1. Exodus 4:21 (ESV)
  2. Application

God hardening the heart

Exodus 4:21 (ESV)

21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

We hear in this passage about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. Isn’t hardening a harsh word? Does God make people sin? Isn’t God unjust towards Pharaoh? Can it happen to us when we fall into sin? There are four things we should take note of:

  1. God does not bring people to sin. See James 1:13–14: Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. In Exodus the sin is the arrogance of Pharaoh (Exodus 5:1). God did not start the sin, and he chooses not to break the sin in Pharaoh's life.

  2. God is not unjust. In Romans 9:14–18 it is explained that he is free to give grace or hardness to sinful people. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills (Romans 9:18).

  3. God is in control. He works out his plan: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth (Romans 9:17).

  4. God warns us not to harden our heart. Ages after the rebellion of Israel in the desert he warned his people: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah…in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test (Psalm 95:7–9). In the letter to the Hebrews this warning is quoted (Hebrews 3:7–8 and Hebrews 3:15). We are warned: Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall from the living God (Hebrews 3:12). We have to keep the faith and encourage each other (Hebrews 3:13), trusting God’s promise found in Romans 8:38–39 for those who believe: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.