I Was Blind But Now I See

Blind people, who have always lived with a visual impairment, know the value of being able to see, more so than anyone else; however, those who have been able to see everything since birth are unable to fully understand the value of sight. What if a man who has lived his entire life in total darkness regains his sight one day, being able to see the world clearly? At that moment, he would be inexplicably overjoyed.

It is the same with us spiritually. When we were in total spiritual darkness, we met God, who opened our spiritual eyes to see the truth. In that moment, our souls must have leaped for joy and overflowed with thanksgiving; yet, as we are always able to see and hear the words of truth, everything has a tendency to become routine with the passing of time.

While walking the path of faith, sometimes we forget to give thanks to God for all of the blessings that He has given us. We were deeply moved by the life-giving words of truth when we first heard them, but as time passes, we may begin to feel like it’s just a routine way of life. We must never have these foolish thoughts. As the people of Zion, we should all thank and glorify Elohim all the more every day for allowing us to see the truth.

God Has Allowed Us to See and Believe in Him

The Gospel of John records a scene where a man who had been blind from birth met Jesus, and as a result, his sight was restored. Jesus put mud on his eyes and told him to go and wash himself in the Pool of Siloam. When the blind man obeyed Jesus’ words and washed off the mud, his eyes were opened and he was able to see everything clearly.

The fact that Christ opened the eyes of the blind man was something unprecedented, miraculous, and blissful. It was also the fulfillment of a prophecy concerning what Jesus would do once he came to this earth (Isa 42:1–7). Despite seeing Jesus fulfill prophecy, the Pharisees treated Him as a sinner, simply because He worked on the Sabbath. The man who regained his sight and saw the world for the first time was questioned about the event by the religious leaders, and he answered their question as follows:

He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” . . . “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” Jn 9:25, 31–33

The man who had been blind from birth said that he did not know who Jesus was and all he knew was that he was able to see when he did exactly what Jesus told him to do. He emphasized this by saying, “One thing I do know, I was blind but now I can see!”

His heart must have been filled with an inexpressible joy and overwhelming emotion when he saw the world for the first time. He himself must have been filled with overflowing gratitude towards Jesus for opening his eyes and enabling him to see. He was certain that the one who restored his sight must have been sent from God.

As he was expressing his faith in Jesus, the people who opposed Jesus drove him out. Upon hearing this, Jesus went out to meet the man He had healed, and revealed to him who He was.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jn 9:35–38

When he was blind, he did not recognize Jesus, despite having met Him. Once Jesus opened his eyes and he could see, the situation was completely different from when his eyes were closed. He gained the ability to identify colors and see the person in front of him, at which point he came to realize that Jesus was God. Once he recognized that Jesus was the Savior who healed his eyes, he came to believe in Christ and received Him.

Before we came to know the truth, we were also spiritually blind. Although our eyes were physically open, we could not discern spiritual things. We wanted to worship God properly; yet, we did not even know which day God appointed as the proper day of worship. As we were living in spiritual darkness as if we were blind people, Heavenly Father and Mother came to this earth and opened our spiritual eyes. They taught us about the Sabbath, the Passover, and the reality of Elohim who brought us the tree of life. As a result, we can now recognize and have true faith in Christ, the Spirit and the Bride.

Though Seeing, They Will Never Perceive, and Though Hearing, They Will Never Understand

In the New Testament, we can see that there were many people who met Jesus 2,000 years ago. Some of them recognized Christ and received Him, but others slandered and opposed Him in every way. Even though Jesus was right in front of them, they did not recognize Him. Jesus referred to them as spiritually blind.

Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” Jn 9:39–41

In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.’ ” Mt 13:14–16

He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ” Mk 4:11–13

These people, mentioned in the above verses, were all spiritually blind, weren’t they? They did not recognize who Jesus was, even though they physically saw Him. It may seem easy for them to have recognized and received Jesus when they saw all of the prophecies He was fulfilling right in front of them; however, the Jews failed to recognize Jesus at that time. Jesus called them “blind” and rebuked the religious leaders such as the Pharisees, the teachers of the law, and the chief priests by saying, “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Mt 15:14).

Open Eyes and Closed Eyes

God came to this earth in the flesh. The King of kings took off His glorious robe and temporarily put on the ordinary clothes of flesh. Most people who claimed to believe in God did not recognize Him when He came to this earth as a man for the first time. As their spiritual eyes were completely closed, they even tried to stone Him.

“I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” Jn 10:30–33

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. . . .” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all . . . Mk 2:5–12

Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” and He granted people the forgiveness of sins, a power that belongs to God alone. This proves who Jesus truly is. Jesus taught people in many ways that He was God, but they picked up stones to stone Him. This all took place because their spiritual eyes were completely closed.

In the Age of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit and the Bride have come to this earth in the flesh. Those whose spiritual eyes are closed will be unable to perceive, though seeing, and unable to understand, though hearing. There are those who respect and follow every word given by the Spirit and the Bride who are with us in the flesh, but there are also those who neglect it. Those who neglect God’s word are in the spiritual state of being unable to perceive though they see and unable to understand, though they hear the words of God.

We must open our spiritual eyes to recognize God correctly and receive Him. Those who have opened their spiritual eyes to see and their spiritual ears to hear are very different in their attitude of honoring God and in their manner of behavior towards Him, in comparison to those who have not. This is how we can recognize and distinguish between those who have open eyes and those who have closed eyes.

Joy and Blessings for Those Whose Spiritual Eyes Are Open

We were once blind, but now we have spiritual eyes to see. Let us reflect on ourselves and consider whether we honor God with joy and gratitude in our heart, or if we are merely revering God with our own knowledge-based views on Him. Our spiritual eyes have been opened, but if they become dull through our daily routine, we will be unable to fully follow God’s guidance. We should receive Elohim with the same excitement and gratitude as if we were spiritually blind until yesterday and only regained our sight today. Additionally, we should fully follow the path Heavenly Father and Mother are leading us on.

This is the mindset that Zacchaeus had towards Jesus in His first coming. At that time, he was a chief tax collector. One day, he heard that Jesus was coming through his town. He wanted to see Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. Then he climbed a sycamore-fig tree just to be able to see Him from a distance. When Jesus was passing through Zacchaeus’ town, He looked up at him in the tree and called him by name. Then Jesus said to him, “I must stay at your house today.” That day, Zacchaeus’ heart was filled with overflowing joy. After receiving Jesus, he pledged to give half of his possessions to the poor, and assured Him that if he had cheated anyone out of anything, he would repay them four times the amount (Lk 19:1–10).

Another example is the Apostle Paul. Once his spiritual eyes were opened, he boldly testified that Jesus was in very nature God, and preached the gospel with a thankful heart, regardless of the hardships he faced. In the same way, the Apostle Peter immediately recognized Christ who came in the flesh and confessed his faith in Him.

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Mt 16:15–19

God gave these great blessings to those whose spiritual eyes were opened. We are incredibly blessed to be able to call God “our Heavenly Father” and “our Heavenly Mother.” Let us deeply consider if we look at God with our spiritual eyes wide open, just as Peter did. If we are still putting our own thoughts and feelings before God’s word, our eyes are not fully open yet. We must look at God with our spiritual eyes wide open instead of with eyes that are closed.

When the army of Aram surrounded the city of Dothan to capture the prophet Elisha, his servant was instantly filled with fear because he saw the Aramean soldiers and chariots. God answered Elisha’s prayer and opened his servant’s spiritual eyes, and he was able to see the heavenly army surrounding them, which greatly outnumbered the enemy (2 Ki 6:8–17). Elisha’s servant thought that there were no soldiers to fight on their side, but then he came to realize that the heavenly army was there protecting them. At that moment, his fear disappeared and he was filled with great courage.

When we close our spiritual eyes, we come to feel like there is no one around us. We are never walking this path alone. We have all of our brothers and sisters in Zion, who are walking this same path of the gospel right beside us. Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother are always with us, and myriads of angels are helping us wherever we preach the gospel.

Let us keep our spiritual eyes wide open and look upon the spiritual world where God is always working. Everything is being accomplished just as it is prophesied in the Bible. Through focusing on the prophecies of the Bible, we can fully understand the Spirit and the Bride, who are leading all of us towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us run towards Heaven with an unwavering faith to follow Them wherever They lead us.

There are many people around us whose spiritual eyes are still closed. We must open their spiritual eyes, too. Since God has even granted us the authority to open their eyes, our brothers and sisters in Zion all around the world are now preaching the truth about Heavenly Father and Mother to Samaria and even to the ends of the earth, testifying that They have come to this earth in the flesh.

The Kingdom of Heaven is drawing nearer every day. Brothers and sisters in Zion! I earnestly ask all of you to obey God’s word with joy and gratitude in your heart. Let us fulfill the gospel mission, looking up to God and the numerous blessings God has promised us, with our spiritual eyes wide open.