“In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:4–6
I love the picture we have in these three 2 Corinthians 4:4–6. So just think about what we just read. Verse 4 in 2 Corinthians 4 talks about the God of this world is blinding the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. So when you think about unbelievers right around you, when you think about unbelievers around the world, when we pray for unreached people groups, like the Baggara people in Sudan, 600,000 of them, a Muslim people group that has little to no knowledge of the gospel, the god of this world, little g god of this world, the devil is blinding minds.
He’s doing it among the Baggara in Sudan and he’s doing it in the cubicle in the office next to you, in the house next to you, in the hearts and lives of people right around you. So there’s a little g god in this world who is blinding the minds of unbelievers. That’s verse 4.
So often in the Christian life, we can live day by day being silent while the battle that rages around us. Let’s engage in the battle by preaching Christ. May we speak the gospel today.
Verse six says, “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ is shining in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” So what you’ve got is the capital G God, the one true God over the world, who is shining a light into hearts that people might see who Jesus is. So you basically have this cosmic battle taking place between the little g god of this world is blinding minds, and the capital G God, the one true God who is shining light into hearts. So that’s verse 4 and 6.
And then right in the middle you have verse 5, “We preach Christ.” Do you realize what this means for your life? The way you and I should view our life today, wherever we go, we are living in this battle. Like this world is the battlefield. Your office is the battlefield, your home, your neighborhood, your apartment complex, wherever you go, there is a battle that is raging right around you for the souls of men and women. And there is a little g god in this world, there’s an adversary in this world who’s trying to blind minds.
There’s a true God, capital G God over all that’s shining light into hearts, and we’re in the middle of the battle. And what are we doing? We’re preaching Christ. As we proclaim Christ, we are engaging in spiritual battle for people’s souls.
2 Corinthians 4:4–6 Teaches to Proclaim God’s Light
So I just want to encourage us today. Let’s engage in the battle. Let’s not ignore the battle. So often in our Christian lives, we can live day by day ignoring the battle, not saying anything about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done so that people can be saved from their sins and have eternal life with God. Don’t miss it. If we don’t preach Christ, then it’s not really that we’re ignoring the battle, we’re actually contributing to what the adversary is doing.
By blinding minds, he is working to keep them from the gospel. The adversary, little g god in this world is working, is working hard to keep people from hearing, from seeing the light of the glory of Christ. And if we don’t preach Christ, if we don’t share Christ, then we too are keeping people from hearing and seeing the glory, and the beauty, and the love, and the grace of Christ.
Prayer For the Gospel To Be Shared
Oh God, please help us not to be silent with the gospel today. Please help us to speak the gospel today. Help us to share the gospel with somebody today who doesn’t know you. And God as we do, we pray that you would shine light in the hearts, and as we share the gospel, we pray that you would open eyes, open hearts to believe, to see Jesus for who He is. So, God, we pray for that supernatural work to happen today.
Prayer For Baggara Sudan
God, please, please take the blinders off, open eyes that people might see Jesus, see how much He loves them, receive His grace in their lives, ask Him to forgive them of their sins. God, please help us to share this gospel today, to preach Christ, and please cause our proclamation of this gospel, our sharing of this gospel to have an effect in somebody’s life today for all of eternity. And God help us to engage in this battle today, and we pray for this battle among the Baggara in Sudan. Please, Oh God, raise up laborers who will go and proclaim the gospel to the Bagarra in Sudan that they might see the light of your glory in the face of Jesus. God, please help us to engage in this battle right where we live and wherever you might lead. In Jesus’ name we pray.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
