What must it have been like for the newborn Baby Jesus to open His eyes
for the first time? Newborns' eyes work just fine, but it takes a while
before their brains can process what they see.
But would that have been true for Jesus? When the eternal Son of God
opened His eyes as a baby, did He see the colors and lights, the shapes and shadows of the
world He created? Was it beautiful or disappointing? More like an impressionist painting or HD television?
What did the newborn think and feel as He saw for the first time with human eyes this planet He had created, now groaning in its fallen agony?
But there was another “first time” when Jesus opened His eyes, and for
me it is even more amazing to think about. What must it have been like for the
Savior to open His eyes again after three dead, sightless days in the grave?
When He stepped out of that tomb, did He see the glory of the broken creation made new, the future He guaranteed by His sacrifice and victory?
And then that makes me remember how His resurrection triumph carries you and me along in its wake. John reveals Him as “the firstborn of the dead” (Rev. 1:5). “Firstborn”
means He is first in priority and position, the first of many to come.
It’s true that when Christians die, they go immediately into the
presence of the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). But that’s not the final glory. Like our
Savior, one day we will open our long-dead physical eyes again, and the world's transformation, like our own, will remind us why we love Him so.
The first time He opened His eyes they were the eyes of earth’s weakest
and most vulnerable creatures—a newborn baby. The second “first time” He opened
His eyes, He was the King, Conqueror of death, hell, and sin.
