Articles
None So Blind
Barbara L. Klika, MSW, Undershepherd, Life Coach
May 2012
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Hearing is believing.
The first is an idiom, the second a Scriptural principle. Those who have all the facts in front of them but will not see, choosing to disregard them, are demonstrating a flaw in character, immaturity or perhaps denial. They may also choose to believe what people say about those facts, rather than checking them for themselves, much as Eve did in the garden when she heard and accepted the adversary’s presentation of “fact” about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She then used the evidence of her own eyes, rather than adhering to the Word of our God, as she became deceived.
Both statements confirm the importance of using our senses correctly throughout life because how we live now has eternal significance. Our Creator made a physical universe for us to live, learn and grow in, a series of pictures to teach us spiritual truth, but it will not continue as it is now. In His Word, He told us that He is the Beginning and the End, never changing. He makes Himself known to us through His creation and through His Word. All things were created by and are held together in Messiah Yeshua, Who is from the beginning. He told us that the sun, moon, and stars would be for signs and for seasons and He established their courses. He established His ways of doing things, His calendar and days of work and of rest. He said these same sun, moon and stars would help us to know the time Messiah would be returning.
Hearing has been important from the beginning, too. After Adam and Eve sinned, they could no longer see the Father but they could hear His voice! (See Poor, Blind and Naked from Eden to Laodicea)
Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. Deuteronomy 5:1
Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;
Mark 20:29
So then faith [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 NKJV
“Hear” does not mean just to physically hear the sounds of the words, but in the more full Hebraic sense, it is Shema, Strong’s 8085, meaning “to hear, listen and obey.” Yes, I know, people say that all we need to do is believe and be saved, but the Word says it involves obedience to what is heard, believing and doing them.
They answered Him and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abrahams’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”
Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father-God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.”
John 8: 39-44a
Why do you not understand My speech?
“Speech” is from the Greek word, Strong’s 2981 Lalia
1) speech, i.e a story 2) dialect, mode of speech, pronunciation a) speech which discloses the speaker's native country 1
Because you are not able to listen to My Word.
“Word” is from the Greek word, Strong’s 3059 Logos
1) of speech a) a word, uttered by a living voice, embodies a conception or idea b) what someone has said
1) a word 2) the sayings of God 3) decree, mandate or order 4) of the moral precepts given by God
5) Old Testament prophecy given by the prophets 6) what is declared, a thought, declaration, aphorism, a weighty saying, a dictum, a maxim …
In John, [Logos] denotes the essential Word of God, Jesus Christ, the personal wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world's life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man's salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, and shone forth conspicuously from His words and deeds.
Note: A Greek philosopher named Heraclitus first used the term Logos around 600 B.C. to designate the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe. 2
This is very easy to miss when reading only the English and is a sort of play on words. Messiah Yeshua was from the beginning. His speech matched His Word because Yeshua is of YHWH. If it were otherwise, He could not possibly BE our Messiah.
Those Messiah spoke to here were eager to kill Him, and quick to, in effect, call Him illegitimate. Their speech matched their actions, BUT their actions and speech did not match the Word, despite all of their protestations. What they were doing indicates who they were from and who they were listening to, as is also true today.
Yes, I know people say that Paul rejected Torah and made a new religion, but the Word records Paul’s words:
But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
Acts 24:14
Paul said he believed all things written in the Law and the Prophets which is what Christians generally call the Old Testament, or broadly, the Torah, as an inclusive term. The Greek word under “believing” is pisteu, Srong’s G4100. Kittel’s The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament and other resources are showing newer research that confirms this word in its proper grammatical meaning should NOT be understood as only the intellectual agreement we have considered it to be, but rather obey, comply and trust in an ongoing sense. It is consistent with the understanding of “shema” being to both hear AND obey, as referenced above.
Yes, I know people say the “Old Testament” isn’t relevant anymore, but the Word says:
The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 40:8
But the word of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
1 Peter 1:25
In America, we have been blessed with abundance, many people owning multiple copies of this Word of God while in other countries, the pages of one Bible are carefully separated and shared among many. We have the whole Word in front of our eyes to check for ourselves. Are we just listening to what people say about it?
As we watch the upheaval in the world, both environmental and political, now more than ever we need understand what is hapening; to be the children of the Light, not of the darkness. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night to those of the darkness, but NOT as a surprise to those who are in the Light. Yes, I know people say differently, but The Word says:
For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
Psalm 18:28
For you were once darkness, but now [you are] light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
1 Thessalonians 5: 4 (1-6 for context)
Those who remain in darkness are most likely to be terribly frightened at all the things that must come upon the earth before Messiah’s return, but these things are not intended to frighten His people!
"And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath On the nations which have not obeyed."
Micah 5:15
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Thessalonians 5:9
"But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Luke 21:28
These things are beginning to take place. Look up! Lift up your heads!
There are some amazing things happening in the sun, moon and stars and they appear to be fulfillment of His Word that they would help us know the season of Messiah’s return. In 2014 and 2015, at the time of both the spring and fall Feasts of the Lord, astronomy software indicates that there will be two sets of blood red moons each year, a tetrad, along with 2 solar eclipses, and in 2016, at the Day of Trumpets, another eclipse while the moon is not giving its light. These events match what was foretold. The only other tetrads, looking back 500 years, occurred in 1947 and 1967, both times when land was restored to Israel. Jubilee cycles of years fit the picture. According to astronomical software, this combination of events in 2014 and 2015, on these days, has never happened before, and is not ever anticipated to happen again. Is this significant enough to make you want to know more? There is much more than I can address here.
Yes, I know that people say that the Feasts are only for the Jews and really have no importance anymore and certainly not to Gentiles, but the Word says:
These [are] the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Leviticus 23:4
Behold, I am building a temple for the name of the LORD my God, to dedicate [it] to Him, to burn before Him sweet incense, for the continual showbread, for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, on the New Moons, and on the set feasts of the LORD our God. This [is an ordinance] forever to Israel.
2 Chronicles 2:4
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. … Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Ephesians 2:11-13, 19 (chapter for context)
If you believe in, honor and serve the God of Israel, then you have been grafted in and ARE now part of Israel, the household of God.
And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches.
But if you do boast, [remember that] you do not support the root, but the root [supports] you.
Romans 11:17-18 NKJV
There is yet time to determine your course. Will you be among the children of the Light or of the darkness? Will you insist that the Whole Word of God is no longer relevant, that His Feasts have no meaning? Will you be among those Isaiah described, and both Matthew and Luke quoted:
For the hearts of this people have grown dull. [Their] ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with [their] eyes and hear with [their] ears, Lest they should understand with [their] hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.
Matthew 13:15
In fact, those who resist the Whole Word and do not observe it, and harass those who do, are called arrogant. Strangely enough, even those who resist the Whole Word seem to find the Psalms acceptable. I wonder if they still would if they see and hear what is included there!
You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments.
Psalm 119: 21 NASB
The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
Psalm 119: 51 NASB
The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law.
Psalm 119: 85 NASB
Malachi has words of importance here as well, generally accepted to be referring to the Day of His coming, The Day of the Lord. Yes, I know people say the prophets are no longer relevant but the Word says:
"You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the LORD of hosts? 'So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.'"
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.
Malachai 3: 14-16 (whole chapter for context)
Personally, I find the following words of Messiah to be very sobering words that many people who have declared the “Old Testament” to be invalid seem to just pass over without concern.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "
And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
Matthew 7:21-23
Perhaps I am wrong, but I think He could only be addressing those who considered themselves to be followers of His? Apparently, they were deceived, because He said He didn’t know them. (The word for “know” does not mean that He didn’t recognize them, for certainly He knows all. It refers specifically to intimate heart knowledge and relationship. And “lawlessness” is the Greek word “anomia”-- Nomia refers to the Torah, and the prefix “a” means without--without the Law.)
Yes, I know people say the Law is done away with, but now you have seen one example of what the Word and our Messiah says. There are more examples.
I understand the parable of the ten virgins as a picture of Believers. They all know of Messiah and know that He is coming back. They are waiting, but there are two groups: those who are waiting and doing what people say is right and those who are waiting and doing what the Word says. Though at any other time, we would share our oil and supplies, at this time, the time of His Return, it will not be possible to share the relationship we have with Messiah. It can’t be purchased and it can’t be given.
Either one has already chosen and yielded to Him or not.
"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with im to the wedding; and the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'
"But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'
Matthew 25: 10-12 (chapter for context)
It is not clear to me yet whether being turned away from “the wedding” only means that they will be called “least in heaven” as those who did not do and teach the Whole Word, or if they will be turned away to where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
"Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;
but whoever does and teaches [them], he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:19
I remain grateful that He is the righteous Judge, not us!
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;
But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.
Isaiah 11:2-4
Seven times, the number of a vow, in Revelation John records what the Spirit has revealed:
"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." '
Revelation 2:7
Those who know Him and are known by Him, who walk in His ways, keeping His Torah and His Feasts will have an ear to hear and they will look to the heavens and see the signs of His return, not being surprised or frightened when the Day of the Lord arrives.
Those who hear with their ears and obey will have the right to eat from the Tree of Life in the Garden.
There is yet time to be prepared with the Light.
Want to know more? Contact us at info@set-apart-ministries.org Or (920) 634-2760
_________________________________________
1 Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for lalia (Strong's 2981)". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 10 May 2012. < http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G2981 >
2 Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for logos (Strong's 3056)". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2012. 10 May 2012. < http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3056&t=KJV >
None_so_blind__website_version_fourth_draft_May_2012.pdf