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JUDICIAL BLINDING (I)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
Isaiah 6:9-10
 
“In whom the god of this
world hath blinded …”
 
JUDICIAL BLINDING (I)
 
Have you ever wondered why God should choose to save you? In fact, the marvel of it all is that God should save anyone at all. We are all undeserving of salvation, for there is not one good thing in us. There is none that doeth good, no not one (Rom 3:12). Yet the Bible tells us that God has set His love upon us in His good pleasure even before the foundation of the world to elect us unto salvation (Eph 1:4-6). This is often called the unconditional election of the saints. When rightly understood, it should serve to humble us that we are saved not by any merit in us, but simply by the merit of Christ (cf. Eph 2:8-10). In other words, the salvation of the elect is in God Himself. Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9).
 
On the other hand, there is also an election of those who are lost. This is the teaching in verse 3, that the gospel is hid to those who are “lost.” However, we must understand that the destruction of the reprobate is fully of his own responsibility. He chose to rebel against God, and thus is fully deserving of God’s wrath. Buswell put it this way: “The chargeable cause of the loss of the lost is in the lost himself.”
 
In today’s reading, Paul explained that those who wilfully opposed him had been blinded by the devil, who is “the god of this world” (cf. Eph 2:2). This is the judicial blinding of the Lord. Since Paul’s accusers had hardened their hearts against the truth, the Lord had permitted Satan to blind them spiritually. This is the thrust of what the Lord said to Isaiah: “And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 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” (Isa 6:9-10).
 
May none of us be found hardening our hearts against Christ and His Word.
 
THOUGHT: “Chosen not for good in me…” (M’Cheyne).
PRAYER: How I owe everything to Thee, Father!

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