to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage.”
*Psalm 89:15, “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD.”
*Proverbs 15:30, “Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones.”
*John 8:12, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'”
*Acts 26:18, “I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
*Ephesians 5:13, “But everything exposed by the light becomes visible – and everything that is illuminated becomes light.”
*Revelation 22:5, “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.”
*Psalm 19:18, “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”
As you can see, the Bible draws a huge correlation between His Word, obedience to His commands, walking with Him, and bringing the good news of the gospel to light. I don’t believe any of these passages about eyes and light are referring to our physical eyes. I know that a person is completely blind physically can have his or her eyes enlightened spiritually to see clearly what God is doing. Let’s look at a couple of other things that may help to correct our vision.
*Humility
According to Webster, Humble means “not proud or haughty; not arrogant” and humility means “freedom from pride or arrogance: the quality or state of being humble.” This opens up a whole study of it’s own, so I’m just going to let you know some of the things the Bible says about being humble, or having humility.
*Psalm 25:9, “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
*Psalm 147:6 “The Lord sustains the humble, but casts the wicked to the ground.”
*Psalm 149:4, “For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with victory.”
*Isaiah 2:11, “The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”
*Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon me and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
*Ephesians 4:2, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
*Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
*Proverbs 15:33, “Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor.”
*Proverbs 18:12, “Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.”
*Proverbs 22:4, “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.”
*Philippians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”
*James 3:3, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
*1 Peter 5:5, “In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'”
It looks to me like we cannot possibly “see” the things of God if we are not humble – toward other people, toward God’s Word. Today’s culture promotes ‘ME.” “I must be the most important thing in the world, the world owes me that.” “What I have to say is more important than anyone else.” “Who needs God anyways? I am educated, I have money enough to support myself and my family, I don’t need any god! I am god in my world!” You see, this selfish world that we live in has been tricked into believing that the individual is the most important thing; not neighbors, not parents, not children, not teachers, not employers, not law enforcement…. certainly not God – and the list is endless. We, as a society, as a global community, are in trouble. According to Proverbs 18:12, “Pride comes before the fall.” I’m afraid that if we don’t open our collective eyes, and see this truth, we are in for a heap of trouble.
*Salve
As many of you know, the book of Revelation tells the stories of seven different churches – each with it’s unique set of problems, each from a different era in the church. I believe, as do many scholars, that we are in the age of the Laodicean Church. The message to the church at Laodicea is the last of the church letters. Just to give you a little background… this church God describes as lukewarm. In Revelation 3:15-16, it says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”
Yikes! That doesn’t sound good at all! He goes on to say in verses 17-18, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eyesalve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.” This describes many churches today. Grand buildings, fancy clothes and style contests on Sunday morning (or whenever they worship). They have reached the pinnacle of society… they have money, houses, cars, diamonds… all the status symbols of this day; yet, they don’t help the needy, they don’t take care of the widows (unless, of course, they happen to attend THIS church and occupy the far-left seat on the third row each week); they don’t want riff-raff darkening their doors. To ease their collective consciences, they give money to missions so that groups of people from the church can take trips to other countries to deliver water, or build meager churches; yet, they don’t want people from their own communities on their front steps to enter and defile them. They have been lulled into a false sense of righteousness. They are blind.
*Scales falling off of eyes
In the ninth chapter of Acts we learn the story of Saul. Saul was an elite Jew, a Roman citizen, a Pharisee. He was very learned in the laws and rules of the Jews. He lived to militantly preserve those rules and laws – because he followed them himself. He was against the new group that had emerged since this Jesus fella had been crucified. Christians were evil people, trying to change the rules of worship. He sought them out, and had them destroyed. When the first known Christian marter, Steven, was stoned to death, Saul held his coat while others threw the stones. He was feared among the Christians, and they avoided him like the plague. He was zealous!
The story goes, according to Acts 9, that Saul went to the High Priest to ask for letters that he could carry to Damascus, allowing him to search out, capture, and return as prisoners to Jerusalem – any and all of these new Christians that were there. He got his letters, and took off for Damascus. When he was nearing Damascus, suddenly a bright light flashed, blinding him.
*Acts 9:4-5, “and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, Why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who art thou, Lord?” and he said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.””
He goes on to tell him to get up and go on into the city, where he would be told what he must do. All the guys traveling with him were stunned. They heard the same voice, but saw no one. They took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. He was blind for three days, and didn’t eat or drink anything. He was shown a vision, in the spirit, that a man named Ananias would come and lay hands on him so he could see again.
Now, Ananias was also given a vision in the spirit, asking him to go to a certain street, a certain household, and find this fella Saul. Ananias resisted because he knew this Saul guy, and he knew that he was very dangerous toward the Christians. But God said go, so he obeyed. Ananias went to Saul and told him that the voice he had heard on the road, the Lord Jesus, had sent him to lay hands on him so he could be healed. The 18th verse of that chapter says, “and immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight.” Eventually his name was changed to Paul, and he went on to write 2/3 of the New Testament, now vehemently preaching the truth of Jesus, converting many Jews and Greeks alike, and suffering persecution for it.
I believe there is an epidemic of scales on people’s eyes today. So many are so deceived. We need to have the scales lifted, so we can see clearly what is the condition of both our own hearts, and those of this world. We have work to do.
So, in summary, there are many things that can be wrong with our vision, that can prevent us from seeing 20/20. I’ve named a few of them, as well as few things that can help us with our vision. Now I’d like to interject a couple of other things into this discussion. As I have mentioned before, we know that God is very structured and orderly. Numbers are important to Him, and we would do well to be mindful of these things – not that we should interpret every situation according to the date, or the number on a license plate, or an address; but if we step back sometimes, and look at the big picture, and look at examples in the Bible – we may be able to learn something.
We are ALL aware of this terrible plague that has crossed the entire globe – COVID 19. Looking at numbers in the Bible, and reading some things regarding numbers in the Bible, I found that this number 19 may be significant to this situation. According to BibleStudy.org, “the number 19 usually denotes God’s perfect order in regard to His judgement in the Bible. The names Job and Eve, when letters are replaced by numbers, add up to 19. In relation to Israel, Israel was ruled by 19 kings before God allowed them to be conquered by the Assyrians. They were conquered and taken out of the land as captives due to their many sins against the eternal.” I’m not drawing any absolute correlations here, but certainly this is thought-provoking. This COVID 19 thing is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. People are stuck in their homes, fearful. They are also turning back to God by the droves – Bibles are flying off the shelves almost as fast as toilet paper!
Now let’s take a look at the number 20: according to the same source, BibleStudy.org, “20 can, at times, mean a complete or perfect waiting period. For 20 years Jacob waited to get possession of his wives and property, and to be freed from the control of Laban his father-in-law (Genesis 31:38-41).The children of Israel waited to be freed of Jabin, King of Canaan, who opposed them. God’s response was to raise up Deborah and Barak, who freed the people from bondage (Judges 4-5). In the days of Samuel the prophet the Philistines battled and overcame Israel, taking the Ark of the Covenant back to their land. Israel had to wait 20 years (1 Samuel 5-7) before the Ark would be moved again.” Only just intended as food for thought. You can decide. Is there something we’ve been waiting to be freed of for 20 years? I wonder…
Just one more thing. Twenty years ago, at the turn of the century, there was a grass-roots movement among many churches, that we should pray as a nation. There were yard signs, devotionals, books written regarding this. There have been other surges of this over the past several years. Based on this:
*2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Hmmm… looks like there are lots of folks praying now. Looks like we sure could use some healing for our land…
Father God, I thank you for Your Word, that it was given for us to learn and be encouraged by. Lord, I pray that Your children will turn to Your Word like no other time in history. I pray that You would change the course of history for this land. I pray that You would forgive our sins and heal our land. I pray that You would help us to have 20/20 vision today – to see what it is that You want us to do today – and that we would be obedient. I thank You for all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.