In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
(Isaiah 29:18, NIV)

In 1546, the English writer and poet, John Heywood, penned this proverb, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.”[i]
            Heywood’s proverb is as relevant to our times as it was in his day. The most damaging condition modern humanity suffers from is spiritual blindness. But alas, this condition has been afflicting humans since we exited Eden.
            Perhaps no biblical account portrays spiritual blindness better than the story of Elisha and his servant as they are trapped in the besieged city of Samaria. On the first morning of the siege, Elisha’s servant panicked when he saw the foreign army, but the prophet responded with these words:

             “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
             And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:16-17, NIV).

            As is so often the case, the servant was blind to the spiritual realm. Today, the servants of God suffer from the same short-sightedness. It took the prayer of Elisha to open the servant’s eyes. In our day, it also takes the Holy Spirit and present-day prophets to open our eyes.  
            This eye-opening miracle was paired with a mass-blinding miracle on an unprecedented scale.

             As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.
            Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria (2 Kings 6:18-19, NIV).

          Elisha led the enemy army into the presence of the king of Israel in the heart of the capital. The king then inquired if he should slaughter his enemies. But Elisha counseled kindness rather than retribution, and a feast was prepared for the Aramean army. This act of unprecedented grace and generosity led to a time of peace between these two warring nations (2 Kings 6:23).
            Eight centuries before Christ, Elisha’s advice to the king puts into practice the words of Jesus from his Sermon on the Mount. 

           “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you (Luke 6:27-31).

          There is an uncanny link between Elisha, the Old Testament prophet, and Jesus, his New Testament counterpart. Both men see beyond the natural realm to the astonishment of the people of their day, and both prophets counsel kindness rather than revenge in dealing with enemies.
            Though there are many outstanding miracles recorded in the Old Testament, there is no account of the physically blind receiving their sight. Yet, time after time in the Gospels, Jesus restored sight to the blind.[ii] These physical miracles were signposts pointing to an even more significant restoration of sight—the restoration of spiritual eyesight—eyesight that allows us to see who Jesus truly is and what he is doing.
            The account of Jesus healing the blindman at the Pool of Siloam is entirely about opening the eyes of those who are both physically and spiritually blind. (See John 9.) The man who received his sight was blind from birth. This was not simply a miracle of restoration. It was a creative miracle, on par with the Adam and Eve account in Genesis 2, as Jesus so aptly demonstrated.

              While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing (John 9:5-7, NIV).

             Jesus opened the eyes of the blindman, but as the story continues, we see he is unable to open the eyes of the spiritually blind Pharisees. John Heywood’s proverb proves true, “There are none so blind as those who will not see.”
            The Pharisees in this account were wilfully blind. Many today suffer from the same willful blindness. Due to their stubborn hearts, they are unable to see who Jesus truly is.
            The entirety of John 9 is about seeing—seeing and recognizing who Jesus is. The miracle of the man blind from birth receiving his sight should have alerted the Pharisees and temple authorities to the divine nature of Jesus, the miracle worker. But the Pharisees could not see past the fact this miracle had been wrought on the Sabbath. The miracle worker had violated the Sabbath, so they reasoned, he must be a sinner and unworthy of respect.

                 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
                The man replied, “He is a prophet.” (John 9:17, NIV)

                The healed blindman stated what was patently obvious to him. He recognized that he had been touched by the hand of God. He saw Jesus as a prophet. All of Israel was waiting expectantly for a prophet—a prophet who would once again demonstrate the power of the Almighty. Surely, restoring sight to one who was born blind was a demonstration of this power. But the Pharisees questioned the validity of the miracle and the miracle worker.
                Why were many Pharisees so spiritually blind? Despite the evidence of multiple miracles, they were unwilling to recognize Jesus as a prophet. But this blindness was not a new condition. They had already rejected John the Baptist the forerunner of the Messiah. They refused to recognize John as a prophet too. See Matthew 21:25-27.
                And why did most Pharisees reject John the Baptist? The simple answer is because John preached a message of repentance. Repentance requires an acknowledgement of sin and a turning away from it. But the Pharisees, like many people nowadays, saw themselves as righteous already. They were blind to their sin, so they saw no need for repentance. Furthermore, repentance requires humility, a character quality they shunned in favor of obstinate pride—pride in their self-professed righteousness.
                Because the Pharisees did not recognize the first prophet, John, they were blind to the second prophet, Jesus. But Jesus was far more than a prophet. As his name implies, he was and is the Savior of the world. But the proud and the self-righteous have no felt need for a Savior. They see themselves as saved already—saved through their own efforts. In their own eyes—their spiritually blind eyes—they see no need for a Savior.
                This same spiritual blindness afflicts many in both the church and society today. The cure for spiritual blindness is repentance and rebirth by the power of the Holy Spirit. That was the message of our two New Testament prophets John the Baptist and Jesus.
                A gospel message that is preached without a call to repentance is not a gospel message at all. Coming to faith in Jesus requires—no, demands repentance. Real repentance is real change. Change from the inside out. Change that is deep, meaningful, and evident in daily life.
                John demanded change from those who came to be baptized, whatever their station in life, and that included Pharisees who in their pride believed no change was required. See Matthew 3:1-12.
                Furthermore, we should not see repentance simply as a one-time occurrence. Yes, it is the vital starting point in our walk of faith,[iii] but true repentance goes far beyond that. Repentance must be incorporated into our way of life—a life of continual turning away from sin and living in humble service to our Savior-King.[iv]
                Though the blindman received his sight, the Pharisees persisted in their spiritual blindness even though the miracle-working Savior was standing before them. 

                 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
                Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
                Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. (John 9:39-41, NIV)  

                For the Pharisees of Jesus day and the spiritually blind of our day, this maxim holds true: If we don’t recognize the prophet, we won’t recognize the Savior.
                Jesus’ words remain relevant today:      

                Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. (Matthew 10:41, NIV)

                The voice of the prophet is needed today just as it was in Jesus’ day. A national call to repentance is needed now. Who will voice that call? Where are the prophets for our time?
                The relative absence of legitimate prophetic voices in the church today should trouble us. There was a four-hundred-year prophetic gap between the Old and New Testament—a gap when the Spirit of God was silent. But then suddenly John the Baptist and Jesus appeared on the scene. The first two chapters of Luke describe an astonishing flurry of Spirit initiated activity as heaven set the great redemption story into motion. Will there be a similar flood of Spirit directed activity before Christ’s second coming?
                It is clear from the Scriptures prophets were active within the New Testament church, and furthermore, Paul considered them essential to the proper functioning of the body of Christ.

               So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13, NIV)

                In Acts we read that there were numerous prophets active in the church. Some of them are listed by name. They include Agabus, Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul.[v] This Saul is also known as Paul, and he and Barnabas were commissioned by the church leadership in Antioch to go on the first great missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3).
                Where would the church be today if these prophets had not spoken the word of the Lord over Paul and Barnabas? Would there be a church in Europe? Would we even know of the ministry of Paul? The New Testament church grew as it received prophetic direction from those who were tuned to hear the plans of God.

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                The church of God grows and flourishes when there are men and women who hear what the Spirit is saying, see what the Spirit is doing, and then declare it to the church and the world. That is the role of the prophet.
                We need leaders with prophetic hindsight, insight, and foresight for the church to reach its full potential.
                Prophetic vision is not always forward looking or predictive. Sometimes it looks back at events in the past and sees them with heaven-endowed clarity. For example, Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well about her past marriages and current living arrangement (John 4:15-19). As a result, the Samaritan woman immediately recognized Jesus as a prophet. This gift of prophetic hindsight was pivotal in this entire community coming to faith.

                Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. (John 4:39-41, NIV)

                The same prophetic hindsight is need today to capture the attention of individuals and reach whole communities estranged from Christ and the gospel.
                A word of caution is in order. Not all who call themselves prophets or apostles are prophets and apostles. A true prophet or apostle will be known by the fruit of their ministry, not by the self-styled handle on their business card. There have been false prophets throughout history. We should not be surprised when we see a raft of them emerge today. But the emergence of the counterfeit should not keep us from heeding those who genuinely hear from God and declare his word.
                Paul’s admonition to the Thessalonians remains valid:

                Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, NKJV)

                Humility and service to others are the hallmarks of genuine faith. Pride and self-aggrandizement are flashing red lights signalling error and deception. Know the Scriptures, heed the Spirit, and proceed with caution. God guides those who humbly seek him. Jesus still opens the eyes of the blind and he still uses prophetic voices to do just that.
                The third key that helps us unlock the Elisha code is prophetic vision or spiritual insight. It is vitally needed today.

[i] Who wrote the proverb “There are… | Trivia Answers | QuizzClub

[ii] Matthew 12:22, Matthew 15:30, Mark 8:22-26, Mark 10:46-52, Luke 7:2, John 9

[iii] Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:28, NIV).

[iv] If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us (1 John 1:8-10, NIV).

[v] Acts 11:27-28, Acts 13:1-3, Acts 15:32, Acts 21:8-10

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