OUR EYES
R.Stenhouse
The Lord says in Luke 11, "when thine eye is simple, thy whole body also is light; but when it is wicked thy body also is dark" (v 34). The direction of the eyes is of all importance. It tends either to blessing or to disaster. One can go through every book of the Bible and there is reference to the eyes in some way - looking, beholding, and so on. We could refer to many instances but I just want to refer to a few of them.
The first is, as we all know, in Genesis: "the woman saw that the tree was good for food", (chap 3: 6) a tree to be desired. That is like what John says in his epistle: "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life", chap 2: 16. She saw self-gratification. Dear brethren, all weakness comes in through self-gratification. She saw and disobeyed the divine command not to touch it. That one act of disobedience has come right through every dispensation to our time, to this very night. We do not need to linger on that; she has many companions at the present time bent on self-gratification.
Then, if we go further in the book of Genesis we come to Lot and Abram. Abram was told to lift up his eyes to see the land God would give him, but Lot, what does he see? He saw the well-watered plain of the Jordan, a fine place for his cattle and for his family, but finally he finds himself in Sodom. And what is the outcome? A life of misery. As Peter tells us: "and saved righteous Lot, distressed with the· abandoned conversation of the godless, (for the righteous man through seeing and hearing, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul day after day with their lawless works)". When he spoke to his sons-in-law it says that "he was as if he jested", Gen 19: 14. His wife, we may say, was nominally in fellowship but her heart was still in Sodom. She looked back from behind. So that scripture is important: "Remember the wife of Lot", Luke 17: 32. The most sorrowful thing of all was an ill-begotten family, Moab and Ammon, who were marred by inveterate hatred of the people of God. That is the outcome of looking on the well-watered plains of the Jordan.
We go further, and in the way of contrast, to Genesis 24. I love to think of it: Isaac lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold camels were coming, and Rebecca lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac (see vv 63,64). Compare that, dear brethren, with what we get in Thessalonians. Where does the meeting take place? It does not take place on the earth; it does not take place in the heavens; "we... shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord", 1 Thess 4: 17. Is that our daily outlook - the coming of the Lord? Every morning when we waken do we say, Will the Lord come to-day? It will be a wonderful gathering time, to meet the Lord in the air.
Then as we move into Exodus we have not only the individual but the corporate thought. It says of the children of Israel, when they saw that Moses delayed to come down, "for this Moses, the man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, - we do not know what is become of him", chap 32: 1. Is that our attitude to-day? They sat down to eat and drink and rose up to sport. Do we know what has become of the Lord? Do we know where He is or are we like that wicked bondman who said "My lord delays to come" (Luke 12: 45) and then goes on eating and drinking and to be drunken, forgetting that the Lord has long patience, waiting until He gets that word from the Father. Then further on they despised the good land. The spies came back with evidence of what was in that land. What do they say? "And we were in our sight as grasshoppers, and so we were also in their sight", Num 13: 33. A brother said here lately about the grasshoppers that they have legs above their feet. So, dear brethren, it is better to be a grasshopper than a giant. You can get off the ground anyway and there is no giant greater than a board of the tabernacle which was ten cubits high. Remember that! We are all greater than giants and we are all set together in sockets of silver.
One could speak of many more things but one just leaves these for the brethren to look over for themselves when they have time for meditation. The remarkable thing about the eyes is that they either lead to blessing or to disaster.
Coming to the New Testament, what did John the baptist say? Looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, "Behold the Lamb of God" John 1: 36. And what an effect that had! Only five words, you say, just like five words in a ministry meeting. What does it do? He preaches two of his disciples away from himself. They followed the Lord and say to Him "where abidest thou? He says to them, Come and see". They abode with Him that day, and that day is the eternal day. It is our privilege to come and see where the Lord dwells. He invites us to come and see and enjoy eternal things now in the Spirit.
So we can come to Stephen too. Stones battered him to death but they did not trouble him. The heavens opened and he saw Jesus (see Acts 7: 55). What an outlook! Have we any other object before us, any other person before us than Jesus, the only One who can satisfy the heart? "All the rivers", Ecclesiastes tells us, "run into the sea, yet the sea is not full", chap 1: 7. There is nothing here that can satisfy the heart, but this Person can fill the heart. "He saw... Jesus".
I just want to refer to the object which the apostle Paul has in Philippians: "Brethren, I do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing - forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus", chap 3: 13,14. That was his object, the world crucified to him, he crucified to the world, only one objective before him.
And finally, dear brethren, what touches my heart is what we ourselves are going to see. In Revelation 22 it says that His servants shall serve Him and shall see his face (v 4). That face once so marred and smitten is now resplendent with glory, a glory indeed which outshines the sun's glory. We were speaking on Lord's day of the apostle Paul. He saw a light out of heaven. How great was his appreciation of that glory! - a light above the brightness of the sun. So what is our outlook? Is it in regard of things here? If it is it will mean disaster; but an object before us like the apostle Paul means blessing.
In regard to Proverbs 23, I do not think any one of us can exclude ourselves from these six things. I cannot anyway. Have you ever had woe? ever had sorrow? contentions? complaining? wounds without cause? redness of eyes? Why, dear brethren? Because we have been looking at the wine when it was red when it sparkled in the cup; that is, self-gratification, anything that attracts as to what stimulates the flesh· Well, it definitely says here, "Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkleth in the cup, and goeth down smoothly". We know the effects of indulging the flesh or giving way to what is attractive to it. I believe at the present time there is a great need for nazariteship. In the Old Testament it was voluntary but it is not voluntary to-day. It is called for. Power lies in nazariteship. The Lord is not here and He is calling for true nazarites, walking as He walked separated to God.
May we all be marked by a simple eye and not looking upon the wine when it is red or when it sparkleth in the cup. We will be reading about Samson. What was his downfall? He saw and he saw and he saw. Weakness comes in because of self-gratification. Dear brethren, may our outlook be just the simple eye and knowing where to put things, what is natural and what is in regard to the flesh. The remedy is: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall no way fulfil flesh's lust" (Gal 5: 16), and "Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth", Col 3: 5. The Colossians were in danger of the other aspect of the flesh. In Philippians it says "See to dogs, see to evil workmen, see to the concision", chap 3: 2. What is the concision? I understand the concision is the mutilating of the flesh. It has not been put to death, you are still thinking of something that is good in the flesh, trying to reform it, trying to do something to make it more pleasurable. But what does the apostle say? "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch" (Col 3: 21) and he goes on to speak about ill-treating the body, trying to make something of the flesh. Let us beware of the concision. The remedy is, Put to death the deeds of the flesh and do not fulfil the lusts of the eye. So my point at this time, dear brethren, is a simple eye: "when thine eye is simple, thy whole body also is light".
EDINBURGH
10 August 1976