"I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ear, and all my members." This is how Lutheran Christians confess their faith. Healthy sense organs are wonderful gifts that God has given us. But how often do we remember to thank Him for them? If a blind person were to be given the gift of sight, he would be very thankful.

Spiritually we are all blind by nature because of original sin. With our natural sense organs we cannot understand the Gospel. "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor. 2:9).

We need the Holy Spirit in order to be saved. "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel."

Jesus once told the self?righteous Pharisees: "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind". The Pharisees then asked Him: "We are not blind too, are we?" Jesus replied: "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say 'we see'; your sin remains" (John 9:39?41). A person who can see does not need someone to lead him. But no one can enter eternal life, unless Jesus leads him there.

The Holy Spirit grants spiritual vision to believers in Christ. "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life" (John 6:40).

Beholding the Son of God does not mean seeing a vision. We see Him in God's Word and the Sacraments, when we believe in Him as our Savior from sin. Only a person who has come to a knowledge of his sin can see Him in this way. Without such a knowledge a person does not feel the need for salvation, and any talk about forgiveness is just idle chatter to him. Man does not comprehend that he needs to be freed from God's wrath.

But in the heart of one who has experienced God's wrath, the Gospel gets a welcome reception. Such a person gladly directs his gaze to the cross and beholds the Savior, who atoned for his sins. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:14).

Once "we will see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2) and "As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I will be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15).