The second revelation in the passage is found in the word “lieth”—­“The whole world lieth in the evil one.”  It might as well be translated “lieth asleep;” for its condition is not only a fixed position in the evil one, but is also a condition of unconsciousness.  The saved ones are said to be in the Father’s hand where no created thing can pluck them out (Jno. 10:29), and underneath are the everlasting arms:  so the great mass of unsaved humanity is in the arms of Satan; and by his subtlety they are all unconscious of their position and relation.  This is not at all strange.  Even the believer has no present power to discern his glorious position and security in the Father’s hand, apart from the assurance of the written Word.  Much less, then, can the unbeliever come to realize his own position in the arms of Satan, when, under the direction of Satan, he gives no heed to the testimony of God.

Still another passage should be noted in this connection.  In II Cor. 4:3, 4, Satan is described as the god of this world, blinding the minds of the unbelieving.  The whole passage is as follows:  “And if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish:  in whom the god of this age hath blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God should not dawn upon them” (R.V. with margin).  In this passage the unconscious condition is said to be the direct result of the power of Satan, and the blindness of their thoughts, it is stated, is along one particular line.  To them the gospel is veiled; and the gospel here referred to is not the whole life story of Jesus, nor is it the “Gospel of the Kingdom;” but the message of good news or favor; the exact terms of Salvation by grace alone.  This Paul here calls “our gospel,” for to him it was first unfolded in its completeness.

The unregenerate are, then, unconscious of their position in the arms of Satan, and blind in their thoughts toward the gospel of mercy and favor,—­their only hope for time or eternity.  Satan, like a fond mother, is bending over those in his arms, breathing into their minds the quieting balm of a “universal fatherhood of God” and a “universal brotherhood of man;” suggesting their worthiness before God on the ground of their own moral character and physical generation; feeding their tendency to imitate the true faith by great humanitarian undertakings and schemes for the reformation of individuals and the betterment of the social order.  God’s necessary requirements of regeneration are carefully set aside, and the blinded souls go on without hope, “having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in there, because of the blindness of their heart” (Eph. 5:18).  How important, as a preparation for salvation, is the illuminating work of the Spirit in conviction, by which He lifts the veil and opens the mind to a new vision of the redemption and glory that is in Christ!  Without this God-given vision there can be no understanding of the way of life, nor any intelligent decision for Christ.