I just completed reading the book of Revelation and I have a question. I read that as the seven plagues were being unleashed on the earth, the inhabitants, although in pain and some awfully hurt, kept on cursing God and "shaking their fists" at Him...I remember also reading that during the plagues on Egypt prior to the Israelites' being released, Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Am I wrong in drawing what seem to be obvious parallels here? I understood that with Pharaoh, the Bible states that God hardened his heart... In Revelation, on the other hand, no such intervention by God occurred. -- R. Shank
Good observation. Yes indeed, there are parallels:
* The Apocalypse deliberately uses the imagery and language of the Exodus plagues to demonstrate how the Lord will deal with another of his people's enemies: Rome.
* Neither Pharaoh (and his magicians) nor the enemies of God in Revelation repented, despite ample incentives.
* In neither situation does God contravene human free will. This he is consistently unwilling to do.
* However, I am not so sure God did not harden his enemies' hearts in Revelation. In fact, I believe that whenever we decide to harden our hearts, God goes ahead and does the hardening. (When we place soft clay in an oven, the oven hardens the clay, and yet at the same time it is also true that we are hardening the clay.) In theological terms, the hardening on God's part and that on our part are "concurrent." In other words, God may not be intervening in Pharaoh's case at all--at least not beyond the parameters of his normal mode of operation.
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