Their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted
in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
(2 Corinthians 3:14)
It is no small thing to have
true spiritual sight. It represents a mighty victory. It is not going to come to
you by just sitting passively and opening your mouths for it to arrive. There
has to be exercise about this matter. You are right up against the full force of
the god of this age when you are really out for spiritual understanding. It is a
supernatural battle. So every bit of ministry that is going to be a ministry of
true revelation will be surrounded by conflict. Conflict will go before,
conflict will go on at the time, and conflict may follow after. It is like that.
Herein, then, is the need for you to be exercised about light, that, while you
hear the thing, you shall not take it for granted that, having heard it, you
have got it; that you should afterward have very definite dealings with the
Lord, that what He is seeking to break through to you shall indeed be entered
into, and that you are not going to delude yourself by assuming that you know
now merely because you have heard it in its terms. You may not know it. It may
not yet be delivering light; there may be a battle necessary in this matter.
If we did but know it, a very
great deal of the conflict which arises in our lives is because God is seeking
to bring us further on the road, to open our eyes to Himself, to bring us into
the light of His Son. God is seeking to broaden our spiritual horizon, and the
enemy is out against that, and he is not going to have it if he can help it.
Conflict arises. We may not understand it, but very, very often, more often than
not, it is just that, namely, that the Lord is after something, and Satan says,
"They shall not see that if I can help it!" So there arises a mighty warfare. This
blindness is supernatural, just as enlightenment is supernatural.