A hard heart isn’t a blinded one. It doesn’t need convincing. You may think to yourself that if you could only dismantle the argument, then the person would receive the revelation from God. But this just isn’t true. A hard heart knows the truth but simply will not surrender. A hard heart is not an uninformed one needing some more information. It will just not surrender. Pharaohs still exist all around us today.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.” 2 If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, 3 the hand of the Lord will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’” 5 The Lord set a time and said, “Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land.” 6 And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. 7 Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.” (Exodus 9 v 1 – 7)
We have a risen Christ, not a dead livestock field, as our proof. We have empty tombs, changed lives, two thousand years of a gospel that has spread the entire world. How many people have to stand and testify of what Christ has done in order to convince another? But this is not the issue.
It is this. The question a hardened heart asks isn’t “is this true?” It’s “what will it cost me if I admit it is?”
Don’t assume that this is all about pharaohs. An unyielding heart can sit in a pew with all the knowledge of God that is needed and still not bend the knee at the altar. Saying ‘YES’ to God is easy, but it is the most difficult thing to do.
Missions Paul 