“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
God wants all to be saved! He wants no one to perish! Yet, for salvation, certain conditions must be met: God wants everyone to be saved by repenting and coming to the knowledge of the truth!
People must come to repentance.
Coming to repentance is a process of recognizing one’s sins, feeling remorse, and making a firm decision to change one’s behavior and serve God.
People must come to the knowledge of the truth.
This is a process of learning, where someone moves from a state of not knowing or misunderstanding to one of clarity and comprehension.
There are, however, “men of corrupt minds,” who are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7, 8).
Sadly, although God offers salvation to all, most people follow the broad way that leads to destruction, rather than entering the narrow gate that leads to life (Matthew 7:13, 14; Luke 13:23, 24). “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
Most people will be lost because they refuse to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Much truth is hidden from everyone!
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
A prevalent sin is to presume to know things God has not revealed.
God asked Job, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2).
Paul wrote about “idle talkers,” “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm” (1 Timothy 1:7).
When Paul was taken up into the third heaven he “heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:4).
John was not allowed to reveal what the seven thunders said: “Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them’” (Revelation 10:4).
Another prevalent sin is to reject the truth God has revealed.
Paul wrote: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:3, 4).
Much truth is unknown because of ignorance.
Jesus said to Sadducees who did not believe in a resurrection: “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24).
God hides things from the wise and prudent.
Jesus was thankful for this! “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight’” (Luke 10:21).
What things does God conceal from some? Jesus continues: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Luke 10:22).
Hidden things about God are revealed to those who have childlike faith, rather than to those who rely on their own understanding.
Truth is hidden from the spiritually blind.
Of the Messianic Reign it was foretold: “The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen” (Isaiah 32:3). To learn the truth we must listen and our eyes must be sound.
Jesus said: “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).
Jesus warned: “Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him” (Luke 8:18).
God blinds the eyes of those who do not want to see.
God told Isaiah to proclaim this judgment: “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed” (Isaiah 6:9, 10)i.
This harsh judgment resulted from the people’s rejection of God.
In the New Testament the same judgment is pronounced on those who reject Christ. “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’ These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him” (John 12:37-41).
“Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.’ Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, “We see.” Therefore your sin remains’” (John 9:39, 40). Jesus gives sight to some, but blinds the eyes of others.
Jesus says that those who really want to do the will of God recognize the Source of His teaching: “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17).
Jesus explained to unbelievers: “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God” (John 8:43-47).
When people leave God and follow Satan, they have chosen a liar to be their guide, and are no longer open to the truth. Paul explains: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4). They who willfully walk in darkness cannot see the light.
Jesus used parables to reveal truth to some and hide truth from others.
When His disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables, He replied: “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:11-13).
Explaining why He spoke in parables, Jesus then quotes Isaiah 6, verses 9 and 10.
“And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them’” (Matthew 13:14, 15).
Parables reveal truth to those who are receptive, while concealing truth from those who are not.
“And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples” (Mark 4:33, 34).ii
God sends delusion to those who lack love for the truth.
The lawless one comes “with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10–12).
“Strong delusion” is a translation of the Greek term “ἐνέργειαν πλάνης” that can be translated as “a working of error” or “a powerful delusioniii”. This is a strong influence that leads one to believe something false. According to 2 Thessalonians 2:11, this delusion is a divine judgment on those who refuse to love the truth.iv
An example of such a delusion is found in 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18. King Ahab, one of the most evil kings of Israel, is considering going to war against Ramoth-Gilead in Syria. He consults his four hundred idol-worshipping prophets, who promise him success. The prophet Micaiah, however, reveals that the Lord had put a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets: “Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared disaster against you” (2 Chronicles 18:22).
When someone rejects love of truth he rejects God who is “the God of truth” (Isaiah 65:16).
What have we learned?
God wants everyone to be saved by repenting and coming to the knowledge of the truth. Sadly, most people do not repent. Much truth is hidden from everyone! Ignorance causes available truth to be unknown. God conceals things from the wise and prudent and reveals them to babes. Truth is hidden from the spiritually blind. God blinds the eyes of those who do not want to see. Jesus used parables to reveal truth to some and hide truth from others. God sends strong delusion to those who do not love the truth.
Amen.
RoyDavison@oldpaths.net
i This was also true in days of Jeremiah: “But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the LORD our God’” (Jeremiah 5:23, 24). Because of their departure from God, they were told: “Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not: ‘Do you not fear Me?’ says the LORD. ‘Will you not tremble at My presence?’” (Jeremiah 5:21, 22).
ii It had been foretold that the Messiah would speak in parables: “All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world’” (Matthew 13: 34, 35). This is a quotation from Psalm 78:2. “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old.”
iii Various English translations of “ἐνέργειαν πλάνης” are: KJV – “strong delusion.” NKJV – “strong delusion.” ESV – “a strong delusion.” NASB – “a deluding influence.” NIV – “a powerful delusion.”
iv The same word ἐνέργειαν is used for the “working” of God’s power in Ephesians 1:19; 3:7 and Philippians 3:21.