Anoint My Eyes

No More Jaundiced Eyes

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."  Revelation 3:18

There was much wrong with the Church at Laodicea, but a number of their issues stemmed from a lack of spiritual sight.  They could not see their own condition, therefore they thought they were somewhere that they weren't.  Neither could they see clearly around them, which is why they had become lukewarm.  They could not perceive the reality of the spiritual war they were in, so there was no urgency or fervor towards the Lord.  They were indeed spiritually blind.

Many times, we can be like this Church.  We see ourselves and others according to the flesh, judging things by physical/outward appearance rather than spiritual insight because our eyes can become jaundiced.

jaundice: yellow discoloration of the skin, whites of the eyes, etc., due to an increase of bile pigments in the blood, often symptomatic of certain diseases, as hepatitis; a state of feeling in which views are prejudiced or judgment is distorted, as by envy or resentment.

Our second child was born with jaundice.  Her complexion and even her eyes were tinged yellow.  Do you know what they gave her for treatment? Prolonged exposure to light!

We moved her bed to be near sunlight from the window and let her rest there.  Yet, not only did she need to be exposed to sunlight, she needed to be personally exposed while in the sunlight.  So, we often had her in just a diaper, sitting in indirect sunlight.  The more she was exposed to light - and exposed while in the light - the faster the bile would be purged out of her system.

It is the same for us.  The more we bask in the light of Jesus Christ, the more we will see as HE sees.  Yet, covering up our sins or hiding certain areas of our lives will let jaundice remain.  Therefore, we must be completely exposed before Jesus, not keeping any area from Him. 

Another interesting thing to note is that the remedy for the Church at Laodicea was for them to apply eyesalve to their own eyes. This indicates that they should not have been blind to begin with.  They had already been given sight by God to see, but were choosing to be blind.

"Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house." Ezekiel 12:2

"Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not." Isaiah 42:18-20

"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." II Peter 1:8-10

They could not see because they would not see.  They had forgotten the great salvation of the Lord.  The power for having their sight returned was in their own hands, i.e. turning to the Lord with their whole hearts (Ezekiel 14:6; Isaiah 43:8-26; Revelation 3:19).

Sometimes, when we cannot see, it is not because God has not opened out eyes, but because we have blinded ourselves to Him.  For this remedy, Jesus told the Church at Laodicea to anoint their eyes with eyesalve.

The word for "eyesalve" is kollourion and means "a preparation composed of various materials and used as a remedy for tender eyelids".  Kollourion is derived from a word meaning "cake or bread" because this eyesalve typically came in small mounds which looked like loaves of bread.

In this instruction, Jesus was telling the Church to return to what He had done for them in the beginning, when they had first obtained sight.  This pattern is seen in Jesus' miracle of healing a blind man.

"When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing." John 9:6-7

When we turn in faith to Jesus Christ, it is the equivalent of a spiritually blind man gaining sight.  We can say, "I once was blind, but now I see."  But what were we blind to up until that time?  We were blind to God's ways and specifically to His word (Matthew 13:15-16; Luke 10:23; Romans 8:7; Ephesians 4; Colossians 1:21; I Corinthians 2:14).

The word of God is food for a believer; it needs to be digested so that we can understand or "see" and obey Him.  As God opens our blinded eyes, He is giving us the ability to digest (see and obey) His words.  The water of the word from the mouth of God applied to the flesh brings healing because it produces spiritual life.  When Jesus adds spittle to the clay to form the eye salve preparation, he is demonstrating the importance of keeping our eyes filled with an understanding of His word.  And of course, if our eyes are filled with God's word, then we don't have time to be looking after the cares of this world.  The word of God, what He says and our obedience to it, becomes our priority.  Remember, we are what we eat.

"Mine eyes are open through the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word." Psalm 119:148

The primary function of saliva - which is 98% water - is to aid in digestion, helping to break down food so that its nutrients can be absorbed.  This is why the first thing the blind man had to do after the eyesalve had been applied was to obey Jesus' words.  This same principle is seen in our meditating on the word.  Meditation is often illustrated with the image of a cow chewing on cud.  A cow will chew on a piece of food, swallow it, and then regurgitate the chewed food back to its mouth in order to continue extracting all the nutrients it can.  We need to meditate on God's word, continually digesting it as we mull it over in our minds to gain additional understanding.

If we become "forgetful hearers" after having been given spiritual sight by the Lord, then we need to follow Jesus' instructions to the Church of Laodicea.  We need to take the eyesalve (the "bread" or word of God) and "anoint" or rub it into our eyes until we get back our spiritual sight. We must bathe our minds in the word of God.

The Father breathed on clay and it became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).  Jesus spat on clay and it became a vehicle for healing.  Likewise, we become alive to God and carry forth His healing powers to others when He moves upon these earthen vessels of clay (II Corinthians 4:6-7), but we must remain attached to our source of life, the living Word of God. 

In this hour of darkness, there is nothing more needed than spiritual sight. 

We need to see others the way that God sees them, and not according to our own carnal perspectives.   

We need to see ourselves the way that God sees us, so that we will not think of ourselves more - or less - than we ought. 

We need to see God as He truly is, so that we can be ever-mindful of God's majesty, power, grace, and holiness.

It is only when we see things as He sees them (we have His mind) that we can be "sent" as effective witnesses.