No doubt the natural brain, ears and eyes are part of the process. Without them we cannot even see or hear or interpret the natural things that reveal the glory of God: creation, the gospel, the Scriptures. But this natural vision is not decisive for seeing the glory of God. “Seeing that they do not see,” said Jesus (Matthew 13:13). Something more than the use of the natural brain, eyes and ears must be something else; open the eyes of the heart; because God is the only one open the eyes of the heart.
Why do the eyes of the Heart open?
The apostle Paul says that they should have
Maybe this sounds strange to you; the heart has eyes! But it is totally real; and possibly not for human reasoning.
Most people are at home talking about the “heart” as more than just the blood-pumping organ in our chest. Such language is not alien to us. This “heart” is the real us. We intuitively know that there is more to us than flesh and bones. We know that we are not mere chemists in a skin bag. We wouldn’t talk like we do about things like justice and love if we didn’t believe that.
eyes of the heart
Is it so strange, then, to add to this immaterial person the idea of immaterial eyes; the eyes of the heart These eyes, which is the real us, see and know things that are not identical to what the eyes of the body can see. Pascal said: The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. We are sorry in a thousand things, (thoughts). There is a spiritual vision through and beyond the natural vision. A spiritual hearing through natural hearing. There is spiritual discernment through and beyond natural reasoning.
So how can we conceive of what happens when the heart sees the glory of God? I found a clue in the way Paul talks about our knowledge of God’s glory in nature. On the one hand, Paul says that we all know God.
We invite you to read: Why We Should Keep Our Eyes On Jesus: 8 Weighty Reasons
Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God; nor did they give him thanks (see Romans 1:21). That is a reality in the world. Everyone knows God! But just from their mouths out, Paul emphatically says that by nature people do not know God. For example. In the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom (see 1 Corinthians 1:21). Gentiles do not know God (see 1 Thessalonians 4:5). You did not know God before (see Galatians 4:8; see 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 John 4:8).
Who knows God?
So what does Paul mean in Romans 1:21 when he says that all human beings “know God”? To answer this, we could simply quote Romans 1:19-20. What can be known of God is clear to them, because God has shown it to them. Because his invisible attributes, his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly perceived, since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
But, Is that all that Paul means when he says, “They knew God”? I think there is more. In Romans 2:14-15, Paul says that people who have never heard of God’s law sometimes do what the law requires. Because their consciences bear witness to the will of God. He quotes it like this: The Show that in his hearts the work of the law is written.
So, here is my suggestion: “Knowing God” in Romans 1:21 includes this deeper heart experience of Romans 2:15. Conceive the innate knowledge of God and the will of him as a kind of template or mold in the human heart. This template is designed by God in each human heart with a shape, which corresponds to the glory of God. In other words, if the glory of God were seen with the eyes of the heart, it would fit the template so perfectly that we would know the glory is real. We would know that we are made for this.
When Paul says that all humans “know God,” or that all humans have the work of the law “written in their hearts,” he means that there is a template of glory in every heart waiting to receive the glory of God. . We all “know God” in the sense that we have this testimony in our hearts that we were made for this glory. There is a latent expectation and longing, and its shape is buried deep in our souls.
You may be interested in reading: 8 Keys to Know God’s Will for Your Life
hearts packed hard
The reason we don’t see the glory of God is not because the template is faulty or because the glory of God doesn’t shine. The reason is because “hardness of heart” (see Ephesians 4:18). This hardness is a deep aversion to God, and a corresponding love of self-exaltation. Paul said that the mind state of the flesh is hostile to God (see Romans 8:7). And Jesus said that
Our problem is not because of a lack of light, but that we follow and love the darkness. This is the hardness found in our hearts.
So, in this template analogy, this means that the hollow shapes of the mold, which are perfectly molded for the glory of God, are instead filled with love for other things. So, when the glory of God seeks to shine in the heart; Jesus or the gospel finds no place. It does not feel or perceive itself as appropriate.
For the natural mind; the mind whose mold is full of idols; the glory of God is foolishness (see 1 Corinthians 2:14). Does not fit. As Jesus said to those whose hardness led them to murder:
Of course, they could interpret his words, and remember his words. But they couldn’t see them as glorious or irresistibly beautiful.
They heard the words, but they did not love them. They loved the darkness that filled the template that was designed for the radiance of God’s glory.
supernatural excavation
If we’re on the right track, the only hope for seeing God’s glory in Scripture is that God can cut out the idolatrous, diamond-hard substitutes for God’s glory that are packed into the template of our hearts.
The Bible speaks of this supernatural act in many ways. For example, he describes this supernatural intrusion as a radiance into our hearts of divine glory (see 2 Corinthians 4:6), and as a grant of truth and repentance (see 2 Timothy 2:25), and as a grant of faith (see Philippians 1:29), and as a resurrection from the dead (see Ephesians 2:5), and as a new birth by the word (see 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18), and as the special revelation of the Father (see Matthew 16:17) and of the Son (Matthew 11:27), and as the illumination of the eyes of the heart (see Ephesians 1:18), and as being given the secret of the kingdom of God (see Luke 8: 10).
When this miracle happens to us, the glory of God cuts, burns, melts and removes from the template the suicidal cement of everything that is inside us and occupies its rightful place. We are made for this. And the testimony to this glory of the authenticity of the Scriptures is overwhelming. Where before we only saw nonsense, we now see the all-satisfying beauty of God. God has done this supernaturally.
No one chooses to simply experience the Scriptures as the all-convincing, all-satisfying truth of life. Seeing is a privilege that God gives to those who seek him with all their hearts. And so, the free embrace of the word of God is that we embrace it to fulfill it; and be established in our hearts. The Spirit of God opens the eyes of our hearts, and what was once absurd, and senseless, or mythical, is now evidently and real.
We recommend you read: James 3:1-8 “The Power of the Tongue” What It Reveals About Your Heart