I WAS BLINDED, AND NOW I SEE

07-24-22 This message may be viewed live streaming video at youtube.com and tabernacleofmoses.org today Sunday at 11:00 am, and repeated 24/7 thereafter. The video, audio, and study notes are archived.

AND WE HAVE THIS MINISTRY

(2 Cor 4:1-6) Therefore seeing we have this ministry [Gk: service] [to God and man (ourselves)], as we have received mercy [Gk: compassion] [the forgiveness of our sins], we faint not; But have renounced the hidden [Gk: concealed] things of dishonesty [lies], not walking in craftiness [Gk: trickery: cunning, subtilty] nor handling the word of God deceitfully [Gk: to ensnare, adulterate]; but by manifestation of the truth commending [Gk: to introduce (favorably)] ourselves to every man's [moral] conscience in the sight of [Allseeing] God. But if our gospel [Gk: good message] be hid [inside you, as a well of living water, i.e., “the kingdom of God is within you” Luke 17:21], it is hid to them that are lost [Gk: destroyed fully]: In whom the god of this world [i.e., Lucifer-Satan] hath blinded the minds [Gk: thoughts] [1] of them which believe not, lest the light [Gk: illumination /// to shed rays or to shine, to brighten up: make to see] of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine [Gk: to beam forth] unto them. For we preach not [about] ourselves, but [about] Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves [as] your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine [Gk: to beam, radiate brilliancy: give light] out of darkness [2], hath shined [Gk: to beam, radiate brilliancy: give light] in our hearts [fig. in the world], to give [to us] the light [Gk: illumination] of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face [Gk: presence] of Jesus Christ [3]. 

1.    Commentary: “hath blinded the minds” = clearly indicates that we were once not blind, but thereafter became blinded. When were we ever “not blind?” Having been born into this world in sin, the only conceivable answer is when we were good angels.

a.     (Eph 1:4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world [i.e., before Gen 1:1], that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 

2.    (Gen 1:1,2) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [a] was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 

a.     darkness = Heb: the dark; hence (literally) darkness: fig. misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness /// to be dark (as withholding light). 

3.    (Gen 1:3) And God said, Let there be light [Heb: illumination, (happiness)] [syn: brilliance, radiance, enlightenment, insight]]: and there was light. 

a.     (John 8:12) Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world [Gk: kosmos; “cosmos”] [universe]: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the [eternal] light of life. 

THE BLIND MAN

(Mark 8:22-25) And he [Jesus Christ] cometh to Bethsaida [Heb: fishing house] [also a city that Jesus had previously cursed for their unbelief (Matt 11:21; Luke 10:23]; and they bring a blind man unto him [Gk: (an) opaque (man)] [i.e., blind from birth (are we not?): walking, talking, and thinking in total darkness all his life thusfar], and besought him [Jesus] to touch [Gk: to attach oneself to] him. And he took the blind man by the hand [as one would the hand of a little child], and led him out of the town; and when he [Jesus] had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought [anything] [1]. And he looked up [fig. toward heaven], and said, I see men as trees, walking [a vision of angels in the Kingdom of Heaven]. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored [Gk: reconstituted] [syn: reinstated, reestablished, returned, renovated, repaired, rebuilt], and saw every man clearly [Gk: in a far shining manner /// a ray of light, by implic. (in their) radiance].

1.    Commentary: “had spit on his eyes” = Jesus Christ is “The Word of God” (Rev 19:13 & John 1:14). The saliva or spittle (water) that issued forth from His mouth was the water (“made wine” John 2:9) of the Word of God (Eph 5:26) which anointed that blind man allowing him to see (to understand) a vision into the spirit world of the Kingdom of Heaven (a type of being born-again). In effect, the man was restored (“transformed…renewed” Rom 12:2) back into his former glory.

a.    (Gen 1:3) And God said, Let there be light [Heb: illumination]: and there was light. 

ON BECOMING RESTORED TO SIGHT (TO GLORY)

(Psa 1:1-3) Blessed [Heb: happiness /// to be straight; to go forward, be honest, prosper] is the man that walketh not in the counsel [Heb: advice] of the ungodly, nor standeth [Heb: remains] in the way [Heb: road; fig. a course of life or mode of action] of sinners [Heb: criminals, accounted guilty: offenders], nor sitteth in the seat [Heb: a seat; by implic. population: assembly] of the scornful [Heb: scoffers: have in derision, mockers]. But his delight [Heb: pleasure; desire: purpose] is in the law of the LORD [the written Word of God and its meaning, the Bible]; and in his law doth he meditate [Heb: ponder: study, talk, utter] day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted [Heb: transplanted] [syn: relocated, resettled] [1] by [with his roots growing (searching, seeking) into] the rivers of water [i.e., into the living water of the Holy Spirit], that bringeth forth his fruit [i.e., the thoughts of God] in his season [in his course]; his leaf [Heb: branch] [his children] also shall not wither [Heb: wilt; fall away, fail; be foolish or (morally) wicked: disgrace, dishonor, come to nought, make vile]; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper [Heb: be good] [for God, and therefore be good for him and for others]. 

1.    Commentary: to become “transplanted” one must first have been “planted” somewhere else. Well, where else could that location possibly have been? May we note that all the trees in the Garden of Eden (a type and shadow of heaven) were fruit trees, i.e., angels, including the tree of life (Jesus Christ) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Lucifer-Satan), both fruit bearing trees.

Amen