We are in the midst of a three-week stretch of messages in our Moses series that confront us with some uncomfortable truths and events. This is usually the case when we look at passages that deal with the wrath of God! One such event is the 10th plague and the killing of the firstborn children. I’m going to share some thoughts on that during the message on Sunday. For now, I want to share some thoughts on the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.
Throughout the Exodus narrative the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is given as the explanation for why he doesn’t let the people go. Sometimes Moses writes that Pharaoh hardens his own heart, but other times it is God who hardens Pharaoh’s heart.
It is God’s involvement that troubles people. It doesn’t seem fair. Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart and then judge him for having a hardened heart?
For some Christians the response to this question is straightforward. God can do what He wants, because He is God. No one deserves grace, so if God chooses to harden their heart towards Him, that is His prerogative. Paul speaks to these truths in Romans 9:17-18:
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
So, this perspective isn’t necessarily wrong. God is sovereign and no one is “innocent” and deserving of God’s grace.
However, for many Christians (and I am among them) this response seems to suggest that God can be the author of evil, something we know cannot be true. So what do we do? Here are some thoughts:
- We must first keep in mind that Pharaoh (like many of the Pharaohs before him and after him) was a brutal dictator. He oversaw the severe oppression of the Israelites. His heart was hardened towards God and the things of God well before Moses returned to Egypt to say “Let my people go.”
- God was repeatedly gracious in giving Pharaoh warning after warning of the consequences of having a hardened heart. As I mentioned on Sunday, the first few plagues were more severe annoyances than they were life-threatening catastrophes. God is a patient God, but judgement awaits us all.
- The Bible teaches us that when we set our hearts against Him and refuse to stop rebelling against Him, God will give us over to our hardened hearts. This is perhaps most clearly taught to us in Romans 1:24-28:
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
In my view, God didn’t harden Pharaoh’s heart in the sense that He divinely intervened and made Pharaoh refuse to let the people go. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in the sense that He simply gave Pharaoh over to what his hardened heart already desired and allowed Pharaoh’s heart to become fully corrupted.
So if God will give people up (or over) to their hardened hearts, what is He giving them over to? Paul tells us in Romans 1:29-32:
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
These verses pretty much describe the condition of Pharaoh’s heart.
The teaching that God will give people over to their hardened hearts is still, without a doubt, a difficult truth. I don’t for a moment claim to have all the answers here, but I thought it was important to lay out where I am at on the issue. As always, if you’d like to talk more about this please let me know.
Here’s what’s happening:
- Senior High Youth Group will meet this Sunday, 10/23 from 6:30 to 8 pm at the church.
- Harvest Party is set for Friday, 10/28 from 6-8 pm at the church. Dinner, campfire, hayride and the big slide are all returning, as is Kids Bake-Off competition.
- Men’s Breakfast at Hometown Kitchen at 8 am on 10/29.
- Communion is set for Sunday, 10/30.
- AMEC (our network) is having its biannual conference on November 4 & 5 at Bethany Grace Fellowship Church. The keynote speaker this year is Josh McDowell! There is no cost to attend the sessions, but registration is required. To learn more and to register, head over to https://www.amec.church/events
- Junior Youth are meeting on Saturday, November 5th from 1-3 pm to work on packing Operation Christmas Child boxes.
As I mentioned, this Sunday we will be looking at the 10th and final plague of Egypt. The story of the first Passover points the way to Jesus and declares foundational truths about salvation that still stand today. I’m looking forward to our time together.
Scott