What Do You See?

Rubin’s vase is a well-known optical illusion. The observer can see one of two things. They either see two faces in silhouette facing each other or they see the space between the faces depicting a vase. Both images cannot be seen simultaneously.

As we look into God’s Word, we can either see the Gospel as the greatest act of God’s love and the means of our salvation, or we see it as foolishness.

The Apostle Paul states this clearly, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

In our limited human capacity, we are not able to understand spiritual truths. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Holy Spirit must open our eyes and our minds for us to understand the things of God.

In addition to our human limitations, satan actively intervenes to keep people from perceiving God’s truth. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

Satan actively works to harden the hearts of those who already do not perceive the truth of God’s word. His goal is to dull their spiritual senses. Jesus was quoting the prophet Isaiah when Jesus said, “You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them” Matthew 13:14-15

The healing spoken of here is the healing of our broken relationship with God. God offers healing to those who will see, hear and understand.

Jesus said he was sending the Holy Spirit to “teach you all things” (John 14:26). He demonstrated this with the Apostles after His resurrection. Jesus “breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). By doing this “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

The work of the Holy Spirit is to illuminate our understanding of the scriptures and to draw us to Jesus. The Holy Spirit working in us allows “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling” (Ephesians 1:18).

Paul says that when the Holy Spirit indwells us and opens our understanding, we “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). This enables us to understand God’s Holy Word and be saved.