Seeing More Clearly

Some things happen instantly in one event and they’re done. Many of us think of spiritual enlightenment as a momentary experience, as in “I once was blind, but now I see.” Yet for many of us Newton’s lyric is an abbreviation of our fuller experience. It tells the truth of what has happened within us and to us, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Many of us experienced something rather like what happened to the blind man of Bethsaida.

Jesus “came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, ‘I see men like trees, walking.’ Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly” (Mark 8:22-26 NKJV).

It is common, at least in some circles, for some people to think that others are not truly saved because their particular experience does not exactly mirror their own. Some precious Christians have been tormented by friends and relatives who doubt the reality of their salvation because they cannot recall the date of their conversion or specify the moment of their new birth. For some Christians it seems more complicated and they simply cannot pinpoint the different parts of their conversion experience; that does not mean they are not true Christians. Indeed, some have a Damascus Road moment, while others have a Bethsaida Road experience—in fact, the Damascus Road and Bethsaida Road experiences are more alike than we might, at first, think.

Saul’s Damascus Road experience was a step by step event in his life. He saw a bright light, fell to the ground, as he was blinded by brilliance; he saw nothing for a period of days until the Lord Jesus sent Ananias to him and then there fell from his eyes something like scales. Saul’s experience began in an instant but it was not over in an instant. Over a period of days the Lord used those things to transform his life and He gave him his marching orders as an apostle.

The blind man from Bethsaida instantly got some vision; he was a blind man no more. His darkness disappeared in a moment. Light broke in and his utter blindness gave way to some sight—it was true sight, but it was not clear vision. He saw things. He did see something, whereas before he saw nothing. At first nothing was truly clear. He could see men, but they looked more like trees that walked than like men. It took another touch of Jesus’ hands with another powerful and wonderful work of grace to help him to see clearly.

Having been once blind to the things of God, receiving our first glimpse of Christ is a precious gift. But we may not see things so clearly at first. If we remember well our early days as believers, we know that we saw many things we had never seen before. But many things were rather fuzzy—unclear. We needed the Lord’s further help so that we could see things accurately, as they truly were and are. We still need that. If we now have received the faculty of spiritual sight, we need more and more to behold Jesus and understand the truth as revealed in Him. –TSA