"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23)
Commentary: "Four years before he crushed Napoleon's naval aspirations at the Battle of Trafalgar, Horatio Nelson was serving under the utterly talentless Admiral Hyde Parker. At a crucial point in the battle of Copenhagen, Parker sent a signal for Nelson and his ships to break off the engagement and withdraw. Nelson, knew that this was no time to flee, so he put his telescope to his right eye, which had been blinded in a previous battle and announced, "I really don't see the signal." He went on to destroy the Danish fleet and win the day.
The signal was given, it was clear, but Nelson chose to turn a blind eye to it. By the grace of God, the outcome of his insubordination was good, had he lost, his decision not to see probably would have gotten him in serious trouble instead of a promotion and a title. In military affairs having "a blind eye" can occasionally be a good thing, but in religion, as Jesus tells you, being spiritually blind is always disastrous.
You remember how the magnificent Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 9 goes? "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Just a few verses before that Isaiah 9:2 announces the coming of that Messiah will be like this "The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined."
What was prophesied in those verses in Isaiah has come to pass. Just as the angel declared in Matthew 1:21 The virgin has brought forth a son, named Jesus "for He will save His people from their sins" and now Jesus the Savior, who is also Immanuel "God with Us" is going forth preaching the Good news of the Gospel and doing mighty miracles. He has come as a great light into a world darkened by sin and death.
Jesus has not concealed the fact that He is the great light, he has not remained secluded teaching secret knowledge to a select group of disciples in the desert in the manner of so many cult leaders. He has not chosen to hide his light by keeping the good news to himself for fear it might offend others, instead His is the light set on the lampstand which will be seen by anyone who has eyes to see it.
Jesus has been very bold in announcing that He is the light that has come to drive away the darkness of evil saying things like: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." John 8:12 And it is not just that he has proclaimed these things in the hearing of the people, Jesus has proven it through the miracles and healing he has performed.
The signs are all there. All that the scriptures of the OT said would take place when the Messiah came is surely coming to pass.
But how did the Pharisees and the crowds react to the light that had come to them? - "I really don't see the signal"
But Why didn't they see? We can answer that question by asking another, "how bright does a light need to be, before a blind man can see it?"
That's a trick question of course, it doesn't matter how bright it is, he'll never see the light because his eye is bad. He can't see it no matter how obvious it is.
Now the Pharisees weren't physically blind, they were spiritually blind. In their case it was the eye of their soul, their hearts, that were darkened. Their hearts were bad, and therefore they would not admit the light of the world, Jesus. To use language of Paul in Romans 1:21 "their thoughts were futile and their foolish hearts were dark."
That is the condition of the natural man, the unconverted man, the eye of his soul is blind, his heart is a heart of darkness.
They won't see the light of Christ because the organ with which they discern spiritual truth - the heart - is dark. They are spiritually blind – that is why they will not receive such teaching: " 1 Cor. 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
All the good preaching in the world will not suffice to enable someone to believe. God has to illuminate them from within. His Holy Spirit has to take away that bad, stony, blind, dark heart and replace it with a good, seeing, heart of flesh. He has to shine in our hearts before we will be filled with the light of the gospel:
2 Cor. 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This is a Sovereign gracious saving work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of sinners and we see it reflected in verses like Col 1:13:
"He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,"
We do not read in Acts 9 that the ex-Pharisee Paul scraped the scales from his eyes, rather they fell away when the Lord sovereignly saw fit to remove his blindness."
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