Isaiah 29:9-10 - Homiletics

Two kinds of spiritual blindness.

Spiritual blindness is not the natural condition of man. God has given to all men a certain power of spiritual discernment. He is "the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world " ( John 1:9 ). Children are invariably found to be teachable at an early age—to have a power of receiving and appreciating spiritual verities. The spiritually blind have become such, and in their condition we may trace two stages.

I. THE INITIAL STAGE . The commencement of spiritual blindness is a willful shutting of the eyes. Instead of seeking to see, striving to see, looking out for the spiritual in life and action, men turn away from it, "wink with their eyes," put veils over them, refuse to let the light of truth shine in upon their understandings. They "love darkness rather than light" ( John 3:19 ). The whole of life should be a continual exercise of the spiritual discerning power. Men give the power as little exercise as possible. They weaken it by disuse. After a while they deprave it, so that its judgments become uncertain—even false.

II. THE FINAL STAGE . In Scripture the final stage is called " a reprobate mind," literally, "an undistinguishing mind ( ἀδοκιμὸς νοῦς )." By the law of God's providence, the willful shutting of the eyes leads on to an inability to see. The moral vision becomes actually distorted. The "light that is within a man becomes "darkness;" and then, "how great is that darkness!" "Bitter is put for sweet, and sweet for bitter" ( Isaiah 5:20 ), "good for evil, and evil for good." The state is hopeless, irremediable. It results naturally from the repeated sins against light of the first stage; but it is none the less God's judgment upon the sinner. Hence it has been called "judicial blindness"—an expressive name.