The Eyes of Eden

     

     The miracle of sight isn't something I normally think much about, but a few weeks ago, I began having some issues with unclear vision and some annoying "floaters" in my left eye.  I visited the optometrist, and after a thorough exam, she cautioned me to be alert to any additional floaters  and to call her day or night if there were any changes, since there is a risk of a detached retina.   The condition seems to have stabilized, but I have a follow-up appointment next week.

     Since I've never had any serious vision problems, I was curious and did some research on the parts of the eye.  The names, of course, are familiar.   Iris, pupil, lens, cornea, retina.  But like most, I have long taken for granted these small, delicate structures that enable me to see.  Since the Doctor told me that blindness, though not likely, was a worst-case possibility, I couldn't help but consider just how precious is the wonder of vision.
       

   
     There was no blindness in Eden.  In fact, it's clear God intended that much of the enjoyment of His creation was meant for us to see with healthy, sinless eyes.  We can only begin to imagine the visual feast that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden.  Genesis 1:31 says:

      God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning---the sixth day.

If God, the Creator, saw that it was very good, then how must it have appeared to these two who were created in His image ?   Genesis 2:9 says:

      And The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground---trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.

      So, of course, there were no diseases or disabilities in this Paradise. No cataracts, glaucoma or detached retinas.  No Cancer or Heart Disease or Diabetes.  No Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.   All of those came later.  Death and disease were the effect of sins committed in Eden.  

     When Jesus came to Earth to sacrifice Himself and lift the penalty of Eternal Death from our bowed necks, he also revealed a vision of a Disease-free,  Eternal Life.  He spoke of preparing a place for us, where we could be with Him.   John is shown a vision of this place that he records in Revelation 21:3-4:

     And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' 

     Many, many times during his earthly ministry, Jesus showed us his compassion for those who suffered under the heavy weight of disease and disability.  For example, those of us who have always been able to see may have trouble appreciating the joy that Jesus brought to a blind man near Jericho.  Luke records the miracle in his gospel, chapter 18: 35-43:

     As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.  When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.  They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.'

    He called out, 'Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me !'  

   Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me !' 

   Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him.  When he came near, Jesus asked him, 'What do you want me to do for you ?'

 'Lord, I want to see,' he replied. 

  Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.'  Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God.  When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

     

      Stop.   Close your eyes for a minute.   Consider how your life would change if you could not see for the next 24 hours.  I have seen so many beautiful things in my life, that I can not imagine the anguish that this man must have felt in not being able to see.  I wouldn't have let the crowd discourage me from shouting to Jesus either.  He changed this man's life, and we can only hope that as his physical eyes were opened, so were his spiritual eyes.

      Here are just a few of the beautiful scenes I have either experienced or seen pictures of:

• a white crescent moon, surrounded by golden points of starlight

• the milky swirl of multi-colored northern lights     

• a full moon illuminating a snow-covered field and casting shadows of bare tree branches   

• a highway flanked on both sides by humble trees as far as the eye can see, the trees bowing their top branches to create a beautiful canopied tunnel 
  

• a colony of golden starfish lying beneath a few feet of clear turquoise ocean in a shallow, underwater sky
  

• a scene encompassing sky, lake, mountains and full foliage, with more color than a painter's palette has ever known.

• a scene of blue sky, white clouds, golden, wind-blown fields of grain bordered with deep green forests

• a seemingly endless field of multi-colored tulips
  

• Hot, golden-red lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean on a pitch-black night

• an aerial view of dark, wild mustangs racing across a mountain ridge

• a "vee" of geese flying overhead on a steel-gray day

• the sight of a full-sailed clipper ship cutting neatly through the water, its bow throwing spray

• a hundred white swans on a blue lake, so thick that no rowboat dare do anything but drift among them

• the rugged, frothy coast beneath a Maine lighthouse

• a lake whose surface is so calm, the autumn trees on its banks make it look like a painted dinner plate 
  

     Please take some time and consider some of the most beautiful sights you've ever seen.  They might help you avoid the mistake of taking your magnificent gift of sight for granted.

     Our world is still beautiful, in spite of the effects of sin, but the Apostle Paul reminds us that those effects won't last forever.   In Romans 8, he says:

      The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

....We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

     There is a hunger within us for Eternal beauty, which only Eternal eyes can see. 

     And so when Jesus says to us , "What is it you want me to do for you ?"

     we say, with the blind man on the outskirts of old Jericho, 

     Lord, I want to see !