17And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
18And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. (Acts 9:17-18, King James Version)
The world is deceived (Rev 12:9). Blindness in the Bible is used as a metaphor for spiritual deception. We must be called (Jn 6:44). We cannot come to God unless He desires to open our eyes to the truth. Then, like Paul, the spiritual scales fall from our eyes, and we can finally see.
Perhaps you have heard of the expression “blind faith”. It means believing without seeing, without any proof whatsoever or without understanding. Please note that “blind faith”, though, is still blind. You may believe the right things but for all the wrong reasons. Blind faith is not the same as the truth being revealed. You may receive certain physical benefits because of doing the right things, but it won’t really save you.
Have you truly meditated upon blindness? Recently, I have had the opportunity to do so. Of course, I am not blind, and so there is only so much I can glean from the comparisons of physical and spiritual blindness. However, there are some things that even the sighted can learn from getting to know more about spiritual blindness.
Stupid Disclaimer: The comparisons are illustrative only. A physically blind person can be saved just as much as (maybe even more than) a physically sighted person. No correlations between those who are physically blind and those who are spiritually blind should be inferred.
What are a few of the lessons we can learn?
1. There are different types of blindness. Not all blindness is the same. There is total blindness, tunnel vision, blurred vision, color blindness and more. Likewise, an unconverted person can get so much right and yet turn around and get so much wrong. The type of blindness often varies from person to person.
2. There are different levels of blindness. Some people may have total blindness, while others may be legally blind. Some of us overcome our smaller difficulties with eyesight by wearing glasses. Likewise, some spiritually blind may only be off on minor points, while others can be 180 degrees from the truth.
3. Blindness is often not the only problem. Some people lose their eyesight due to diabetes. Some develop glaucoma. The causes may be different, but there are often other problems. Spiritually blind people often have other things going on as well. Family problems, drug and alcohol problems, financial problems can cause, contribute to or aggravate spiritual blindness.
4. It can be difficult to describe a sight to a blind person. If a person is color blind, it may not do much good to tell them something is green. A person who has been blind from birth may not understand what “shiny” is. Telling a spiritually blind person something they’ve never heard before might not bring the reaction you expect. In fact, they may not believe what you are saying.
5. Blindness does not mean they might not be good at something else. A blind person I knew could hear me even when I spoke quite low sometimes. It struck me how different is was from some sighted people who would not have heard me. A spiritually blind person may be good at their job, have a loving family or even be a very nice person.
6. Some day all blindness will be cured. The Millennial prophecies speak about the blind seeing and the lame leaping. It isn’t just physical, though! Spiritual blindness will be eliminated as well one day. God will heal not just the body but the heart as well.
I hope these thoughts will help you whenever you read about blindness in the Bible, esp. the NT.