Am I A One-Eyed Person?

The Pharisees held a meeting. These were troubling times in Israel given the Roman occupation, heavy taxes and religious turmoil. On top of this, there was a new guy in town claiming to be the Messiah. The religious leaders called Jesus in for cross-examination and asked an honest question, for a change. “What is the greatest commandment?” After giving his answer, Jesus told the asker of the question that he was close to the kingdom of God.

While he had them together, Jesus then asked the Pharisees a question. “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

Looking back in history, this is not a very hard question to answer. People with a knowledge of scripture would not be stumped by this straightforward inquiry in that, with the hindsight of the resurrection of Jesus, we can clearly see that Jesus is the Son of God AND he was the son, or descendant, of the historical King David.

The Pharisees, however, gave an accurate answer but it was a partial answer. They only saw from the perspective of what they understood as being true on earth. They said, “The Messiah is the Son of David.“

Jesus said to them, “Then why did David call him ‘Lord’? David was speaking by the power of the Spirit.  He said…” Jesus then quoted from Psalm 110, a passage of scripture that they would’ve known.

‘The Lord God said to my Lord:

Sit by me at my right side, and I will put your enemies under your control.’

Jesus went on to say, “David calls the Messiah  ‘Lord’ so how can he be David’s son?”

Was Jesus trying to prove that he was smarter than the Pharisees? Jesus had no ego, but he did have a desire to pull people into the truth. Remember his declaration, “I am the Truth.” One could say that it was in his best interest for the religious leaders to progress from a technical knowledge of the law to a true understanding of spiritual things.

Winning an argument, or seeing heaven?

If Jesus wasn’t trying to win an argument, what was he doing? This brings us to our world today where there is much turmoil and confusion in the daily news cycle. People are confused by what political leaders are doing. There is great pontification about the evils of this or the benefits of that. The truth is, much of the analysis, even by people who are Christians, is a one-eyed analysis or commentary.

I recently sat with a friend from Africa who said, “I used to love everything about the US, but...” and he told me the story of friends who have lost jobs in the US government or whose investments have tanked. His argument was not so much with what was being done, but the timeframe and manner in which government spending was being cut. As I listened, I could see his point where he had personal knowledge. We spoke about seeing things with two eyes.

“In die land van die blindes is die een-oog koning.” (In the land of the blind, one-eye is king.) The answer of the Pharisees was true if you looked at things only from an earthly, one-eyed, perspective. Jesus was indeed the son of David. However, we are called to be two-eyed people. Jesus was trying to get the people of his day to see two realities at once. He was trying to empower smart people to look at things with the eye of revelation, not just the mind of information. He was trying to elevate them into the way that they were designed to live with the bifocal perspective of heaven and earth simultaneously.

What did David see?

This takes us back to Psalm 110 where, in my view, David must have had the curtain pulled back on the heavenlies to see a conversation between Father God and Jesus his Son. We don’t know whether this was just an understanding from the Spirit, as Jesus attests, or whether David saw a vision, or whether he was transported to the heavenlies to see what he saw. It doesn’t really matter how he received the revelation: it was by the Holy Spirit. David walked in a spiritual reality that was two-eyed: he had his feet on the ground while he saw into the heavenly realm. “The Lord said to my Lord: sit by me at my right side until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Unless we are seeing the events that are happening in the world with two eyes—one that examines the realities on earth, and one that understands what is happening in the spiritual or heavenly realm—we will not make sense of today. We therefore must have not just wisdom, for wisdom is often a euphemism for earthly caution, but we must have insight into the spiritual world.

My challenge is I am not a prophet: I have no great spiritual insights into things present or future. I am not a seer: I have no premonition of things to come or insights into the heavenly realm. Neither am I an economic historian. I am a reader of scripture, however, and this causes me to acknowledge that there is a cosmic battle between good and evil. Jesus called his people to live in the light of this reality. This does not remove us from practical matters of love, kindness, justice and righteousness, but empowers us to live from a reality greater than political parties or leaders. The Kingdom of God supersedes Democrat, Republican, left, right, and center. Too many Christians are asking, “Did you vote for...?” and “Are you a XYZ...?” and saying, “I can’t believe you...” Lift your eyes: followers of Jesus are on the same team. There’s a battle between good and evil. Sometimes your earthly party is on the side of good, and sometimes on the side of evil. Some people in your party are on the side of good, and some on the side of evil. I have been forgiven, and daily I still do, say or think things that need the forgiveness of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Not an “either / or”

Remember that Jesus had just had a positive discussion about the greatest commandment: love God, and love your neighbor. This was intensely practical. Now Jesus was saying, in effect, you must also not just look at things that are happening on the earth from a human perspective, albeit a religious human perspective. The Pharisees were schooled in the law. They knew it left and right, backwards and forwards, but there was more. Today, there are people who know politics and policy and party, but they don’t see the spiritual realm. Therefore, they can only interpret the events of the day in light of human understanding.

Our ability to discern spiritual things has been blunted because we are at the tail end of decades of the watering down of absolute truth. Before we point a finger at educators and politicians, within the Church there has been years of wonky thinking that has led to an anemic and biblically illiterate Christian population. It is no wonder that we struggle to look at things from a two-eyed perspective. We have lost our sense of right and wrong.

Paul wrote to the Philippians with the presumption that they would think and act like “citizens of heaven.”

As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel... standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents. Philippians 1:27-28

It is a solid reminder that all of us who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ are on the same team, and we are expected to live as heaven’s citizens first and foremost, not members of this or that tongue, tribe, party or nation.

Who sees the spiritual world?

To complicate matters, those who do have a perception of what is happening in the spiritual world are often regarded as wacky.  “They see a demon or an angel behind every bush.” It seems that sound-minded, “normal people“ are not the ones who are talking about the spiritual battles that are taking place, the cosmic fight between good and evil that sits behind the daily activities of Presidents and Prime Ministers. Tariffs are a topic, yet I have not heard one reporter in the USA ask a question about global events from a spiritual perspective. “What are the spiritual dynamics at play in the China, Russia, Iran collaboration?” “Was Russia’s attack on the Ukraine an attempt to crush the church?” “What are the spiritual forces at play with mass migration; is there a political agenda behind it? If so, how is this balanced with the biblical responsibilities regarding strangers and foreigners?” “How do tariffs and the events in the Middle East fit into the broader narrative of scripture and perhaps the end times?” “The bible has many references to aliens and foreigners: how should its principles shape how immigrants are cared for?” The moment one pens these questions the thought “conspiracy theorist” comes to mind. (Is a conspiracy theorist nowadays someone who has an alternate explanation of reality that differs from mine?)

I am asking myself:

• Who has a trusted view on Israel without blindly endorsing all that the secular State of Israel does?
• Who has a biblically based grasp of the EU and its modus operandi and strengths and weaknesses of philosophy?
• Who understands the positives and negatives of Globalism and its ramifications insofar as it relates to the Kingdom of God?
• Who sees the “-fares” clearly: Welfare, Warfare, Ecofare, Lawfare?
• Who has a good grasp on the spiritual realities surrounding Capital and investing? Who sees the difference between Mammon, avarice, greed and capitalism?
• Who sees the value of and potential in sovereign nations rightly stewarding the assets God has entrusted to them?
• Who grasps the practicalities of a compassionate response to crises—of which there are many and, Jesus predicted, will be increasing—without exploiting those assisted by aid and setting them up for long-term sustainability?
• Who understands the role of Government, its functions and limitations, without succumbing to the political spirit that is often the driving factor behind human events? (The political spirit knows no party preference and will gladly use politicians from any and all parties.) 

Two-eyed people

In essence, I am pondering the question of Jesus which asks, “How do you view me, how do you view life, how do you view what is happening in the world?” This question is not answered through the lens of political affiliation: if my tendency is to answer that way, I have probably forfeited my discernment to a political spirit. If my answer begins with Obama, Macron, Starmer or Trump, I am a one-eyed person. If I am pondering the perplexities of what is happening in the grander scheme of things, that which originates in heaven and ends there, I am on a better track. Let’s go back to Psalm 110, the passage about which Jesus asked. Ponder it yourself to see the full scale of the cosmic conflict.

The Lord says to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

² The Lord sends forth from Zion
    your mighty scepter.
    Rule in the midst of your enemies!
³ Your people will offer themselves freely
    on the day you lead your forces,
    in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
    the dew of your youth will be yours.
⁴ The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
    after the order of Melchizedek.”

⁵ The Lord is at your right hand;
    he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
⁶ He will execute judgment among the nations,
    filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
    over the wide earth.
⁷ He will drink from the brook by the way;
    therefore he will lift up his head.

We are in the day of Psalm 110:3, a day when Jesus is leading his forces. We are called to a higher army. If my political allegiance causes me to be unable to objectively assess and stand for justice, righteousness and truth, I am in trouble. If I can no longer converse with friends who disagree with my perspective, I may be one-eyed. If I can easily see the flaw in their perspective and am eager to point it out, my one eye might have blind spots. If I get sucked into the political drama of the day and do not simultaneously see the Psalm 110 story of the generations, I have lost my second eye.