What the Bible says about Vision, Spiritual
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Mark 8:22-26

Jesus Christ healed many blind people during His earthly ministry, and four of them are recorded in detail in the gospels. Mark alone records Jesus' miracle of healing the blind man from Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26), which happened not far from the scene of the feeding of the 5,000.

The blind man had been brought to Christ for healing by some friends or family. Before dealing with the man's blindness, Jesus separates the afflicted man from the crowd, taking him out of town away from the inhabitants. As in another healing, He uses His spittle on the man's eyes, and afterward, He commands the man not to tell others what had transpired.

This miracle illustrates important spiritual truths. Although the man may still have been able to sense light, he remained functionally blind. His blindness is a physical portrayal of spiritual or moral blindness, indicating one who is incapable of discerning the spiritual and moral truths that are plain to those whom God has called.

His healing is unique in that it occurs in stages rather than instantaneously. Granted, the man born blind had to go to the pool of Siloam and wash his eyes (John 9), but once he did, the healing was immediate (John 9:7). Some sicknesses cannot be healed by degrees, requiring a decisive blow to end them. The exorcising of a demon, for example, must be accomplished entirely or else it is not expelled at all (Mark 1:21-28; 5:1-20; 7:24-30; 9:14-29). A leper is still a leper if the blemish remains (Mark 1:40-45; Luke 17:11-19). However, blindness can be healed in stages: first a glimmer of light, then more clarity, and finally perfect vision.

This healing by stages pictures the maturation process of a believer's spiritual understanding, the conversion process each Christian experiences. Christ asks the blind man "if he saw anything" (Mark 8:23), and he looks up, indicating a natural first inclination toward the source of light to discern images. The man's reply, "I see men like trees, walking" (verse 24), reveals that he had not been born blind. However, he could not precisely discern the shape and magnitude of the objects he recognized.

Christ's method of healing here shows that our spiritual enlightenment is a continuous process. At first, we cannot see God's truth clearly. Most of our spiritual blindness remains, but as our faith, obedience, and growth develops, Jesus, "the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2), increases the clarity of our spiritual vision through the power of His Holy Spirit.

Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing the Blind Man from Bethsaida

Revelation 5:1-3

Several passages can provide insight into this scene. Obviously, the aged apostle was familiar with the Scriptures, so when he saw this vision of God's throne, the One who sat on it, and a sealed scroll, several writings of the prophets probably came to his mind.

For example, in Daniel's vision, thrones are set up, the Ancient of Days takes His seat, and books are opened (Daniel 7:9-10). We tend to focus on the four beasts in this vision, but the more significant theme shows the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven, given dominion, glory, and a kingdom (Daniel 7:13-14, 27).

In Revelation, John sees the Ancient of Days likewise seated on a throne. Remembering Daniel's vision, John knows that court's purpose is to remove the dominion of man and the satanic power behind him and to give the Kingdom to the saints of the Most High under the Son of Man.

The prophet Ezekiel provides another related record. He also had a vision of the divine, including cherubim and a throne of God (Ezekiel 1:1-28) as a prelude to his commission to warn the rebellious house of Israel (Ezekiel 2:1-8). His vision contains another, similar scroll to the one John saw:

Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe. (Ezekiel 2:9-10)

Like Ezekiel's scroll, the one John saw had writing “inside and on the back” (Revelation 5:1), but there are some differences as well: Ezekiel's scroll was the symbol of a commission to a human servant, while the one John saw was not. Also, Ezekiel's scroll was open and readable, while in Revelation 5, the scroll is sealed. Both scrolls, though, do involve “lamentations and mourning and woe.”

Zechariah 5:1-4 contains another vision of a scroll, which may also have flashed through John's mind when he saw the scroll in the right hand of the Most High. An angel explains that Zechariah's scroll, also written on both sides, is “the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth”—specifically, a curse on thieves and perjurers. When John sees the divine scroll opened, it likewise contains a judgment for sin, but it affects far more than just thieves and perjurers.

Each of these scrolls symbolizes the judgments contained within them. In addition, each is written on both sides, indicating that nothing further will be added. The contents of each scroll are complete for its purpose, and once the scroll is opened, everything written on them will occur until God's purpose is fulfilled. As He says in Isaiah 55:11, “My word . . . goes forth from My mouth [and] it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thingfor which I sent it.” Nothing more needs to be added, and nothing will change the judgment that has been decreed.

David C. Grabbe
Worthy to Take the Scroll


 

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