Wednesday Night Bible Study: Day Blindness or Night Vision - Dr. Val

0:58 Tonight, as we go into this Walk It Out Wednesday, I won't be walking out Bishop's Message. I can't do that by myself. But I'm going to walk out something. Just hang with me. Sometimes visual messages are hidden in plain sight. And we miss those messages because we're looking so intently for the message that's on the surface. But my objective tonight is for you to just see what you need to see and to hear what you need to hear and that when you leave here tonight whatever hidden message there is it will come to light and your eyes will be open your heart will be receptive and your mind will be transformed is that all right all right I'm gonna give you my title first no let's read the scripture first go to Psalms 23 We got two passages tonight.

2:23 Psalms 23 verses 1 through 4. And then Mark, put your finger in there as the old people say, put your finger in Psalms and then skedaddle over to Mark, the 10th chapter, verses 46 through 52. Thank you. when you have psalms 23 say amen amen let's read it together just verses one through four the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters He restores my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

3:33 Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Now go with me to Mark, the 10th chapter. i'll be reading from the esv version english standard version and you can just follow along it's on the screen as well and they came to jericho and as he was leaving jericho with his disciples and a great crowd bartimaeus a blind beggar the son of timaas was sitting by the roadside and when he heard that it was Jesus of Natharus he began to cry out and say Jesus son of David have mercy on me and many rebuked him telling him to be silent but he cried out all the more son of David have mercy on me and Jesus stopped and said call them and they called the blind man saying to him take heart get up he's calling you and throwing off his cloak he sprang up and came to Jesus and Jesus said to him what do you want me to do for you? The blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight.

5:02 And Jesus said to him, go your way. Your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. And the church say, my topic tonight might be a little confusing because I really didn't know what to name it, but it's day blindness and night vision. And my subtopic is standing between images.

5:38 Standing between images. Lord do it I give it to you in Jesus name Amen you may be seated now I want to start with making some comparisons and contrast of the two scriptures so that we can see why we're using the two of them. In Psalms 23, we see David opening with the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want or I shall not lack. In Mark 10, we see that there is a blind man begging.

6:35 In Psalms 23, we see the language, he makes me and he leads me. But in Mark 10, we see where Jesus called him and he got up and went. In Psalms 23, we see walking through darkness.

7:06 But in Mark 10, we see the blind man asking to end this darkness and restore the sight. In Psalms 23 we see, you're always with me and the sheep following the shepherd. In Mark 10 we see Jesus telling him, go your way. But he ended up following Jesus. In Psalms 23, we see the imperfect man, David. In Mark 10, we see a blind man by his condition. In Psalms 23, we see a shepherd looking up to the shepherd.

8:10 In Mark 10, we see the son of Timaeus looking up to the son of David. I don't want to make any assumptions, so I'm going to lay out some assumptions so that you can find yourself in the patterns. I'm going to assume that everybody knows that Scripture talks about sheep, whether physically or metaphorically or spiritually. I'm going to assume that you know that the scripture talks about sheep.

8:51 I'm going to assume that you know that the scripture talks about blindness. Whether physical, metaphoric, or spiritual, the scriptures talk about blindness. I'm going to assume that this is not your first time reading Psalms 23 that you've at least heard it once in your life so as we go through you can find yourself somewhere in the scripture in Psalms 23 David was a king but in Mark 10 Jesus was the king of the Jews in Psalms 23 kings were considered healers in Mark 10 Jesus was the healer In Psalms 23, it deals with the realities of life.

10:06 But in Mark 10, we see a real life occurrence. In Psalms 23, the setting is somewhere near Jericho. And in Mark 10, the setting is outside of Jericho. In Psalms 23. kings were considered in place of bishops in Mark 10.

10:48 They called Jesus the son of David because they knew he was a king. Both passages refer to David of the Old Testament. Both passages speak to types of blindness. Both passages we see where the characters show some dependency on something other than themselves. both passages are bookends that surround the prophecies of Jesus's death burial and resurrection and both passages speak about men that possessed a knowing about the Lord now there are a glossary of terms if you're taking notes I appreciate it Write some of these down, type some of these down, because I want you to, when you go in your own time and do your own study, these are some of the words that you might want to pay attention to.

12:03 One is in Psalms 23, when he called him the Lord, he was talking about Yahweh, the self-existent one. When he called him my shepherd, he was talking about the personal relationship that he had with the self-existent one. You see the word maketh and the words maketh and leadeth. They both imply some level of intensity or reliance on something other than themselves. In both passages, you see the word restore or recover, which means to bring back or return or revive something that was lost, damaged, or stolen.

13:01 And then in Psalms 23, you see the words shadow of death. We're going to talk about that in a minute, but it's really death shadow. You see the word rod, thy rod and thy staff, the word rod right there means a measuring stick. You see the word staff there. The staff there represents a scepter, like a king's scepter. Then you see the cloak in the New Testament that the blind man had. It represented a way of life. And then you'll see son of David. Son of David was a political term that identified Jesus as the king of the Jews which made the Roman leaders mad when they heard them call him son of David.

14:02 Y'all with me? Y'all tracking? blindness is mentioned about 90 times in Old Testament scripture and over 70 times in the New Testament. It is the most devastating condition mentioned when compared to all other physical conditions. And it was the most predominant miracle performed in scripture. blindness was considered a blemish and it would disqualify a priest from serving although there were laws protecting the blind and people with disabilities society rejected them and treated them as marginalized second-class citizens They were forced into a category because of something they could not control.

15:09 And unlike the New Testament, the Old Testament retains no records of the healings or miracles around blindness. There are two types I told you my topic was day blindness and night vision. So let me just talk about day blindness for a moment. Day blindness is a rare condition where vision is significantly reduced in bright daylight conditions. Your eyes prefer dim light. Let me just stop because I just had a flashback. When we were kids and we would sleep, my mama used to turn on the top light. And she'd say, the top light is the light in the ceiling. And she'd say, get up, it's time to get ready for school. Well, you coming out of a deep sleep, right?

16:02 Eyes closed in the dark. She switches on this bright, you know, they don't make them as bright as they used to. The bright light and tell you to get up. Well, my eyes couldn't regulate to the bright light. that is kind of what it looks like when you have this rare condition day blindness says that your eyes are deficient of something and cannot regulate to the light where there is no cure for it it is managed when you see people with dark glasses so they can function in bright light. Let me talk about night vision. Years and years ago, far, far away in a time before, I used to work in a neurology lab of a hospital in another state.

17:02 And I was training to be an EEG tech. EEG, you know what that is, and you may not. Electroencephalogram. and it was a test that measured a person's brain activity. It detected what was going on in the person's neurological makeup as we measured and observed that person's brain waves. There is a small element in a human's anatomical makeup called the rod. rods are one of the most important parts of our sense of vision rods detect shades of gray and are vital for our night vision and our peripheral vision if I got some doctors and nurses in here you understand rods are connected to the brain rods send signals to the brain without rods the brain would not have the signals it needs to build what we see the rod is so that we can see at night and detect what's around us you know those eye exams we have to take. Look straight ahead while the doctor's finger is moving slowly across from side to side. The doctor is trying to determine how far you can see around you because the rod is a measuring stick.

18:42 Old folk used to say, I don't like to drive at night because it's hard for me to see. It's because their rod is not as strong as it used to be. And so they can't see as far as they used to see because the rod is their measuring stick. David's frequent reference to eyes stands to reason when we read Psalms 23 it stands to reason that David had a way of assigning human characteristics to God he said the eyes of the Lord on the righteous and his ears are attentive to his cry He said the eyes of the Lord are on them who fear him and on those who hope is in his unfailing love. He will not let your foot be taken.

19:43 He watches over you all night and day. And he watches over Israel and he never slumbers or sleeps. the rod or the eye is so important that David pleaded with God and said Lord keep me as the apple of your eye the apple is the pupil the most protected part of the body and while God kept his eyes on David David kept his eyes on God he said I will look to the hills from when cometh my help my help comes from the Lord and so I read the scripture in verse 4 where it reads thy rod and thy staff they comfort me and it dawned on me as I was reading that the rod was not just a physical instrument that the shepherd carried in the hand. It was the shepherd's ability to see at night.

20:59 Not only see at night, but know the path and the terrain that the sheep would experience in the night season. Shepherds worked at night.

21:21 Can I prove it to you? Luke 2 says now there were in the same country shepherds living in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and when they were there by night, the angel of the Lord stood before him and the glory of the Lord showed. And you know the rest of the story.

21:48 Now, sheep have great night vision. I think I gave y'all a picture of a... There it is. Sheep have very good night vision. and they can see in the dark, which helps them to detect their predators. They possess a reflective layer. You can keep it up there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Behind the retina, which amplifies light in low-light conditions. While they can navigate and graze at night, they are not completely nocturnal and they prefer light and are often reluctant to move from bright to darkness. Although they see well at night, they struggle with transitioning between high and low light and cannot see the color red.

22:55 sheep are known to graze in the dark relying on their super period night vision however despite their good night vision they hesitate to enter dark preferring a well-lit area now i told you i didn't want to assume but i want to assume that you know that sheep are all through the Bible, whether it's a real sheep or we are the sheep. While humans can see around 155 degrees, sheep can see around 270 to 320 degrees. In fact, they can see behind themselves without even turning their heads. Put that picture back up of my sheep.

23:54 they have a little blind spot. It's directly behind and in front. And because of that blind spot, they can be easily startled. Sheep have rectangular pupils. And this aids their peripheral range of vision. however, it affects their depth perception.

24:28 Depth perception helps us to see in three dimensions and determine how close or how far something or someone is from us. And because of the sheep's limited depth perception, they cannot accurately judge or gauge their surroundings, which means to them that the world is flat because their vision is impaired. This form of ocular disability causes them to have to depend on the night vision of the shepherd. now back to king david it's gonna all come together just a minute i feel it in my spirit there are different accounts hold all of that about the sheep in your head there are different accounts of how and where the setting of this psalm takes place David could have been running from his son Absalom who was trying to kill him or he could have been just reflecting over his life as some commentators say first as a shepherd and then as a king either way we find ourselves in the wilderness of judah between jerusalem and jericho where david tended to the sheep and since david knows the function of a shepherd and the behavior and character of the sheep he writes as one who stands between two images.

26:20 he's standing in the wilderness between Jerusalem and Jericho. On one side of the mountain, he sees Jerusalem, the house of the Lord. And on the other side, he sees Jericho, the place of pagan worship. And between them was the valley of the shadow of death. now the valley implies that it was a low place above the valleys were the hills and the mountains but in the valley there was a dangerous cliff and roads that separated the valley from the hills and the mountains, which also says that there was something lower than the valley. If you weren't familiar with the terrain of the valley, you could fall off of a cliff. The valley was not the lowest place. Who would have imagined that there was a place lower than the valley? Can I stop and encourage somebody. When you think you're at your lowest point, let me assure you that there is something lower than that and that it can be worse off than what it is right now. I said that was encouragement. The valley of the shadow of death was a literal place and was considered one of the most dangerous places, not only for the sheep, but for the shepherd. It was known as the Dark Valley experience. There were dangerous cliffs and wild animals and crooked paths only a good skilled shepherd could lead the sheep safely through. Only a skilled, well-trained shepherd

28:32 who was familiar with the terrain could maneuver the cliffs, maneuver the paths, maneuver the crooked places, and maneuver the dangerous predators that lurked in the valley. Only a professional shepherd could navigate through with his rod or his staff and get the sheep safely to green pastures and still waters. Can I just throw something in there right quick? Women were shepherds too.

29:10 In fact, there were more female shepherds than there were male. The Bible says that Rachel was a shepherdess. And she was the only one named a shepherdess in the Bible. But the women that went to get water were considered shepherds. I just thought I'd throw that in there for you, my Cash App and my Zelle. But there is something more to know about the valley.

29:47 The shadow of death, as I talked about a few minutes ago, the shadow of death were three words that made up one Hebrew term. And that Hebrew term is death shadow. death shadow in Hebrew means image it is the same Hebrew term used in Genesis 1 26 and 27 as the word image when God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and yada yada yada so God created man in his own image. So in the original text the valley of the shadow of death was known as the valley of images. So whether in a moment of reflection or in a literal running away from the danger of his own son, David is postured between two images.

30:54 The house of the Lord in Jerusalem and the place of man-made idols in Jericho. and he declares his position and he says the Lord is my shepherd make no mistake about it I may be walking through strange places but I know who my God is I may be between Jerusalem and Jericho but I'm not confused the Lord is my shepherd and everything I need is in him even in the valley My sister and my brother, right now we are walking through strange places in the earth, dark times, unfamiliar territory.

31:50 Not that it hasn't happened before because there is nothing new under the sun, but we haven't experienced it in our lifetime. We are literally standing between images, one that is trying to take on the image of Nebuchadnezzar in opposition to the image of the true and living God. We are walking through the valley of images. You must know in these times when they are trying men's souls, you must know who you know, who you know, and what you know, that the Lord is your shepherd. I told you earlier about the terms in Psalms 23 that refer to blindness. He maketh me.

32:46 He leadeth me. He restores the rod, the shadow of death. It wasn't that the sheep couldn't see. It was that their vision was impaired. Their sight was distorted. Their depth perception kept them from mobilizing.

33:10 The 23rd Psalms is a part of a messianic trilogy. In other words, it sits between or in the middle of two other Psalms that prophesy the work of the coming Messiah. in Psalms 22 the focus is on the cross in Psalms 24 the focus is on the crown but Psalms 23 we see what it took to get from the cross to the crown This takes us over into Mark 10. So let's talk about Jericho. For somehow we've ended up in Jericho. Jericho was a wealthy place. It was a main thoroughfare. And it was under Roman control. It was still the hub for idol worship.

34:04 It catered to the rich. while its streets were lined up with poor, outcasts, beggars, and sick. The political and social dynamic of that day was such that Jesus challenged and disrupted the order. Jesus goes to Jericho just to upset the balance of power. He goes to Zacchaeus' house, the tax collector, and he had dinner with the man. Jesus' actions upset the public because Zacchaeus was known as a traitor. He took from the poor to give to the rich, and the public thought Jesus was honoring their oppressor. Jesus then went directly to the Pharisees and Sadducees, and he directly challenged them because he said they were turning a religious obligation into a profit-driven system.

35:05 Then he became the nonviolent Martin Luther King when he went to the masses and began to preach the message of the kingdom, which challenged Rome's authority. And all of this accelerated the tensions that got him to the cross. But he had one more thing to do. Hang with me because I'm almost finished.

35:32 Oh, it's early. Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd are leaving Jericho on their way to Jerusalem. Now, this occurs just before Jesus' final week. Luke says that he's entering Jericho, but Mark, who we're dealing with tonight, says he's leaving Jericho. and we're right back here where David was centuries before and we see Bartimaeus a blind beggar the son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside now we call him Bartimaeus but that's not his name it is his condition and his social status just like the woman with the issue of blood and the woman that was been over for 18 years and the samaritan woman and the syrophoenician woman and simon peter's mother-in-law like them this blind man was marginalized by his condition. But like these women, his testimony was a pivotal point in history.

36:56 Jesus's mission was to the marginalized, the outcast, and the sick. He said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captive and the recovering of sight to the black to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the law so Jesus is completing his mission and here is a blind man sitting on the side of the road. Now his name or the name Bartimaeus son of Timaeus is actually redundant because Bartimaeus comma means son of Timaeus. Bar is son and Timaeus has two definitions.

38:02 The two definitions are this. It could either be son of the honored or son of the impure. It could be son of fame or son of shame. It could be son of honor or son of rebuke. it was a time of hopelessness for the jewish community where people were powerless to change what was happening to them the roman empire did not regard their laws neither their standards of living these marginalized people were second-class citizens who were forced to depend on charity because they were considered unclean and had to rely on begging to survive So given this man's situation, his location, and his condition, society labeled him as the son of impurity, the son of shame, and the son of rebuke. Or had they seen him for who he was, he could have been the son of honor or the son of fame.

39:18 but he was standing between images. Y'all better help me. Help me out right here. This is the Imago Dei, Latin for the image of God. The doctrine of the Judeo-Christianity is hinged on Genesis 1 and 27. all humanity is created in the image and likeness of God we are all valuable to God and we are all designed to reflect God on earth when you challenge my image you challenge my worth you want me to think that my situation my condition my status makes me less than who I am You want me to lose respect for myself because I don't look like you.

40:13 Act like you. Have what you have. Do what you do like you do it. But the devil is alive. I might be standing between images, but I know whose I am. Take my history away. Shut down all the things that stand for who I am as a person. But you can never take away who I am. Because I'm made in the image of a God that cannot fail. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And the crowd rebuked him because the crowd knew when you say Son of David, it was a political term that would make the Romans mad because they thought they were being challenged by another king.

41:17 But at the same time, when they said, son of David, have mercy on me, they were calling for healing. They were calling for restoration. They were calling for deliverance. They were calling for God to come to their rescue. And so he said, Satan, Jesus, sorry, son of David, have mercy on me. Critics challenge the blind man's ethnicity. But I believe he was a Jew. Because he called on Jesus like he knew him.

41:51 And he called on him so well that Jesus stopped in his tracks and said, tell him to come here.