Post by Cindy on Dec 2, 2015 12:41:33 GMT -5
The bible talks a lot about our feelings,and thoughts, and even our instincts. We're constantly told by the world to rely on these things, yet the Bible tells us they're corrupted and that the last thing we should do is trust them! Talk about turning everything on it's head! I've spoken about this a lot in various articles, but something I read today in Mark during my studies shouted at me today to share it with you, as it illustrates exactly what we do regularly. Well, at least it shows what I tend to do and therefore I suspect that many others do as well. The scriptures I was studying were Matt 14:22–23; Mark 6:45–46; & John 6:14–15, the story of how Jesus walked out to the disciples on the water during a horrible storm at night. One verse in particular caught my attention as it's only mentioned in Mark. “for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.” (Mark 6:52) It caught my attention for two reasons. First because another thing I've studied for years now is about "hardened hearts" which is sometimes called being "double minded". The other reason was because this was the disciples natural, instinctual reaction to what had happened.
Keep in mind that this all happened just after a long day of teaching and serving and right after they had fed the 5000, which in itself was an amazing miracle. This was not at the beginning of our Lord's ministry, but closer toward the end of it, so the disciples had a lot of teaching already under their belts. They should have immediately grasped the significance of Jesus feeding the people, but then if they had, He wouldn't have needed to walk out to the boat as He did to bring the lesson home to them.
Especially today with all the false teaching aimed at feelings and experiences we hear a lot about how people "know" or "believe" something because of their experience, or feelings. It sounds good, but it isn't at all scriptural, and goes against what God tells us, which is why it's so important to understand what the Lord tells us about our hearts and thoughts. Even many pastors have fallen for this. Yet here, we have this linked to a hardened heart, and that to me is very scary! The very last thing we want as children of God is for our hearts to be hardened to Him or His Truth, for it's His Word, His Truth that sets us free. We certainly do not want to be slaves to sin any longer, and yet that's exactly what a hardened heart will do to us.
The Lord pointed out to me in this story, that when the disciples reacted to Jesus based on instinct of their feelings, they were inevitably wrong, and failed to get what Jesus wanted them to understand, just like this time. They missed what was most important because they were relying on self: on instinct, feelings, and experiences. If you go back through the gospels, you'll see this happen time and time again. Thankfully, we see in Acts that they do eventually outgrow this as they grow in their faith. (after the resurrection.) I don't think many of us can say we've had an experience like this, and if we had, most people wouldn't argue with anything we said we believed because of it... unless of course they knew God's Word, that basing our beliefs on experience and feelings was wrong and not according to scripture.
So what was it they missed? This, among other verses in the synoptic gospels shows us that there was more to the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus's walk on water during the storm then just feeding people and overcoming nature. We need to look at what the other gospels say about this story to get all the information we need to understand it. Look at what Matthew says after Jesus had climbed into the boat with them and the storm suddenly stopped: “Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”” (Matthew 14:33) This is the very first time the disciples acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. Before this, the only ones that had named Him this were Satan and some of his demons, except for Nathaniel in John 1:39 and John the Baptist in John 1:34, but not the disciples. This was the point of feeding the 5000 and walking out to the boat in the stormy sea that Jesus wanted the disciples to grasp. He wanted them to understand and know that He was God, not just a prophet, not just a miracle worker, not just a teacher and a good man, and that His deity was not some concept, but a fact that could be relied on.
Why didn't the disciples get this before? Mark says it's because their hearts were hardened. Basically that means that their sin nature was exerted. I think that's the main thing that we don't want to realize or acknowledge - that our sin nature affects our thoughts and feelings, and how we perceive things and people. If we really think it through, with God's help, we realize that it couldn't be any other way. Adam sinned by eating the fruit from the tree of "knowledge of good and evil". What does knowledge affect? Our thoughts! And if you take that further, with the help of scripture, we see that our thoughts invariably affect our feelings as well. So if the way we think and feel has been corrupted, we really don't stand a chance do we? No, we don't. Not unless God directly intervenes and gives us what we so desperately need. He does just that at our salvation, when He pours His love into our hearts (feeling) and gives us the mind of Christ (thought). There's a "but" in all of that though. In order to use the mind of Christ and in order to love God and others the way God does, we must first always abide in Christ and His Word. (John 8:31; Colossians 3:10; 2 Peter 1:3–4; John 15:4–10; Ephesians 4:22–24; Jude 21; Romans 12:2; Romans 6:19; etc)
The disciples at most thought of Jesus as the Messiah that Israel was looking for, but did not consider Him God. In fact, the Jewish leaders didn't understand the Old Testament scriptures that talked about the Messiah. They couldn't make them fit into one person, because what man could suffer and die and yet live and rule the world with Israel at it's center? They finally decided that God must be talking about two different people and of course since they were under the yoke of Rome when Jesus came, the Messiah they were most looking for was the one who would get rid of Roman rule and put Israel at the top. This is what was in the hearts of the average person and the religious leaders. They desperately wanted out from under Romes foot and of course wanted to rule themselves and others too. So their hearts were "hardened" because they were looking at the events of the day, the months and years prior, with that in mind. They wanted Jesus to bring in the Kingdom - what we call the Millennial Kingdom, and they wanted it now. In their minds, a man, "the Messiah" would do this with God's power. They knew there was only "one" God and repeated that daily in their prayers, so it wouldn't "naturally" occur to them that Jesus Himself could be God. They'd seen many miracles and those were awesome, and they knew without doubt that they came from God....but didn't realize that God was standing there with them! This all came from automatically trusting their feelings, thoughts and the experiences they perceived through those natural feelings and thoughts. This is what hardened their hearts.
This is what hardens our hearts if we don't believe and obey the Lord concerning our thoughts and feelings; if we base our beliefs on our experiences and our feelings. The more we do that, the harder our hearts become to God's Truth. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12 we're taught about the powerful delusion that God sends. This is sent to those who have a hardened heart because they preferred to trust in their own feelings and experiences rather then God's Truth. In 2 Timothy 3:5–7 we're told that people who have hard hearts like this are always learning, but are never able to acknowledge the Truth, because what they've learned isn't the Truth; it's worldly lies and illusions based on their feelings and experiences. Therefore they're deceived and they deceive others. They resist the Holy Spirit, they won't listen to Him and most likely by the time their hearts have been totally hardened, they don't even hear Him anymore. (although of course they'll have plenty of "experiences" and "feelings" that tell them otherwise). They've grieved the Holy Spirit, which of course we're commanded not to do in Ephesians 4:30. How could it not grieve the Holy Spirit to resist Him like this? That's exactly what the people and especially the religious leaders of Jesus's day did as well, and many of us are following right in their footsteps, while Satan laughs triumphantly. Listen to what we're told about grieving the Holy Spirit: “Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.” (Isaiah 63:10) That's pretty scary if you ask me, and reminds me that God disciplines those He loves. Of course that's assuming that the person is actually saved to begin with. They may very well have fooled themselves about that as well since that's yet another way that Satan prevents many from actually becoming saved. Unbelievers too can have hardened hearts. See what we're told about that: “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” (Ephesians 4:17–18) One of the worst things about a hardened heart is that it can cause the person to be unable to change their mind and choose life, even if they want to! We're shown that in Hebrews 12:17 among other places. What's really horrid is that no person knows just how hard their heart really is or if they've crossed that line or not. Only God knows for sure. There is no "rule" or "law" that states that if you rely on your own feelings or experiences X number of times, or refuse the Truth from God's Word X number of time, that's when you've crossed the line and will no longer have a choice, but will be forever trapped in your corrupted thinking and in Hell if not saved. (if saved you will have caused Jesus to be ashamed of you, and lost eternal rewards but not your salvation)
If you want to study about this on your own, look up scriptures about "hard or hardened heart" or "double minded". Let me show you the definition of the word in the original languages. The last one especially will give you both scriptures and topics you can use to find out more about this as well.
6189 סֵעֵף (sē·ʿēp̄): adj.; ≡ Str 5588; TWOT 1527e—1. LN 73 disloyal, double-minded, i.e., pertaining to not being genuine and having divided loyalties to someone or something (Ps 119:113+) Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)
5588 סֵעֵף [ceʿeph /say·afe/] adj. From 5586; TWOT 1527e; GK 6189; AV translates as “thoughts” once. 1 ambivalent, divided, half-hearted. Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. 1374 δίψυχος [dipsuchos /dip·soo·khos/] adj. From 1364 and 5590; TDNT 9:665; TDNTA 1342; GK 1500; Two occurrences; AV translates as “double minded” twice. 1 double minded. 1A wavering, uncertain, doubting. 1B divided in interest. Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon.
DOUBLE-MINDED Words used only by James in the NT to express a lack of purity of heart or a lack of absolute trust in God. The term literally means “of two minds or souls” (Greek s). It describes one who is trusting in God while also trusting in something else, such as self or the world. James encouraged those who were lacking in wisdom to ask God. The one who asks God and doubts is described in James 1:8 as an “indecisive man” (HCSB). He is one who is wavering between asking God in faith and not believing God will or can answer. He may also be one who asks God yet resorts to his own wisdom instead of that which God provides. This person is described as one who was “unstable in all his ways” indicating that his entire life was lived without a complete trust in God. Later in his letter James encouraged his readers to purify their hearts (James 4:8), because they were “double-minded people.” James was calling for these Christians to make a commitment to trust in God and His ways while denying their own ways and trusting in themselves.
HARDNESS OF HEART The action or state of resistance to and rejection of the Word and will of God. Hardness of heart can be a refusal to hear the Word of God, or it can be a refusal to submit and obey the will of God. This rejection can include both the message delivered and the messenger who delivers it.“Hardening” is a process whereby a person ceases to have a conscience about an evil action that is committed or a sinful attitude that is embodied, such as pride, godlessness, hatred, lust, etc. (Heb. 3:13; 1 Tim. 4:2). Sinful habits can produce or compound this hardened condition. Hardness of heart can eventually destroy one’s sense of sin, ruling out the possibility of repentance. One of the major issues in this topic concerns the agent of the hardening. The Bible pictures both God and individuals as agents of hardening. For example one passage in the book of Exodus states that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exod. 8:15). In other places, God is said to be the one who hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exod. 4:21; 10:1). Paul asserts that God will harden whomever He wants and will bestow mercy on whomever He chooses (Rom. 9:18). The Bible also gives strong warnings against hardening the heart, implying that persons are responsible for the condition of their hearts (Ps. 95:8; Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7). Hardening may therefore be considered both the work of God and the individual.The significance of the passages that speak of hardness of heart is that God uses these destitute conditions as a means of accomplishing His purposes. Because of the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, God liberated the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and eventually led them to the promised land (Josh. 11:20). God used the hardness of Israel to bring salvation to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:7–25). In these passages God’s sovereign purposes are manifested. The entrenched hardness of people’s hearts may be the occasion through which God manifests His mercy and grace. The brightness of God’s redemption is highlighted against the darkness of humanity’s sin. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
HARDNESS OF HEART — stubbornness in opposition to God’s will (1 Sam. 6:6; Job 38:30). The classic case in the Bible of such disobedience was the Pharaoh of Egypt, who refused to release the Hebrew people in spite of repeated displays of God’s power (Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 14:4, 17). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary
hardness of heart
Primarily, in Scripture, a persistent inner refusal to hear and obey the word of God. Also, in a more general sense, an uncaring or unsympathetic attitude towards other people.
Kinds of hardness of heart
As disobedience towards God Ps 95:8-9 Referring to the disobedience of the Israelites in their wilderness wanderings. See also Heb 3:7-9
Eph 4:18 See also Pr 28:14; Zec 7:12; Ro 2:5; Heb 3:12-15; 4:5-7
As the work of God Ex 10:20 God’s judgment on Pharaoh was to confirm him in his stubbornness so that he might feel the full weight of his wrath; Isa 6:10 See also Jn 12:40
As an uncaring attitude towards other people Dt 15:7 See also Ps 17:10; 73:7; 119:70; Mt 19:8 pp Mk 10:5; Jas 2:15-16; 1Jn 3:17
Examples of hardness of heart
Pharaoh Ex 7:13,22; 8:19,32; 9:7,34-35
Israel 1Sa 6:6; Jer 5:23; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23:26
Zedekiah 2Ch 36:12-13
Jesus Christ’s disciples Mk 6:51-52; 8:17
Jesus Christ’s generation Mt 13:15; 19:8 pp Mk 10:5; Mk 3:5
Paul’s hearers Ac 28:25-27
God’s remedies for hardness of heart
Repentance Ps 51:17 See also 1Ki 8:46-49; 2Ch 34:27; Jer 3:17; Eze 18:31
A work of grace Eze 11:19 God’s promise to Israel. See also 1Ki 8:58; Jer 31:33; Eze 36:26
See also
5764 attitudes, negative to God
6021 sin, nature of
6185 imagination, desires
6193 impenitence
6221 rebellion
6245 stubbornness
7223 exodus, significance
8718 disobedience
8802 pride
8834 unbelief
Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies.
Hardness of heart
A. Causes of:
God
Rom. 9:18
Man
Job 9:4
Unbelief
John 12:40
Sin
Heb. 3:13
Warnings against:
Recognized by Egyptians
1 Sam. 6:6
Unheeded by Israel
Jer. 5:3
Lamented by the prophets
Is. 63:17
Addressed to Christians
Heb. 3:8–15; Heb. 4:7
Nelson’s quick reference topical Bible index.
HARDNESS OF HEART. 2 Chr. 36:15, 16; Psa. 95:8–11 Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7. Prov. 1:24–31; Prov. 29:1; Rev. 9:20, 21 See AFFLICTION, HARDNESS OF HEART IN; IMPENITENCE; REPROBACY. New Nave’s Topical Bible.
NIV | “He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.” (Proverbs 28:26)
ESV | Pr 28:26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
KJV 1900 | Pr 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
Keep in mind that this all happened just after a long day of teaching and serving and right after they had fed the 5000, which in itself was an amazing miracle. This was not at the beginning of our Lord's ministry, but closer toward the end of it, so the disciples had a lot of teaching already under their belts. They should have immediately grasped the significance of Jesus feeding the people, but then if they had, He wouldn't have needed to walk out to the boat as He did to bring the lesson home to them.
Especially today with all the false teaching aimed at feelings and experiences we hear a lot about how people "know" or "believe" something because of their experience, or feelings. It sounds good, but it isn't at all scriptural, and goes against what God tells us, which is why it's so important to understand what the Lord tells us about our hearts and thoughts. Even many pastors have fallen for this. Yet here, we have this linked to a hardened heart, and that to me is very scary! The very last thing we want as children of God is for our hearts to be hardened to Him or His Truth, for it's His Word, His Truth that sets us free. We certainly do not want to be slaves to sin any longer, and yet that's exactly what a hardened heart will do to us.
The Lord pointed out to me in this story, that when the disciples reacted to Jesus based on instinct of their feelings, they were inevitably wrong, and failed to get what Jesus wanted them to understand, just like this time. They missed what was most important because they were relying on self: on instinct, feelings, and experiences. If you go back through the gospels, you'll see this happen time and time again. Thankfully, we see in Acts that they do eventually outgrow this as they grow in their faith. (after the resurrection.) I don't think many of us can say we've had an experience like this, and if we had, most people wouldn't argue with anything we said we believed because of it... unless of course they knew God's Word, that basing our beliefs on experience and feelings was wrong and not according to scripture.
So what was it they missed? This, among other verses in the synoptic gospels shows us that there was more to the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus's walk on water during the storm then just feeding people and overcoming nature. We need to look at what the other gospels say about this story to get all the information we need to understand it. Look at what Matthew says after Jesus had climbed into the boat with them and the storm suddenly stopped: “Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”” (Matthew 14:33) This is the very first time the disciples acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God. Before this, the only ones that had named Him this were Satan and some of his demons, except for Nathaniel in John 1:39 and John the Baptist in John 1:34, but not the disciples. This was the point of feeding the 5000 and walking out to the boat in the stormy sea that Jesus wanted the disciples to grasp. He wanted them to understand and know that He was God, not just a prophet, not just a miracle worker, not just a teacher and a good man, and that His deity was not some concept, but a fact that could be relied on.
Why didn't the disciples get this before? Mark says it's because their hearts were hardened. Basically that means that their sin nature was exerted. I think that's the main thing that we don't want to realize or acknowledge - that our sin nature affects our thoughts and feelings, and how we perceive things and people. If we really think it through, with God's help, we realize that it couldn't be any other way. Adam sinned by eating the fruit from the tree of "knowledge of good and evil". What does knowledge affect? Our thoughts! And if you take that further, with the help of scripture, we see that our thoughts invariably affect our feelings as well. So if the way we think and feel has been corrupted, we really don't stand a chance do we? No, we don't. Not unless God directly intervenes and gives us what we so desperately need. He does just that at our salvation, when He pours His love into our hearts (feeling) and gives us the mind of Christ (thought). There's a "but" in all of that though. In order to use the mind of Christ and in order to love God and others the way God does, we must first always abide in Christ and His Word. (John 8:31; Colossians 3:10; 2 Peter 1:3–4; John 15:4–10; Ephesians 4:22–24; Jude 21; Romans 12:2; Romans 6:19; etc)
The disciples at most thought of Jesus as the Messiah that Israel was looking for, but did not consider Him God. In fact, the Jewish leaders didn't understand the Old Testament scriptures that talked about the Messiah. They couldn't make them fit into one person, because what man could suffer and die and yet live and rule the world with Israel at it's center? They finally decided that God must be talking about two different people and of course since they were under the yoke of Rome when Jesus came, the Messiah they were most looking for was the one who would get rid of Roman rule and put Israel at the top. This is what was in the hearts of the average person and the religious leaders. They desperately wanted out from under Romes foot and of course wanted to rule themselves and others too. So their hearts were "hardened" because they were looking at the events of the day, the months and years prior, with that in mind. They wanted Jesus to bring in the Kingdom - what we call the Millennial Kingdom, and they wanted it now. In their minds, a man, "the Messiah" would do this with God's power. They knew there was only "one" God and repeated that daily in their prayers, so it wouldn't "naturally" occur to them that Jesus Himself could be God. They'd seen many miracles and those were awesome, and they knew without doubt that they came from God....but didn't realize that God was standing there with them! This all came from automatically trusting their feelings, thoughts and the experiences they perceived through those natural feelings and thoughts. This is what hardened their hearts.
This is what hardens our hearts if we don't believe and obey the Lord concerning our thoughts and feelings; if we base our beliefs on our experiences and our feelings. The more we do that, the harder our hearts become to God's Truth. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12 we're taught about the powerful delusion that God sends. This is sent to those who have a hardened heart because they preferred to trust in their own feelings and experiences rather then God's Truth. In 2 Timothy 3:5–7 we're told that people who have hard hearts like this are always learning, but are never able to acknowledge the Truth, because what they've learned isn't the Truth; it's worldly lies and illusions based on their feelings and experiences. Therefore they're deceived and they deceive others. They resist the Holy Spirit, they won't listen to Him and most likely by the time their hearts have been totally hardened, they don't even hear Him anymore. (although of course they'll have plenty of "experiences" and "feelings" that tell them otherwise). They've grieved the Holy Spirit, which of course we're commanded not to do in Ephesians 4:30. How could it not grieve the Holy Spirit to resist Him like this? That's exactly what the people and especially the religious leaders of Jesus's day did as well, and many of us are following right in their footsteps, while Satan laughs triumphantly. Listen to what we're told about grieving the Holy Spirit: “Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.” (Isaiah 63:10) That's pretty scary if you ask me, and reminds me that God disciplines those He loves. Of course that's assuming that the person is actually saved to begin with. They may very well have fooled themselves about that as well since that's yet another way that Satan prevents many from actually becoming saved. Unbelievers too can have hardened hearts. See what we're told about that: “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” (Ephesians 4:17–18) One of the worst things about a hardened heart is that it can cause the person to be unable to change their mind and choose life, even if they want to! We're shown that in Hebrews 12:17 among other places. What's really horrid is that no person knows just how hard their heart really is or if they've crossed that line or not. Only God knows for sure. There is no "rule" or "law" that states that if you rely on your own feelings or experiences X number of times, or refuse the Truth from God's Word X number of time, that's when you've crossed the line and will no longer have a choice, but will be forever trapped in your corrupted thinking and in Hell if not saved. (if saved you will have caused Jesus to be ashamed of you, and lost eternal rewards but not your salvation)
If you want to study about this on your own, look up scriptures about "hard or hardened heart" or "double minded". Let me show you the definition of the word in the original languages. The last one especially will give you both scriptures and topics you can use to find out more about this as well.
6189 סֵעֵף (sē·ʿēp̄): adj.; ≡ Str 5588; TWOT 1527e—1. LN 73 disloyal, double-minded, i.e., pertaining to not being genuine and having divided loyalties to someone or something (Ps 119:113+) Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament)
5588 סֵעֵף [ceʿeph /say·afe/] adj. From 5586; TWOT 1527e; GK 6189; AV translates as “thoughts” once. 1 ambivalent, divided, half-hearted. Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. 1374 δίψυχος [dipsuchos /dip·soo·khos/] adj. From 1364 and 5590; TDNT 9:665; TDNTA 1342; GK 1500; Two occurrences; AV translates as “double minded” twice. 1 double minded. 1A wavering, uncertain, doubting. 1B divided in interest. Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon.
DOUBLE-MINDED Words used only by James in the NT to express a lack of purity of heart or a lack of absolute trust in God. The term literally means “of two minds or souls” (Greek s). It describes one who is trusting in God while also trusting in something else, such as self or the world. James encouraged those who were lacking in wisdom to ask God. The one who asks God and doubts is described in James 1:8 as an “indecisive man” (HCSB). He is one who is wavering between asking God in faith and not believing God will or can answer. He may also be one who asks God yet resorts to his own wisdom instead of that which God provides. This person is described as one who was “unstable in all his ways” indicating that his entire life was lived without a complete trust in God. Later in his letter James encouraged his readers to purify their hearts (James 4:8), because they were “double-minded people.” James was calling for these Christians to make a commitment to trust in God and His ways while denying their own ways and trusting in themselves.
HARDNESS OF HEART The action or state of resistance to and rejection of the Word and will of God. Hardness of heart can be a refusal to hear the Word of God, or it can be a refusal to submit and obey the will of God. This rejection can include both the message delivered and the messenger who delivers it.“Hardening” is a process whereby a person ceases to have a conscience about an evil action that is committed or a sinful attitude that is embodied, such as pride, godlessness, hatred, lust, etc. (Heb. 3:13; 1 Tim. 4:2). Sinful habits can produce or compound this hardened condition. Hardness of heart can eventually destroy one’s sense of sin, ruling out the possibility of repentance. One of the major issues in this topic concerns the agent of the hardening. The Bible pictures both God and individuals as agents of hardening. For example one passage in the book of Exodus states that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exod. 8:15). In other places, God is said to be the one who hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exod. 4:21; 10:1). Paul asserts that God will harden whomever He wants and will bestow mercy on whomever He chooses (Rom. 9:18). The Bible also gives strong warnings against hardening the heart, implying that persons are responsible for the condition of their hearts (Ps. 95:8; Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7). Hardening may therefore be considered both the work of God and the individual.The significance of the passages that speak of hardness of heart is that God uses these destitute conditions as a means of accomplishing His purposes. Because of the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, God liberated the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and eventually led them to the promised land (Josh. 11:20). God used the hardness of Israel to bring salvation to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:7–25). In these passages God’s sovereign purposes are manifested. The entrenched hardness of people’s hearts may be the occasion through which God manifests His mercy and grace. The brightness of God’s redemption is highlighted against the darkness of humanity’s sin. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
HARDNESS OF HEART — stubbornness in opposition to God’s will (1 Sam. 6:6; Job 38:30). The classic case in the Bible of such disobedience was the Pharaoh of Egypt, who refused to release the Hebrew people in spite of repeated displays of God’s power (Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 14:4, 17). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible dictionary
hardness of heart
Primarily, in Scripture, a persistent inner refusal to hear and obey the word of God. Also, in a more general sense, an uncaring or unsympathetic attitude towards other people.
Kinds of hardness of heart
As disobedience towards God Ps 95:8-9 Referring to the disobedience of the Israelites in their wilderness wanderings. See also Heb 3:7-9
Eph 4:18 See also Pr 28:14; Zec 7:12; Ro 2:5; Heb 3:12-15; 4:5-7
As the work of God Ex 10:20 God’s judgment on Pharaoh was to confirm him in his stubbornness so that he might feel the full weight of his wrath; Isa 6:10 See also Jn 12:40
As an uncaring attitude towards other people Dt 15:7 See also Ps 17:10; 73:7; 119:70; Mt 19:8 pp Mk 10:5; Jas 2:15-16; 1Jn 3:17
Examples of hardness of heart
Pharaoh Ex 7:13,22; 8:19,32; 9:7,34-35
Israel 1Sa 6:6; Jer 5:23; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 16:12; 18:12; 23:26
Zedekiah 2Ch 36:12-13
Jesus Christ’s disciples Mk 6:51-52; 8:17
Jesus Christ’s generation Mt 13:15; 19:8 pp Mk 10:5; Mk 3:5
Paul’s hearers Ac 28:25-27
God’s remedies for hardness of heart
Repentance Ps 51:17 See also 1Ki 8:46-49; 2Ch 34:27; Jer 3:17; Eze 18:31
A work of grace Eze 11:19 God’s promise to Israel. See also 1Ki 8:58; Jer 31:33; Eze 36:26
See also
5764 attitudes, negative to God
6021 sin, nature of
6185 imagination, desires
6193 impenitence
6221 rebellion
6245 stubbornness
7223 exodus, significance
8718 disobedience
8802 pride
8834 unbelief
Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies.
Hardness of heart
A. Causes of:
God
Rom. 9:18
Man
Job 9:4
Unbelief
John 12:40
Sin
Heb. 3:13
Warnings against:
Recognized by Egyptians
1 Sam. 6:6
Unheeded by Israel
Jer. 5:3
Lamented by the prophets
Is. 63:17
Addressed to Christians
Heb. 3:8–15; Heb. 4:7
Nelson’s quick reference topical Bible index.
HARDNESS OF HEART. 2 Chr. 36:15, 16; Psa. 95:8–11 Heb. 3:8, 15; 4:7. Prov. 1:24–31; Prov. 29:1; Rev. 9:20, 21 See AFFLICTION, HARDNESS OF HEART IN; IMPENITENCE; REPROBACY. New Nave’s Topical Bible.
NIV | “He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.” (Proverbs 28:26)
ESV | Pr 28:26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
KJV 1900 | Pr 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.
!!
