v 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.
Paul brings his sermon in Athens to a close by reminding his listeners of exactly the same thing that he announced to Felix in the first of our readings this week: there is a coming day of judgment. Here in Athens he says ‘For he has set a day for judging the world with justice‘ Blindness there might be – but God’s judgment on it will be revealed at the end of time.
Spiritual blindness is not merely a sad situation; it is a condition that lies under the judgment of God. Satan works to deceive and cause blindness so that people will neither see nor understand the glory of God our Creator.
Don’t be surprised when people fail to respond to the Christian message of forgiveness and redemption. It is not that they are unintelligent, nor wilfully awkward, nor even indifferent to all things spiritual – they are simply blind. You can explain your faith, challenge people to follow your example, and argue until you are blue in the face. (Most of us give up long before that!)
Paul tries to help people see that they stand in a place of jeopardy – life now has consequences for eternity. There will be a day of reckoning; God’s verdict on our lives will be just, fair and inevitable.
Only devil-induced blindness will prevent people from seeing that. How glibly we can sing this old hymn: but how wonderful to have experienced its truth.
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