Eye Salve: Men as Trees Walking

The Sapphire Review Vol. 1 | No. 13 • August 16, 2024

And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

Mark 8:24

In our verse this week, we are picking up in the middle of an event where Jesus was healing a blind man in the town of Bethsaida.¹ This particular healing is a bit unusual in that, at first glance, it seems as though Jesus’ first attempt to heal the man did not work. Jesus had to lay hands on the man twice before he was fully healed.

Every story in the Bible is not without purpose. At times, the strange details of a particular set of verses can be useful in bringing forth fulfilling lessons. Though there may be multiple lessons that can be drawn from this account, we will focus on one.

In the story of this blind man, we see Jesus bringing forth a valuable lesson regarding the need for spiritual sight in a person’s life. This lesson has a particular emphasis and application for the last days in which we now find ourselves living.

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GROUNDWORK

Before we move on to the spiritual lesson, let us first establish some groundwork.

Leaven

Though not directly related to the story in our current passage of study, it is nonetheless interesting to note that immediately prior to this story, in the book of Mark, Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven (false doctrine) of the Pharisees.²

Bethsaida

This event happened in the town of Bethsaida.³ Bethsaida was one of the places that was rebuked by Jesus for their unbelief and lack of repentance.⁴

Jesus brought the man outside of the town to perform the miracle.

Spit

Jesus put something on the man’s eyes the first time (His spit), but not on the second time.⁵

Trees

The blind man first saw men “as trees.”⁶ Trees in scripture are used to represent people, or the character of people, in a spiritual sense.⁷

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SPIRITUAL LESSONS

Bethsaida <-> Babylon

In the book of Revelation we see a corrupted form of Christianity being referred to as Babylon.⁸  Additionally, it is called a “great city.”⁹

This religious system of Babylon is corrupted because it propagates false doctrines rather than the pure and undefiled truths found in the pages of the Bible. These false teachings are called the wine of her fornication¹⁰ and doctrines of devils.¹¹

Type: In the context of our study today, Bethsaida is a type of Babylon.

Blind Man <-> Blind Christian

Note that it is the system of Babylon that is corrupted. God has many children in this religious system who are currently blind as a result of being “drunk” from the wine (false doctrines) that they are being served. 

In Revelation 3:14-22, we read the account of the Laodicean church. The seven churches found in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation are representative of seven periods of time in the history of church. The Laodicean church is of particular interest to us today because it is the last church / period of time of the seven. This church age is the age in which we now live.

Jesus describes the Laodicean church as being one that thinks it needs nothing. This church believes that it has all the correct doctrines and all truth, and thus needs no more light to be given. Yet Jesus says that this church is blind.¹²

Type: The blind man of Bethsaida is a type of the Christian sitting in a fallen, corrupted church that is spiritually blind to the wine of its false doctrines. This is especially true and a widespread problem with regards to the last church era of Laodicea, the era in which we now live.

Coming out of Bethsaida (Babylon)

Before Jesus healed the blind man, he first brought him outside of the town of Bethsaida.¹³ In Revelation 18:4 we read of God calling His people to come out of the corrupted religious system of Babylon.

Type: Jesus leading the blind man out of Bethsaida, is a type of the Christian coming out of religious Babylon to receive light and truth from Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ Spit <-> Eye Salve

The Bible speaks of a spiritual blindness in a few places.¹⁴

Concerning the spiritually blind people of the Laodicean church, Jesus admonishes them to anoint their eyes with eye salve, so that they can see.¹⁵

This spiritual eye salve can only be obtained from Jesus.¹⁶

In Jesus’ first attempt to restore the blind man’s sight, scripture tells us that He spit on his eyes. This is a unique event. He didn’t use only his hands, clay from the ground, or simply a spoken word, but put His spit on the man’s eyes.

Type: Jesus’ spit, which came only from His body, is a type of the spiritual eye salve that can come only from Jesus to give a person light on matters of spiritual darkness.

Spiritual Sight vs. Physical Sight

When Jesus spit on the man’s eyes, the man responded by saying he saw “men as trees, walking.” Jesus then put His hands on the man again (without spit this time) and the man’s sight was fully restored.

As noted in the “Groundwork” section, trees are representative of people in a spiritual sense.

Type: The man’s eyes being opened to only see “men as trees” is a type of a person’s eyes being opened to spiritual truths.

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CONCLUSION

Jesus brings out a couple of points through this encounter.

First: having light and understanding of God’s truths (spiritual sight) is of greater importance than physical sight, for Jesus did not restore the man’s physical sight until after the type of his spiritual sight was restored.

Second: gaining spiritual sight and understanding of spiritual truths can come only through Jesus Christ, for it required Jesus’ spit for the man to see (spiritually) “men as trees, walking.”

In a spiritual sense, those that have been born blind or have become blind by the false doctrines and traditions of Babylon (fallen and corrupted Christian churches), can only find truth by obtaining eye salve from Jesus. There is no other way. No scholar, no book, and no depth of education can ever lead a person into the truth if they do not have the light of Christ shining upon their hearts.

The truths found within scripture were given by inspiration through God’s spirit. Therefore, these truths can only be understood with the same help of His spirit.¹⁷

Jesus will call us to come out of Babylon. We must respond to that call and follow Him if we hope to receive healing from areas of our spiritual blindness.

A full surrender to Jesus Christ and an acknowledgement of our desperate need for Him, as well as a willingness to surrender all teachings, traditions, and doctrines of men that we have grown up with, will allow us to find our way to the wellspring of life that will satisfy the thirst of our souls with His glorious truths.¹⁸

Those of us who have anointed our eyes with spiritual eye salve from Christ must daily remember that it is forever and always by the same source that we will continue to see. Let us abide in Him and keep our lives fully surrendered and wholly consecrated to Him. In doing this, we will have sight that enables us to share truth with others and will have protection against our eyes growing dim.

God Bless,

Charles

Scripture Index/References

1. Mark 8:22-26

2. Mark 8:15, Mat 16:12

3. Mark 8:22

4. Mat 11:21

5. Mark 8:23

6. Mark 8:24

7. Psa 1:1-3, Jer 17:7-8, Mat 7:15-20, Luk 3:7-9

8. Rev 14:8, 17:3-5

9. Rev 14:8, 17:18, 18:16

10. Jer 51:7, Rev 14:8, 18:3

11. 1 Tim 4:1, Rev 18:2

12. Rev 3:17

13. Mark 8:23

14. Isa 6:10, Mat 13:14-16, John 9:39, 12:40, 2 Peter 1:8-9

15. Rev 3:18

16. Isa 42:7, Luk 4:18, John 14:6, Eph 1:17-18

17. 1 Cor 2:14

18. Psa 36:9, Jer 2:13, John 4:14