A question came across this week regarding the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The idea that God allowed or planned in His sovereignty for all those Egyptians to die. That doesn’t seem fair. That seems like God just created this whole nation to punish and kill to prove He is God.
This can be, if we’re looking at it from a human perspective, a hard concept to come to grips with. God hardening Pharaoh’s heart and all those Egyptian soldiers getting swallowed up by the Red Sea. “How horrible” people think. What Kind of God does this? Well, let’s put some of this into perspective. Before we jump into Exodus, let’s look at Romans.
Romans 9:17-24 – For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
When we look at the story of Pharaoh, always keep in mind that as much as we see God exacting justice for a rebellious leader, we also see God’s mercy displayed on the other side. John Piper said “The exact parallel with mercy shows that the act of God in hardening is as unconditional as the act of God in having mercy.” We must keep a balanced view. If God is showing unconditional mercy, then the opposite must be true, the hardening of Pharaoh is just as unconditional.
Let’s look at the facts.
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
First thing that we must come to grips with is this; God is not hardening the heart of a holy and righteous man. Nor the people of Egypt. Pharaoh and the rest of the Egyptions were not holy, righteous believers.
Pharaoh is an already hardened person towards God. We see that throughout the whole story (Exodus 8:15, 32. But God, in His mercy, gives Pharaoh and the people of Egypt nine chances to turn their heart. God, is just sealing what is already there. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened because God left it in the condition in which it already was.
Jeremiah 13:10 – ‘This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless.
Revelation 22:11 – “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”
Pharaoh’s was evil. God just sealed it. God knew it, yet in His mercy gave him nine chances to repent from his evil. But he stayed in his evilness and God sealed it. He, God, hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that it could not change. He left it in the evil state that it was in.
Leon Morris said “Neither here nor anywhere else is God said to harden anyone who had not first hardened himself. That Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and refused to humble himself is made plain in the story. So God’s hardening of him was a judicial act, abandoning him to his own stubbornness.”
God in His sovereign plan, took a hardened, sinful heart and sealed it. 400 years of slavery and murder. Years of worshiping false gods. Hearts unwilling to repent. God finally in His perfect and glorious plan sealed the heart of Pharaoh forever.
Is it fair that Pharaoh was punished for his his disobedience to God?
Well, let’s look at this from scripture. Pharaoh was punished for the evil that he did. So, does that make God unjust towards Pharaoh since He was the one who hardened Pharaoh’s heart?
God did not create evil in Pharaoh’s heart. Martin Luther said “God did not create fresh evil in the heart of an innocent man. All that God must do to harden anyone’s heart is to withhold His own grace; that is, He gives a person over to himself.” Pharaoh’s heart was already evil. Since God is just, He must punish evil. Therefore, God is right and just in punishing Pharaoh for his disobedience to God.
Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Remember, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Pharaoh included. The just penalty for that sin is death. We all deserve it. Pharaoh included. So God’s hardening and punishing Pharaoh is not unjust, it’s actually merciful. We all deserve so much more. A quick death by ocean is pretty kind considering what we all deserve.
God allowed Pharaoh to be Pharaoh, just as His perfect plan was laid out. Rather than try to resolve the question “Was it fair?” We must ask ourselves, “What have I done to deserve such mercy? Is it fair that I receive grace? My heart has been hardened by my own will at times. Why do I receive grace?”
It’s because of the mercy and love of our Savior Jesus Christ. He was willing to take our hard heart, a stony heart and give us a heart of flesh. It’s His mercy and lovingkindness towards us that keeps our hearts from hardening further like Pharaoh did.
If you find yourself with a hard heart toward God, let it go. See His loving arms open wide, willing to receive you to Himself. Don’t get caught in the place where God allows you to just be “you”. Unlike Pharaoh, repent, confess your sins to Jesus and let Him give you the free gift of eternal life.
In Christ
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