Scripture teaches an important principle about light and understanding. The illumination God grants is conditional. It is given out in measure:
“And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.” – Mark 4:24
The capacity to receive truth grows with your faith and obedience. In the parable of the candlestick, Christ reveals that you do not hide a lit candle under a bushel or under a bed. This is counterintuitive to the purpose of receiving light.
The consequences are twofold:
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God withdraws understanding and truth when you reject Him.
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You stifle the propagation of further truth where it is needed.
Notice the explicit command to “take heed of what you hear”. This expression describes the heart’s posture when exposed to truth. This isn’t referring to just physical hearing, but spiritual acceptance. Neglecting this leads to the result outlined in Romans 1:21, where “their foolish heart was darkened.” The final state of this rebellious generation was the inability to think correctly, being given over “to a reprobate mind” (Rom. 1:28).
Bottom line: light rejected becomes lightning. The Lord is under no obligation to chase down a soul that simply refuses to respond to the truth plainly given. As one preacher aptly put it, “God wouldn’t cross the street to save your soul if it meant contradicting His word or His nature.”
Understanding and truth are given conditionally; God never deliberately drives a soul toward darkness or deception, nor will He force anyone to embrace the light.
According to Your Idols
A fascinating passage of Scripture is found in Ezekiel chapter fourteen. It shows Israel’s elders approaching the prophet with secret sin. They demand to inquire of the truth from God at the prophet’s behest. The Lord knows the abominations they harbor and tells Ezekiel He will answer them, but not as they expect. The Lord responds in verse 4 that He will “answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols.” He will intentionally deceive these men, because their interest is not in the truth, but in satisfying their lust.
Every insincere heart that approaches God will be subjected to intense delusion. This is most evident in the warning about the upcoming Tribulation in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians:
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
What a powerful and sobering statement. This is not the God of modern culture and compromising Christianity. Notice the blatant admission here. God will deliberately damn a soul by sending them a strong delusion for not receiving the “love of the truth.”
Essentially, God will lead you into believing a lie, because the posture of your heart demanded it. Meditate on that for a moment. Rejecting the truth so that you can have pleasure in unrighteousness guarantees damnation. See Romans 1:32.
The Light-Your Conscience-The Candle
Isaiah chapter 6:9-10, the Lord issues a commission to the prophet to preach to an unbelieving nation:
“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.” – Isaiah 6:9-10
The New Testament describes this rebellious nation closing its eyes against conviction three times (Acts 28:26; John 12:40; Mark 4:23-25). God responds to their unbelief by permanently blinding their spiritual eyes.
God’s providence is not at risk when men are given a choice. This is the great misconception of Calvinism. As men with free will, we decide what to do with the truth. The power of that decision is ours. However, once we’ve made that choice, the consequences belong to God.
While the direct revelation of the law was given to the Jews (Rom. 3:2), the Gentile was given a conscience to supply epistemological light. Illumination from the conscience was conditioned upon our obedience to it. It is described in Proverbs and Job as a “candle”:
“How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.” – Job 21:17
“For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.” – Proverbs 24:20
The deeds of wickedness will extinguish this candle. They will grope in darkness while standing in the light of day:
“Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.” – Isaiah 59:9-10
I often preach in public that a man does not go to hell because of “being a sinner.” A man is damned because he has rejected the cure for sin – he has rejected the truth. Unbelief is the sin that sends a man to hell (John 16:9; Rev. 21:8).
What truth God has given to you is temporary. It depends on whether you’re willing to hear. What you do with that truth will determine whether you receive further light. Only the Lord knows the boundary of His long-suffering and mercy.
God searches the human heart and removes light when we reject truth. Before reading Scripture, examine yourself for idols and sin. Check your motive. Approach God’s word and the revelation that follows carefully, always with the mind that it could be the last you will receive.