Why Should We Remember that ‘Eyes Have Not Seen’ God’s Plans?

When Christians discuss the future or God’s plan, we often use the phrase “eyes have not seen.” We know it has something to do with the Bible, but is it from the Bible? If so, what does this phrase mean for us?

God deals in mystery, for he is unseen to our eyes. He operates beyond our natural senses. On our own and due to the sinful fall of humanity, we can’t discover or engage the eternal, spiritual reality or God’s plans. Because of these limitations, he must choose to reveal himself to us, and he has done so throughout history through various ways and methods, notably biblical authority. God initiates a relationship with humanity from his love to save and reconcile us back to Himself through Jesus, the Son of God.

We all wonder about the future. When Paul uses the phrase, “eyes have not seen,” what is he trying to communicate—to the church in Corinth and to us today?

Does “Eyes Have Not Seen” Appear More than Once in the Bible?

The phrase “eyes have not seen” appears twice in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. Each time, it conveys a message about the mysteries of God’s plans and blessings for his people.

We find the first occurrence in Isaiah 64:4, where the prophet Isaiah speaks on behalf of Israel, expressing their longing for God’s intervention and deliverance. Isaiah writes, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4). In this passage, Isaiah emphasizes God’s uniqueness and incomparability, declaring that no human eye has witnessed or perceived the full extent of God’s actions and blessings for those who trust and wait upon him. God’s plans transcend human comprehension.

Paul reiterates in 1 Corinthians 2:9, where the apostle writes to the Corinthian church about the wisdom and mysteries of God revealed through the Holy Spirit. Paul quotes from Isaiah 64:4 but provides additional insight into the significance of God’s revelation to His people. He says, “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Here, Paul emphasizes the transformative power of God’s revelation through His Spirit, revealing truths that surpass human understanding and imagination. He assures believers that God has prepared blessings and rewards beyond human comprehension for those who love him and remain faithful to his calling.

Does the New Testament Change the Meaning of “Eyes Have Not Seen”?

Paul slightly modifies the passage from Isaiah, adding a deeper layer of meaning to “eyes have not seen,” shedding light on the work of the Holy Spirit and the revelation of God’s mysteries to believers.

Paul adapts the end of the verse from Isaiah’s “for those who wait for him” to “for those who love him.” We can’t know specifically why Paul quoted the verse in this way. Perhaps he had a manuscript of Isaiah unavailable to us, or maybe he added his own interpretation of what it meant to wait on God. However, Paul wrote much about God’s amazing love and how we love him in return. This phrase appears again in Romans 8:28, also referring to the future, where he declares all things work together for good for the people “who love him and are called according to his purpose.”

Through Christ, we have intimate access to the Father, and our trust in him comes not from a Law but from personal experience and encounter. Love.

The next verse also provides greater context. Verse 9 is only half of the sentence; if we remember English class, a sentence is a complete thought. To complete the thought in 1 Corinthians 2:10, Paul writes, “But these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.” In the time of Isaiah, God revealed mysteries and selected parts of the future to prophets like Isaiah, but God only chose a few to fulfill the role of prophet.

Now, in the New Covenant, God fully imparts the Holy Spirit to every believer. Later in 1 Corinthians, when discussing spiritual gifts, Paul instructs us to specifically desire and develop the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 15:1). Back to chapter 2, Paul continues to explain the work of the Holy Spirit (verses 10-11): “For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11).

If we possess the Spirit, we have God’s very thoughts and mind available to us. The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:13), enabling us to understand and discern spiritual realities beyond human comprehension. In context, 1 Corinthians 2 contrasts the wisdom and ways of the world with the way of the Spirit. But “now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12).

What Does “Eyes Have Not Seen” Tell Us about God’s Plans?

“Eyes have not seen,” and the context reveals several aspects of God’s plan.

First, we cannot know God’s plan apart from his self-revelation. Our human perception and intelligence prove insignificant to the task. Therefore, the Bible often depicts God’s plans as mysterious and incomprehensible to us. This revelation happens by the Spirit.

Second, God does reveal the future. Because he loves us, God speaks to people and gives them a choice, including some statement about the future. After the Fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden, God prophesies redemption through the woman and her seed (Genesis 3:15). God shows the future to warn, inspire, and give us hope. The prophets like Isaiah called their contemporaries to repentance, often due to God’s coming future judgment. And despite how evil Israel would become (sacrificing children, idolatry, oppression of the poor, etc.), God continually promised a future redemption they didn’t deserve.

He does the same today. Through Scripture and personal words, God gives us hints and promises about what will happen personally and for the whole world.

Third, there are some things God doesn’t reveal. For instance, Jesus tells his disciples that no one will ever know the day or hour of his return (Matthew 24:26). Only the Father knows the exact time. Again, the Father also holds some mystery because he loves us. The Father wants us to remain steadfast, watchful, and ready. To give us a specific time or day, we would become lax in our faith and actually miss it.

Fourth, even when God reveals the future, it won’t happen according to our suppositions or interpretations. When young Joseph dreamed his parents and brothers would one day bow down to him, he had no clue how it would happen. Only in hindsight could he understand God’s hand all along the path and how God even used his brothers’ violence and hate for redemptive purposes. “You meant it for evil; God used it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

All this leads us to humility.

How Does “Eyes Have Not Seen” Keep Us Humble about the Future?

This verse dismisses any human ability. No matter how intelligent or visionary we may be, no person can faithfully predict the future. To do so, one would need access to every possible variable and piece of information. This is impossible. We can only know a bit of all information, and this becomes exponentially impossible. More information is generated every day than we can process. One would need to be omniscient.

Perhaps we could predict the future if we had the power to change it or force an event to happen. Yet we can’t. As Jesus says, we can’t add an hour to our lives through worry (Matthew 6:27-34). Even if we could, we’d also require the power to change every other variable in the future to ensure our version happened. One would need to be omnipotent.

God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. He is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. He speaks, and it happens. He knows the end of the paths we choose. He is the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:8).

Therefore, we are completely reliant upon God.

Thankfully, God also loves us abundantly. Our inability doesn’t devalue us, not in God’s eyes. Despite how we don’t deserve it and can’t achieve it, he desires us to be reconciled to him, providing abundant life now and in the future. He gave his own Son as a sacrifice for this. Faith believes God exists and rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6). His immediate and future rewards come to those who earnestly and diligently seek him.

God’s promises for a good future inspire us to serve and live faithfully today. We can develop pride even when God shares his plans. In Jesus’ day, most Jews had ideas of what the Messiah would be like. Scribes and priests had poured over Isaiah and other prophets for centuries, coming up with copious interpretations. Yet, when the Messiah appeared, no one thought it would happen that way. No one predicted it would be like the Gospels described. The ones who thought they had it figured out missed him.

Only those humble enough to let God be God in his plan and fulfillment enjoyed the blessing of Jesus.

For our future, why would we think it’s any different? We know he’s returning to bring heaven to earth, set everything right, and establish the world we all long for. But we don’t know exactly how or when.

This requires us to develop an intimate and radical relationship with the Father through the Son by the Spirit, able to recognize his voice in every moment and situation. Our trust in his amazing future promises includes our reliance on him now. They are connected. We learn to be watchful. We wait expectantly for the redemption of all things through our present faithfulness.

Peace.

Photo Credit:©GettyImages/cundra

Britt Mooney lives and tells great stories. As an author of fiction and non-fiction, he is passionate about teaching ministries and nonprofits the power of storytelling to inspire and spread truth. Mooney has a podcast called Kingdom Over Coffee and is a published author of We Were Reborn for This: The Jesus Model for Living Heaven on Earth as well as Say Yes: How God-Sized Dreams Take Flight.

This article is part of our larger resource library of popular Bible verse phrases and quotes. We want to provide easy to read articles that answer your questions about the meaning, origin, and history of specific verses within Scripture's context. It is our hope that these will help you better understand the meaning and purpose of God's Word in relation to your life today.

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