Blindness: Spiritual

But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them.

If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.

Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.

Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?

Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’

He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.

He says to himself, “I will not be moved; from age to age I am free of distress.”

For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.

Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. …

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,

They do not know or understand; they wander in the darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.”

Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise?

For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”

Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.

They accepted none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof.

But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man lacking judgment, …

The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of judgment.

Poverty and shame come to him who ignores discipline, but whoever heeds correction is honored.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

Why should the fool have money in his hand with no intention of buying wisdom?

Even zeal is no good without knowledge, and he who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.

A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD comprehend fully.

I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.

The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”

Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.

And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD.

O LORD, Your hand is upraised, but they do not see it. They will see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame. The fire set for Your enemies will consume them!

When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

Then the word of the LORD to them will become: “Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line; a little here, a little there,” so that they will go stumbling backward and will be injured, ensnared, and captured.

For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. …

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?

Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

“I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations,

…to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.

Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see! …

They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand. …

You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.

For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.

The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.

“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”

Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.

I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD. …

“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.

You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD.

When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

“Son of man, you are living in a rebellious house. They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.

Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

All the sinners among My people will die by the sword—all those who say, ‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’”

But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ …

When anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

…and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times.

Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ …

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed 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.’”

Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

…for they had not understood about the loaves, but their hearts had been hardened.

“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him,

Jesus said to them, “Aren’t you mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,

He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’

The seeds along the path are those who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.

And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

…and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots.

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.

“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”

Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’

“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. …

And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.

Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”

Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him,

Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

“Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”

They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father.

“We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.

Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.

“Now we know that You have a demon!” declared the Jews. “Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet You say that anyone who keeps Your word will never taste death.

Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’

You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?”

We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.” …

This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” …

…the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.

But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.

They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.

Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, I know You, and they know that You sent Me.

And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.

The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.

For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

…and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” “No,” they answered, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

…to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. …

Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.

Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.

But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.

And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son,

…each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,

…not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God;

But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief. …

…in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers,

…in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.

…who are always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain, because you are dull of hearing.

Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!

As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

But whoever lacks these traits is nearsighted to the point of blindness, having forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.