Acts 13:44-48 “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. (45) But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. (46) Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. (47) For so the Lord has commanded us: 'I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.' “(48) Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
The second witness quoted above, is the Holy Spirit, for it is He that inspired Luke to write this passage of scripture. We have already looked at this passage earlier, to show that men reject the gospel message as an act of their own free will. But this same passage also reveals to us the truth that men believe the gospel message, because God opens their understanding to it. In the last part of this passage, the Holy Spirit tells us that, “as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed”. In other words, only those whom God had appointed to eternal life were able to believe the message of the gospel that Paul and Barnabas preached. So why is it that these men could believe the message while the others could not believe? The reason they could believe, was because God opened their understanding to the gospel, whereas the others contradicted and blasphemed it, because that same gospel message was hidden from their understanding. And so, again we see that the method that God uses to predestine the lives of believers is that He opens their understanding to the truth of the gospel, so that they can believe it and thus be saved.
Michael E.B. Maher
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