Lesson 122
Romans Chapter Nine
The Faithfulness of God to
Paul's second example: he uses God's dealings with the Pharaoh, the
god-king of a grossly idolatrous nation, in hardening him for judgment (
This is a classic
example of the principle which Paul had stated in Romans 1:24, 26, 28, that God judicially gave the most hardened individuals
including these idolaters over to a depraved mind.
First of all, God
stated His sovereign intention to Moses: "But I will harden Pharaoh's
heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in
the
There are two
extremes we must always avoid when considering God's mercy and compassion.
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The one extreme is to overemphasize the mercy of God and conclude that God is
too kind to judge and condemn a Person to an eternity of woe.
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The other extreme is to overemphasize the severity of God and make God (in this
instance, for example) the author of Pharaoh's stubbornness.
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First let's look at Rom
"For
the Scripture says to Pharaoh"
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In Rom
In
both cases he is equating the Word of God with Scripture.
- "For this very purpose I raised you up,"
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Paul details 2 purposes related to the Pharaoh and the Exodus.
#1. "to demonstrate My power in
you,"
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to demonstrate; evndei,knumi speaks of placing of evidence on display.
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What was placed on display was the OmPo of God in the whole process of delivering
#2. "that My name might be
proclaimed throughout the whole earth."
"Hollowed
be thy name" (Mat. 6:9) = name is a reference of God or Jesus
Christ, as He is revealed through all His attributes, His perfections; reputation,
fame
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Do you remember what God told Moses in answer to his question, who shall I say
sent me?
What He said was
this; I am the
One who is. I am the living, self-existent One who
will deliver you from
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Shows His concern, mercy/compassion for His people, those He has chosen for
special function, namely to be the channel of blessing of all because the
Messiah, our Savior in the flesh comes through this line.
He can be counted
on today and tomorrow and each day always to be present with us to guide,
sustain, help, and deliver.
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The impact of the Exodus; didn't take long for the word to spread, for His name
to be known! Ex. 15:14-16; Josh. 2:8-11; 9:9
Although in our
English version only the word 'harden' is used, in the Hebrew original three
different terms with slightly different nuances of emphasis are employed;
- Exodus 7:3 hvq literally
means to make hard or insensible;
- Ex. 10:1 dbk
to make heavy, that is, unimpressionable;
- Ex. 14:4 qzx to
make strong/firm so as to be immovable.
Thus, the making
'hard,' 'heavy,' and 'firm' of the heart is exactly as often and in precisely
the same terms traced to the agency of Pharaoh himself as to that of God....
Early in the process
the hardening is traced to Pharaoh himself. Thus, before the ten plagues, and
when Aaron first Proved that he was on a divine mission by converting the rod
into a serpent, 'the heart of Pharaoh was hardened,' that is, by himself
(7:13-14).
Can we wonder that
such high-handed and inexcusable rebellion should have been ripe for the
judgment which appeared in the judicial hardening of his heart?
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Don't interpret the hardening by God to be arbitrary something God forced on
Pharaoh; not
that way at all.
It is a judicial
hardening after having 6 major demonstrations of the power of God.
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God hardened in response to Pharaoh's
self-hardening. What God did was to 2nd
the Pharaoh's choice to harden his heart.
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God did not arbitrarily harden Pharaoh's
heart, it was only after he hardened his own heart,
having developed the spiritual scar tissue, calluses on his heart;
- Word for harden
here in Rom 9 is sklhrunew; to cause one's heart to be hard, to render
obstinate, stubborn; to refuse to change one's attitude;
When God is the
subject, the one acting as He is in our passage in Rom 9:18 it speaks of a
judicial hardening;
Need to remember
that man's tendency is always to move away from truth, to suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, as we noted in Rom 1:18.
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If we persist in rejecting truth we set ourselves up for destruction of the
capacity to relate to truth; if perpetuated it invites judicial insensitivity
to truth.
How does Pharaoh's
function as ruler glorify and honor God?
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By his continued negative volition, his continuing to make wrong choices in
response to the manifestations of God's power and presence he triggered plague
after plague, which ultimately resulted in an event, the Exodus, that was such
a powerful statement of who God is and His power that it had impact throughout
the inhabited world of the day.
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9:18 Read! Do you see how this could be misinterpreted? That is, if taken by itself, separated from the context of the historical event.
- In