Like Pharaoh, we deserve God to harden our hearts and hand us over to our sin. But God in his grace – his undeserved favour – cuts away and frees the hearts of his people from their rebellion, and gives them new hearts.

Superficiality is the enemy of humanity.

Prizing beautiful bodies over beautiful souls. Style over substance. Cleverness over wisdom. “Likes” over love. Emojis over empathy. Eye-service over actual service. Praise over obedience.

Created things over the Creator.

Christianity does not deal with the superficial, literally the “outer face.” It deals with the substantial, “what stands under,” the essence of what makes a person.

The Bible diagnoses the problem of the human race not as a matter of health, economics, politics, or education, but as the corruption of the heart.

It holds out the corresponding prospect of new hearts with new desires. Regeneration. The New Birth.

We examine this exhilarating doctrine in our tenth and final study of Exodus 1–4, the prologue of the book of Exodus.

In His Judgement God May Harden a Sinner’s Heart

Exodus 4:18–21 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, ‘Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.’ Jethro said, ‘Go, and I wish you well.’ 19Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.’ 20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. 21The Lord said to Moses, ‘When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Even before God’s prophet has demanded Pharaoh to release his people from slavery, the LORD has passed sentence on him.

Like all the Egyptian kings, Pharaoh counts himself a divine child of the gods. Like all Egyptians, he worships idols. Like every other human being, Pharaoh was born with a sinful heart which suppresses the truth about God.

Paul exposes the universal sin of idolatry in this crucial New Testament statement:

Romans 1:18–23 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Though God had made his existence and attributes inexcusably obvious in creation, Pharaoh had suppressed these truths. Instead of giving glory to his Creator he had, in his dark and sin-addled heart, chosen to give that glory to created things instead.

Pharaoh’s idolatry manifested itself when he hardened his heart to his Creator’s command to free the Hebrews. In his fury for this treason God would punish Pharaoh by further hardening his heart in his idolatry and disobedience. Paul describes this appalling punishment: “Just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done” (1:28).

God have mercy. For we all deserve to have our hard hearts more hardened, to be handed over to our sin and its consequences.

Exodus 4:22–23 Then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so that he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.”

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