Introduction
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, the Lord Jesus tells eight parables about the kingdom of the heavens, which reveal what the kingdom of heaven is like. Additionally, in this chapter, the Lord explains one of the parables to the disciples. However, one might ask the Lord, as the disciples did at that time asked Him, “Why do Thou speak to them in parables?” The Lord Jesus gives us the answer in Matthew 13:10-12.
10 And the disciples having come, said to Him, Why do Thou speak to them in parables?
11 He answered and said, Because to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens; however, to them it has not been given.
Within the crowds, the purpose of coming to listen to the Lord Jesus is different. Some are coming to find mistakes and point them out. Some are coming to find weak points and point them out to deter people from having faith in the Lord Jesus. To those, the secrets of the kingdom of the heavens have not been given. But some are coming with a clean heart and want to hear the Lord Jesus before deciding to believe or not. To those, the Lord will give the understanding of the secrets of the kingdom of the heavens.
12 For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; now whoever has not, from him will be taken away even what he has.
“For whoever has …” This portion here refers to the spiritual world. Keep yourself in the Word of God, and more spiritual blessings will be given to you. Spiritual blessings for this life on earth are: understanding the Word of God and faith in the Lord Jesus, peace with God, and joy that you can feel deep inside your soul. If we have these spiritual blessings on this earth, when we depart, these spiritual blessings will be transformed to be used for our life after death. The peace of God comes only to those who have a clean heart. The heart that is like a child’s heart will be the heart that comes closer to the kingdom of heaven, and joy comes to those who have real faith in the Lord Jesus.
“Now whoever has not …” This portion is opposite from the one above. This part relates to the pleasures of the world that you think you have. Those pleasures will be taken away if you do not want to receive the pleasure of knowing the Word of the Lord. Nothing in this world is worth knowing more than the Word of the Lord.
Therefore, we understand from the Lord Jesus Himself that He speaks in parables to us to train our spiritual eyes and to select between the ones who come to Him with a clean and sincere heart and those who come to find mistakes and accuse His work. He doesn’t want us to come to God’s Word and try to understand it with our own human understanding, but He wants us to come humbly to Him and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in understanding the spiritual things the Word of God teaches.
In general, the parables the Lord speaks in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, including the parable of the wheat and the weeds (or tares), tell us that the world and the church are mingled (good and bad) until the end times. As a result, we need to continually study and meditate on the Word of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to develop healthy spiritual eyes and discern between truth and error in the church and the world.
When considering the health of our spiritual eyes, several general questions arise for the followers of the Lord Jesus to reflect on as we analyze our faith journey.
- Do we feel spiritually blind when we read the Word of God?
- Do we feel like giving up when we read the Word of God, and do we feel overwhelmed by its difficulty?
- Do we feel confused when we see so many types of Christian faiths, so many Bible versions, Bible studies, and many Christian books that tell us what to believe?
- Do we feel like we need a degree in religious studies to understand the Word of God?
- Do we feel like we need the help of some renowned scholar or preacher to decipher the Word of God for us?
On the other hand, we may see that the Word of God is clear in what it says, but we don’t want to accept it as it is written, and we try to find support from somebody else to interpret it for us and approve our own way. Then, we search for and read Christian literature, or we seek out what others say about the Word of God, but we do not stop to pray and go to the Lord Jesus in prayer, asking Him to open our spiritual eyes and give us understanding. The Lord Jesus sends for us the Holy Spirit, who is the Holy Teacher, to help us understand the Word of God and the things of God. Only by the guidance and the help of the Holy Spirit can we understand the Word of God; therefore, whenever we come to meditate on the Word of God, we should pray something like this: “Holy Father, Holy Son Jesus, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity of God, I come to you in the name of Jesus, help me understand your Word; Holy Spirit come in the name of Jesus and fill me now and open my spiritual eyes of understanding the Word I am reading now.”
How to Overcome Spiritual Blindness?
When we find ourselves in confusion and doubt about the Word of God, we may ask ourselves how to overcome our spiritual blindness so that we can see clearly what the Lord teaches in His Word, understand the Word of God for what it teaches, and grow in our faith. The Lord Jesus teaches about spiritual blindness and how to overcome it in many places throughout the Gospels. In this blog, we present two critical steps that one can take to overcome spiritual blindness and find healing for one’s spiritual eyes.
The first step in overcoming spiritual blindness is by coming to the Lord Jesus Himself humbly and asking him sincerely to open our spiritual eyes as the disciples did in Matthew 13:36:
36 Then having dismissed the multitudes, He went into the house; and His disciples came to Him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.
Secondly, we must ask the Lord Jesus to heal our spiritual eyes so we can truly see all things clearly. To understand this step, we can further link the health concept of our spiritual eyes of not seeing clearly the teachings of the Word of God with the healing story of the blind man found in Mark 8:22-26. This healing story of the blind man at Bethsaida is given only here in the Gospel of Mark. We will comment below on this healing story to explore how we can achieve complete healing from our spiritual blindness.
22 And they come to Bethsaida. And they bring to Him a blind man, and begged Him that He might touch him.
23 And having taken hold of the blind man by the hand, He led him out of the village; and having spit upon his eyes, having laid the hands upon him, He asked him, Do you see anything?
“And having taken … out of the village ...” People will just see the result, but not how the Lord healed the man. The Lord Jesus did not come to be famous and make a show; therefore, He took this man out of the village to heal him (See Comments Mark 7:36).
"And when He had spit on his eyes." Here, the Lord uses the same way as in Mark 7:31-37 where He heals a man that is deaf and has a speech impediment. (See Comments Mark 7:31-36).
One might ask themselves, why did the Lord ask, “Do you see anything?” The Bible does not provide clear information about this man. The Bible often states that healing is a matter of the person’s faith, but in this case, it does not provide much information about the man; there could be many speculations, but all things are according to faith.
24 And having looked up he said, I see people; for I perceive them as trees, walking.
“I see people; for I perceive them as trees, walking.” Also, remember, the blind man’s hand touched everything. You can see by touching, but you don’t understand; when you see by hand, the shape of an object is not precise. When the man first saw objects by eyes, not by hand, how could the man interpret what can be seen by eyes and by hand to match them out? He touched people; he touched objects, and now he uses his eyes to see. Nothing will be clear; that is why the second touch was needed, to help him absorb between the eyes-seeing and hands-seeing, and come across each other and know what it is that he sees. Remember his confusion of mind as well; the man seeing by hand, and now he becomes the man seeing by eyes; it is a common confusion.
25 Then again, He laid the hands upon his eyes; and he saw clearly, and he was restored, and saw distinctly everything.
This second touch from the Lord was intended to eliminate the confusion and enable the man to see clearly; now, the second touch helps the two to become one: it is no longer confusion between the hand seeing and the eyes seeing, and the man can live on further in life. From the mind that the Lord put two things into one, no crossing to be used; that is why the Bible says that the man sees clearly.
26 And He sent him to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village.
“... Do not even enter the village.” Now, the Lord wants to help the man not create confusion for himself; he was still not ready yet to know the difference between good persons and bad persons. If he went into the village, people would ask him questions, and it could create confusion in him and even shake his faith; that is a human weakness. When the ear hears many things, even what you know by heart can become confusion, and the man was blind, so his confusion could happen even more easily. The Lord did not tell him to follow Him. He told him to go “to his home” and live life normally without fear. And as he would be walking along in his life, people would ask, and the answer would come from his heart, not by his head.
Therefore, we, as followers of the Lord Jesus, in our walk in the spiritual world, can see ourselves like this blind man. The Lord took us from the world by His hand, showing us that we were spiritually sick and in need of help, and brought us to the cross to forgive our sins, as He took this blind man by the hand out of the village. Then, the Lord Jesus opened our spiritual eyes to see Him and accept Him as our Lord and Savior. But then, He asks us as He asked this man, “do you see anything” I did for you?
But then, we might not follow the call well to stay in the Word of God and meditate in the Word with the help of the Holy Spirit, or maybe we don’t entirely abandon our worldly way of life, and we become like this man, we see people like trees; we do not see clearly with our spiritual eyes, and we are confused about what the Lord Jesus did for us at the cross of Calvary and who He is; we might not understand well that He is the Son of God and He is God of the Trinity of God (God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit) and He is the only One who can save our souls and give eternal life.
Suppose we feel that our spiritual eyes are not entirely healthy. In that case, we must follow the example of this blind man who confessed to the Lord that he doesn’t see well yet, and in the same way, we need to come to the Lord sincerely and tell Him exactly how we feel, confess our hearts clearly to Him. The Lord Jesus will touch us again, as He did when He healed the eyes of the blind man, and He will completely heal our spiritual eyes as well.
Furthermore, we notice in this story that the Lord, after He touched the man the second time, told him not to enter the village. Similarly, we should not randomly start reading various Christian literature and let ourselves be confused again by the teachings of others; instead, we should find a good Bible version (preferably a literal translation) and stick to what the Bible teaches us, always asking the Lord in the name of the Lord Jesus to guide us by His Holy Spirit. Moreover, to be good students of the Lord Jesus and follow the guidance and help of the Holy Teacher, the Holy Spirit, we must clearly understand the concept of baptism in the Holy Spirit. However, there is much confusion in the Christian world today about the work of the Holy Spirit and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Many of us feel confused about the concept of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Still, the Bible clearly teaches that we need the baptism of the Holy Spirit and that this baptism remains relevant for us today as well.
Here, we will discuss the baptism in the Holy Spirit by commenting on a couple of verses from Acts 2:38-39. However, for a better understanding of this topic and how to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, we encourage all readers to study our article, “Baptism of the Holy Spirit for a Christian.”
38 And Peter to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“And Peter to them, Repent ... your sins.” The verse tells us who can give you forgiveness, the Lord Jesus Christ. Open your heart and open your mouth to glorify the Lord, and make yourself ready.
“And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The gift of God, the most powerful, the gift of the Holy Spirit will be given to you, be ready. You repent and receive the baptism of repentance in the water first, and then the Holy Spirit will come to baptize you if you seek it and are ready.
39 For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all those afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Him.
“For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all those afar off.” Give heart to what the verse says: the Father always fulfills His promise; the promise of the Mighty Power, the Holy Spirit, will be given to all that search and glorify the beloved Son of God with all their hearts.
“And to all those afar off.” Those “afar off” in this place mean not only those within the distance around the earth itself; the God Almighty's presence is everywhere, not just this earth but the universe as well; time and distance have no limit for Him.
“As many as the Lord our God shall call to Him.” The distance, north, east, south, west, has no end; The Lord will call all who truly believe and give their hearts to Him.
Conclusions
In conclusion, to have a healthy spiritual eye, we must come to the Lord Jesus in humility and ask His help to understand His Word. Furthermore, we must follow His direction to receive the Helper whom He sends in the name of the Father for all those who are living on earth after His resurrection. The Lord Jesus, after His resurrection from the dead, has sent the promise from the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, to all His followers, in the past and the future, to be their guide on this earth in following Him. Without the Holy Spirit, no one on this earth can understand the spiritual things of God. Therefore, for complete spiritual healing of the spiritual eyes, a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus must seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in the prayer and meditation of the Word of God in the name of the Lord Jesus.
We conclude this blog with three questions related to the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
- Q1: Is the baptism in the Holy Spirit limited by time, meaning it was given only to the apostle era? A: There is no time limit for the gift of the Holy Spirit to come. Acts 2:39 also says that the promise is for “those afar off,” so distance and time are no limit for the gift.
- Q2: Some say that the baptism in the Holy Spirit with prophesies and tongues had seized with the completion of the Bible canon. Is this view correct? A: This thinking of humans has limited the power of God. God Almighty, who created all things has no limit of power.
- Q3: What is the benefit for a believer to have the baptism in the Holy Spirit these days? A: For the believer nowadays to see or experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit will help the true believer to understand and feel closer to the God all Maker; the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer who received the baptism in the Holy Spirit will remain active even if the person’s heart becomes cold toward Him, He still resides there and is waiting. (See also Comments John 1:33).
Moreover, we should note that today, all prophecies, visions, and dreams coming through the gifts of the Holy Spirit must be rooted in the Word of God, and one is responsible for studying and meditating daily in the Word of God and analyzing all things in the light of the Word of God, as there are no longer new revelations about the Lord Jesus Christ beyond the revelation given in the Book of Revelation which concludes our Bible canon (Revelation 22:18-19). For more understanding of what books should form the canon of Scripture, please read our article, “What Books of the Bible Should Form the Canon of Scripture and Why.”
Meditation Tasks:
- Check the health of our spiritual eyes and ask the Lord Jesus to heal our spiritual eyes.
- Meditate on the three posted questions related to the Holy Spirit baptism.