Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
The question rebukes the disciples for failing to perceive the meaning of Jesus' signs, to hear His teaching, and to remember what He had already done for them. They had watched Him multiply their small supply of food to feed a multitude, yet when another hungry crowd gathered they did not remember that event and rely on His power. He had also pointed them beyond present poverty and humiliation to His coming in glory, not with earthly splendor but with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven to reward every man according to his works, with the promise that some standing there would not taste of death till they saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom. They did not comprehend because that glory seemed far away while their eyes were fixed on the nearer view of earthly poverty, humiliation, and suffering. They clung to glowing expectations of the Messiah's kingdom and of seeing their Lord exalted to the throne of David, which they could not reconcile with His living as a humble homeless wanderer to be despised, rejected, and put to death. Because they loved their Master their hearts were oppressed with sadness, and because it seemed incomprehensible that the Son of God should suffer such cruel humiliation their minds were harassed with doubt as to why He should voluntarily go to Jerusalem to meet such treatment and leave them in greater darkness than before He revealed Himself to them.
The same words show that people may have physical eyes and ears yet fail to perceive and understand spiritual truth and what God has shown them. This failure comes when people resist the Spirit's drawing and choose their own path, while those who accept and follow the light are led to seek further understanding and those who refuse it remain blind to the consequences of their choice and walk toward sorrow. Rulers and counselors who lack an experiential knowledge of salvation do not understand what it means to cease from sin, receive Christ's righteousness, or bear God's likeness. The verse applies to leaders whose insensitivity and unwillingness to be led by God hindered the work, since lack of spiritual sight, living faith, and willingness to follow the Holy Spirit's leading delayed work that could have advanced.
It rebukes believers who have been given a knowledge of God's will and repeated warnings yet perceive nothing and heed nothing. Their hearts have become utterly callous through selfish love of ease, so they do not see and understand the perishing souls around them and the work they must do for others, and do not hear warning after warning of the nearness of the end, but sit at ease careless and indifferent. It charges every believer, educated or uneducated, with bearing the message of mercy and believing the declarations of God's word about what is coming upon the world and that God's judgments are hanging over the inhabitants of the earth. Seeing and understanding should move them to work for souls while there is still time and lead them to Christ. The urgency presses because eternity stretches before us, the curtain is about to be lifted, the Spirit of God is being grieved away from the earth, and the night is at hand when no man can work.
The question rebukes the disciples for failing to perceive the meaning of Jesus' signs, to hear His teaching, and to remember what He had already done for them. They had watched Him multiply their small supply of food to feed a multitude, yet when another hungry crowd gathered they did not remember that event and rely on His power. He had also pointed them beyond present poverty and humiliation to His coming in glory, not with earthly splendor but with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven to reward every man according to his works, with the promise that some standing there would not taste of death till they saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom. They did not comprehend because that glory seemed far away while their eyes were fixed on the nearer view of earthly poverty, humiliation, and suffering. They clung to glowing expectations of the Messiah's kingdom and of seeing their Lord exalted to the throne of David, which they could not reconcile with His living as a humble homeless wanderer to be despised, rejected, and put to death. Because they loved their Master their hearts were oppressed with sadness, and because it seemed incomprehensible that the Son of God should suffer such cruel humiliation their minds were harassed with doubt as to why He should voluntarily go to Jerusalem to meet such treatment and leave them in greater darkness than before He revealed Himself to them.
The same words show that people may have physical eyes and ears yet fail to perceive and understand spiritual truth and what God has shown them. This failure comes when people resist the Spirit's drawing and choose their own path, while those who accept and follow the light are led to seek further understanding and those who refuse it remain blind to the consequences of their choice and walk toward sorrow. Rulers and counselors who lack an experiential knowledge of salvation do not understand what it means to cease from sin, receive Christ's righteousness, or bear God's likeness. The verse applies to leaders whose insensitivity and unwillingness to be led by God hindered the work, since lack of spiritual sight, living faith, and willingness to follow the Holy Spirit's leading delayed work that could have advanced.
It rebukes believers who have been given a knowledge of God's will and repeated warnings yet perceive nothing and heed nothing. Their hearts have become utterly callous through selfish love of ease, so they do not see and understand the perishing souls around them and the work they must do for others, and do not hear warning after warning of the nearness of the end, but sit at ease careless and indifferent. It charges every believer, educated or uneducated, with bearing the message of mercy and believing the declarations of God's word about what is coming upon the world and that God's judgments are hanging over the inhabitants of the earth. Seeing and understanding should move them to work for souls while there is still time and lead them to Christ. The urgency presses because eternity stretches before us, the curtain is about to be lifted, the Spirit of God is being grieved away from the earth, and the night is at hand when no man can work.