These passages speak of God allowing the people who choose it, to continue in their unrighteousness. It says that God sends them a deception; he surrendered them to it, blinded them, and hardened their hearts so that they would not see, understand, and turn.

Romans 1:28-32

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

John 12:37-40

Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

⁹ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰ and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹ Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, ¹² in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

This sounds harsh and unlike the merciful God we know he is. But I don’t believe it’s just that he has chosen some and decided to deceive them. I don’t believe that he has lightly given up and surrendered some. We should be convinced because the Bible says He wants all to know the truth and be saved (2 Timothy 2:3-4). He is a God who gives us many chances to accept his call, but we also know that there is a point where it will be too late.

These passages tell us they have refused to love the truth and be saved. They are filled with unrighteousness. It clearly states that these are people who know of God’s righteous decree, and they know that the consequences are death, and they still choose to continue in unrighteousness and encourage it. They see many signs and still choose not to believe. This speaks of people who know and still turn their backs on it and choose to do as they want.  

But the warning is, regardless of how far you have to go to be put into this category, it does not matter. What matters is that knowing God, we should not come anywhere near this. We should seek Him always and his righteousness. We should dive into his word and ensure that we surround ourselves with what he calls us to do, not what we see the world doing. We should follow Jesus, and God will help us where we fall short.

This is what I see in these verses, but I encourage you to read it yourselves, meditate on it and see what the Holy Spirit teaches you. There is always more to see and learn in scripture.

Happy Reading