Hardened Hearts 2 - Exodus 4:21

4:21 - If God truly is omniscient and knows the end from the beginning then He would have known that this portion of the Bible would have implicated Him in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and thrown all the believers through a loop. The question becomes why did He allow that? For a lot of this we are going to go with TB’s explanation because the IM says almost nothing about it except to note the JST, but TB’s suggestion also helps us understand other scriptural happenings when it comes to free will. TB explains, “there is a time when we have hardened out own hearts sufficiently, that our oath is locked in, and our destruction at the time of Judgment is assured. That was Pharaoh’s situation.” This helps us understand more about situations like cities being destroyed or like in the case of Laban, when his death was for the greater good.

We also see this in instances like when entire cities are destroyed such as Sodom, Gomorrah, and Ammonihah. I’ve asked myself, when studying these situations, at what point are people so wicked that living in mortality is not a benefit to them? I’ve found that that point is usually when they start killing the prophets. But it’s kind of a complex concept to think about, seems like a higher math, when someone is so far gone that living in the mortal world is not beneficial for them anymore. And this is difficult to reconcile when we consider the gospel teaching that repentance is for all.

One point TB makes is that sometimes, in Pharaoh’s case specifically, where God will use someone’s hard heartedness to demonstrate his power and teach those who’s hearts are still open to Him the gospel. For instance, Pharaoh wouldn’t have obeyed God no matter what God did to convince him, so God used that refusal to demonstrate His great power to Israel and showed them that He would use that power for their benefit.

TB notes, “It appears that for the already rebellious man (which Pharaoh was), God will, sometimes, intervene and do a FURTHER hardening Himself upon that heart. At times it is to use that rebellious individual, who God pre-knows has determined to die resisting God’s will and mercy, for a purpose that will showcase God’s Glory and achieve a goal that further God’s Kingdom.” If God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, the only person who has their agency removed in Pharaoh, but if his heart is already hardened beyond repair in this life, then a further hardening will not injure Pharoah any more than it already has.

Pharaoh wasn’t going to let the people go no matter what, and I think that’s evident when he chased after them after they left, which we’ll get to later. But I also think there’s an element of God taking ownership of the situation here. He does this a lot, especially when it comes to these “destruction” situations, such as when he says “I’ll destroy this city” or something like that. In actuality, God is simply refusing the protect those who do wickedly and allow them to destroy themselves through their unrighteousness.

God doesn’t actually need or want to come down and kill everyone Himself, they do that to themselves, because that’s what Satan does, he convinces people to destroy each other, we’ve seen it time and time again throughout human history. Satan destroys, that’s what he does to everyone once they’ve rejected God’s protection for long enough that He finally grants them the freedom from Him that they so desperately want. All this is to say that God doesn’t do the killing, other people do it at the prompting of Satan, but God takes ownership of the destruction for some reason, the psychology behind it is probably sound, I just don’t have the mental energy to deal with that right now.

Interestingly, the flip side of hardening hearts that are already too far gone is hardening hearts that are on the edge of reconciliation, and in fact, now that I think about it, I think this has happened to me before. TB explains, “a temporary hardening, at God’s hand may occur to actually bring that person to a point of repentance. As most of us have learned the hard way, change usually only occurs within us when the pain of our condition is finally so great that we become truly open to listen to God. So, it may be that God will actually harden a man’s heart, for a time, for that man’s own eventual good… so well does God know us as to know exactly what point of pain and discomfort, if there is such a point for us, that we will finally submit to God and be saved from eternal destruction.”

I can’t say that God has hardened my heart, but I have definitely had experiences where I just wouldn’t listen and it finally got to the point where he was like “fine, do what you want,” and when I finally experienced what the other side of life was like without God’s favor, I came around and it was painful. But I’m a firm believer that nothing cements loyalty like a betrayal, and that’s why I believe it, because I’ve experienced it.

These are a couple of reasons why God might have allowed the concept of Him hardening Pharaoh’s heart to be taught throughout the generations, to use a damned soul’s choices to demonstrate his power, to urge those who are on the edge toward repentance, and to take ownership of the situation. Finally, I’m going to end this with a quote by TB that I was really pivotal for me to hear this past week, and it has to do with the process in which we find ourselves turning away from God toward one of those heart hardening states of being.

TB says, “it is our continuing rebelliousness that contributes to our hearts hardening. It is not God’s will that any should perish… So, step-by-tiny-step, each time we dismiss God’s admonition to us, each time we say ‘not yet’ to His Lordship, our minds become increasingly resistant to God’s Spirit. Until, little by little, almost unnoticed by us, our rejection of God’s Spirit becomes complete; and for this there is no remedy, no hope and no redemption.”