EGW Quotes on Hearts Being Hardened
Introduction
This page is a collection of Spirit of Prophecy quotations showing the role God has in the process of hearts being hardened in sin. The quotes included are in relation to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Confusion can happen because of this verse:
“But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.” (Exo 10:20)
However, there are other verses that put the blame on Pharaoh himself:
“But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” (Exo 8:15)
“And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.” (Exo 8:32)
“And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” (Exo 9:34)
“Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?” (1 Sam 6:6)
Ellen White described how the process of Pharaoh’s heart being hardened happened and the extent of God’s involvement in that.
Here are her statements (ordered by title, disregarding “the” in titles):
“It is not God that blinds the eyes of men or hardens their hearts. He sends them light to correct their errors, and to lead them in safe paths; it is by the rejection of this light that the eyes are blinded and the heart hardened. Often the process is gradual, and almost imperceptible. Light comes to the soul through God’s word, through His servants, or by the direct agency of His Spirit; but when one ray of light is disregarded, there is a partial benumbing of the spiritual perceptions, and the second revealing of light is less clearly discerned. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the soul. Thus it had been with these Jewish leaders. They were convinced that a divine power attended Christ, but in order to resist the truth, they attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. In doing this they deliberately chose deception; they yielded themselves to Satan, and henceforth they were controlled by his power.” (The Desire of Ages, p321-323)
“God had declared concerning Pharaoh, “I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.” Exodus 4:21. There was no exercise of supernatural power to harden the heart of the king, but the seeds of rebellion that he sowed when he rejected the first miracle produced their harvest. As he continued to venture from one degree of stubbornness to another, his heart became more and more hardened, until he was called to look upon the cold, dead faces of the firstborn.” (From Eternity Past, 184)
“How does the Lord harden the hearts of men? In the same way in which the heart of Pharaoh was hardened. God sent this king a message of warning and mercy, but he refused to acknowledge the God of heaven, and would not render obedience to His commands. He asked, “Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?”
The Lord gave him evidence of His power by working signs and miracles before him. The great I AM acquainted Pharaoh with His mighty works, showing him that He was the ruler of heaven and earth, but the king chose to defy the God of heaven. He would not consent to break his proud, stubborn heart even before the King of kings, that he might receive the light; for he was determined to have his own way, and work out his rebellion. He chose to do his own will, and set aside the command of God, and the very evidence given him that Jehovah was above all the gods of the nations, above all the wise men and magicians, only served to blind his mind and harden his heart.
Had Pharaoh accepted the evidence of God’s power given in the first plague, he would have been spared all the judgments that followed. But his determined stubbornness called for still greater manifestations of the power of God, and plague followed plague, until at last he was called to look upon the dead face of his own first born, and those of his kindred; while the children of Israel, whom he had regarded as slaves, were unharmed by the plagues, untouched by the destroying angel. God made it evident upon whom rested His favor, who were His people.” (Letter 31, 1891)
“Every rejection of light hardens the heart and darkens the understanding; and thus men find it more and more difficult to distinguish between right and wrong, and they become bolder in resisting the will of God.” (MS 3, 1885)
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Pharaoh sowed obstinacy, and he reaped obstinacy. He himself put this seed into the soil. There was no more need for God by some new power to interfere with its growth than there is for Him to interfere with the growth of a grain of corn.
All that is required is that a seed shall be left to germinate and spring up to bring forth fruit after its kind.” (MS 126, Dec. 10, 1901; SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p1100)
“Every additional evidence of the power of God that the Egyptian monarch resisted, carried him on to a stronger and more persistent defiance of God…. This case is a clear illustration of the sin against the Holy Ghost. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gradually the Lord withdrew His Spirit. Removing His restraining power, He gave the king into the hands of the worst of all tyrants—self.” (Review and Herald, July 27, 1897, SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p1100)
“How Hearts Become Hardened
There has been a sad departure from right principles. The Word of God declares that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. This was done when, giving Pharaoh warnings and revealing God’s miraculous power before him, he braced himself up to resist the light, and refused to acknowledge the Monarch of heaven and yield to His requirements. Every time that Pharaoh resisted the Spirit of God his heart grew harder and more difficult to impress, until the restraining influence of the Spirit of God was removed. Pharaoh sowed continually the seeds of obstinacy, and he reaped obstinacy, and he kept up his determined spirit of obstinacy till he perished in the Red Sea.” (Selections from Testimonies to the Managers and Workers in our Institutions, p35)
“After the plague was stayed, the king refused to let Israel go. Rebellion produces rebellion. The king had become so hardened with his continual opposition to the will of God, that his whole being rose in rebellion to the awful exhibitions of His divine power.” (Spiritual Gifts, vol. 3, p215)
“We read that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. How?—It was by revealing himself as a God who had power above all gods. The Governor of the universe, the God that ruleth in the heavens and upon earth, sent this wicked, idolatrous, tyrannical king a message to let his people go. When the king refused to let Israel go, God made his power apparent in sending the plagues, and in exhibiting his might by great signs and wonders. But Pharaoh resisted the power of God. It was the king’s sowing time. God does not put a spell upon men to force them to resist him, but the very evidence that should have convinced Pharaoh, only hardened him in unbelief, and at every exhibition of the power of God, his heart hardened in obstinacy.” (Youth Instructor, Nov. 30, 1893)