Genesis 3:6-7 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
Something else happened on the day Adam and Eve sinned, for the above quoted passage of scripture says that when they sinned that their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked. And so the question we must ask ourselves is which of mankind’s eyes were opened on that day, for in scripture we see that mankind has more than one set of eyes. For example we all know that man has physical eyes which we use to see in this physical world. It could not have been their physical eyes that were opened on that day however, because they were seeing with their physical eyes all the time, and this passage declares that the tree in question was pleasant to their eyes.
2 Kings 6:17 “And Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”
Nevertheless mankind also has spiritual eyes, which allows them to see into the spirit realm. God does open man’s spiritual eyes from time to time as He wills, thus allowing man to see into the realm of the spirit. In the above quoted passage of scripture, we see that when God opened the spiritual eyes of the young man who walked with Elisha the prophet that he saw into the spirit realm. Notice that what he saw in the spirit realm had been there all the time, even though he could not see it with his physical eyes. Nevertheless this account in scripture reveals to us that men do have spiritual eyes, although in this life men seldom if ever see with the eyes of their spirits, for they can only do so if God allows them to.
Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
So did Adam and Eve’s spiritual eyes open on the day they ate the forbidden fruit? The answer to that question is no. We do not know if their spiritual eyes were open before they sinned, for the scriptures make no mention of that. Nevertheless if their spiritual eyes were open before they sinned their eyes became blinded after they sinned, for it was at that point that both Adam and Eve stepped into spiritual darkness for the first time. For Satan is the ruler of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12), and by listening to Satan they had stepped out of God’s kingdom of light into Satan’s kingdom of darkness. That is the reason why the above quoted passage of scripture declares that when we are born-again, that God takes us out of the kingdom of darkness and conveys us back into His kingdom of light. And so that truth coupled with the fact that God only allows individuals to see with their spiritual eyes as he wills, confirms to us that it was not Adam and Eve’s spiritual eyes that were opened when they ate the forbidden fruit.
Ephesians 1:15-18 “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, (16) do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: (17) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, (18) the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
The mind of man also has eyes, so to speak. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul prays and asks the Father that the eyes of our understanding (our mind) would be enlightened. In other words he is asking God to open the eyes of our mind to see the truths in God’s word. This prayer sounds similar to the one prayed by Elisha for the young man’s spiritual eyes to be opened. So why does Paul pray this prayer? He prays this prayer because when we come into the kingdom of God we still have carnal mindsets and we need to see spiritual truths in God’s word so that we can start to become spiritually minded.
Michael E.B. Maher
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