Exodus 8-11 shows us eight more plagues on the people of Egypt and the prediction of the final plague: the death of the firstborn. As we read Exodus 8-11 we see over and over again Pharaoh tells Moses if he relieves Egypt of the current plague, he will let the people of Israel go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD. Each time once the plague ends, Pharaoh goes back on his word. The interesting thing is sometimes we read that Pharoah’s heart was heard or remained hard, and at other times we read God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. So, which was it? Was Pharaoh’s heart hard, or did God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? We have to read out of the text what is there. The text tells us both, which means Pharaoh’s heart was hard and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Which came first? God had told Moses he would harden Pharaoh’s heart in order to show His power to both the Israelites and the Egyptians.
Some have concluded that makes God unfair. After all, if God hardened Pharaoh’s heart then how could Pharaoh be held accountable for having a hard heart? It’s a great question. I’m not going to defend God, because He doesn’t need me to defend Him. I will say Pharaoh started out with a hard heart as every person does. We are all sinners. None of us are righteous. Are hearts are hard. Does God further harden some hearts, so they can never become soft? It appears that way as we read the Bible from cover to cover, but never more so than with Pharaoh. Yet, repeatedly we see both that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. The ultimate answer to this question remains for us to learn when we see Jesus face-to-face one day. For now, the application I take from the situation is when God offers His grace to us, we do well to receive it. When we harden our hearts over and over again, God shows us in His word that He eventually gives us what we want. That is our hearts become hardened to His grace. Does that mean the longer we wait to respond to God’s grace, the less likely it is we will respond? In practice, that’s exactly what it means. God’s grace is available in each of our lives, until we die. But the clear message of the Bible is the sooner we respond to it, the better!
Today we turn to Mark 1 again. As we continue through the 1 year plan, we will repeat gospel readings at times. My purpose in having us do this is I want us to become familiar with the “outline” of each of the gospels over time. As we become more and more familiar with Jesus’ life story, it will become more and more part of our minds (heads) and our souls (hearts). Mark 1 offers us a great deal of action that covered a relatively short period of time. We read first of John the Baptist preparing the way. That likely took place over a matter of months, and certainly not more than a year or two. Jesus’ baptism and temptation took place over a period of forty days. (We know that from Matthew and Luke’s gospel, which is why we need to learn the outline of each of the gospels.) The calling of first four disciples, seems to have taken only a matter of minutes. Jesus teaching in a synagogue and driving out an evil spirit took a few hours at most. Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and the healing of many of the townspeople took an evening. Jesus praying in a solitary place took a few hours. When His followers came to find Him to take Him back to serve the people He served the day before, it took Jesus only minutes to tell them they were going somewhere else. Finally, Jesus’ healing of a man with leprosy took only moments.
This brief chunk of Jesus’ life reminds us that important, even vital events can take place in moments, although sometimes they take longer. Jesus’ entire ministry on earth was only about three years, so we don’t have any examples of Jesus waiting for years for something He prayed about to take place. That makes sense, though, doesn’t it? Jesus didn’t come to invest a lifetime on earth, and to show us every possible scenario for our lives as His followers. Jesus came to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, rise from the dead, and return to heaven, from where He would send the Holy Spirit to His Church. As we read Mark once again, let’s remember Jesus’ purpose was to seek and save the lost. The examples of teaching, preaching, healing and delivering we read about, show us the power of God in Jesus’ life and the power He offers us as His followers. What one thing you read about in Mark 1 will you apply in your life today?