RESTORATION OF VISION

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach… RECOVERING OF SIGHT to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised – Luke 4:18

In today’s meditational text, as Jesus and his disciples arrived in the village of Bethsaida, the people brought to Him a blind man to touch. Jesus took the man apart from the village and with some spit and laying on of hands, healed him. This story essentially signals Jesus’ identity as the Messiah, yet it also points to His eternal power to restore sight – not just two millennia ago, but in our present world and in the lives of whosoever believes. His word assures: “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the EYES of the BLIND shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness” (Isa.29:18).

There are many forms of sight impairment: lazy eyes, cataracts, near-sightedness, far-sightedness, glaucoma, double vision, and old, aging or tired eyes. However, much more important than the restoration of sight to the visually-impaired, is the restoration of Vision to the spiritually blind. Helen Keller said, “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but no vision.” There are many who look, but do not see! Perhaps this was the kind of blindness John Newton imagined when he wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.” As a slave trader he experienced a transformation, and realized that he had “once been lost but now was found, was blind but now he could see.”

Jesus declared in Luke 4:18 that He came to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah 61: to preach good news to the poor, liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. As recorded in the first eight chapters of Mark, He had been healing the sick, casting out demons, teaching in parables, and performing miracles such as feeding the multitudes. The people turned out for Jesus and sensed that He was either a great prophet or the long-awaited Messiah of whom Isaiah spoke. It took the restoration of Peter’s spiritual sight – Revelation – for him to finally declare Jesus as Messiah, the Son of God (Mt.8:29).

God wants to heal both physical and spiritual blindness. He wants to restore as many as have been blinded by ambition, anxiety, prejudice, and fear. Paul prayed for believers: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The EYES of your understanding being enlightened…” (Eph.1:17-18a). God wants to renew your vision, restore its clarity and precision; and change your distorted views, and the tendency to see the world through old prejudiced eyes. He is helping you regain the right perspective on life and discern your place in the Father’s Plan. Your vision shall no longer be blurred or obscured. You will run in prophetic accuracy!