`Why might it be a problem for us?
It would be easy for those of us who are Christian believers to think that hard-heartedness will not affect us. But the Bible makes it clear that it is not just those who are far from God who exhibit the symptoms of a hardened heart.
It was an issue for the Israelites who wandered the wilderness with Moses. Psalm 95:8-9 warns God’s people: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, [9]When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.”
The footnote in NKJV says that the rebellion referred to here was the incident referred to in Exodus 17:1-7 when the people rose up against Moses because they had no drinking water. These people had witnessed the miraculous plagues that God had bought on Egypt in order to rescue them from their slavery. They had no reason to doubt God’s love for them, or His ability to provide for them, but their thinking was totally unspiritual. Instead of trusting the Lord, they went by what they could see and understand with their natural minds and concluded that the situation was hopeless. Even when they saw the water God provided for them pouring out from a rock, they did not learn their lesson. Their hearts were still hard and it cost them their entry into the Promised Land.
Numbers 14:22-23 “…because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, [23] they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.”
The problem continued throughout the generations of God’s chosen people. Jesus recognised that many of those in the crowd who came to see Him had hard hearts. When the disciples asked why He spoke in parables He replied:
Matthew 13:13-15 “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. [14] And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; [15] For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’”
Like their ancestors these people who had been raised in the Jewish religion did not recognise what God was doing in their midst. Their minds were dull; they were slow to perceive spiritual things because they had chosen to close their eyes and ears to the truth. They heard Jesus’ words but they did not receive them into their hearts. They were not looking for change. They were comfortable just as they were.
Jesus had to rebuke even His closest disciples for their hardness of heart. We see an example of this after the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 when Jesus told His disciples to row across the Sea of Galilee and wait for Him in Bethsaida. The wind was against them and they were still struggling to make headway when He came walking across the water towards them.
Mark 6:49-52 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out; [50] for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” [51] Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled. [52] For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
The disciples were slow to recognise Jesus and they were amazed when the wind ceased, even though they had seen Him do many miraculous things before – including calming a storm (Mark 4:35-41). He knew where they were and what they were doing. Why did they not expect His help?
It certainly never occurred to them that they themselves had the power to deal with the strong wind, even though they had cast out demons and healed the sick (Mark 6:12-13) and, just a few hours previously, had seen bread and fish multiply in their hands as they took it to people (Mark 6:41-42).
Verse 52 tells us that the reason for this is that their hearts were hardened. Although they had had many occasions to see Jesus’ compassion, His power and His sufficiency for every human need their expectations were still based on what they could see with their natural eyes rather than the realities of the supernatural realm. They had seen what Jesus could do but they had not taken hold of it for themselves. They had not allowed their old ways of thinking to be challenged and changed, so they were not yet sensitive to the ways of God.
Mark 8:1-9 describes another occasion when Jesus fed a multitude and again we see the dullness of the disciples’ spiritual perception. Incredibly, when Jesus spoke to them about the people’s hunger their response was to ask, “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” (Mark 8:4). In spite of the miraculous provision that God had made for the 5,000 they had no expectation of Him doing it again.
Shortly afterwards some Pharisees asked Jesus to give them a sign that He was from God. (Mark 8:11-12). Given the number of miracles He had performed in their presence this request clearly demonstrated the Pharisees’ hardness of heart. They were offended, both because He did not fit their expectations of the Messiah and because He challenged their religious leadership, so they did not want to believe in Him. Those with open minds saw plenty of evidence that Jesus was the Son of God but the Pharisees were looking for reasons not to believe in Him. He saw straight through their religious facade to their proud and greedy hearts. They were entrenched in their religiosity and beyond Jesus’ reach.
With this incident fresh in His mind Jesus warned His disciples to “beware of the learn of the Pharisees and Herod” (Mark 8:15). Luke adds the explanation that what Jesus is talking about is hypocrisy (Luke 12:1). It seems that Jesus was warning them that that was the direction they were heading in. Their hearts were so dull that they thought He was referring to the fact that they did not have sufficient bread!
Mark 8:17 “But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, ‘Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?
Even after the resurrection, Jesus’ disciples still did not see or understand His mission.
Mark 16:14 “Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”
These examples show that it is quite possible for those who love Jesus to have hardened hearts. It is the default position of those whose minds have not yet been renewed to depend on natural human wisdom rather than seeing things God’s way.
Hardness of heart is grievous to God. Mark 3:5 speaks of Jesus looking around at the Pharisees with anger, “being grieved by the hardness of their hearts”.
It also brings consequences. Proverbs 28:14 says that “he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity” while Zechariah 7:12 tells us that “great wrath came from the LORD of hosts” towards those who rejected the words of his messenger.
Matthew 13:12 says of those with soft hearts, “For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance” but those who hearts are hard will find that, “whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him”. Those who disbelieve or are indifferent to God’s words will lose whatever ability for understanding they once had and will continue in their ignorance.
The writer to the Hebrews warned Christian believers that they needed to guard against hardness of heart.
Hebrews 3:7-9 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, [8] Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, [9] Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.“
Hebrews 3:12-15 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; [13] but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be . [14] For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, [15] while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’”
It is clear that hardness of heart is a danger even for believing Christians and that it is our responsibility to make sure that we do not go there. That is what we will consider next week.
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