Once I Was Blind, But Now I See!
By Abraham Israel
There is an old story of three blind men, who were arguing over exactly what an elephant might be. One of the men was up front, holding onto the elephant’s trunk. He said to the others, “An elephant is a long, round, muscular animal.”
The second blind man was standing alongside the elephant. He felt the tremendous mass on the side and he said, “Absolutely absurd. Elephants are vast beyond comprehension.”
The third blind man was standing behind the elephant, holding onto the elephant’s tail. He said, “You fools, don’t you know that an elephant is a small, tough, and hairy animal?”
They could not resolve their argument because they continued to hold to their individual points of focus. A fourth man was sitting nearby with his eyes closed. They asked this man what an elephant was. The man, without even opening his eyes, said: “It is simply the idea of an elephant that I carry in my mind.”
What do we learn from this story, the unbelievers who are not born again are like these three blind men in the story, if you ask them what God is like? One will say, He is like a Elephant, other man will say God is there but we cannot find Him but only can be a slave to Him and still another man will say that there is no God because He cannot be seen with our natural eyes. What these men say are their preception of what God may look like, but only those who are born again believers can really understand what God is like, so that even with their physical eyes closed they will be able to given an answer (John 3:3,5-8).
We see a blind man in the Bible who was healed by Jesus for the glory of God. The popular belief of Jesus' days said that all those who sin will have sickness as a curse from God and also because of the sin of parents the children born to them will also get sickness as a curse from God. Having been stirred by this wrong belief the disciples asked Jesus when they saw the blind man, " 2 ....saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." (John 9:2-3). This conveys that sickness can come as a result of sin, unforgiveness and unrepentant attitude. But not all sicknesses and diseases are a result of sin in a person's life. The good news is, no matter what is the reason for our sickness, Jesus has promised to heal us all through His stripes if we hold on to Him in faith (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus made a mud spittle of clay and anointed it over the eyes of that blind man, and finally instructed and sent him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash his eyes. He sent, and the blind man washed and came back seeing (Matt 9:4-7). Praise the Lord!
Again many people were amazed seeing that the former blind man was able to see, and many doubted whether he was that real blind man. The religious pharisees who didn't like Jesus because he was a radical follower of God rather than a traditional follower like them. So they questioned the healing of the blind man and hoped to find something wrong in the healing. Immediately they put on their religious spectacle to scrutinise the healing of the blind man, just like the blind men in the above story were ready for an argument over exactly what an elephant might look like. Some pharisees pointed out that this healing was not from God as Jesus had healed on the Sabbath which is the breaking of God's fourth commandment (Deut 5:12). Still others with a little logical soulish mind were saying , “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them." (John 9:16). This is a classical case for a blind religious unbelievers who were not born again.
Again they asked the former blind man what was his opinion about Jesus, he told them that Jesus is a prophet. But the Jews did not believe until they called the parents of the former blind man to verify the healing as genuine. When their parents who were also religious Jews, told the truth of the healing of their son and further said to the Jewish religious heads to ask their son futher because of the fear of being ostracized from the synagogue. When they again called the former blind man and said to him to give God the Glory and also know that the man [i.e. Jesus] who healed him was a sinner according to their righteous law, this blind man suddenly became a great and a bold evangelist and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." (John 9:25). The same answer is what a believer can give to any unbeliever regarding the existence of God.
If someone asks me, please come with me to debate to unbelievers regarding the existence of God so that they might understand and come to the knowledge of salvation, I would say to them to forget it altogether. No man on earth should ever waste their time debating with unbelievers regarding the existence of God. The unbelievers are blind spiritually and need to be born again by a supernatural miracle of God in which their inner spiritual eyes will open up to see the awesome reality of the existence and salvation of God (John 3:3). All we can do is to pray to God so that the unbelievers might be convicted by the Holy Spirit, so that they come to realize that they are spiritually blind and ask God to save them from sin and give eternal life instead (John 4:10; 16:8-9). True blindness that is a curse to man is not even a physical one which can be healed by Jesus easily (Mark 2:9-12), but a spiritual one which needs one to realize that they are blind (Matt 13:13-16). Spiritual blindness will make a person to think that they can see spiritually right, this is the greatest deception of the enemy of God, Satan and his demonic cohorts. Because of this deception Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” (John 9:39). In other words, those who think that they can see God spiritually well without the help of Jesus are deceived because their assumed god is not the real one, but those who feel that they are blind spiritually because of sin and come to Jesus for the answer, will come to see the real God and have friendship with Him forever. THE BELIEVERS ARE THOSE WHO WILL WILL BE ABLE TO CARRY THE IDEA OF GOD SPIRITUALLY IN THEIR MIND, EVEN WITHOUT OPENING THEIR PHYSICAL EYES. This is why in the past 2000 years many physically blind people have been born again and have received their spiritual sight to see God and His kingdom, and finally go to heaven after their death. Even the exemplary famous Helen Keller was one among this group of believers. Praise the Lord!
So the next time a unbeliever or an atheist argues with you regarding the shape of God or the existence of God, don't be disturbed or get angry with them. But rather feel compassionate like Jesus had compassion on the blind man, so that God could have the space through you to heal the spiritual blindness and also physical blindness of people for the Glory of God (Luke 4:18-19). Do not expect a blind person to tell the shape of the elephant, if you do, it is your fault. Instead pray for all unbelievers to be saved from spiritual blindness, so that they will be able to finally see the true God, which is inline with the will of God (1 Tim 2:1-4). Your prayers made now for the unbelievers will make eternal destinies to be rewritten for the Glory of God, because our God delights to show mercy to undeserving people rather than to judge people immediately (Micah 7:18-19). NEVER GIVE UP PRAYING FOR THE SALVATION OF UNBELIVERS, FOR YOUR REWARD IS GREAT IN HEAVEN!
Much Blessings.... :)
The second blind man was standing alongside the elephant. He felt the tremendous mass on the side and he said, “Absolutely absurd. Elephants are vast beyond comprehension.”
The third blind man was standing behind the elephant, holding onto the elephant’s tail. He said, “You fools, don’t you know that an elephant is a small, tough, and hairy animal?”
They could not resolve their argument because they continued to hold to their individual points of focus. A fourth man was sitting nearby with his eyes closed. They asked this man what an elephant was. The man, without even opening his eyes, said: “It is simply the idea of an elephant that I carry in my mind.”
What do we learn from this story, the unbelievers who are not born again are like these three blind men in the story, if you ask them what God is like? One will say, He is like a Elephant, other man will say God is there but we cannot find Him but only can be a slave to Him and still another man will say that there is no God because He cannot be seen with our natural eyes. What these men say are their preception of what God may look like, but only those who are born again believers can really understand what God is like, so that even with their physical eyes closed they will be able to given an answer (John 3:3,5-8).
We see a blind man in the Bible who was healed by Jesus for the glory of God. The popular belief of Jesus' days said that all those who sin will have sickness as a curse from God and also because of the sin of parents the children born to them will also get sickness as a curse from God. Having been stirred by this wrong belief the disciples asked Jesus when they saw the blind man, " 2 ....saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." (John 9:2-3). This conveys that sickness can come as a result of sin, unforgiveness and unrepentant attitude. But not all sicknesses and diseases are a result of sin in a person's life. The good news is, no matter what is the reason for our sickness, Jesus has promised to heal us all through His stripes if we hold on to Him in faith (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus made a mud spittle of clay and anointed it over the eyes of that blind man, and finally instructed and sent him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash his eyes. He sent, and the blind man washed and came back seeing (Matt 9:4-7). Praise the Lord!
Again many people were amazed seeing that the former blind man was able to see, and many doubted whether he was that real blind man. The religious pharisees who didn't like Jesus because he was a radical follower of God rather than a traditional follower like them. So they questioned the healing of the blind man and hoped to find something wrong in the healing. Immediately they put on their religious spectacle to scrutinise the healing of the blind man, just like the blind men in the above story were ready for an argument over exactly what an elephant might look like. Some pharisees pointed out that this healing was not from God as Jesus had healed on the Sabbath which is the breaking of God's fourth commandment (Deut 5:12). Still others with a little logical soulish mind were saying , “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them." (John 9:16). This is a classical case for a blind religious unbelievers who were not born again.
Again they asked the former blind man what was his opinion about Jesus, he told them that Jesus is a prophet. But the Jews did not believe until they called the parents of the former blind man to verify the healing as genuine. When their parents who were also religious Jews, told the truth of the healing of their son and further said to the Jewish religious heads to ask their son futher because of the fear of being ostracized from the synagogue. When they again called the former blind man and said to him to give God the Glory and also know that the man [i.e. Jesus] who healed him was a sinner according to their righteous law, this blind man suddenly became a great and a bold evangelist and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see." (John 9:25). The same answer is what a believer can give to any unbeliever regarding the existence of God.
If someone asks me, please come with me to debate to unbelievers regarding the existence of God so that they might understand and come to the knowledge of salvation, I would say to them to forget it altogether. No man on earth should ever waste their time debating with unbelievers regarding the existence of God. The unbelievers are blind spiritually and need to be born again by a supernatural miracle of God in which their inner spiritual eyes will open up to see the awesome reality of the existence and salvation of God (John 3:3). All we can do is to pray to God so that the unbelievers might be convicted by the Holy Spirit, so that they come to realize that they are spiritually blind and ask God to save them from sin and give eternal life instead (John 4:10; 16:8-9). True blindness that is a curse to man is not even a physical one which can be healed by Jesus easily (Mark 2:9-12), but a spiritual one which needs one to realize that they are blind (Matt 13:13-16). Spiritual blindness will make a person to think that they can see spiritually right, this is the greatest deception of the enemy of God, Satan and his demonic cohorts. Because of this deception Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” (John 9:39). In other words, those who think that they can see God spiritually well without the help of Jesus are deceived because their assumed god is not the real one, but those who feel that they are blind spiritually because of sin and come to Jesus for the answer, will come to see the real God and have friendship with Him forever. THE BELIEVERS ARE THOSE WHO WILL WILL BE ABLE TO CARRY THE IDEA OF GOD SPIRITUALLY IN THEIR MIND, EVEN WITHOUT OPENING THEIR PHYSICAL EYES. This is why in the past 2000 years many physically blind people have been born again and have received their spiritual sight to see God and His kingdom, and finally go to heaven after their death. Even the exemplary famous Helen Keller was one among this group of believers. Praise the Lord!
So the next time a unbeliever or an atheist argues with you regarding the shape of God or the existence of God, don't be disturbed or get angry with them. But rather feel compassionate like Jesus had compassion on the blind man, so that God could have the space through you to heal the spiritual blindness and also physical blindness of people for the Glory of God (Luke 4:18-19). Do not expect a blind person to tell the shape of the elephant, if you do, it is your fault. Instead pray for all unbelievers to be saved from spiritual blindness, so that they will be able to finally see the true God, which is inline with the will of God (1 Tim 2:1-4). Your prayers made now for the unbelievers will make eternal destinies to be rewritten for the Glory of God, because our God delights to show mercy to undeserving people rather than to judge people immediately (Micah 7:18-19). NEVER GIVE UP PRAYING FOR THE SALVATION OF UNBELIVERS, FOR YOUR REWARD IS GREAT IN HEAVEN!
Much Blessings.... :)
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