Men, As Trees, Walking…


A passage of scripture that I have found somewhat perplexing over the years is Mark 8:22-26. This is the story of Jesus healing a blind man near Bethsaida, which was on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus chose to heal the man in stages. I have always wondered why He did that. Here’s what happened:

An unidentified blind man was brought to Jesus by some unidentified persons. Jesus was asked to heal the man. Jesus responded by taking the man by the hand and leading him out of town. The Lord then placed His hands on the blind man’s eyes and asked him if he saw anything. The man looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Jesus then places His hands on the man’s eyes a second time. This time when the man looks up, he sees everyone clearly.

On all other occasions when Jesus performed a miracle of healing, the person was healed all at once – instantly. Why did Jesus do it differently this time?

Well, I certainly don’t know. But our Lord certainly knew what He was doing. Here’s something to think about:

It is a safe assumption that the blind man wanted to see. He participated willingly in the healing process, knowing all along what was up. Maybe, just maybe, when he saw the unfocused scene, he wanted to see it with perfect clarity all the more. Perhaps he got a little glimpse of what was in store, and then he longed for and appreciated what was coming later.

Jesus shows us little glimpses of heaven all the time. They’re all around us, if we’ll just look for them. Some jump off the page at us. Some others have to be cultivated a little. When we see them, two things should happen. We should appreciate the greatness of what God has done for us here on earth. We should want to go and be with Him forever when we leave this earth. These two, gratitude and desire, should cause us to order our behavior to match the teaching of Jesus.

Here are three glimpses of heaven that we have right now. Maybe when you look around you, you might see some others.

God’s Creation

Sunsets have moved me for a long time. How many shades of red and blue have you counted when the sun drops below the horizon on a clear day. I’ve lost count – a long time ago. God didn’t have to make it pretty like that, but He did. It’s a glimpse of something prettier still, just beyond.

I used to be in the woods a good bit back in the day when a friend (who is now deceased) and I traded timberland on a (very) small scale. We both had real jobs and this was our hobby. It was fun to walk through the land God had made and look at the trees He had built. At that time, 1970’s, the more pine, the better. If God could make those tall, straight, and strong loblolly pines (not to mention the massive cypress I sometimes saw in the bottomland), He could certainly make a place called “Heaven” where we all might walk in peace and wonder some day. I even came to see the beauty of the Maker’s touch in an unlikely a spot as a beaver pond.

Nature is a glimpse of heaven if we’ll open our too often blind eyes and look.

The Christian Family

This one needs to be cultivated…constantly. I don’t remember who it was, but someone wrote a little book about fifty years ago about the Christian family. The author titled it, Vestibules of Heaven. If heaven is the auditorium, then the Christian family could be aptly spoken of as the lobby.

When the husband loves the wife and the wife loves the husband, and the children are raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; peace reigns, kindness reigns, forgiveness reigns, humility and deference reign. You’re getting pretty close to heaven.

A faithful Christian family is a glimpse of heaven if we choose to make it just that: Christian and faithful.

A Faithful Church

The church of Christ is the people of Christ. It is those who have believed and obeyed what God says in the gospel. It is symbolically pictured as both the body of Christ and the bride of Christ.

We all want to take good care of our physical bodies. We want to be physically healthy. Good health is positively associated with longevity. We must have the same interest in caring for each other that we have for our personal health. When I am as interested in your spiritual health as I am in mine, I’ll care for you and try to help you be closer to God. I’ll do it with my words and my actions. I’ll do it all the time. I won’t quit doing it. When others see us all in the church acting this way, they’ll be impressed. They’ll see a glimpse of heaven.

Most of us adults are married. I remember thirty-three years ago how delighted I was with my new bride. The relationship broadens and strengthens over the years if the marriage is a trinity. The husband and wife are committed to each other side to side and are both committed to God as they look upward. Husband + wife + God works every time. In the church, if we are committed to each other side to side and look upward with commitment to God, we create another Vestibule of Heaven.

A faithful church of Christ is a glimpse of heaven if we are a faithful part of her. The bride of Christ, the body of Christ; as close as you can get to Christ here: the church of Christ.

I am totally confident that the best we see here (wonderful as it is), in comparison to heaven, is only like “men as trees, walking.” I want to see more!