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Continuing our discussion from part two, while the Bible is clear in emphasizing the point that many of the religious elders remained spiritually blind until the very afternoon that Jesus was crucified at the place known as Golgotha, it also indicates that a few Jews who belonged to the religious hierarchy -- such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimaethea for example -- were secret Disciples who accepted that Jesus was in fact the promised Messiah. And yet others, while they may not have been outright Disciples, they still maintained a guarded position insofar as persecuting the young, new Church was concerned. For example, in the Book of Acts, we find the Pharisee Gamaliel. Not only did he urge caution, but we find out later that he was also the Apostle Paul's mentor, as we can determine by the following group of verses:

"‭‭Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;‭ And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.‭ For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.‭ After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, ‭even‭ as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.‭ And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:‭ ‭‭But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God."


"I am verily a man ‭which am‭ a Jew, born in Tarsus, ‭a city‭ in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, ‭and‭ taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day."


Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimaethea and Gamaliel were not the only people amongst the upper echelons of Israel's religious hierarchy who were sympathetic to the Gospel message. Upon reading Acts chapter six, we discover that as a direct result of the powerful preaching that was performed by Peter and the other Apostles, even many of the priests who fulfilled their courses in the temple embraced the nascent Christian faith. This becomes evident by the following verse:

"And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."


But if there is one religious Jew whose conversion to the Christian faith was quite dramatic, it was most certainly Saul of Tarsus, who later became known as the Apostle Paul. As I explain in the article entitled "A Biblical Cafeteria, or the Whole Course?", the Book of Acts informs us that Paul went from being a zealous, enraged, blind persecutor of the Christian faith, to becoming one of the most celebrated Christian evangelists of the First Century. In fact, he was directly responsible for reaching much of the Mediterranean region with the Gospel. Ultimately, Paul gave his very life for the cause of Jesus Christ, with church tradition stating that he was beheaded in Rome, not long before Emperor Nero's suicide.

Paul, as many of you will know, was blinded by his own pride. He was your typical, self-righteous, supposedly law-abiding Pharisee. He was also young, and probably wanted to impress his elders with his dedication to the Jewish faith. His zeal and deep hatred towards the young Christian Church prevented him from even beginning to see the error of his ways. He in fact thought that he was doing the will of God by hauling Christians off to jail. As you may recall, this is precisely what Jesus said would happen, as we can see by the following set of verses:

"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that WHOSOEVER KILLETH YOU WILL THINK THAT HE DOETH GOD SERVICE. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me."


Thus it was that the Lord chose to teach Paul a lesson which he would never forget. He decided to give Paul a very graphic example to demonstrate how spiritually blind he really was. Thus Paul was smitten physically blind for a period of three days, as we can determine by the following group of verses:

"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink."


But, as we already learned in part one, despite our sins and imperfections, our God also happens to be a very merciful God. While sometimes He may be forced to chastise us for our sins, precisely because He loves us, there does come a point when He lets up on us, lest we become too discouraged and perish altogether. Thus, after He was certain that Paul had learned his lesson, He sent dear brother Ananias to restore Paul's sight. Consider the following group of verses:

"Open rebuke is better than secret love."


"And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons . . . Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed."


It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."


"For our God is a consuming fire."


"And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And 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. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized."


As I have pointed out before, I find it rather interesting, that in describing Paul's miraculous healing, Luke uses the phrase "there fell from his eyes as it had been scales". Why is this point significant? Because in describing the ancient sea serpent, Leviathan, who I personally believe is symbolic of Satan -- please refer to my article "Leviathan: An Ancient Dragon of the Sea?" -- we are told the following in the Book of Job:

"His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal."


I have long believed that God is very specific in regard to how He chooses to chastise us. In other words, the punishment seems to depend to some degree on the type of sin which has been committed. In this case, Paul's sin was his own pride, which blinded him to the truth. Thus, God chose to physically blind him as well. Who can possibly doubt that Paul lost a great deal of his pride and vanity following such a direct encounter with the Lord? So, the scales falling from Paul's eyes not only represented his physical and spiritual vision being restored so that he could finally see the truth, but but perhaps it also represented that he had forsaken some of pride and self-righteousness as well, and was now a humbler man.

If we stop to consider how much the Apostle Paul writes about self-righteousness versus God's true righteousness which can only be obtained through faith in Christ in his Epistles, it makes perfect sense, in my view. As we learned in part two, we simply have no righteousness of our own; and to believe otherwise is really to deceive ourselves. It is much better to be honest with ourselves, to humble ourselves and depend on God's Mercy for our Salvation.

Later on in the Book of Acts, when Paul is given a chance to share his personal testimony with King Agrippa regarding how he had been called to serve the Lord, and thus to preach the Gospel of Salvation, Paul stated the following. Please notice how the Lord emphasizes -- just as He did in Luke chapter four when He quoted from the Prophet Isaiah -- that He was sending Paul to restore sight to the spiritually blind, just as Paul himself had been healed of the same affliction years earlier on the road to Damascus:

"And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, TO OPEN THEIR EYES, AND TO TURN THEM FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."


Thus we see that Saul of Tarsus was miraculously transformed from being a blind leader of the blind -- as Jesus had said years earlier in Matthew 15:14 -- to becoming a bearer of the Light of God's Word. Later, when writing to the brethren in Rome, Paul again brought up the issue of how his own brethren -- meaning the Jews -- had indeed become spiritually blind in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, as we see here:

"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway . . . For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."


Paul was so burdened by the spiritual blindness of his own people, that we find him mentioning it in a few more of his Epistles. For example, in communicating with the Church at Corinth, he wrote the following lines:

"Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ . . . But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."


In writing to the brethren at Ephesus, Paul again expressed his desire that their spiritual eyes would be opened, that they would understand the message of the Gospel, and that they would not walk blindly as other Gentiles walk, as we can determine by the following group of verses:

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all . . . This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:"


If there is one thing which the Bible makes really clear, it is that the only way that anyone can truly understand the things of God, the only way in which our spiritual eyes can be opened so that we see the truth, and are not blinded by the lies of this present world, is through the anointing of His Holy Spirit. This is a Gift which dwells in each of us when we receive Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches us that His Spirit takes up residence in us, and we in fact become His living temples. Furthermore, God freely offers the Gift of His Spirit to all people, if they will simply ask for it. All of these truths becomes evident by verses such as the following:

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"


"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."


"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."


"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, IF SO BE THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELL IN YOU. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead DWELL IN YOU, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by HIS SPIRIT THAT DWELLETH IN YOU."


"KNOW YE NOT THAT YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLETH IN YOU? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, WHICH TEMPLE YE ARE."


"What? know ye not that YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST WHICH IS IN YOU, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."


"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? FOR YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD; as God hath said, I WILL DWELL IN THEM, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."


"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an HOLY TEMPLE IN THE LORD: In whom YE ALSO ARE BUILDED TOGETHER FOR AN HABITATION OF GOD THROUGH THE SPIRIT."


"YE ALSO, AS LIVELY STONES, ARE BUILT UP A SPIRITUAL HOUSE, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."


Without the Spirit of God working in our lives, and without receptive hearts to receive the things which God wishes to reveal to us, we would all be as spiritually blind as the examples we have seen in this series. In fact, as Paul also tells us, we might even consider the truths of the Bible to be utter foolishness, as so many people do today. Consider the following verses. They sound just like so many people in our own time who view Christians as being crazy people, and the Bible as just being some useless, silly, old book which is filled with myths. They just don't understand us or it:

"‭‭And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.‭ ‭‭But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness."


"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."


So what about you? How is your vision? Are you still walking in spiritual darkness? Are your eyes only on the temporary things of the flesh of this current wayward world? Has the lust of the eyes deceived you? Are you still blinded to the truth of God's Holy Word? Or have you received the Light of Jesus Christ? It is my hope that your eyes have indeed been opened, and that you are keeping them steadfast on Jesus and His Eternal Promises. As it is written:

"LOOKING UNTO JESUS the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."


As we are told in the Book of Revelation, God wishes to anoint our eyes with the eyesalve of His Spirit, in order that we might truly see, and truly understand, the great things which are revealed in His Word, beginning with His wonderful Plan of Salvation:

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."


If you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and if you are still walking in spiritual darkness, then my prayer for you, in the wise words of King David, is that your eyes will finally be opened to the truth, and that you will recognize Jesus Christ as the only Truth, and the only Way to Eternal Life. Consider these two verses:

"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law."


"Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way."


On the other hand, if you have already accepted Jesus Christ, or if this series leads you in that direction so that you'll soon seriously consider doing so, then please also consider this wonderful promise which is found in God's Word:

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."


As you can see, while we began this series by discussing the importance of being careful where we focus with our eyes so that we don't fall into temptation and sin, we have now gone even deeper with this subject, and explored how important it is to keep our spiritual eyes open so that we know the truth.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

A Biblical Cafeteria, or the Whole Course?
Are You Clean Every Whit?
Going Down the Highway of Life
Have You Sold Your Soul for a Pound of Flesh?
Leviathan: An Ancient Dragon of the Sea?
My God Is a Shocker
Nephilim: The Giants of Genesis
One From Beyond: Hebrew of Hebrews
Sex, a Bowl of Soup, and the Nature of Angels
Striving for Perfection: Are You a Sinless Saint?
The Book Of Enoch: Truth or Heresy?
The Children of Light: Are You One of Us?
The Heavenly Vision: Have You Got It?
The Judgment of Angels, Demons and Men
This Little Light, Glory of the Lord and Our Bright Future

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