Hi Marthina.

I don’t think Pharaoh hardened his own heart and God eventually assisted him in the hardening of his heart because He did not want to reveal to him his purposes or true revelation, as you said. If it was God’s plan to hide his Gospel message from certain people so that He may use them to accomplish his goals, then we ought to rip verses like John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 John 2:2 out of the Bible. If it is true that God is not a man that He should lie like men (Numbers 23:19), then we must believe that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (including Pharoah). (Ezekiel 33:11). Please bear in mind with prayerful humility that it is not God who hides things from men so that they may not be saved; it is Satan.

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Co 4:3-4).

The answer to Pharoah’s hardened heart lies in God’s awesome foreknowledge or prescience. God knew, even before the foundation of the world and before Pharoah even existed, that Pharoah would harden his own heart. Having known this beforehand, God decided to use Pharoah’s hardness of heart to accomplish is will. The same thing happened to Judas. God knew beforehand that Judas would not obey Jesus and be saved. He did not cause him to betray Jesus as the Calvinists believe.

One of the direst mistakes Christians make, is to ignore or to deny the difference between God’s dealings with the Jews and the Gentiles. And when I say this, I am not suggesting there are two different ways of salvation for the Jews and the Gentiles. Both are saved in the very same way – through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance toward Him and Him alone. That is why Peter could say something as awesome as this: “But we (the Jews) believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we (the Jews) shall be saved, even as they (the Gentiles). (Act 15:11)

The first thing we need to take into account, is that Matthew was specifically written with the Jewish nation in mind. Why? (Romans 1:16; 2:20). Now listen carefully to Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew.

Therefore, speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. (Mat 13:13-15).

To whom was Jesus referring? Verse 14 provides the answer: “And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esias . . .” It is the fulfilment of Isaiah 6:9-10 when God asked “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and the prophet Isaiah said “Here am I; send me.”

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:9-10).

Note that this judgment reminds us of God’s hardening of Pharao’s heart when he refused to obey God. Jehovah had given his people, the Israelite, ample time to repent of their evil deeds. He spread his arms out to them day and night but they refused to come to Him for their redemption (Matthew 23:37).

King David and Paul also referred to the hardening of God’s peoples’ hearts in Psalm 69:22-23 and Romans 11:9-10. Even Jesus’ 12 disciples could not understand his parables, proving how severe God’s judgment on the Jews was then and is to this day. However, the difference between his disciples and the Jewish nation at large, is that his disciples had a hunger for righteousness and earnestly sought to understand his parables which motivated them to go to Him and ask Him what his parables meant. This in itself is one of the wonderful elements of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Only those who seek God with all their heart, mind and soul will find Him and it is to them that He reveals Himself and his parables. Or, to put it differently, only those who know and realize they are lost and in dire need of a Saviour will come to Jesus for their salvation. (Mark 2:17).

Those who persist in their twisting of the Gospel will suffer the very same judgment Pharaoh experienced.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Th 2:8-12)

He used the following illustration to explain it better: it is like the policeofficer who will hide himself in so that the speeder continues to speed and break the law. The speeder knows the law but decides to disobey. The policeofficer doesn’t have to make the speeder speed.

So God hides His true revelation from Pharoa so that Pharoa continues his already rebellious ways.

We see this in the NT as well when He talks in parables and tell them to sometimes keep it quiet because His time has not come yet. God needed to bring about His redemtion Plan through the people’s rebellious hearts.

Sharon, your testimony was very touching. Thank you.

We are witnessing the rise of the false prophets. Do “wolves/false prophets” have hard hearts? Yes, they are merciless. Do they know they are wolves? Absolutely.

The love of “many” shall wax cold. “Many” isn’t just lost people. “Many” is also Christians. I have witnessed personally a few “Christians” turn into a wolf pack against another Christian. I’ve been their victim a couple of times. I wasn’t surprised by some of them. Others were a total shock to me.

Yes, because iniquity abounds the love of many shall wax cold. When I read “wax-cold” I think of a person that has died. While we are made of clay it feels the same as cold wax to me. I have touched the dead faces of my Grandparents, my dad and my momma. The warmth of their love for me, for the Lord, for each other was overcome by death. My dads once strong hands were folded in death. My momma’s loving-kindness could not be felt when I said good-bye for now and kissed her fore-head.

Abounding iniquity kills love. Abounding iniquity kills the real cry of our hearts…to know Him more. Abounding iniquity takes away our confidence. Abounding iniquity robs us of more than we know. None of us are immune from Abounding Iniquity that makes our hearts hard like cold wax.

There was a time in my life I had a hard heart. It was during a three years period after my unwanted divorce. Tears didn’t flow any more. My witness was in shambles. I was as angry as hell and wanted everyone to know it. But thanks be to Jesus Christ and a very special friend in my life my old stony heart began to crack open. When it cracked the love of the Lord began to seep back in. I cried, no I sobbed into the chest of my friend and I cried for quite sometime.

I can cry the right type of tears now. My heart still gets icy sometimes and it is up to me to say…Lord crack it open again.

Another goodie there Thomas