"Why Would God Harden Anyone’s Heart Against Him?"

John 12:36-50

No doubt about it, God does harden some people’s hearts against Him so they can’t believe in Him: so they can’t hear and see what He says and shows people. It is stated several times in the Bible (Rm.9:18-25; Is.6:8-13; Ex.4:21; Mt.12:31-32 & 13:10-16). There is this thing of “Shaking the dust off of your feet” and not “Casting your pearls before swine.” Genesis 6:3 shows that from the Fall to the Flood man was not under the Old Covenant but was under the law of sowing and reaping (Gal.6:7-8 – man has always lived under this law). Man continually sowed to the flesh until there was no remedy so God sent a flood to destroy them. He finally gave up on them, except for Noah and his family who “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

John 12:36 shows how this hardening begins: “These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. If left to ourselves, our hearts become dead, cold, and hardened. “Verse 37 explains why it happens: “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him.” All mysteries are hidden from those who refuse to simply believe.

You don’t want this to ever happen to you or your loved ones (Prov.19:1). This would be the death of all hope in the Lord, when He finally says, “Enough! I’m through with you.” He did this with Esau (Heb.12:15-17) These rejecting and hardening Scriptures are very difficult but they must be dealt with because they are in the Bible. We must not ignore them simply because we do not like what they say. If you fear you have committed this “unpardonable sin” (1Jn.5:16) then you probably have not.

First, all God-given prophecies must be fulfilled. Every one of them. “That the saying of the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.” Prophecy is God foretelling what He is going to do. In this passage what had He said He was going to do? Hide the truth from those who would not receive the light He brought to them. Therefore, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes…” This is not God preordaining some to destruction willy nilly. It is God doing what He said He would do with those who refuse to hear what He said, or read what is written of Him in the Scriptures. Controversy and confusion comes to those who refuse to believe the revelation and follow the Light they have been given.

Secondly, great emphasis is given in the Bible to those who, by the grace of God, choose to believe in the light God gives them: “among the chief rulers also many believed on Him.” These guys may have been too chicken to confess it before the Pharisees, but they did believe. Their time would come, when push came to shove, as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus proved, they would step forward and throw in their lot with those who believed in Jesus.

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