Most of us lead a regular life, where we get up with the sun, and go to sleep at night after it gets dark. Some of us of course, may also go places after dark, to a movie, a performance, or other places of entertainment, but when we go out after dark, we have to be more careful because it is harder to see. I might stub my toe on the way to the restroom in the middle of the night, or I might trip over a curb in the darkness, on my way back to my bike or car.

There is another kind of darkness though that can happen in broad daylight. This darkness is a darkness of the mind. I’m talking about a kind of delusion that a person can experience where they come to believe something that isn’t true. We have all heard the old saying that if you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. This is the kind of darkness I am talking about.

The particular case I want to discuss is the nation of Israel. A large part of the world hates the Jews. They are hated, not because they are terrible people, but simply because they are Jews. This hatred is not logical, it isn’t the result of some obvious flaw in all the Jews, it is the result of what I call Spiritual Blindness.

In the Bible, in Matt 13:9 it says, “Let him who has an ear, let him hear”. Jesus had been talking to the crowd in parables, and when His disciples asked why, he replied with verse 11 “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.”

Jesus is saying that some truth is only meant for His followers, and that others are being blinded to the truth. And so, applying this truth to the Jews, I believe that much of the world has been deceived into hating the Jews because of a spiritual blindness. In this case though, it is not God that is blinding people, it is the evil one.

As Christians we know that the Jews have a special place in God’s heart, not because they are better than everyone else, they are not. The Jews are special to God because He chose them to be part of His plan to bring Salvation into the world, Salvation through Jesus Christ.

The bible also tells us in Revelation 14:1 “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Now I don’t claim to be an expert on prophesy, but it is my understanding that the 144,000 people in this verse are a remnant of the Jewish nation, and they represent the final group that God plans to save at the end of days.

Ok, if you are still with me, I believe that the evil one thinks that if he can kill all the Jews before Christ returns, then he can prevent God from fulfilling His plan. Now we all know that it is foolish to think God’s plan can be stopped, adjusted, or interfered with, but then the evil one has his own spiritual blindness to deal with.

My prayer for us then is very simple. Lord, open our eyes that I might see your Glory, and stand firm in Your strength as a light in the darkness!