Articles

Romans Chapter 9

Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart and made him unwilling to release Moses and the Israelites even when he had intended to? And did He do it to proclaim His name to the world by making manifest His powers through Pharaoh? (Ex 7:3-4) Did God also dull the hearts of the Israelites, blinded their eyes and covered their ears; so that in spite of all the miracles Jesus had performed before them, and having heard such great truths and mysteries, they remained incapable of coming to faith in Christ? Was it because God had hardened the nation of Israel, so that they would reject the gospel, causing the salvation to come to the Gentiles? (Ro 11:7-11)

Before we go any further to discuss “God’s hardening of hearts,” let us first spend some time to familiarise ourselves with the work of the Holy Spirit in a believer. This will help us to better understand what is “God’s hardening of hearts” all about.

The Holy Spirit has already been at work, even during Old Testament times, participating in the creation of the world (Ge 1:2), giving various talents in the building of the tabernacle (Ex 31:2-5), indwelling God’s servants, empowering them with the strength to accomplish His will (Ps 51:11), and inspiring the Old Testament (2Ti 3:16).

At the time of the New Testament, after Jesus had accomplished the salvation, the Holy Spirit was sent by God as a comforter to indwell believers permanently. The Spirit started giving various gifts to believers necessary in the building of the church (1Co 12:4-11); leading us to the understanding of all spiritual truths (Jn 16:13) and in doing the will of the Heavenly Father (Phil 2:13).

In the book of Acts, chapter 4, Peter and John were threatened by the rulers, elders, and teachers of the law against preaching in the name of Jesus. Upon their release, the disciples came together to pray, pleading that the Lord would grant them the strength to speak forth the gospel of Christ boldly without fear. After their prayer, the ground shook and the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and they started preaching the word of God mightily. Peter and John were mere unschooled fishermen, where did their courage to testify before the powerful rulers and leaders come from? Was it not the empowering of the Spirit that enabled them to do so? For without it, they would have failed miserably. Not only with Peter and John, without the Spirit to grant the disciples courage to proclaim the word of God, the spreading of the gospel would have ceased shortly after Jesus’ return to Heaven.

Although the powers of the Spirit were boundless and capable of enabling the disciples to accomplish the will of God, they still had the complete freedom to choose whether or not to obey His leading. Just as the disciples had to pray for the Lord’s help before the Spirit could actually fill them. The Holy Spirit would never act against the will of the believers by forcefully filling them, compelling them to abide by His decision. This is the reason why we see so many worldly Christians today, for they have quenched the Spirit in their hearts (1Th 5:19) and choose to live according to their fleshly desires.

God through the Holy Spirit works in the heart of His children by empowering them to accomplish His will. What then are the forces working in the hearts of the sons of disobedience? Where lies the source of their strength?

The book of Ephesians speaks clearly of this as a completely opposite and opposing force:

“In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” ~Ep 2:2

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” ~Ep 6:12

The Scribes and the Pharisees who persecuted and nailed Jesus to the cross, the religious leaders that afflicted the disciples of Christ and the authorities that massacred Christians throughout history; they were all instruments used by Satan to afflict the children of God and to thwart God’s plans and work. On the surface, we witness evil people carrying out all these acts, but the bible tells us that the real mastermind is none other than the source of all evils – Satan. For even the thought to betray Jesus was instilled into Judas by Satan (Lk 22:3-4). When a man hears the gospel, it is Satan who comes and takes away the truths that he has heard (Mk 4:15). The Holy Spirit comes to enlighten the world, to enable mankind to understand the gospel so that they may be convicted of sin, of righteousness and of judgement (Jn 16:8). The Devil on the other hand blinds the heart of mankind, so that they cannot understand the gospel: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2Co 4:3-4) The Spirit of God wants to save the people in the world and bring them to heaven, but the spirit of the Devil wants to lead all men to hell.

The book of James tells us, when we are tempted we should not say, “God is tempting me,” because God is without sin therefore He cannot tempt us with sin (Ja 1:13-14). God cannot deny Himself, He would not on one hand instruct Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, but on the other harden the heart of Pharaoh to prevent them from leaving. He also would not on one hand sacrifice His Son Jesus to save the world, while on the other hand harden the hearts of the Israelites to prevent them from receiving His salvation. The hardening of man’s heart and the hindering of the work of gospel, does not come from God; it comes from the Lord’s adversary, Satan, who accuses the saints before God day and night.

Since the work of hardening of man’s heart comes from Satan, then why do we find numerous passages where God Himself claims to be the one who “hardens heart?” When King David called for a census to number the people, the book of 2 Samuel says: “Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’” (2Sa 24:1) The same incident is found in 1Chronicles: “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” (1Ch 21:1) Who then incited David to number the Israelites, was it God or Satan? The difference between these two are worlds apart! Now let us look at the book of Job, chapter 1 & 2, and we will understand what has actually taken place. When Satan came before God to accuse Job, the Lord told Satan: “Everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” If God did not allow it, Satan could not even lay a finger on Job. Although Satan has the power to harm a believer and to harden a man’s heart, God is the Sovereign of the whole universe, therefore even Satan is subjected to His rule and must seek God’s permission prior to his actions. Satan was the one who incited David, hardened the heart of Pharaoh and blinded the Israelites, yet God claimed that He was the one who did it, revealing that He had complete authority and control over the works of Satan. The book of James, chapter 1, verses 13-17, reminds the believers that every good and perfect gift is from God; however, when we are tempted by evil, that does not come from God. Therefore, we should not be mistaken, although God holds complete authority over the works of Satan, He has absolutely no part in his evil doings.

Let us consider a parable told by Jesus to better understand the hardening of heart:

“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” ~Lk 11:24-26

When the people heard the words of Jesus, their conscience were cleansed. They understood the truths concerning Jesus and that He was the Christ, however, they did not respond positively to receive the Lord into their hearts. Instead, they responded by rejecting Jesus and shutting their hearts to God – which was equivalent to opening themselves to the Devil unreservedly. Now, the Devil had no one else to stop him, he could fill their hearts fully without holding back, “seven” represented completeness in this context. After they had understood the truths and chose to reject God, this had resulted in their spiritual condition becoming worse than before, deteriorating further beyond the point of no return! This was exactly the hardening process of Pharaoh. God performed ten miracles through Moses, each one more magnificent than the last, Pharaoh however time and again refused to let the Israelites go. With every refusal, the evil spirits filled a larger portion of his heart, granting him more strength and boldness to stop the Israelites from leaving. Without Satan to harden the heart of Pharaoh, by solely depending upon his own strength, he could never have the audacity to stop the Israelites from leaving after witnessing the fearsome miracles performed by God.

God, through the Holy Spirit, strengthens the hearts of believers; allowing them to accomplish things far beyond what a normal person would have dared to achieve, to carry out God’s will undaunted. Satan, through the evil spirits, hardens the hearts of the sons of rebellion; causing them to do what they normally could not have dared to do, to oppose the children of God. Satan could only harden a person’s heart according to the decision he has made, causing him to have the strength and determination to execute it; he could not harden the heart of a person and change an originally pure and righteous decision into an evil one. Although the hardening of one’s heart is done by Satan, God is the one with the final authority to allow Satan who he can or cannot harden.