WHY CAN SATAN BLIND UNBELIEVERS?
Oner of Jesus’ most well-known parables is of the Sower and the Seed (Luke 8:4-8). We don’t have to speculate as to its meaning because He Himself gave the interpretation in Luke 8:8-15. Jesus said that the seed that fell on the hard ground and was snatched up by the bird’s pictures Satan snatching the truth of God’s message out of the hearts of the listeners. Luke 8:12 “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.” Satan can snatch truth from unbelievers. He can also blind unbelievers to God’s truth. 2 Corinthians 4:4 ”The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Why God would allow such a thing to happen? Couldn’t sovereign God prevent this? What can we learn from this to help us with our preaching and evangelism today? I don’t pretend to speak for God, nor do I know everything about Him, but there are some observations I can make about this.
- God chose to create man with a free will instead of forcing everyone to follow Him so we could follow willingly. That means there has to be an alternative to submitting to God. Satan and his demons provide that option, doing their best to lure as many as they can away from God. No one is forced against their will, but each person is responsible for their own choice.
- Every person who rejects will stand before God and acknowledge that he had a chance for salvation but rejected it and deserves separation from God (John 3:17-21).
- The other side of the free will coin is sovereignty/election. God promises that everyone He chooses will come to Him (Ephesians 1:4-5,11; Romans 8:29-30). So, we know Satan can’t keep one of the elect from salvation.
- On the free will side of things we are assured that God wants everyone saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Luke 19:10) and that salvation is for everyone (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 4:10) anyone who comes to Him will be saved (John 6:37-39). So, God won’t let Satan interfere with anyone who would come to God for salvation.
- Satan can blind and snatch away, but a heart seeking for God will find Him, even if they are indwelt by 2,000+ demons as was the man from the Gadarenes who knelt before Jesus (Mark 5:1-20, especially v. 6).
- If God eliminated Satan’s power to interfere then the only alternative we would have to following God would be to follow our own sin nature. But with Satan and our sin nature pulling us from God, God is all the more glorified when someone turns to Him. He gets all the credit and the glory (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Therefore, Satan can influence people, especially those who want darkness, but he cannot keep anyone who chooses God away from God. He can snatch away and blind, but he cannot overrule human free will or God’s sovereign work of the Holy Spirit in a person (John 6:44). (I’d be glad to hear your thoughts and perspective on this. There is a lot I still need to learn about this myself.)
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Even though we may not understand all the theological implications of salvation, you can and must thank Him that you know Him as Savior. Spend some time thanking Him now.
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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