God Opens and Shuts

In my prayers I often give God thanks for "opening" my heart, eyes, ears, mind, understanding, and mouth or lips. I also pray that he continues to do so. Because of sin and innate depravity, and by our choices to shut out God, we have "closed" our hearts, eyes, ears, and minds. Opened eyes, ears, hearts, and mouths are set in opposition to closed eyes, ears, hearts, minds, and mouths. The above text speaks of the Messiah, and of his power to open what is shut and to shut what is open.

Opened Hearts

"And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." (Acts 16: 14 kjv)

God opens the door of the heart so that his word may gain entrance. I have written at length on this text as it relates to the ordo salutis, and whether it teaches that Lydia was "regenerated" when the Lord opened her heart, and that this therefore shows that regeneration precedes faith in Christ. (See here) I show that this is not what is meant by the Lord opening her heart, but rather that the text reveals what God does in the hearts and minds of sinners prior to regeneration or conversion, being an instance of what is called "prevenient grace." The word "prevenient" means what precedes or goes before. God operates on the hearts of sinners prior to their regeneration.

These are "preparations" for conversion. It is possible that Lydia was already regenerated before her heart was opened on this occasion, since she was a believer in Yahweh and was assembled for prayer with other women. If that be the case, then the opening of her heart simply meant that the Lord caused her to give attention to what Paul was preaching, which shows that even believers who are saved need for God to continue to open their hearts to give attention to his word.

God opening the heart had for its purpose of making her receptive or attentive to the gospel message of the apostle. The old Puritans spoke of sinners being "awakened" prior to being regenerated or converted. They taught that some sinners are awakened to their lost condition and need of salvation, and yet go back to sleep and are never saved. This is true when one's interest in the gospel stirred for a time when God has providentially gained their attention. I wrote a short series on "Awakened Sinners" back in 2018. (This post give the third in that series and gives links to the previous ones - here)

God has no trouble getting the attention of sinners, nor awakening them from their slumber, when he determines to do so. Thank God for this act of mercy, for it was what in many cases led to embracing the gospel and receiving Christ and salvation. Even as Christians we need to constantly ask the Lord to continuously open our hearts to the truth and to make us careful about closing our hearts, minds, eyes, and ears to God and his word.

Opened Eyes

The Psalmist said: "Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law." (Psa. 119: 18 nkjv) This is what Christians are to continuously pray. God first opened our eyes when he first awakened us to our lost condition and need of his salvation, and later too when he opened our eyes to see Christ as the way of salvation, to see the cross of Calvary as the place of propitiation. So the old Christian song says:

"At the cross, at the cross, where I first SAW the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all the day."

It was prophesied that God's servant, the Messiah, would be sent to the people in order "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isa. 42: 7 kjv) This is what happens when a sinner is converted and born of the Spirit. So we read where the Lord Jesus opened the eyes of the persecuting Saul of Tarsus and then commissioned him to go to the Gentiles to preach the gospel, the means of salvation, and for this purpose:

"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." (Acts 26: 18 kjv)

Our Hardshell brethren don't believe God uses his ministers to save sinners and they therefore have much difficulty with this passage. They will make every effort to say that the above description of salvation is a mere timely deliverance and has nothing to do with eternal salvation. They force this view upon the text because they believe their proposition that says that God does not use human means in the eternal salvation of sinners is an inspired proposition and they therefore hack and hew on the text to make it fit with this proposition. They will often say - "the text does not say that Paul would be the means of giving them eyes but of opening their eyes." However, all men have eyes, or the natural ability to see truth and error, though they do not have the moral or spiritual ability because of depravity. Sin blinds the eyes, but men are active in this blindness. So the Lord says:

"Hear this now, O foolish people, Without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not." (Jer. 5: 21 nkjv)

Notice that the people who are foolish and without understanding, which is a description of unsaved people, have eyes and ears, but these they have closed, which is why the Lord chastises them. (See also Eze. 12: 2) This is why the Lord says to such lost sinners: “Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see." (Isa. 42: 18 nkjv) If such deaf and blind people were so because they had no physical ability to see or hear, this would be a cruel thing for God to ask. But, if the deafness and blindness was owing to the people making themselves such by their depravity, and by their spiritual and moral inability, then such a command is quite understandable.

It is true that there are several bible verses that say that God shuts the eyes and ears of sinners, but this is a judicial act by God in response to the stubbornness of sinners and their refusal to hear and see. So we read:

“Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.” (Isa. 6: 10 nkjv)

God did this as a judgment. So we say that God in some sense shuts eyes and ears, and so too do sinners shut their own eyes and ears. We may also say that Satan does that very thing. So Paul wrote:

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (II Cor. 4: 4 kjv)

Satan (the "god of this world") does this to sinners but not against their will, sinners allowing Satan to do this. They are complicit and not innocent victims. So the Lord Jesus said:

"For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." (Matt. 13: 15 nkjv)

The opening of the eyes is what happens when a sinner is saved. It is connected, as we saw from Acts 26: 18, with being "turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" and with "receiving forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith." But, even saved Christians need to constantly have their eyes opened to understand the scriptures. So the Psalmist, as a saved man, prayed for God to open his eyes so that he might understand and see wondrous things from God's word. So the apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers in order that they might have "the eyes of your understanding enlightened" (Eph. 1: 18 nkjv).

Opened Ears

Solomon said: "The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The LORD has made them both." (Prov. 20: 12 nkjv) So, if a person sees or hears the word of the Lord he can only thank God for it. So too did the Psalmist exclaim: "My ears You have opened." (Psa. 40: 6 nkjv) Sin and depravity deafens us. Though sinners are deaf and blind he still says to them, as we saw, “Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see." He says to them: "Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." (Isa. 55: 3 kjv) So the apostle Paul says:

"See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven." (Heb. 12: 25 nkjv)

People choose to "turn their ears away from the truth" (II Tim. 4: 4 nkjv). The Lord said through Isaiah: "I spoke to you in your prosperity, But you said, ‘I will not hear.’ This has been your manner from your youth, That you did not obey My voice." (Jer. 22: 21 nkjv)

What we see is that the opening of the eyes and ears is a work of God and yet it is something that people do, being exhorted thereunto by the Lord. It is one of the errors of Hyper Calvinism to wrongly interpret texts which say that when God does something in a person it excludes that person himself doing that thing. God opens the eyes and ears and people open their eyes and ears. God shuts the eyes and ears and people shut their eyes and ears. We should all be asking God to open our hearts, eyes, and ears, and when we do that we are doing the opening.

Opened Understanding

"And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Luke 24: 32 kjv)

We have already taken notice of the text that speaks of opening "the eyes" of one's "understanding." The above text is a companion to that verse. This "opening" of the scriptures is what we call "enlightenment" or "illumination." We have already referred to how "the god of this age blinds the minds" of people, and how the Lord "shines" upon such people through giving "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ." While lost in sin the "understanding" is "darkened" (Eph. 4: 18), there being no inner light nor experience of having their understanding opened by the Lord. In such a state there is no "spiritual understanding." (Col. 1: 9) Once saved and converted the sinner possesses "all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ." (Col. 2: 2 kjv) God must "give understanding in all things." (II Tim. 2: 7) Wrote the apostle John:

"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." (I John 5: 20 nkjv)

This giving or opening of the understanding to know spiritual things is necessary for anyone to "know" God "who is true," and to know Christ Jesus the Son who is also "true." By this understanding a person knows God and his Son, and this is salvation.

Opened Lips and Mouths

"O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise." (Psa. 51: 15 kjv)

"I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." (Psa. 81: 10 nkjv)

When we are able to open our mouths in praise and prayer to God, we can thank God for it. He is the reason why we do this. So many close their mouths, refusing to praise God, refusing to pray to him, and refusing to speak of him to others. Let us praise the Lord for opening so that none can shut, and shutting so that none can open.