The Heart Grows Hard

Good morning. As Jon and his family have gone off to the North American Baptist gathering south of the border, it falls upon me again to walk us through this next portion of Exodus. However, we will be examining a rather large chunk of Exodus, spanning from Exodus 7:8-10:29. This particular chunk of the Bible has over 3,600 words in it, and as such, I won’t be reading the whole passage rather, we will simply summarize. Here is a side note. I really hope that you, as Christians, will take out your Bibles today and read Exodus 7-10 in its entirety. You should not take my word or Pastor Jon’s word and depend on it in place of the gospel. Paul reminds us in Acts 17:11 to examine the scriptures for truth. With this in mind, it is my hope and prayer that you will read this entire text and examine what it says, and compare what I am about to say to what the Bible says. So here, with the reservations just stated, are Pastor Jesse’s Coles notes on Exodus 7-10.

Throughout Exodus 7-10, we begin to see God answering Pharaoh's question when he blasphemed Yahweh back in Exodus 5:2 when he asked, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh, and I will not let Israel go.” So, let’s dive into a bit of a journey with Pharaoh, Aaron, and Moses to see who Yahweh is.

God begins to show Pharaoh that He is the one true God, the only God, through these signs that we read in our assigned passage. We see in Exodus 7:8-13, Moses and Aaron, through God’s instructions, go up to Pharaoh, and Aaron throws his staff down before Pharaoh, and it turns into a snake. Pharaoh, not being satisfied, calls his sorcerers. They also throw down their staffs which also turn into serpents through the use of their secret arts. But the greatness of God, Yahweh, is made evident when Aaron’s staff swallows theirs. Despite what was just seen, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses or Aaron.

In Exodus 7:14-25 we see again Aaron and Moses, upon God’s instructions, went to Pharaoh and did as Yahweh commanded. Seemingly after addressing Pharaoh with the words ``The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened up to now.” Then, after warning Pharaoh exactly what was going to happen, Moses instructed Aaron to lift up the staff and strike the Nile in view of Pharaoh and his servants. Upon doing so, the water turns into blood. Again, Pharaoh didn’t listen, and instead, his sorcerers did the same with their secret arts. Again, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses or Aaron.

For a third time, similar Events play out in Exodus 8:1-14 with a slight deviation from the last two events. God instructs Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh again, saying similarly, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.” But God also warns Pharaoh, “If you refuse to let them go, behold, I am going to strike your entire territory with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house, into your bedroom and on your bed, into the houses of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. Similarly, Moses instructed Aaron to extend his hand with his staff over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt, and the Bible says that the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. Again, Pharaoh, not being satisfied, had his sorcerers use their secret arts, making frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

However, something interesting happens here. Here is the “slight deviation,” as mentioned before. Instead of instantly hardening his heart, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and pleaded for the frogs to be removed, and then once the frogs were gone, he would let the people go. So Moses responds to Pharaoh asking when he should plead on Pharaoh's behalf to get rid of the frogs, and Pharaoh says, “Tomorrow”. Moses keeps his deal and cries out to Yahweh concerning the frogs. Then, as discussed, the frogs died the next day. However, Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

I bet you are getting the gist of how everything is playing out. Well, you would be right, except for two changes which are about to happen in Exodus 8:16-30. Here, we see Aaron strike the dust of the earth, which turns into gnats throughout Egypt. Gnats were on every person and animal. The sorcerers tried to copy this with their secret arts to produce the gnats, but they could not. The sorcerers had to look at Pharaoh and confess. “This is the finger of God.” But like before, Pharaoh's heart was hardened.

The story here gets more or less repetitive: God sends flies, God strikes down the livestock, God infects with Boils and sores, God rains down hail so everything and everyone that is left out in the fields is struck down, God sends locust to devour everything, God sent darkness to cover over Egypt for three days. But where God inflicted frogs and blood on all of Egypt, including the Isrealites; the Isrealites would not suffer under the remaining plagues. This was to make it clear that Yahweh, I AM, was in the midst of the land. Putting a clear division between Yahweh’s people and Pharaoh’s people. Further, if we keep on reading, we would see Pharaoh repent, and then as soon as he got his way he would double down. Then the people around Pharaoh began to grow weary of what was happening as well and began to put pressure on Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but time and time again, Pharaoh did not relent.

What is most interesting is that even the priests and the sorcerers acknowledge that they are facing a God that they can’t handle, control or manipulate. If you recall, in Exodus 8:18-19 the priests attempt to copy God using their secret arts to produce gnats, but they fail. Exodus 8:19 says:

Exodus 8:19 NASB95

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.

Another point of interest is that Pharaoh never turned to his priests to ask them to stop the problem. He always turns to Moses and asks him to plead to God to stop it. Kinda makes one stop and think that everything that God does, the devil can mimic, but he can never undo anything. The devil only brings destruction; he never brings a solution. Pharaoh is playing with fire because he only knows his false gods, who he himself is considered one, and the only power he knows is sorcery performed by priests. We know that sorcerers are cast into the lot of utter evil. All we have to do is spend a little time studying about sorcerers in the Bible, and we will find that they are abominable. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says:

Deuteronomy 18:10–12 NASB95

“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. “For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.

For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.

Revelations 18 describes the Spirit of Babylon as a Sorcerer who deceived nations; it says in Revelation 18:23-24 this:

Revelation 18:23–24 NASB95

and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

In Malachi 3:5-6 we see that God declares war on the sorcerers.

Malachi 3:5–6 NASB95

“Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts. “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Hear what God says after he will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and so on?

“For I, the Lord, do not change;”

This is not old news. It is not new news. Sorcerers are nothing but bad news, and they point to a further degradation in how you run things. Remember, Revelation 18:23-24 says all nations were deceived by Babylon's sorcery. So what's stopping Egypt from falling to that deception?

Even after the deception, the sorcerers relent and admit that they are dealing with God. From that point on, the priests can no longer mimic God, and we don’t hear much from them, but we hear from Pharaoh not relenting.

We know that the Israelites lived in Egypt for about 400 years and were strongly influenced by the tyrannical authorities and deities of Egypt. Egypt had power over the Israelites. After all, what's stopping that many people from overthrowing Pharaoh? The fear of power. So God had His work cut out for Him. He had to show the Israelites that He is the one true God.

He says as much in our assigned text, in Exodus 10:1-2:

Exodus 10:1–2 NASB95

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

The Israelites needed to know that Yahweh is God. So God needed to make a mockery of the Egyptians, their gods, and Pharaoh himself.

A while back, I gave a spoiler about the false gods that Yahweh systematically attacked and, in doing so, destroyed their sovereignty over the Israelite people. Here is that list again, without prejudice God attacks Hapi, the god of the Nile (Blood plague); Heket, the goddess of fertility with the Frog head (frog plague); Geb, the god of the Earth (lice plague); Khepri, the god of creation with a fly head (swarms of flies); Hathor goddess of love with a cows head (death of cattle + livestock); Isis goddess of peace and medicine (Boils and sores); Nut goddess of the sky (hail and fire); Seth god of storms and disorder (Locust); Ra the god of the Sun (darkness); Pharaoh king and god among the gods (The death of the Firstborn).

Through this onslaught, Pharaoh is targeted last. I can’t help but think that God gave Pharaoh chance after chance, which makes you think that even when seeing everything God was doing, Pharaoh refused to love the truth and be saved. Pharaoh could not accept the truth that he was not god but Yahweh is God.

Paul writes this in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 NASB95

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

Also in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 it says:

2 Thessalonians 2:9–12 NASB95

that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

If you were sitting there wondering how Pharaoh could not turn to God after seeing everything he saw, as far as I see it, no one has ever been saved by signs, wonders, and miracles. Miracles have happened, yes, but the blind man called out to Jesus because he had faith. The lame man was lowered through the roof of the house because he had faith. The bleeding woman touched Jesus' seam because of faith. The centurion's servant was healed because of faith.

It makes me think that so many people today are looking for signs and miracles to believe. The problem is, I think, even if a sign or a miracle were to smack them in the forehead, they still would not believe. He who has ears and eyes, right? Isaiah describes the people like this in Isaiah 6:9-10

Isaiah 6:9–10 NASB95

He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

You may have heard that prophecy before because Jesus uses it in the Parable of the Sowing of the Seed in Matthew 13.

We can have the truth presented to us, and we can see unexplained miracles happen, yet if our roots are shallow, we are growing amongst the weeds, or we are simply trampled, it is impossible for us to see or hear. We know that the seed is often described as being planted in the heart, so if our hearts are crowded with the weeds we have planted there or calloused and hardened, the seed of faith cannot grow. We need soft hearts.

Jesus says this in Matthew 12:38-42

Matthew 12:38–42 NASB95

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. “The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

The reality is this: if we force ourselves to be in control, we will never encounter God fully. As humans, naturally, we want to be the ones in control. We want to be the ones who decide what is good and evil. We want to decide what is good for us and what is not. This is a condition that has been passed down to us from our first mother, Eve. The snake tempted her with the knowledge of good and evil, and she decided to take control of what is good and evil. In doing so, she turned to our first father, Adam and implored him to take control as well. In doing so, they introduced an urge into our human nature for each of us to try to play god.

The question is what is it that hardens our hearts, and can we see the danger that those vices bring?

I think David Guzik summarizes the issue quite well in his book The Enduring Commentary, with help from G.A. Chadwick.

“Despite God’s kindness to him and to Egypt, Pharaoh continued to harden his heart. This is a demonstration of how deep and severe the gradual hardening of a heart may become.

i. As we continue in sin and reject God’s opportunities for us to repent and return, the hardening continues. It is commonly seen. A man doesn’t start by gambling away his paycheck; it starts with continuing on in friendly betting, and his heart grows hard. A man doesn’t start with shameful perversion; it starts with a few magazines, a couple of videos, and his heart grows hard. A woman doesn’t start addicted to alcohol; it starts with some social drinking and her heart grows hard.

ii. “The drunkard, the murderer himself, is a man who at first did evil as far as he dared, and afterwards dared to do evil which he would once have shuddered at (and his heart grows hard.)”

This brings us almost full circle back to what Paul was talking about in 2 Thessalonians 2, which we read from earlier.

Like Pharaoh, who believed himself to be a god and hardened his heart, human nature inherently isn’t far off. As Guzik points out, each one of us has a vice; it only starts with a little bit, then a little more, and the heart grows hard. We might not call ourselves a god, but the complex is there. If you recall, Paul describes this action as lawlessness, and he warns that these things are all done in secret.

It is plain and clear from everything that we studied today that these actions of lawlessness, these actions of hardening one's heart, are done because of Satan's influence and deception. The truth, however, is that we like to put the responsibility on Satan, but the responsibility falls back onto us. If we have fallen to that place of having a hardened heart and our faith relies on us seeing a miracle, our own lack of faith has bound our hands. But the reality is even if we think we are looking for a miracle, we don’t seek Jesus for a miracle. We seek him because of what he can do for us.

Jesus proclaims the good news in John 6:26-27

John 6:26–27 NASB95

Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.”

I must make it clear that I do believe in miracles. I do believe that we can still pray for healing or for fires to be blown past a town full of people. Then, unexplainably, the mass that was thought to be cancer vanishes, or an unpredicted wind comes out of nowhere and blows the fire off course. I believe that Yahweh is in control of all things, but where I will get on my knees and thank God for being a good good father, others will miss the miracle that occurred and call it an unexplained marvel of science.

The reality is salvation doesn’t come through signs or miracles. It comes from a hunger and a thirst for the truth. The truth is God so loved the world that he gave up his one and only son so that who so ever would believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. If you hunger for the truth, Jesus is who you are looking for. He is the Bread of Life, and if you turn to Him and repent and submit yourself wholly to Him, you will find that you will hunger no more. You will find you will thirst no more. John 6:35-40 says this:

John 6:35–40 NASB95

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Throughout the Gospels and Epistles, there is this call, and it is a simple one: Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. In doing so, you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and find everlasting life. You will no longer hunger and thirst for the truth.

The truth is that repentance and turning to God is the start of the Christian faith. Repentence is an ongoing occurance, it doesn’t just happen once. Maintenace of our faith and the avoidance of the hard heart is a task that is just as important for the new Christian as it is for the most senior. This maintenance is best done through the daily practice of reading the Bible, praying continously, and obeying God’s word in every aspect of our Lives. In submitting ourselves to God in such a matter He will protect our hearts. As God promises in Ezekiel 36:26

Ezekiel 36:26 NASB95

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Let’s Pray