I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief (1 Tim. 1:13).
Paul, a former Christian-hater and persecutor, knew that he had received a very big dose of mercy from God. Why was the Lord so incredibly merciful towards him, but not as much towards other incorrigible characters of whom we read in Scripture?
One apparent reason was because of Paul’s ignorance. As he persecuted the early church, Paul thought he was serving God. His heart was right. And the Lord factored that in when He appraised him. But the Lord quickly eradicated Paul’s ignorance: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” From then on, Paul was without excuse.
Jesus similarly prayed from the cross for the soldiers who divided His garments, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” They received mercy because of their ignorance. But Jesus prayed no such prayer for Judas. Rather, He said, “It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Judas was accountable because he was not ignorant.
So, in a sense, it is indeed true that “Ignorance is bliss.” But not willful ignorance. And God sometimes even judges the willfully ignorant by making them permanently ignorant.
We wonder sometimes how people, even professing Christians (not genuine Christians), can remain so ignorant of obvious, fundamental, gospel truth. And the answer is that God has previously given them abundant opportunity to escape their ignorance, but they have willfully shut their ears and closed their eyes, and so He has righteously sealed their ignorance. Hard to accept, I know, but it is contained in Scripture. For example, we can read in Exodus how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart after Pharaoh repeatedly hardened his own heart. And Paul wrote of that same thing happening to others in more than one place in his letters. Here’s one:
For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness (2 Thes. 2:11-12).
God will seal the ignorance of people who resisted the truth when they had a chance to believe it. And because of that, they will fall for the deception of the antichrist.
That is why it is so important to keep a soft heart towards God, embracing, rather than resisting, the truth He has so abundantly revealed in His Word. The New Testament tells genuine Christian believers:
Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me” (Heb. 3:12-15).
Of course, the once-saved-always-saved people don’t accept the obvious truth revealed by that passage, and so many others like it, the truth that genuine believers can fall away. Could their ignorance be the result of God’s judgment upon them for their rejection of the truth? I don’t know, but I can’t help but wonder!
