Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:05:46 -0500
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (Mar. 11); BP: Rom. 9:6-29; RBTTY: Mk. 12:28-44; Dt.
March 11 “On Hardened Hearts”
“For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, ‘Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show My power in you and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.’ Therefore, has He mercy on whom He will have mercy and whom He will, He hardens.”
Romans 9:17-18
Let us never forget “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; I Pet. 5:5).
Today’s Manna is one that must be read in light of God’s whole Word or else we must believe in Calvinism’s “cookie-cutter” view of God’s will and his “Doctrine of Election.” Without a systematic understanding and reconciling of God’s sovereignty and man’s freedom of choice, we must take at face-value the words “Therefore, He has mercy on whom He will have mercy and hardens those whom He will.”
In reading Moses’ account of the Exodus experience, we read where “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” (Ex. 7:22; 9:7). . . “Pharaoh hardened his heart” (Ex. 8:15, 32; 9:34). . . and “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh” (9:12; 10:1, 20, 27). Thus, it’s incorrect to say “God predestined Pharaoh to act the way he did” or “God created Judas for the purpose of being Christ’s betrayer.”
No, dear Reader, our omniscient Lord—Who knows everything that will happen BEFORE it happens—knew there’d be a “new Pharaoh over Egypt who knew not Joseph” (Ex. 1:8) and would say to Moses, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His Voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord; neither will I let Israel go” (Ex. 5:2). He knew this Pharaoh, like every other Pharaoh, believed himself to be the supreme god among Egypt’s many gods. And, he wasn’t about to be pushed around by some “rival god” whom his slaves worshipped.
So, “he hardened his heart.” The Hebrew word “chazaq” is used in all the above-cited Scriptures for “hardened” and basically means “to fasten upon, seize, be obstinate, restrain, conquer, etc.” Thus, it was a “war of the wills,” if you will. And, Pharaoh, basically said “Well, I’ll just show you!” to God when Moses said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go’” (Ex. 5:1).
And, even though he’d call Moses in after most of the first nine plagues and say, “Entreat the Lord for me so He’ll take these things away and I’ll let them go” (Ex. 8:8, 25-28; 9:27-28; 10:16-17), he quickly changed his mind and further “hardened his heart” as soon as the plagues were gone. Such is always the case with stubborn, unrepentant hearts and “foxhole faith.” When the pressure’s off, the “faith’s” also gone.
Thus, we shouldn’t be surprised that Pharaoh’s heart finally hardened to the point of no return after the ninth plague (Ex. 10:27-28) just as Judas’ heart permanently calcified that night when the “sop entered his mouth and satan took full control of his heart” (Mt. 26:20-25; Lk. 22:3-6; Jn. 13:21-30). The hardened heart doesn’t happen overnight—and it’s always the result of willful rejection of the Father’s love and will for our lives (Heb. 3:7-19).
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