286 – THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN

The great apostle Paul makes the following astonishing declaration: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which has not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). What is Paul saying? He is saying that the things God prepared were never seen by any man and were never heard by the human ear before the time when Christ incarnated. These were things so different from the things of this world’s realm that they could never come up to the heart of any man, that is, they are totally foreign to the things of this world. This leads us to conclude that the things that the eye has seen, and the ear has heard, and have come to the heart of man, God has not prepared.

1. What is it that the eye has seen and the ear has heard? The people had seen Mount Sinai in fire, and the darkness, and the gloom, and the whirlwind and the blast of the trumpet, and the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard it begged that no further word was spoken to them, for they could not bear the command that if even a beast would touch the mountain it should be stoned. The vision was so terrible that Moses said: “I am full of fear and trembling” (Heb. 12:18-21). Certainly this terrible show had not been prepared by God, the Father of Jesus and our Father, for the things that he prepared for the ransomed no eye has seen, and no ear has heard.
2. What else has the eye seen and the ear heard? The people saw the terrible plagues with which Jehovah hurt all the land of Egypt: the plague of the waters of Egypt that turned into blood (Ex. 7:19). The plague of the gnats (Ex. 8:17). The plague of the flies (Ex. 8:21-24). The plague of the pestilence on the animals (Ex. 9:4-7). The plague of the boils (Ex. 9:8-12). The plague of the hail(Ex. 9:23-26). The plague of the grasshoppers (Ex. 10:12-15). The plague of darkness (Ex. 10:21-23). The tenth and last plague was the death of all the first-born of Egypt, when the people of Israel saw the dead and heard the great cry (Ex. 12:29-30). Certainly, God the Father did not prepare those horrible plagues and mourning, for the things he prepared no eye has seen, and no ear has heard, from the creation of the world.
3. The people of Israel just come out of Egypt saw the Red Sea open in two. The waters looked like two high walls on both left and right sides; and the people passed through the dry sea all night. The people also saw Jehovah pulling away the wheels of the chariots of war of Pharaoh, and causing a big confusion. The people heard the noise of the disaster; then saw the sea closing in on and destroying Pharaoh’s army. The Egyptian’s dead bodies washed on the seashore were a macabre show, but all of this was not prepared by God, our Father, for the things that he has prepared for those who belong to him the eyes have not seen, and the ears have not heard (Ex. 14:21-31).
4. The people of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years before they entered Canaan, the Promised Land. Because they did not believe, there were 40 years of punishment and suffering, until that whole generation that left Egypt died in the desert (Num. 14:28-34). Obviously that it was not the God revealed by Jesus who prepared this funereal pilgrimage of 40 years, in which 100 to150 people died daily. One more grim show.
5. A pillar of cloud guided the people wandering aimlessly for 40 years day by day. The Bible text says: “Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, didn’t depart from before the people” (Ex. 12:21-22). Jehovah went before the hearse. The people walked night and day, sentenced to death. They left Egypt with the promise of a peaceful place of rest, and now walking to the funeral march. They kept falling and dying of hunger and thirst, scorched and shriveled by the burning sun. The God and Father could never be the author of such atrocity, for only good comes from him (James 1:17). And God the Father is the savior of all men (1 Tim. 4:10). And they saw and heard many things more.

What is it that, to the days of Christ, the eyes have not seen and the ears have not heard? That “GOD IS LOVE” (1 John 4:8). Love, which is gracious, “is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4-8). Such a contrast! The god of Israel was wrathful and angry (Deut. 32:22; Ps. 7:11; Hos. 13:11).

What else have the ears not heard and the eyes not seen? That God loves his enemies. And if he loves them, he is not an enemy to any one, for he is love (Rom. 5:8-10; 1 John 4:10).

Are there more things that the eyes have not seen and ears not heard? Of course there are. It is not necessary for a sinner to be destroyed by fire as in Sodom and Gomorrah, for they can be born again(John 3:3-6). The criminal converted to Christ can become a new creation. Paul Tells us: “Do not be deceived … nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:10-11).

What else? The new birth is a new creation, and those who were birthed again by the word of truth are the first created by God the Father (John 3:3-6; James 1:18). The old man, descending form Adam, ceases to exist to let a new man come to light, righteous and holy (Eph. 4:22-24).

What else has the eye not seen and the ear not heard? The apostle John says: “And this is the eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). To see god, in the Old Testament, meant to be condemned to death (Ex. 33:18-23). To see God, in the New Testament, is to have eternal life. “This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 17:22). And Paul says: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself” (Phil. 3:20-21). Before Christ the ear has not heard and the eye has not seen any of these things. GLORY BE TO GOD!

by Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira