Hello
..... This topic came up tangentially in another thread. I brought it up there briefly and now I would like to follow through on it a bit more, inviting any comments from you all. It started with Ray mentioning the following at the ’07 Nashville conference, P. 2 of the transcript "Where Did Jesus Come From.”
“… Satan deceives and God blinds.”A couple of years ago, this would have been a
very new and startling concept for me that God actually has a direct or an indirect hand for that matter in spiritually blinding people. Oh for a long time I had gotten the idea down pat that Satan was a deceiver... after all, it would be hard to miss the plain words of Rev.12: 9… “Satan, who deceives the whole world.” But it has only been a couple of years of reading Scripture with Ray’s insights that have helped me grab hold of the notion that God Himself blinds those He chooses, so I’d like to explore this a little bit, if not for my own edification but perhaps the interest of others as well. [All verses CLNT unless otherwise noted.]
I was surprised to learn there is an equally direct statement in God's Word that refers to His own spiritual blinding of the multitudes spoken by Jesus Himself in Luke 8: 10. This verse echoes the prophecy given in the Old Testament in Isaiah 6: 10. Here are both verses:
Luke 8: 10 Now He said, "To you has it been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, yet to the rest in parables, that, observing, they may not be observing, and hearing, they may not be understanding." [Also stated in Matt 13: 13-15, Mark 4: 11-12, and John 12: 40 mentions this very prophecy given by the prophet Isaiah.]
Jesus uttered those words in fulfillment of this O.T. prophecy:
Isaiah 6: 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. [KJV]
The following verse lets us know also that God does directly send what has been translated variously as strong delusion, misleading influence, working of error and deception; the Greek = plane = mental straying/error.
2Thes 2: 11 And therefore God will be sending them an operation of deception, for them to believe the falsehood,Another verse that points at God directly causing not only spiritual callousness but a spirit of
stupor:
Rom 11: 7-8 What then? What Israel is seeking for, this she did not encounter, yet the chosen encountered it. Now the rest were calloused, even as it is written, God gives them a spirit of stupor, eyes not to be observing, and ears not to be hearing, till this very day. [Other translations render “spirit of stupor” as spirit of drowsiness, slumber, deep sleep, or sluggish spirit. Others render “calloused” in verse 7 as blinded or hardened.]
I believe the next verse implies that it is Satan who is “the god of this eon or age” and that he does some blinding as well; Greek = tuphloo = to make blind, to blunt the mental discernment, darken the mind. This is not surprising as that would go right along with the job of deceiving he’s been given (by God) to do:
2Cor 4: 4 in whom the god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving so that the illumination of the evangel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them. And there are several N.T. verses that indicate or imply our own hearts, our own selves have calloused and blinded us. This too, I believe, would also imply God's indirect hand.
Eph 4: 17-18 This, then, I am saying and attesting in the Lord: By no means are you still to be walking according as those of the nations also are walking, in the vanity of their mind, their comprehension being darkened, being estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the callousness of their hearts,2Pet 1: 8-9 For your possessing these and increasing is constituting you not idle nor yet unfruitful in the recognition of our Lord, Jesus Christ. For he in whom these are not present is blind, closing his eyes, getting oblivious of the cleansing from the penalties of his sins of old.1John 2: 11 Yet he who is hating his brother is in darkness and in darkness is walking, and is not aware whither he is going, for the darkness blinds his eyes.But back again to God’s hand
directly causing spiritual blindness…
how else did those SCALES get IN Paul’s eyes…….? G.O.D. Yes?? So... I tend to agree with Ray on this matter, Satan deceives, God blinds.... as sort of a general rule of thumb.
Shine the light of truth!
With joy, Janice
P.S. Kat you were right after all as Satan is given to blind, just not that particular verse you had mentioned.