Thanks for your faithfulness to the things of God, I have gained many insights from your teaching. I have a question about Isaiah 19:14 and 1st Kings 22:22. Both passages speak of perverse or lying spirits that are sanctioned by the Lord. Did God use these for judgment as he used Satan to test Job? What are your thoughts on these spirits?
After people have rejected the truth, the Lord will sometimes permit a lie to gain traction in their minds. This can often be a distorted or warped version of the truth, and it’s done for the purpose of allowing man to take his rebellion to its ultimate conclusion.
Someone once said that if we don’t say to God, “Lord, let thy will be done in my life,” He will say to us, “Human, let thy will be done in your life.” His point was that God respects our right to control our own destiny, even to the point of allowing us to go to Hell once we reject His offer of Heaven.
2 Thes. 2:9-12 is a clear End Times example of this.
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
Please understand that God doesn’t want any of us to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). As long as there’s any chance that we’ll come to our senses and accept His offer of pardon, the door to salvation will remain open for us until we’ve breathed our last. But once a person has firmly rejected Him, He will actually help that person make his or her rejection complete.
This s why Hebrews 4:7 says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” You could be making an irreversible decision.