Judicial Hardening

Introduction

Last week we left off in our discussion on the fairness of God discussing how God’s mercy is undeserved and freely given but His hardening is always earned. The text never says that hardening is just unconditionally foisted upon someone just because God desired to do so. We saw that God’s purpose in hardening Pharaoh in this text was still consistent with the Corporate election of a people to carry on the promises of God. God was working in the life of Israel and Pharaoh as Egypts head to accomplish something. In the entire narrative about Moses and Pharaoh, it was never about salvation; but God’s purpose in delivering Israel. Romans 9:17 “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.” told us why God raised up Pharaoh and hardened his heart: 1) to show his power 2) to spread his fame 3) in another passage to deliver Israel.

The section ended in Romans 9:18 “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” with a statement that God is fair and right to show mercy on whom he will show mercy and to harden those he hardens. What ever the reconciliation of these two things is, it must defend the justice of God. I didn’t develop this point as thoroughly last week because I knew that we would be doing a deeper dive into the example of Pharaoh’s hardening this week. We call this hardening judicial hardening. This morning we are going to do a study on what judicial hardening is, what causes it and can it be reversed?

What is Judicial Hardening?

Let’s begin by taking a look at what judicial hardening. There are two words used to describe this doctrine:

First, we call it judicial because hardening as we will see is God’s judgment on a people. Implied in hardening is that the person hardened deserved to be hardened. When we look at those Jews in Romans 9-11 who were not included in the elect people of God, we have to ask why they were not included: Paul gives us the answer to that question in Romans 9:30–33 “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

Romans 10:2–3 “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Hardening comes upon the Jews as a punishment for their self-righteousness and their lack of submission to the righteousness of God which is by faith.

The second and probably the most important word is hardening. There are 49 verses where the word hardened is used.

The Hebrew word for harden is הזף (hazak). Literally the word means to strengthen.

The idea behind hardening is that God is strengthening a person already freely formed will.

Illustration: Hardening is like propping up a building that being held by supports. The current supports are already holding the building up, but I want to strengthen their hold; so I add extra supports. I make the building firm and strong.

Hardening is also like having a friend who is considering going to college up north, but has also considered becoming a beach bum out in California. If I come alongside of that friend and encourage her to take the wiser choice and go to college; I am strengthening her resolve to go a certain direction.

The idea behind both of these illustrations is that the building was already being held up, the friend was already desiring to go to college. I just came along and made that decision firm by strengthening it. So when the bible talks about Pharaoh’s heart being hardened, we must remember that there was already something in Pharaoh’s heart to harden.

I want us to take a survey at the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart and see that both God and Pharaoh were involved in the hardening of his heart. In fact, the clearest examples of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart are seen after Pharaoh had already hardened his heart. This is going to require a lot of page turning because the passage goes from Ex 4-14. We will not spend a lot of time on each one, but what you will see is that there are four types of verses:

those that foretell the hardening- but it hadn’t happened yet

those that are passive verbs but don’t tell us what hardened Pharaoh’s heart

those that say Pharaoh hardened his heart

those that tell us God hardened Pharaoh’s heart

Survey of texts:

Exodus 4:21 “And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.”

Exodus 7:3 “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 7:13–14 “And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.” Who is the he?

Exodus 7:22 “And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the Lord had said.”

Exodus 8:15 “But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.”

Exodus 8:19 “Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.”

Exodus 8:32 “And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.”

Exodus 9:7 “And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

Exodus 9:12 “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.” Is this the first time it directly says God hardened Pharaoh’s heart?

Exodus 9:34 “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.”

Exodus 9:35 “And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the Lord had spoken by Moses.”

Exodus 10:1 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:”

Exodus 10:20 “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.”

Exodus 10:27 “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.”

Exodus 11:10 “And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

Exodus 14:4 “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.”

Exodus 14:8 “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.”

Exodus 14:17 “And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.”

1 Samuel 6:6 “Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?”

What causes a hardening of the heart?

Unbelief- 2 Kings 17:14 “Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God.” hardening leads to unbelief. The bible is full of promises of God and threatened consequences for disobedience. Sometimes we choose not to believe God will do what he says. I think of the person who has heard the gospel over and over again; maybe they grew up in a Christian home and now they have become hardened to the gospel. They just don’t believe anything in the bible and no bible verse you show them will convince them.

2. Pride- Daniel 5:20 “But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:” Pride is a big part of hardening the heart. At its root is a belief that I know what best, I am going to do what I want and it doesn’t matter what God wants. In this case of Nebuchadnezzar, he erected a statue of himself to be worshipped. In Pharaoh’s case, he challenged Moses and said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? In the case of the Jews, Jesus didn’t fit in with their plans and then you add the Gentiles into the mix and their pride has been provoked.

3. Sin- Hebrews 3:13 “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Sin hardens the heart as well. We want what we want and no one is going to take that away from us.

4. I want to add a fourth one in here that is sometimes forgotten- Circumstances also harden the heart. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by the plagues of Egypt. At one point he even chose one more night with the frogs before submitting to Moses and asking for deliverance.

Results:

Not listening- Nehemiah 9:29 “And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.”

Not understanding- John 12:40 “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” Blindness and hardening are related actions

Can hardening be reversed?

If you have a loved one who has been hardened, I know this is got to be on your mind. Can they change or is this a permanent condemnation.I want to give you three reason’s this morning for why I believe hardening can be reversed and offer you some hope this morning:

Hardening was Temporary

Did you pay attention as we went through the verses from chapter 4-14 of Exodus? How many times did it say that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened? Atleast 15 times it says that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. What this shows is that the effect of hardening is not permanent? God had to continually harden his heart multiple times. In fact in Ex 8:8 he says he will let the people go, in Ex 8:25 Pharaoh compromises and says they can go a little ways away, in Ex 9:27 it seems as if he confesses his sin which just goes to show you people can fake repentance, in Ex 10:24 he agrees to let them go but they must leave their flocks. Pharaoh’s heart needed to be hardened because he wavered in his determination to not let the people go.

People are not born blind and hardened

The bible teaches that none of us seek after God in Romans 3, but does that mean we can’t choose to do right? Could Pharaoh have chosen to let the people of Israel go? The very fact that Pharaoh had to be hardened shows that he could have made a different choice. Hardening a person unable to choose to do right would be like putting a blind fold and ear plugs on a corpse. Jesus told his disciples in Mark 4:11–12 “And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.” His point here is that he spoke in parables for a reason. The parables were intended to bring blindness to those who head, but didn’t believe. But the point is that if he hadn’t spoken in parables they would have been able to hear and understand. They were not born unable to hear, God used parables to blind their eyes. The parable is about the soils and their reception of the seed. Remember here, hardening is not arbitrary, but earned by our own stubborn hearts.

In Acts 28:27 “For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” teaches that we grow more and more dull of hearing and blind over time. The more we reject, the harder our hearts get.

Hardened Jews can be grafted back into the people of God

Romans 11:23 “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.” So the unbelieving Jews, who have been hardened and blinded because of their unbelief, still have hope. They can be grafted back in. This means that hardening is not their final predetermined fate. But their only hope of escaping this blindness and heardness of heart is repenting of their unbelief and placing their faith in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Here is my primary application this morning: Hardening is seen in a lot of people’s lives. Christian and unchristian alike seem to manifest it. There is a stubborn resistance to the truth of God’s word, there is the continual pursuit of sin without any effort for change, there is an inability to comprehend the scriptures. But hardening is not unearned; rather, it is God just giving you more of what you have chosen. I want to repeat the words of the author of Hebrews this morning:

Hebrews 3:8 “Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:”

This is a call to repent of a hard heart. What does that hard heart look like? A refusal to listen, not being willing to obey, a refusal to understand. It is stubbornness that makes a hard heart. Will you repent of your hard heart this morning?