And the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” (Exodus 7:1-5 ESV)
God's people, Israel, are in the bondage of slavery in Egypt. They have called out to God, and He has heard them. His response is to choose and send Moses and his brother, Aaron, to go to the most powerful king of the time, the Pharaoh of Egypt, and demand that he let God's people go. And even as He sends Moses and Aaron, he tells them, "But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you."
One of the roles of a prophet of God is to speak truth to power, whether power listens or not. Often the powerful respond to a message from God with defensiveness and resistance. With a hardened heart. So in a very real sense, the truth of God calls forth a hardened heart in those who are prone to resist Him. I believe that is a key principle in understanding what God meant when He said, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart."
Notice also, that God says, "...though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you." God knows Pharaoh's heart will be defiant and hard when confronted with the heat of the miraculous plagues of frogs and flies and boils and hail. I believe God put Pharaoh in the frying pan of the plagues, knowing that the same heat that softens the butter fries the egg.
When I was a young Christian, my mother, who was a skeptic, told me one time that God hardening Pharaoh's heart meant that we don't really have free will, and God causes all the stuff that happens in our lives. I thought there was something off with that idea at the time, and I have come to believe that there is a deeper truth involved.
God created us in His image, which includes the free will to choose to love Him or resist Him. At the deepest level, I believe that is because love that is forced is not really love. If God is sovereign and His will must be done in any and all cases, and we human beings do not really have free will to choose to love Him or rebel against Him, then we are puppets, and God is responsible for all the sin and evil in the world.
But that is not the Biblical picture of God. He is good and He resists evil. Adam and Eve used their freedom to disobey Him, and brought sin into the human race. The evil in the world is a direct consequence of two things: our enemy, Satan, who opposes God in all things and sows evil into the world, and the actions of fallen, broken, sinful human beings who inflict pain and evil on one another.
God limited His sovereignty with Adam and Eve and allowed them to choose to eat the forbidden fruit or not to eat it. He gave Pharaoh every chance to humble himself and obey God, letting the people of Israel go. And He gives us the freedom to obey Him or refuse Him. But God is God, and He can use all of humanity's billions of choices to accomplish His sovereign will. He puts us in the heat, and our response determines whether our hearts are softened or hardened. The same heat that melts the butter fries the egg.
Ultimately, God's will is going to be accomplished. Ultimately, Israel is going to be delivered from slavery. Ultimately, God will use the crucifixion of His Son, Jesus Christ, to turn the tables on Satan and defeat sin and death, delivering us from them. And ultimately, Jesus will come again to fully establish God's Kingdom, to right every wrong, and to gather us to Himself to live with Him in glory forever.
In the meantime, we choose our choices within His sovereign plan. God chooses the choices we can choose from, and we choose our choices among the choices God gives us. God limits His sovereignty to give us free will, and then uses our free will to accomplish His sovereign plans. We can spare ourselves much pain and suffering by seeking His will instead of resisting it. All Egypt suffered because of Pharaoh's hard heart. Don't be Pharaoh. Live in loving surrender to the Lord of the universe who created you, who loves you, and who redeems you.
God did multiply his signs and wonders in Egypt, and used Pharaoh's hard heart to demonstrate to all of Egypt His superiority over their gods, including Pharaoh, who claimed to be a god. Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart by putting him in the heat of the plagues? In addition to bringing Pharaoh to the point where he would finally give in and let the people go, God also used the occasion to demonstrate that He alone is the Living God, and all the gods of Egypt were imposters. "The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”
God's sovereign dealing with Pharaoh gives me hope. This world only seems to be spinning out of control. God is still on His throne, and He is able to establish both justice and grace for His people in the midst of this fallen world. And one day He will consummate His Kingdom of perfect peace for all eternity. No Pharaoh or king or president or government can stop it.
God will accomplish His will, both in us and through us, either with our cooperation or in spite of us. Don't be Pharaoh. Be Christlike. Follow Jesus as Lord and of your life and as King of the universe, and in the end, you will be set free.