Spiritual Perceiving (8) Fighting Blind

Before they disobeyed, Adam and Eve could see into the spiritual world, so that when they drew near to God, it seemed like he was walking in the garden with them. They were able to see the devil when he came to tempt them. This wonderful situation did not last long. When Adam and Eve sinned, their sight was changed so that they could no longer see into the spiritual realms. Sin placed an enormous dark barrier between them and God.

The Bible says their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked (Gen 3:7). This statement is a huge irony. Their eyes were actually closed to the spiritual realms. When they could see the brilliant glory of the heavenly realms, their observation of the physical world was dimmed, and they did not notice they were naked. Once the light of heavenly glory was turned off, their view of the physical world was greatly intensified, so they realised for the first time that they were naked.

Losing the ability to see into the spiritual realms was a serious problem, because they could no longer see what God and the angels were doing. Worse still, they could not see what the spiritual forces of evil were doing. This put humans at a terrible disadvantage in spiritual warfare.

Evil spirits could attack people and work in their lives without being seen. No one would see these attacks coming, or the good angels supporting them. They would not be aware that they had been attacked until the change began to show in their life. If a spiritual attack came at a traumatic time, they might blame the changes in their circumstances for the change in their life, and not be aware of the source of the attack. Fighting an enemy that you cannot see is really difficult, so spiritual blindness gave the powers of evil a huge advantage.