The Hardening of Pharaoh
Exodus 4:21-23
When God sent Moses to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage He said that He would harden the heart of Pharaoh - Exo 4:21 “And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Even though it would result in the death of Pharaoh’s son - Exo 4:22-23 “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me." If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'" Because this sounds unjust, some explain it as hardening indirectly, for example; “God does not harden men by infusing malice into them, but by not imparting mercy to them.” “God does not work this hardness of heart in man; but he may be said to harden him whom he refuses to soften, to blind him whom he refuses to enlighten, and to repel him whom he refuses to call.” -- As quoted by Adam Clarke. If God hardened the heart of Pharaoh directly, the evidence shows it was still done without violating his free will or without impugning the justice of God. The hardening of Pharaoh also provides insights as to how and why God hardens people today.
So let’s take a closer look at the evidence involved in the hardening of Pharaoh. The word for “harden” is chazaq (Heb.) - Exo 4:21; 7:13,22; 8:19; 9:12,35; 10:20,27; 11:10; 14:4,8,17. “to strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, become strong, be courageous, be firm, grow firm, be resolute, be sore” - BDB. “literally signifies to strengthen, confirm, make bold or courageous;” - Clarke. qashah (Heb.) - Exo 7:3. “to make hard, make stiff, make stubborn” - BDB. “harden, stiffen” - Strong. kabed (Heb.) - Exo 7:14; 8:15; 8:32; 9:7,34; 10:1 “hard, difficult, burdensome” - BDB. “heavy; figuratively...in a bad sense, severe, difficult...grievous, hardened” – Strong. -- So Pharaoh’s heart was made strong, stiff, stubborn; even if God did so ‘directly’, consider what else we learn as we examine the scriptural evidence below.
Pharaoh hardened his own heart. And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard (chazaq), and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. - Exo 7:13 “Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.” “So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh's heart is hard (kabed); he refuses to let the people go.” - Exo 7:14. “Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard (chazaq), and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.” - Exo 7:22. “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened (kabed) his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.” - Exo 8:15. “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard (chazaq), and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.” - Exo 8:19. “But Pharaoh hardened (kabed) his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.” - Exo 8:32. “Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard (kabed), and he did not let the people go.” - Exo 9:7. “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened (kabed) his heart, he and his servants.” - Exo 9:34. “So the heart of Pharaoh was hard (chazaq); neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.” - Exo 9:35. -- In the first five plagues, and in the seventh, Pharaoh hardened his own heart.
Then God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. “And I will harden (qashah) Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.” - Exo 7:3. “But the Lord hardened (chazaq) the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.” - Exo 9:12. “Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened (kabed) his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him,” - Exo 10:1. “But the Lord hardened (chazaq) Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.” - Exo 10:20. “But the Lord hardened (chazaq) Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.” - Exo 10:27. “So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened (chazaq) Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.” – Exo 11:10. “Then I will harden (chazaq) Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” - Exo 14:4. “And the Lord hardened (chazaq) the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness.” - Exo 14:8. “And I indeed will harden (chazaq) the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.” - Exo 14:17. -- Not until the sixth plague did God begin to harden Pharaoh’s heart.
The purpose of hardening Pharaoh’s heart was to convince the Egyptians that the LORD is truly God - Exo 7:3-5; 14:4 By multiplying the signs and wonders in the land; by delivering Israel through great judgments. The purpose was to convince the Israelites that the LORD is truly God - Exo 10:1-2 By His signs done in the land of Egypt. That generations to come might be told of this. To convince the world that the LORD is truly God - Exo 9:13-17. God could have easily overwhelmed Pharaoh with His signs. But God “raised” Pharaoh up, even as Pharaoh was “exalting” himself “God kept Pharaoh ‘standing’, i. e. permitted him to live and hold out until His own purpose was accomplished.” – Barnes. “God had preserved him for this very purpose, that he might have a farther opportunity of manifesting that he, Jehovah, was the only true God for the full conviction both of the Hebrews and Egyptians.” - Clarke. Thus God hardened, or strengthened, one who was determined to resist. That God might show His power and proclaim His name in all the earth! -- God never forced Pharaoh to resist against his will; having demonstrated his own obstinacy and desire to resist, God simply strengthened him that he might continue his resistance until God’s own purposes were fulfilled. Such ‘hardening’ was not unique to Pharaoh. It happened in Jesus’ day (e.g. Jn 12:37-41), and it is not limited to the past...
Let’s now look at what the New Testament writers wrote concerning the hardening of people. For example, the nation of Israel has a ‘partial hardening’ (NASB) or blindness of Israel has occurred - Ro 11:25 “Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Was this hardening or blindness against their will? No! It was only after they had ample opportunity to hear God’s Word - Ro 10:16-19 “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry."’ It was only after they had repeatedly rebelled against God - Ro 10:21 “But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."’ Was this a hardening of ‘all’ Israel? No! It is a ‘partial’ hardening. God has always preserved the faithful remnant - cf. Ro 11:1-7 “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,”. Many Jews have accepted Jesus, both then and now. What was the extent of this ‘hardening’? As with Pharaoh, it gave them strength of heart to continue in their resistance. With Israel, it enabled them to resist against the Word of God - Ro 11:7-10 “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."’ What was the purpose of this ‘hardening’? It was an act of mercy! Their unbelief justified God terminating His covenant with Israel and making a new covenant that involved both Jews and Gentiles - Jer 31:31-32 ‘"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”; Ep 2:11-19 “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,”. By allowing Gentiles in this new covenant, God hopes to make unbelieving Jews jealous enough to come back - Ro 11:11-15 “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” Thus the ultimate purpose was to save both Jew and Gentile! - Ro 11:30-32 “Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” -- Until the “fulness of the Gentiles has come in”, the nation of Israel (as a whole) has been hardened.
To those who do not believe Paul writes of another ‘hardening’ (though the word is not used). In connection with the apostasy preceding the return of Christ - 2 Th 2:1-10 “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” In which God will send a strong delusion upon some, to believe a lie - 2 Th 2:11-12 “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Is this being done against their will? No! It involves people who did not receive the love of the truth - 2 Th 2:10 “and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” It involves people who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in sin - 2 Th 2:12 “in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Why is God doing this? That they might be condemned (judged) - cf. 2 Th 2:12. Just as hardening Pharaoh made his obstinacy more evident, so the delusion to believe a lie will reveal one’s pleasure in sin. How can we be sure that we will not experience this strong delusion? Have a love for the truth! - cf. 2 Th 2:10. Do not take pleasure in unrighteousness! - cf. 2 Th 2:12 -- The choice is ours as to whether we will experience this ‘delusion’!
We have seen that God hardened the hearts of the wicked, and is willing to send a strong delusion for them to believe a lie.... Not in violation of their free will, but in conjunction with it. “The ‘hardening’ of men’s hearts by God is in the way of punishment, but it is always a consequence of their own self-hardening.” - ISBE. Strengthening the resolve of the wicked if it somehow serves God’s purpose. How much better for us to have God strengthen our hearts in doing good, not evil.... As Paul prayed for the Thessalonians - 2 Th 2:16-17 “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” As Peter prayed for those in Asia - 1 Pe 5:10 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” This God will gladly do...if we love the truth, believe the truth, receive the truth by obeying the gospel, and remain firm in holding to it. In what way will God ‘strengthen’ your heart today...?
Exodus 4:21-23
When God sent Moses to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage He said that He would harden the heart of Pharaoh - Exo 4:21 “And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Even though it would result in the death of Pharaoh’s son - Exo 4:22-23 “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me." If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'" Because this sounds unjust, some explain it as hardening indirectly, for example; “God does not harden men by infusing malice into them, but by not imparting mercy to them.” “God does not work this hardness of heart in man; but he may be said to harden him whom he refuses to soften, to blind him whom he refuses to enlighten, and to repel him whom he refuses to call.” -- As quoted by Adam Clarke. If God hardened the heart of Pharaoh directly, the evidence shows it was still done without violating his free will or without impugning the justice of God. The hardening of Pharaoh also provides insights as to how and why God hardens people today.
So let’s take a closer look at the evidence involved in the hardening of Pharaoh. The word for “harden” is chazaq (Heb.) - Exo 4:21; 7:13,22; 8:19; 9:12,35; 10:20,27; 11:10; 14:4,8,17. “to strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, become strong, be courageous, be firm, grow firm, be resolute, be sore” - BDB. “literally signifies to strengthen, confirm, make bold or courageous;” - Clarke. qashah (Heb.) - Exo 7:3. “to make hard, make stiff, make stubborn” - BDB. “harden, stiffen” - Strong. kabed (Heb.) - Exo 7:14; 8:15; 8:32; 9:7,34; 10:1 “hard, difficult, burdensome” - BDB. “heavy; figuratively...in a bad sense, severe, difficult...grievous, hardened” – Strong. -- So Pharaoh’s heart was made strong, stiff, stubborn; even if God did so ‘directly’, consider what else we learn as we examine the scriptural evidence below.
Pharaoh hardened his own heart. And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard (chazaq), and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. - Exo 7:13 “Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.” “So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh's heart is hard (kabed); he refuses to let the people go.” - Exo 7:14. “Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard (chazaq), and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.” - Exo 7:22. “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened (kabed) his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.” - Exo 8:15. “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard (chazaq), and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.” - Exo 8:19. “But Pharaoh hardened (kabed) his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.” - Exo 8:32. “Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard (kabed), and he did not let the people go.” - Exo 9:7. “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened (kabed) his heart, he and his servants.” - Exo 9:34. “So the heart of Pharaoh was hard (chazaq); neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.” - Exo 9:35. -- In the first five plagues, and in the seventh, Pharaoh hardened his own heart.
Then God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. “And I will harden (qashah) Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.” - Exo 7:3. “But the Lord hardened (chazaq) the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.” - Exo 9:12. “Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened (kabed) his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him,” - Exo 10:1. “But the Lord hardened (chazaq) Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.” - Exo 10:20. “But the Lord hardened (chazaq) Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.” - Exo 10:27. “So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened (chazaq) Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.” – Exo 11:10. “Then I will harden (chazaq) Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” - Exo 14:4. “And the Lord hardened (chazaq) the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness.” - Exo 14:8. “And I indeed will harden (chazaq) the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.” - Exo 14:17. -- Not until the sixth plague did God begin to harden Pharaoh’s heart.
The purpose of hardening Pharaoh’s heart was to convince the Egyptians that the LORD is truly God - Exo 7:3-5; 14:4 By multiplying the signs and wonders in the land; by delivering Israel through great judgments. The purpose was to convince the Israelites that the LORD is truly God - Exo 10:1-2 By His signs done in the land of Egypt. That generations to come might be told of this. To convince the world that the LORD is truly God - Exo 9:13-17. God could have easily overwhelmed Pharaoh with His signs. But God “raised” Pharaoh up, even as Pharaoh was “exalting” himself “God kept Pharaoh ‘standing’, i. e. permitted him to live and hold out until His own purpose was accomplished.” – Barnes. “God had preserved him for this very purpose, that he might have a farther opportunity of manifesting that he, Jehovah, was the only true God for the full conviction both of the Hebrews and Egyptians.” - Clarke. Thus God hardened, or strengthened, one who was determined to resist. That God might show His power and proclaim His name in all the earth! -- God never forced Pharaoh to resist against his will; having demonstrated his own obstinacy and desire to resist, God simply strengthened him that he might continue his resistance until God’s own purposes were fulfilled. Such ‘hardening’ was not unique to Pharaoh. It happened in Jesus’ day (e.g. Jn 12:37-41), and it is not limited to the past...
Let’s now look at what the New Testament writers wrote concerning the hardening of people. For example, the nation of Israel has a ‘partial hardening’ (NASB) or blindness of Israel has occurred - Ro 11:25 “Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Was this hardening or blindness against their will? No! It was only after they had ample opportunity to hear God’s Word - Ro 10:16-19 “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry."’ It was only after they had repeatedly rebelled against God - Ro 10:21 “But of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people."’ Was this a hardening of ‘all’ Israel? No! It is a ‘partial’ hardening. God has always preserved the faithful remnant - cf. Ro 11:1-7 “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,”. Many Jews have accepted Jesus, both then and now. What was the extent of this ‘hardening’? As with Pharaoh, it gave them strength of heart to continue in their resistance. With Israel, it enabled them to resist against the Word of God - Ro 11:7-10 “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."’ What was the purpose of this ‘hardening’? It was an act of mercy! Their unbelief justified God terminating His covenant with Israel and making a new covenant that involved both Jews and Gentiles - Jer 31:31-32 ‘"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”; Ep 2:11-19 “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,”. By allowing Gentiles in this new covenant, God hopes to make unbelieving Jews jealous enough to come back - Ro 11:11-15 “So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” Thus the ultimate purpose was to save both Jew and Gentile! - Ro 11:30-32 “Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” -- Until the “fulness of the Gentiles has come in”, the nation of Israel (as a whole) has been hardened.
To those who do not believe Paul writes of another ‘hardening’ (though the word is not used). In connection with the apostasy preceding the return of Christ - 2 Th 2:1-10 “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” In which God will send a strong delusion upon some, to believe a lie - 2 Th 2:11-12 “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Is this being done against their will? No! It involves people who did not receive the love of the truth - 2 Th 2:10 “and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” It involves people who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in sin - 2 Th 2:12 “in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Why is God doing this? That they might be condemned (judged) - cf. 2 Th 2:12. Just as hardening Pharaoh made his obstinacy more evident, so the delusion to believe a lie will reveal one’s pleasure in sin. How can we be sure that we will not experience this strong delusion? Have a love for the truth! - cf. 2 Th 2:10. Do not take pleasure in unrighteousness! - cf. 2 Th 2:12 -- The choice is ours as to whether we will experience this ‘delusion’!
We have seen that God hardened the hearts of the wicked, and is willing to send a strong delusion for them to believe a lie.... Not in violation of their free will, but in conjunction with it. “The ‘hardening’ of men’s hearts by God is in the way of punishment, but it is always a consequence of their own self-hardening.” - ISBE. Strengthening the resolve of the wicked if it somehow serves God’s purpose. How much better for us to have God strengthen our hearts in doing good, not evil.... As Paul prayed for the Thessalonians - 2 Th 2:16-17 “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” As Peter prayed for those in Asia - 1 Pe 5:10 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” This God will gladly do...if we love the truth, believe the truth, receive the truth by obeying the gospel, and remain firm in holding to it. In what way will God ‘strengthen’ your heart today...?
