THE LORD'S BLINDNESS TO OUR SINS

             A Sermon by Rev. Brian W. Keith 

"Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My messenger whom I
send? Who is blind as He who is perfect, and blind as the
Lord's servant?" (Isaiah 42:19).

     Blindness, the inability to see, is a disorder. If our
physical eyes fail us, we have trouble navigating in our
environment. We become dependent upon others. We are likely
to stumble and hurt ourselves. Spiritually this is even more
the case. If we cannot see the truth, if we are blind to the
revealed Word, our decisions will not be well informed. We
are likely to create problems for ourselves and others.
     Yet in the text blindness is praised! A prophecy of the
Lord's coming is that the Lord will be blind! In fact,
because He alone is perfect, He is more blind than others.
"Who is blind but My servant?, or deaf as My messenger whom
I send? Who is blind as He who is perfect, and blind as the
Lord's servant?"
     We do not usually think of the Lord as blind. One of
His attributes is that of omniscience--the ability to see
all, from eternity to eternity. Could we imagine the Lord as
one who did not have this ability? As one who could not
foresee what was to come, so that preparations could be
made? How could the Lord be Divine if He could not have all
the facts before Him? If we could hide things from Him, how
could Providence work except in a haphazard and flawed way?
     Clearly the blindness of the Lord here praised is not
referring to His foresight. It is a blindness to evil. The
Heavenly Doctrines note that, "He is called 'blind' and
'deaf' because the Lord is as if He did not see and perceive
the sins of people, for He leads people gently, bending and
not breaking, thus leading away from evils, and leading to
good; therefore He does not chastise and punish, like one
who sees and perceives" (AE 409:2; cf. AE 453:11).
     "As if He did not see and perceive the sins of
people..." An amazing teaching! The blindness of the Lord is
a blindness to our faults, our evils, our sins. When we are
so painfully aware of our own shortcomings we may think that
we have failed the Lord. We see our own mistakes standing
out so prominently that nothing else is seen. We are
embarrassed, humiliated. When we know we have neglected to
help when we could, or have freely chosen the evil way, are
we not uncomfortable being in the presence of someone we
respect, or even sitting in church? Could this be why so
many feel unworthy to partake of the holy supper? They think
the Lord is looking upon their evils even as they do?
Because we see our sins, we assumes other people do too, and
the Lord most of all.
     But the Lord is not looking at our sins! "Who is blind
as He who is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant?" In
spite of the Lord's ability to foresee all evil, He does not
focus upon what is wrong. When we have sinned (not
accidentally or mistakenly done an evil but knowingly done
it), the Lord does not examine us closely to see how
horrible we are. He does not hold us up for judgment.
     He does not have to, for the effect of evil in our life
is to remove us from His presence. When we have sinned, we
have turned our backs to HIm: His love, His mercy, His way.
He does not come after us with a vengeance. He does not hate
us. He does not punish us. Rather, He cannot do anything
with us at that time. Because we have left Him, He simply
does not see the evil there.
     This may sound like a benefit when evil is committed.
After all, when someone has gone through a light that turned
red sooner than expected, an automatic reaction is to shrink
down and wish to be invisible in case a policeman was
watching. To be unobserved is to get away with it. Right?
With civil law that may be the case, but to escape from
spiritual law is impossible. Whatever we do becomes part of
us, part of us that will affect us to eternity. If does not
matter whether anyone else sees or ever knows what we have
intended or done; we live with and become the consequences.
This is why the Lord never punishes us; we do it to
ourselves. We take ourselves out of heavenly states,
rendering ourselves so far removed from the Lord that there
is little for Him to see.
     To be invisible to the Lord is not a real advantage.
For the less He sees of us, the less good we have to be
seen. It does not mean that we have gotten away with
anything, or that we can just forget about our sins as if
they had never happened. All it means is that the Lord does
not focus upon or highlight our sins. He does not see them
because He always strives to provide that good come about.
     Examples of the kind of blindness the Lord has can be
found in human relationships. When a friend says something
rather tactless at a party, we are likely to ignore it,
perhaps by changing the subject of conversation. In a sense
we do not look upon the blunder. Although we have recognized
it, we try to be blind to it by pretending it was never
said.
     Where there is good, a sphere of love for others, there
is no desire to see what is wrong. Shem and Japheth, sons of
Noah, epitomize this attitude by their refusal to look at
their father's nakedness. Entering the tent backwards, they
covered him without looking at him. They shielded their eyes
to his faults.
     Spiritually Shem and Japheth describe an angelic trait
which is derived from the Lord. Where it is present there is
no delight in evil, either seeing it in others or gossiping
about it. Indeed, "those who have charity hardly notice the
evil in another person, but instead notice all the goods and
truths that are his; and on his evils and falsities they
place a good interpretation" (AC 1079e). "Hardly notice the
evil in another..." The angels have no time for evil. Good
occupies too much of their attention. This is even more so
with the Lord. "Who is blind as He who is perfect, and blind
as the Lord's servant?"
     This quality of being blind to evil is one that we
should strive to make our own. Consider what life would be
like if we had to always be suspicious of others. If we
assume the worst, expecting to see evil in others, will we
know any peace? Being on guard for evil at all times would
weary anyone. (And enough evil is thrust upon us that we do
not have to go searching for it!)
     And looking at the sins of others is also very
dangerous. It opens up a communication with the hells. They
love to dissect others, finding their weak points,
ridiculing them. When we want to see what is wrong, they
will be present, insuring our success (for no one is
entirely without sin).
     Our own regeneration can be stalled when we find
delight in looking at the sins of others. For it creates a
sense of superiority in our hearts, a contempt for those
"beneath" us.
     Neither is seeing the sins of another very productive.
What good comes of it? Have we ever improved anyone by
seeing his evils? Have we ever regenerated anyone by
discussing these evils with others? We cannot lead others to
good by dwelling upon their evil. Only by encouraging what
is good can we influence people, supporting them and giving
them a reason to grow. This is how the Lord works: providing
for what is good.
     It is of Providence that we have the freedom to
recognize our sins and make our halting attempts at change
in the privacy of our own minds. We rarely need others
focusing upon our evils. We are usually painfully aware of
them already. The Lord's blindness gives us the freedom to
deal with our unregenerate selves without excessive,
debilitating attention.
     In this regard it is interesting to note that although
the angels can see the devils, they rarely do (see AC
8237e). When an angel, and to a lesser degree a good person,
looks on another, something of that person's quality is
transferred into the other. "Therefore if the sight of an
angel of heaven is fixed upon good people, it causes
gladness and joy; but if upon evil people, it causes grief
and pain" (AC 10130:5). The angels do not wish to focus upon
those in evil for it only torments them. So the Lord is
blind to our evils that we might not be tortured and
paralyzed by the full weight of hell.
     This appears to be why the Lord felt comfortable
associating with "sinners" while on earth. He called one of
the hated tax collectors to be a disciple--Matthew (see
Matt. 9:9). Many were shocked that He ate with tax
collectors and sinners (see Matt. 9:11). He sought out
Zacchaeus to stay with him although he was hated by the
people (see Luke 19:1-10). He allowed a sinful woman to
clean His feet with her tears and hair (see Luke 7:36-50).
How could the Lord do this? By not looking upon their sins.
He was providing that good might exist in their lives. In
all of these cases His presence brought about change and
forgiveness in their lives, which may not have occurred if
He had spurned them. 
     Perhaps there is no more powerful story illustrating
the blindness of the Lord to sins than the woman caught in
adultery. She was guilty, and had been brought to the Lord
for judgment. The scribes and Pharisees thought they could
trap the Lord by making Him seem overly harsh or overly
lenient. But the Lord virtually ignored them. He did not
look at the woman or her accusers. When He responded, He did
not even deal with the question of adultery. When no one was
so without sin that a stone could be cast, the Lord at last
spoke to the woman. His message: He does not condemn her,
but she should go and sin no more. He had seen the evil but
not in a condemnatory way, and He encouraged her good by
telling her to sin no more. The Lord's apparent blindness to
her sin was a Divine way of directing her to change her
life.
     It is in the same way that the Lord is blind to our
sins. Yes, He foresees every evil, every sin, that we can
ever do. But He does not look directly at them. His sight is
only so that He can more perfectly provide for good in our
lives.
     When we have sinned, we tend to think of the Lord as
angry at us. Certainly this is what it looks like in the Old
Testament. Jehovah is an awesome and terrifying God. We may
even think that by committing a sin we are forced into
becoming a servant of sin forever, that the Lord has
examined us, found us guilty, and condemned us to hell.
     But the truth is that no one is as blind to our sins as
the Lord. He never condemns or punishes us. We do it to
ourselves. The presence of evil in our life renders us
invisible to the Lord. He cannot see or be with what is not
His own in us. Leaving the sight of the Lord is isolation
and frustration enough. He allows us to experience the
fruits of our sin so that we might know the pain of
selfishness and freely repent.
     In truth the Lord is too busy providing for good even
to see our sin. He is always a step ahead of us, moving past
whatever hell we are in and leading us to at least a milder
hell, and eventually to the joy of heaven. As we go and sin
no more His forgiveness is automatic, for He does not focus
upon sin.
     His blindness to our sins sets an example for us. We
should not be looking upon the nakedness of others as Ham
did. We are not to give our full attention to their sins; we
have our own regeneration to work on. Nor should we be
condemnatory of ourselves. If we spend too much time and
energy seeing our own sins, we will probably sap all our
strength and feel unable to change. Yes, we need to see what
is wrong, but only so that repentance can occur.
     The Lord's mercy is in His blindness to our sins. By it
we are rescued from overwhelming and paralyzing pain. By it
we have the freedom to work in the privacy of our minds to
gradually improve. And by it He can best provide for our
eventual salvation. "Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of
the saints" (REv. 15:3). For "Who is blind but My servant,
or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as He who
is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant?" Amen. 

Lessons: Isaiah 42:110-20, John 8:1-12, AC 1079

Preached in Bryn Athyn November 27, 1988

                       * * * * * * *

Arcana Coelestia 1079

     Saw the nakedness of his father. That this signifies
that he observed the errors and perversions is evident from
the signification of "nakedness" as being what is evil and
perverted. Here, those who are in faith separated from
charity are described by "Ham" in his "seeing the nakedness
of his father," that is, his errors and perversions; for
they who are of this character see nothing else in a man,
whereas--very differently--those who are in the faith of
charity observe what is good, and if they see anything evil
and false, they excuse it, and if they can, try to amend it
in him, as is here said of Shem and Japheth. Where there is
no charity, there there is the love of self, and therefore
hatred against all who do not favor self. Consequently, such
persons see in the neighbor only what is evil, and if they
see anything good, they either perceive it as nothing or put
a bad interpretation upon it. It is just the other way with
those who are in charity. By this difference these two kinds
of men are distinguished from one another, especially when
they come into the other life; for then with those who are
in no charity, the feeling of hatred shines forth from every
single thing; they desire to examine everyone, and even to
judge him; nor do they desire anything more than to find out
what is evil, constantly cherishing the disposition to
condemn, punish, and torment. But they who are in charity
scarcely see the evil of another, but observe all his goods
and truths, and put a good interpretation on what is evil
and false. Such are all the angels, which they have from the
Lord, who bends all evil into good.