What was the purpose of Jesus coming into this world? We will not wait even a moment to reply. It was for redeeming us from the bondage of sin. It is true, but Jesus also said that he came into this world for judgment. And he tells us something special about this judgment. In the gospel of John we read; ‘I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind’ (Jn 9:39).
At the time of judgment a separation is made between those having sight and those who are blind. We should fear that many who were having sight earlier turned blind by then. On the other hand, the eyes of many who were blind in the past will be opened to the eternal light of Jesus Christ and they will rejoice in it.
A Christian is a person with clear eyesight, for one who has seen and experienced Jesus Christ,’the true light, which enlightens everyone’ (Jn 1:9) cannot claim that he was blind to see the truth. It is the primary responsibility of a person with eyesight to keep the light of his eyes alive. But there are Christians whose lamps do not give light anymore. Looking at them Jesus laments; ’If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!’ (Mt 6:23).
The fate of a person who was once blessed with light and then falls in darkness is best described in the Letter to the Hebrews; ‘For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away…….’ (Heb 6:4-5). But for darkness, what else can a man who knowingly denies light expect?
To those Christians who have lost the light but continue walking without knowing that they are going from darkness to darkness, Jesus says; ‘You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked’ (Rev 3:17). Jesus also prescribes the only way open to them to return to the right track; ‘Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see’ (Rev. 3:18).
As the time approaches when those with eyesight will go blind, we can also see many others who were born blind coming into the light of the Lord. It is prophesied that when ‘darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the people’ (Isa. 60:2), ‘nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn’ (Isa. 60:3).
Lord our God is waiting at His dinner table for us. When those who do see it reject the invitation, He is opening the eyes of the blind so as to give them the seats rejected by His people. This is the time the blind will come from the north, south, east and west and will sit for the Lord’s dinner. This is the time when the Lord ‘washes away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleanses the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning’ (Isa 4:4).
Let us pray with all our might so that our light be kept alive when the Lord visits us.
