Dear Mike,

I am having trouble reconciling the verse “I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. Whom I will harden I will harden.” Doesn’t this at least imply that those whom God hardens are not shown mercy?

Please Help,
J____

Hi J____,
You say:

I am having trouble reconciling the verse “I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. Whom I will harden I will harden.” Doesn’t this at least imply that those whom God hardens are not shown mercy?

Indeed it does. But nowhere in scripture are we ever told that those whose hearts are hardened, remain hardened for all eternity.
God even makes clear that He hates evil men, and will not have them in His kingdom:

Psa 139:19  Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
Psa 139:20  For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Psa 139:21  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
Psa 139:22  I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

So the answer to your question is a resounding, Yes! Those who God hardens are not shown mercy. But who do you think God hardens? Do you think God hardens only Pharaoh?

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

Perhaps you think He hardened only Israel.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

If that is what you believe, then the Lord has not yet shown you the truth of these verses of scripture:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man [ you and me] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

When the truth of those two verses is given to you to believe, then you will begin to understand that it is also my heart and your heart which are hardened from God’s ways. Once the holy spirit reveals that to us, we then know that it is the old you and the old me, who are hated by God, who must die daily, and be crucified with Christ, before they can then be given to be raised together with Him in newness of life.
This is all called the process of judgment, and if we would judge ourselves now, in this life, then there will be no need for the great white throne judgment for us.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

But very few of us are given to judge ourselves now in this life, and it is through those few believers, that all those who are not now believers will be shown the same mercy and saving judgment which the elect are shown in this life.
“Condemned with the world” to what? The world is condemned to a later, less desirable judgment and chastening, so they also “will be saved by fire”, just as we are now being “saved by fire”.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

What is this “fiery trial”? Here is what Peter has in mind:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

“The ungodly and sinners will appear at the great white throne judgment. It is a “white throne”. It is not a ‘black throne’.
We are being judged first for one reason, and that is for the reason of saving all the rest of mankind:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

“As in Adam… even so in Christ” You see, when we are judged, be it in this life, or in the white throne judgment, “We are chastened of the Lord…” and all chastening is for the purpose of correction and making right or righteous.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

So judgment is chastening. Why are we chastened? We are chastened because the Lord first hardens the heart of every man. It is He who first makes us all to be “wicked men” to be destroyed through “dying daily and being crucified with Christ”.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Here are some words right from the mouth of God, which all men, including you and me, must live:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil [ into which you and I are born].
Psa 51:5  Behold, I [ Mike, you, everybody] was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

As the apostle Paul declares, “all things are ours”, including every thing in this world, and including death to our old man. But life for our new man is also ours, and through the mercy shown to us, it is given to all who do not at this time believe.
So who is it who does not believe? Whose hearts are hardened?

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed [ those who are not given to believe in this life], that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Who is this “They also?” The very next verse makes that clear:

Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

I hope these verses help to clear this up for you, and I hope they will deliver you from any fear of the lie that God will lose even one person who has ever lived. He will not, and any spirit which says otherwise knows nothing about the principle of “the sum of Thy Word” or the fact that “all things are ours” or that “man[ kind] will live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” or that “all things come alike to all”.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

So choose who you will believe. But when making that choice just remember, that “It is God who works in you both to will and to do… His good pleasure”.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

And “His good pleasure is that “all in Adam be made alive… in Christ… yet so as by fire [ the same ‘fire’ you and I are now enduring].

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

It is death and the fire which save us all.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

It is a wonderful and a beautiful and a perfect plan for the salvation of all men of all time. Let’s see now how Paul felt about this plan of God:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike