Share this comment
When we say that "God sends these events," "God hardens hearts," "God makes people blind," we must always remember that God is using human language to define His behaviour, but we must not assume from this that He uses the same methods as evil humans would use to accomplish those results. God's ways are holy, not unholy.
A few examples ca…
When we say that "God sends these events," "God hardens hearts," "God makes people blind," we must always remember that God is using human language to define His behaviour, but we must not assume from this that He uses the same methods as evil humans would use to accomplish those results. God's ways are holy, not unholy.
A few examples can be considered. When God "hardened Pharoah's heart," we must consider the great blessings conferred on the Egyptians. First, we notice that they were not so hard in Abraham's day, when Pharoah inadvertently took Abraham's wife, suffered some plagues, and immediately returned her and sent him away.
After that, Egypt experienced the salvation brought through Joseph; then the immigration of the rest of Joseph's family, and the prosperity that God gave them, to show the Egyptians the benefits of serving God.
In spite of these advantages, the Pharoah of Moses' time turned from all these blessings and chose to enslave the Israelites. By turning from the light, he hardened himself. How then did God "harden his heart"? By sending him light, privileges, blessings. How was he hardened by these things? By misusing them; by not following on with gratitude to God; by imagining that he was independent of God.
We find the same thing at play in Jesus' time. The revelation of God given through Jesus was the brightest light ever given to man. By rejecting that light, because it did not please the carnal heart, the rejectors became more hardened in sin, and more rebellious. Finally the Romans could not tolerate this anymore, and destroyed Jerusalem in 70AD.
Had God not sent Jesus, they would not have been hardened so quickly. Therefore, God hardens, by trying to soften; He destroys by trying to save; He blinds by sending light. The destruction is the result of the sinner's action, not a direct use of force on God's part. "The wages of sin is death." Sin pays those wages, not God.
God also hardens by "turning His face" from man (i.e nations) and individuals. He does this by withdrawing His common grace and leaving man to his own devices. This too is a form of judgement.
The Egyptians enslaved the Children of Israel, despite the good that they had done, because they feared that they were getting too numerous. (Depopulation agenda). Yes Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but in the final analysis, God hardened him so that His people would be released and He would be glorified. What was the outcome? Judgement on the Egyptians through the plagues and finally, their drowning in the Red Sea.
Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." It's always sin that causes the hiding, not an exercise of compelling force from God's side.
If force could have been used to compel people to serve God, it would have been done right at the beginning, and the whole experiment of sin would have been over.
But the exercise of compelling power is contrary to the principles of God's government. His is a government based on truth and love, and the presentation of these principles is the means by which Satan's kingdom is overcome.
Romans 12:21 - "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
Proverbs 5
21 "If your enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:
22 "For you shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward you."
God asks us to "be holy, for I am holy" Lev 11:44, 1 Pet 1:16.
Jesus was "holy, harmless, and undefiled." Heb 7:26
Rom 13:10 "Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
Therefore, God, who is Love, "works no ill to His neighbor."
If God manipulated people to do evil, then His kingdom would not be a righteous kingdom. Instead, it would establish the principle that "the end justifies the means." But that is a principle of Satan's kingdom. God never breaks His law, in order to establish it. Jesus showed that, once and for all, by His life, and by His death on the cross. At the cross, Satan was revealed as a liar and murderer, and God was revealed as a Saviour and a Saviour only.
We must be exceedingly careful how we interpret the Bible when it speaks about God's actions, that we do not inadvertently make Him to be like a sinful man, or a tyrant.