Did God Send Strong Delusion to Some People?

The Old Testament prophesied that God would send strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.

Does this mean, as some say, that God sits up in heaven and randomly goes to one person, "I'm going to delude you so you can't believe!" while He says to another person, "I'm going to make you get saved whether you like it or not"?

To whom did Paul say God sent this strong delusion? To Jews who didn't believe in Jesus. Notice, the strong delusion was a state that God allowed to come upon Jewish individuals, not as the cause of their unbelief, but as a consequence of it.

In other words, the strong delusion didn't cause them to be unable to believe - rather, their unbelief resulted in their state of strong delusion and deception. 'Strong delusion' and deception described the state of the majority of Jewish individuals in Paul's day quite well. The majority did not accept the Messiah, and therefore they entered into a spiritually delusional state.

Thus when Paul quoted the Scripture about God sending strong delusion, he meant it as an explanation for the seeming failure of the Jewish nation to experience the prophesied promises. Their deceived state did not mean God's prophesied promises had failed; nor did it mean God had decided that no Jew could ever again be saved. It was simply the consequence of unbelief. Believers were experiencing what had been prophesied, and the unbelievers had become deceived as a consequence of their unbelief. This was an outcome which the Prophets themselves had foretold. Faith was always going to be the basis upon which God would justify a person.

Meanwhile some Jews and many Gentiles received Jesus, thus receiving all that had been promised to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Law and in the Prophets.

This state of delusion and deception did not make the unbelieving Jews any worse than unbelieving Gentiles - because the unbelieving Gentiles were already without the knowledge of God. It just put Jews and Gentiles on an equal footing - each classified as unbelievers in need of God's grace and mercy.

And if anyone discontinued his unbelief and received Jesus - he could be saved. The delusion and deception immediately lifted. Whether Jew or Gentile.