| HIGHLIGHTS OF DAWN | October 1999 |
“Whereas I Was Blind, Now I See”
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“One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” |
THE LEADERS OF THE world met in Copenhagen in March, 1995 and committed to eradicating poverty on our planet. A ten-year program was launched in 1996 for this purpose. We have not seen any data as to the success or failure of this program, but the condition of the world today indicates that most people are in poverty. This particular program was considered as ambitious, and was analyzed in a “Dawn,” September 1996, Highlights article.
Last month the United Nations made another announcement from Geneva—a pledge to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. The announcement in the Newark Star Ledger said, under the caption, “U.N. Mounts Campaign to End Blindness:”
Associated Press, Geneva:—“The United Nations pledged yesterday to eliminate blindness by the year 2020.
“Cataracts, curable by surgery and accounting for almost half the world’s blindness, are a prime target of the World Health Organizations’s ‘Vision 2020: The Right to Sight’ initiative. Some 20 million people are blind from the condition.
“The plan identifies four other conditions, including trachoma and childhood blindness, as priorities.
“WHO (World Health Organization) will work with independent development organizations to redouble efforts against blindness, concentrating on disease prevention, training and transferring technology to developing countries.
“‘Up to 80 percent of the world’s blindness is avoidable’ said WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland. ‘It either results from the conditions that could have been prevented or can be successfully treated with the sight restored.’
“Trachoma, a painful infection that has blinded 6 million people in the world’s poorest countries, is the most widespread preventable disease to be targeted by the new program.”
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
This program also is a very ambitious undertaking, with a broader time for accomplishment. Unlike the poverty program that depends on economic conditions improving, this campaign depends on modern technology to effect a change and to make such skills available to the impoverished of third world countries. It is a laudable campaign; but it cannot compare with God’s program—to remove all physical blindness in the world.
One of the great blessings of life is our eyesight. Although perfection of body does not exist in this present evil world, and our eyes often need corrective lenses early in life, yet there is no comparison between being able to see under these circumstances and having to cope with total blindness. Blindness is a tragedy, and is recognized to be so by God, our Heavenly Father. It is for this reason that the removal of blindness is considered a definite sign of God’s favor. The Prophet Isaiah, in prophesying about the blessings of God’s kingdom, said: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened.”—Isa. 35:5
JESUS OPENED BLIND EYES
During our Lord Jesus’ ministry, John the Baptist, when in prison, wanted to know if Jesus was the expected Messiah. He asked, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” (Matt. 11:3) Our Lord answered by calling attention to the sample works he performed then, compared with kingdom blessings which would be enjoyed by all during that kingdom. Leading the list was: “The blind receive their sight.” (vs. 5) Several who were blind had their sight restored. Among the first were two blind men who followed him asking for mercy. Jesus performed a miracle and said, “See that no man know it.” (Matt. 9:27-31) Instead, they spread abroad his fame in all that country, and many sought to be healed by him. For example, when he went to the temple in Jerusalem, we read: “The blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.”—Matt. 21:14
Probably the most meaningful and detailed account of healing blindness is found in the ninth chapter of John. Jesus encountered a young man who was blind from birth. The disciples asked Jesus if the blind man was born with this affliction because his parents had sinned, or because the man himself had sinned. Jesus said that this was not due to special sin either on the part of the parents or the blind man. Jesus was not here discussing the general condemnation of death which rested upon all mankind because of original sin, in which sense all sickness, imperfection, and death are due to sin.—John 9:1-3
What Jesus indicated was that this blind man had not been singled out for special punishment because of some particular sin. He explained, however, that in this instance the man’s malady would be used as an opportunity for the works of God to be manifested; for Divine power was used to give the man his sight.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Jesus added, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (vss. 4,5) Here daytime is used by Jesus to symbolize the productive period in one’s life; this is in contrast to nighttime, which illustrates the time in which no man can work, especially after being overtaken by death. Jesus knew that he had a great work to perform in connection with his Father’s plan, and that his ‘day’ would not be a very long one. Indeed, the entire period of his ministry was only three and one-half years.
Jesus did not always ask the cooperation of those whom he healed, but in the case of this blind man, he did. He anointed his eyes with clay, and asked the man to go to the pool of Siloam and wash the clay off. We are not to suppose that there was any restorative power in the clay, nor in the water of the pool. But by this act, the man was demonstrating his desire to cooperate with the Master—a desire which was based on faith.
The man returned from the pool able to see. But he fell into disrepute among some of the Pharisees who claimed that Jesus had violated the Law by working on the Sabbath Day by making the clay for the man’s eyes, etc. In the controversy that ensued, the man was not sure of the cause of the great miracle by which he had gained his sight, but he gave a wonderful testimony. He said, “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”—vs. 25
BELIEVING ON THE SON OF GOD
In due course Jesus came into contact again with the healed man and asked him, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” The man replied, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?” And Jesus said unto him, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.” The one who had been born blind then made a firm announcement of his faith. He said, “Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.”—vss. 35-38
Jesus then made a symbolic application of blindness and of sight, saying, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” Some of the Pharisees understood and asked, “Are we blind also?” Jesus then indicated that they had a measure of sight, and were therefore held responsible in their willful opposition to him and his message. (John 9:39-41) In our title verse, Jesus uses sight to illustrate one’s vision of God, and to show that those who do not walk in darkness enjoy “the light of life.”—John 8:12
DARKNESS COVERS THE EARTH
In this account of healing blindness from birth we are reminded that all the world is in a darkened condition because of inherited blindness. As Isaiah said, “The darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” (Isa. 60:2) Ever since Father Adam transgressed God’s law there has been darkness. People are blind to the message of truth. The man was believed to be young—his parents were still living, and there was doubt as to his age. He represents all the Lord’s people of the Gospel Age whose eyes have been opened to see God’s beautiful character and his wonderful plan.
When our Lord’s disciples asked Jesus why he spoke to the people in parables, he quoted Isaiah 6:9 as part of his answer: “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.”—Matt. 13:15,16
During the present Gospel Age, the Lord is seeking a people ‘for his name,’ to be associated with his Son and the kingdom work. This is why Jesus said that “neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents.” The answer to that question, i.e., the recovery of the world’s general blindness, was a different matter. Rather, “That the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (John 9:3) The works of God are made manifest during the Gospel Age in God’s chosen ones only.
A PICTURE OF GOD’S PEOPLE
The experiences of God’s people during the Gospel Age are similar to those of the blind man who was healed. He demonstrated his faith by washing in the pool of Siloam. When Jesus anointed his eyes with clay and spittle, he still could not see, although it may have felt good. Only when he washed in the pool was his eyesight given to him. This event could represent at first when a member of Adam’s family (clay) brought the message of salvation (the fruit of our Lord’s lips) to us.
However, only at consecration do we receive the Lord’s Holy Spirit and are able to see. Our neighbors are not sure that we are the same person. The Pharisees, opponents of the message of truth, interrogated this man and also his parents in an endeavor to suggest that the event never happened. So, too, the opponents of the New Creation try to dissuade our consecrated walk. As the man was excommunicated from the Temple, causing Jesus to reveal himself to him, so also, the opposition to our consecration serves to bring us closer to Jesus, conforming our lives to his image as we worship him.
GOD’S DAY OF JUDGMENT
The judgment that follows the Gospel Age is that of the Millennial Age, when everyone will be given an opportunity to see God’s Plan. (Jer. 31:31-34) When the Apostle Paul was persecuted by those who opposed his message, he cited Isaiah 49:6, which said, “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the end of the earth.” (Acts 13:44-49) In that same prophecy in Isaiah, it is mentioned that those being selected in the Gospel Age will be used as an instrumentality to restore sight to all the world of mankind.
“Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation [the Gospel Age] have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people [to be ministers of the New Covenant (II Cor. 3:6)] to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages [waiting for Psalm 2:8 to be fulfilled].”—Isa. 49:8
“That thou mayest say to the prisoners [in the prisonhouse of death], Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. [No more darkness of the tomb or of God’s plan.] They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.” [The resurrection brings life to all mankind].—vs. 9
“They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way [obstacles removed, as in Isaiah 35:8], and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim [the uttermost parts of the earth].”—vss. 10-12
The great work of the Millennial kingdom by Jesus and his Church will be the restoration of all mankind from the darkness of death and the darkness of ignorance. All will then be able to say, ‘Whereas I was blind, now I see.’