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Connection and Perception The Five Senses To such as are mature pertaineth the strong food
… who by reason of habit David Stein When God created Adam, he gave him the necessary tools to perceive his environment: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. Everything human beings know about their surroundings comes through these senses.1 And as many have personally experienced, the loss of one or more of these senses can be a great handicap. On the other hand, the senses we do possess allow us to perceive the great beauty of creation. These senses are associated with physical, sensory organs: 1. The Eye. We have two eyes with which to detect the visible universe around us. It is the most complex of the senses and provides the most data to our brains. What we sense is light vibration that our minds convert to an image. A large section of the brain is dedicated to the processing of images to permit quick recognition of things we see. 2. The Ear. We have two ears with which to detect the audible universe. This is the second most important of our senses and provides a considerable amount of data to the brain, as evidenced by the ability of the blind to negotiate their environment using their sense of hearing as their primary sense. As with the eye, the ear senses vibrations of the air which the brain converts to sounds. From the time of our birth, our brains build a large database of sounds which permit us to identify people and places almost instantly. 3. The Nose. Our nose is well positioned to sense smells in front of us. Nose tissues sense airborne chemicals which the brain converts to our perception of smell. The nose works closely with the tongue in sensing and enjoying food. 4. The Tongue. The surface of the tongue senses chemicals in the food we eat. And, just as it does with the other organs, the brain converts the information from the tongue into the sensation of taste. We all have developed a large catalogue of tastes which bring great pleasure to our lives. 5. The Skin. The skin is a sensory organ, even though it is not typically considered as such. Nerves which permeate every square inch of skin constantly send signals to the brain. The interpretation of these signals provides our sense of touch. It is not just the perception of contact; we can distinguish a large variety of feelings such as soft, hard, hot, cold, smooth, rough, and the like. The Bible refers to God as having “eyes” and “ears” and other sensory organs. But these are anthropomorphisms, descriptions of God given in terms we can understand. The Eye: Seeing “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (Deuteronomy 34:7). This simply refers to Moses’ literal eyes. They were still functioning perfectly even when he was 120 years old. Other Scriptures use “eye” metaphorically: “Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee” (Deuteronomy 15:9). “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor” (Proverbs 22:9). These are references to a mental attitude or state of mind. “If thine eye be evil” refers to an evil state of mind toward another as demonstrated by a lack of compassion and generosity. This
is a similar New Testament usage: “The light of the body is the eye:2
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if
thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew
6:22,23). The NIV is clearer: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” This describes a state of mind or heart that directs our actions. Our bodies are “full of light,” radiating goodness and righteousness, only if our mind, attitude, and vision are good and spiritual. On one occasion Jesus described things which get into our eyes: “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5). Our Lord is describing a mental blindness to our own faults and prejudices, a condition known as a “blind spot.” Jesus counsels us to get rid of such impediments so we can have a full and honest perception of the truth, in ourselves and in others. Another example of an eye representing mental perception concerns the Laodicean church: “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire … and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (Revelation 3:18). The Laodiceans are suffering from significant mental blindness. They cannot see or mentally apprehend their condition. The Lord advises them to take eye medicine to restore their sight. This eyesalve is nothing less than the truth and its spirit. The Ear: Hearing “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them” (Proverbs 20:12). The point of this text is that God is quite able to see and hear since he is the creator of the organs of sight and hearing. The implication is that we deceive ourselves if we think that God cannot see or hear what we are doing! The symbolic or metaphorical use of the ear concerns obedience, as shown in these texts: “So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill” (Deuteronomy 1:43). “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear” (Proverbs 25:12). “Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech” (Isaiah 28:23). “Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not” (Jeremiah 11:8). “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). This usage is common in our language. Quite often we use the word “listen” to mean obey. A parent might say to a child, “You didn’t listen to me!” meaning that the child did not do what he was told to do. When we give instruction to someone, we expect them to listen in the sense of carrying out the instructions as given. We are expected to hear or listen with the understanding that the knowledge imparted will be applied. God appeals to us to listen to him so our lives will be safer and without the tragedy brought by disobedience. The Nose: Smelling In Old Testament times, the sense of smell would be invoked whenever there were animal sacrifices. The burnt offerings on ancient altars would produce distinctive odors that came to be associated with sacrifice. Consider the Atonement Day odors as an example. There were three fires burning on the Atonement Day in ancient Israel: the fire on the altar of incense, the fire on the courtyard altar, and the fire “without the camp” where the hide and dung of the animals were burned (Leviticus 8:17). Each fire had a unique smell. The incense altar would have produced the most delightful fragrance. The ingredients3: of the sacred incense would fill the tabernacle with a sweet and wonderful odor. The altar of burnt offering received the inward parts of the sacrificial animal for burning. These life-giving organs would have produced a strong food smell—not sweet, like incense, but a pleasing smell, perhaps even stimulating the appetite! The fire outside the camp where the hide and remnants of the beast were burned would have produced a disagreeable smell, the kind associated with burning hair and skin. These smell experiences of Israel provide lessons regarding the experiences the body members of The Christ receive from the difficult, fiery trials of their lives, and the reaction others have to these experiences. The sweet perfume of burning incense provides a sense of serenity and intimacy. Because only the priests could go inside the tabernacle where the incense altar was located, they were the only ones who appreciated that sweet smell, illustrating the wonderful and precious fellowship which can be shared only by the consecrated, antitypical priests. As we observe the reactions of fellow body members during their fiery trials, their faithful obedience are to us a “sweet savor.” The food-like smell emanating from the altar of burnt offering in the court was experienced by a larger number of Israelites because this altar was in the open. Its location in the court suggests that our sacrifice as seen by the justified—those who love the Lord but have not made a consecration unto death—produces an “odor” of priestly obedience that is pleasant and stimulating to the household of faith. The stench from the burning outside the camp suggests the view the world has of our consecrated lives. Not only do they think we are fools (1 Corinthians 1:27,28), our sacrifice is often despised, even hated. Truly the stench provided by this fire well-represents such a reaction. The expression “sweet savour” is found frequently in the King James Bible. In almost every occurrence, it refers to how God receives a sacrifice! God would have us understand how he perceives the obedient behavior of his people. In the New Testament the phrase occurs only once: “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life” (2 Corinthians 2:15, 16). The Tongue: Tasting We are restricting the scope of our consideration of the tongue to the sense of taste. A sense of taste is a testimony to the love of God! We need to eat to survive, and that will be true of all mankind for eternity. Sitting down to eat is one of the most pleasurable daily events we have. It is not just the ingestion of food, but the social interchange that makes it such a blessing. “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). The “taste” of God’s words, the truth, is a delight to all God’s people. What is not commonly known is that our sense of taste would be useless without water. Water, the universal solvent, works with enzymes in our saliva to dissolve our food so we can taste it! Water often represents truth in the Bible. We can only “taste” God in proportion as we have the truth. Without truth there is no tasting, only ignorance. Often we subject our food to a quick taste to see if it is seasoned correctly. A similar idea is conveyed in a psalm: “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Psalm 34:8). These words suggest that we test God, not in the negative sense of distrusting him, but rather to sample his promises and see that what God says is true! When we learn that God’s words are reliable, we can trust him and experience his blessings. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). “Taste” in this context means Jesus experienced death, dying on the cross. Since that death provided a ransom price for Adam so he could be rescued from death, so all of Adam’s progeny will likewise be recovered. Jesus “taste[d] death for every man” so all could be redeemed from Adamic death. On one occasion Jesus used “tasting death” to describe someone’s literal death: “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28). Jesus is saying there would be some who would see him in his kingdom before they died, and this actually happened to Peter, James, and John in the vision described in the beginning verses of Matthew 17. The Skin: Touching “But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die” (Genesis 3:3). The law given in Eden was not only that the fruit of one tree was not to be eaten, it was not even to be touched! We tend to emphasize the eating of the forbidden fruit as the sin, but technically—according to the precise words she recited—as soon as Eve touched it, she had broken the law! Furthermore, as we read on in the process of her sin, we find in the sixth verse that it was “pleasant to the eyes!” There is much to learn about the role of the senses in the commission of sin. After Satan, through the serpent, had placed doubt in the mind of Eve, she began to perceive the forbidden fruit differently. As she gazed on it, a desire began to grow. The lust of her eyes soon gave way to a touch, and the touch to a bite, and with the bite, sin was accomplished. James talks about this process of developing sin: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14,15). Eve’s desire or lust was caused by a doubt introduced by the devil. It grew through the senses: the sight was pleasant. Scripture does not mention the smell of the tree and its fruit, but no doubt it carried its own appeal. Then came the touch, the actual connection with what was forbidden, and from this it was only one short step to the full and final breaking of the law—the actual eating of the fruit. We must be on guard to prevent this sinful cascade of thinking from occurring in us. If we compromise and travel down the road to the point of sinful touch, we have reached the last boundary before actual sin. Paul understood this danger: “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman” (1 Corinthians 7:1). The world in which the Corinthians lived was filled with immorality. So Paul gave a simple preventative: Don’t touch! “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings” (Colossians 2:20-22, NIV). Summary Our five senses connect us with our environment. The literal and symbolic uses in Scripture convey this idea of connection and perception, both the appropriate kind and the inappropriate. We who have consecrated our human life will experience a dramatic change to our senses when we receive spirit bodies. Will we have only five senses then? The likelihood is that it will be considerably more than five. John records a wonderful promise that gives a hint of what will be experienced then: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). 1. Some may argue for the inclusion of a sixth sense sometimes called intuition, that is, knowledge that we have that we did not obtain through these five senses. But this is a debatable phenomenon and is not connected with any clearly identifiable physiological source. Since we have no Scriptural basis to assume it exists, it is outside the scope of this review. 2. This word is Strong’s 3788: “ophthalmos; the eye (literal or figurative); by implication vision; figurative envy (from the jealous side-glance 3. The ingredients are described in Exodus 30:34 – stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense. It is interesting to note that this mixture was holy and sacred and that the penalty was death for anyone other than a priest to make it! |