Mental Eyes: Darkened and Illuminated.
(Matthew vi. 22, 23.)
Light sometimes means that which gives, sometimes that which receives or reflects, light; as the sun is the light of the world, and the windows through which he shines are the lights of the room and the house. Our eyes are the lights, or windows, of our body. Through them we look out upon the world around us; and light, knowledge, and pleasure come in to us from what we see, as well as what we hear.
Jesus here refers to the eyes of the mind—the understanding. How often, when a difficult matter has been explained, we say, "Oh, yes; I see it all now!" and yet the eyes behold no new object. We mean that we now understand what puzzled us so much before.
Thus, in these two verses we are told about minds that are darkened, and also about understandings that are enlightened with the light of life.
"If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" If the windows are bricked up, no ray of light can force an entrance, even at noonday, into the darkened rooms; or, if the casements are thickly curtained, or closely shuttered, how dark the house must be! So sin of some kind—pride, prejudice, or superstition—darkens the sinner's understanding, shuts out the light of heavenly truth, and lulls him to sleep in the arms of the wicked one—the sleep of death.
People often tell us that we can do something to enlighten our own understanding. We can unfasten the shutters, or draw back the curtains, and let in the light. Alas! unless the grace of God has reached us in its almighty power, we do not want the light. Our deeds are evil, and the light that makes them manifest is hateful (see John iii. 18, 19). The thief, the murderer, the coiner of bad money, and all who are knowingly guilty of wrong-doing, love darkness, secresy, and concealment "rather than light"; and this is our "condemnation," as fallen creatures—we love the darkness, and we shun God's holy light. "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated [or estranged] from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart" (Eph. iv. 18). Such was our state by nature. What are our feelings now?
Saul of Tarsus, as a Pharisee, was learned, intelligent, and moral; but how dark, how blind, he was in those days! Jesus, God's beloved Son, was the Object of his hatred. The altogether Lovely One had no beauty at all for him, and the children of God he viewed as enemies whom he felt bound to conquer and destroy. How great his darkness was—the darkness of prejudice and pride!
Chiniquy, the Romish priest, of whom some of us have heard so much, was blinded by superstition for many a year, and even the light of the Bible, as he read and studied it, could not remove that darkness till God Himself said, "Let there be light," and made the night of superstitious error flee away.
Then minds are blinded as was Balaam's of old, and the Pharisees, to whom Christ said, "If ye were blind"—that is, if they had not heard His words, and seen His works (see John xv. 22, 24)—"ye had not had sin"—you would have been comparatively free from blame—"but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."
They hated the light they had, and closed their eyes against it. As the proverb says, "None are so blind as those who will not see."
But "God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness [at the world's creation], hath shined in our hearts," wrote the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. iv. 6), "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
The once blinded Pharisee could see now, and how different were all his feelings! His own righteousness was cast away. Jesus was precious to his heart, and Christians were his "own company," his beloved friends.
No darkness is too dense, no barrier too strong, for almighty grace to remove. Has the Sun of Righteousness arisen in our hearts? How may we know? Jesus tells us (John iii. 21)—"He that doeth truth cometh to the light." God is Light, and His Word is a light that makes all things manifest. It shows sin, how black it is. It reveals the hollowness of the world, the glory of Christ. It points out our dangers, our disease, our wants, and our foes; while it sets forth the remedy of all our ills, the great Refuge and Deliverer who can save unto the uttermost all who confide in Him.
Do we try ourselves by the Scriptures? Abraham compared himself to "dust and ashes"—worthless. Job said, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job xlii. 5, 6). David, king of Israel, said, "I am poor, and needy." Are we anything like these saints of God? God says, He "will give strength to those who have no might," will "fill the hungry with good things," and for His own name's sake will bless those who feel themselves unworthy of His favour. Do these promises suit us? Are we glad that God's mercy is so free? And do we, like the Psalmist, "esteem all His precepts concerning all things to be right, and hate every false way"? (Psa. cxix. 128.) If so, we are children of the light, and, while we examine ourselves, we shall pray God to search and try us, and lead us in His everlasting way.
Jesus said, "He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness" (John viii. 12), yet they who fear the Lord, and obey His beloved Servant, may, for a time, have no bright shinings on their pathway (Isa. l. 10), just as sometimes a change of wind, or some other cause, may make a sudden darkness overspread the sky. But day-darkness generally passes off again before long. So "light is sown for the righteous," and the glad harvest shall certainly be reaped, for "the path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. iv. 18). The morning twilight in nature may be dim and clouded, but when once the sun has risen, the light grows clearer and brighter till noon is reached; but then it begins to decline, and evening gradually comes on. But the spiritual day ends in noontide glory, the everlasting ending of all sorrow, sin, and fear; and to His people the Saviour says, "Thy sun shall no more go down, for the Lord shall be thy everlasting Light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended" (Isa. lx. 20).
May He "open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of His law." May the "Sun of Righteousness arise upon us, with healing in His wings," that "in His light we may see light," and follow Him who has "redeemed us from all evil" to the realms of endless day.
Our next subject will be, God's Independence of All, and His Declared Need of Some of His Creatures. Compare Psalm l. 12, with Matthew xxi. 3, and other passages.
Yours affectionately,
H. S. L.