2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:… "God shall send," or more correctly rendered, "God sendeth" — that is, He is ever sending. Spiritual laws are as certain in their operation as those which regulate material things. Indeed, material things and the laws of matter are but symbols of the deeper and more abiding spiritual realities. Does error come from God? No, but He abandons men to it when they have wilfully and persistently broken the law of righteousness, just as they fall into disease of body when a natural law has been violated. There is no help for this. It is in accordance with the eternal truth and righteousness of God. Why do our bodies suffer, if we commit acts of excess? Not because God wills that we should so suffer, but because the suffering is a necessary consequence of the violation of His laws. It is His means of directing us aright, and, if we fail to obey Him, the consequences must fall upon our own heads. The laws of nature are inexorable, and cannot be broken with impunity. Let a man ruin his constitution by dissipation, and, although God may forgive him for the sin, he will carry his diseased and enfeebled body to a premature grave. The pardon does not undo the consequences of the wrongdoing. "The inworking of error" necessarily carries with it its own penalty — a penalty stamped on it by God. Thus God does not directly send the delusion, but "the inworking of error" is as much one of His laws as gravitation. A man may close his eyes to the natural light, or live for years in darkness, and the result in the end will be blindness. Does God send the blindness? Directly, no. Indirectly, yes; for it is the violation of His law that caused it. So if we close our eyes to the spiritual light, we shall become spiritually blind, and live in darkness, mistaking the spiritual things that surround us; in other words, we shall be deluded. God sends this delusion, that is, it follows the evil course of doing what He has prohibited, and not doing what He has commanded. (G. Sexton.) Parallel Verses KJV: And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:WEB: Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; |
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