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Thursday, January 2, 2020: Hardness of Heart
01/03/2020

Posted on 01/03/2020 3:56:09 AM PST by Patriot777

Mark 16:14: "Afterward He (Jesus Christ) appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen Him after he was risen."

In spite of all the Old Testament prophecies, Jesus's repeated promises that He would rise again, and every single teaching and counsel and love and guidance and miracle that the disciples witnessed as Christ healed, delivered and saved thousands of people--His disciples abandoned Him in the garden when He was arrested and fled into hiding.

It really, really makes you feel to take hard notice as a follower of Christ Jesus as to how you will react as the time grow so very short for His Return; this earth is reeling and tossing like a ship about to break up, and its crew sick with what is coming upon them with every crashing wave of wickedness and terror on every side. The Lord compares this time as to a woman experiencing the ever-increasing strength of contractions and pain signaling the imminent birth of her child.

There are more Christians than we know of that are already being killed for their witness of the Lord Jesus in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt; and not to leave out that in many countries such as China, Christians are being thrown into prison, hard labor, torture, and the unspeakable horror of being slaughtered for the appropriation of body parts and organs to place up for sale to the highest bidder. And the unbelieving population of this vast country, even unto the far reaches of every direction, the Chinese government uses any excuse to arrest someone and then again do unspeakable things to them. It is now known that not only they also are being used for harvesting organs, but for genetic research involving, apparently, the manipulation of both egg and human fetus to 'create' a new type of human being. They, if they survive, will be abominable monsters...and possibly part of the 200-million-man army mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

Beloved, how strong is your faith in the Lord Jesus? If you're not sure that you have truly received Him as Lord and Savior with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, do it now. Your new life will begin both here on earth and in Heaven, your eternal spirit joined forever with Christ--no matter what happens. Nothing can separate you from God from now on; you've trusted your life to Him, and God Almighty through the power of the Holy Spirit will be with you. No one, no force on earth above or below, or any wicked or other creature, can separate you from the Father's Love and from your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! AMEN!

Spiritual "hardness of heart"

The Israelites, even after they were delivered from 430 years of unspeakable bondage at the hand of Pharaoh and were led out of Egypt by God's chosen leader, Moses and by the Mighty Hand of Almighty God, is a perfect example in the Word of how very, very quickly people can become spiritually hard of heart. God Himself hardened Pharaoh's heart as recorded in Exodus 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: (staff becoming a serpent and swallowing Pharaoh's priests serpent, and then becoming a rod again; Moses's hand, when put into his bosom, becoming leprous--and when he put his hand again into his bosom, returning normal as his other flesh; taking water from the river (likely the Nile) and pouring it out on dry land, where it became blood) [continued] "but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go."

The Israelites then witnessed all the plagues that the Lord God brought against the Egyptians and Pharaoh's own household: Exodus 7:20-25: With every water source becoming blood for seven days (and the immense fish die-out as a result)

Exodus 8:1-14: Aaron stretching forth his hand over every water source at God's command which brought forth a plague of frogs (and at Pharaoh's pleading with Moses and Aaron to withdraw the frogs, God ceased the plague)

Exodus 8:16-18: Aaron smiting the dust of the land at the command of the Lord God, which brought forth lice

Exodus 8:21-31: Then God sent another plague of swarms of flies

Exodus 9:1-7: Then a terrific disease that affected all cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, oxen, and sheep--in which all the cattle died

Exodus 9:8-12: At the command of God, Moses and Aaron taking handfuls of ashes of the furnace, Moses sprinkling it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh--which became a small dust over all the land of Egypt and caused a horrible, grievous breakout of boils upon every Egyptian man and animal

Exodus 9:13-14: "The Lord God then told Moses to "Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, "Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon they servants, and upon thy people; that thous mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth."

Exodus 9:15-31: The Lord God stretched forth His Mighty Hand and sent a unbelievable pestilence by raining hail mixed with fire that beat down every one of Pharaoh's servants that did not heed the Word of the Lord God and bring their herd of animals and they themselves to take shelter, and the hail and fire also wiped out every plant in the field and all the trees, leaving only wheat--which had not sprouted as yet.

Exodus 10:12-19: The Lord God through Moses brought yet another plague of locusts upon the entire land of Egypt, such so that they covered the everything on the ground and in the dwelling places of the Egyptians, darkening the land

Exodus 10:21-27: The Lord God telling Moses to stretch out his hand, and a overwhelmingly deep darkness came over Egypt, such that it could be felt!

Exodus 11:1-3: God told Moses to talk to the people and thus they borrowed of their neighbors jewels of silver and gold; the Hebrews found miraculous favor in the eyes of the Egyptian people, and Moses was thought of as "...very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people."

Exodus 11:1-7: God slays the firstborn of all Egyptians, from Pharaoh's own household to the least of the servants and all the people, including all their animals (but not one Hebrew suffered this plague because they obeyed God's Word through Moses and did all that was asked of them and all the required preparations in order to avoid it).

Exodus 14:1-31: Pharaoh's armies coming after the Israelites as they camped by the sea, and the Lord God placing a pillar of fire and a also a pillar of smoke to divide the Egyptians from the Israelites--and also to guide the massive throng of God's Chosen People through the wilderness and when to camp. Moses was told by the Lord to stretch out his hand, and God caused a strong east wind to blow throughout the night, parting the sea and making dry land for Israel to walk upon and finally escape Pharaoh and his armies. Pharaoh sent his entire army of 600 chariots and drivers, foot soldiers and horsemen after the Israelites, but the Lord God brought back the sea over the Egyptian armies and drowned every man and every beast--as at the same time the Israelites finished their journey on dry land in the midst of the upheld walls of the sea!

As one goes on in Exodus and to Numbers to read the account of all the other miracles, signs and wonders at the Hand of God through Moses and Aaron, as they and all Israel were led of the Almighty I AM through the vast wilderness, it is absolutely astounding how the Hebrews became so hardened and unbelieving; was it because of the fact that they for 430 years were exposed to and possibly worshipped the occult gods of the Egyptians?

Understandably, because they were also being constantly set upon by beatings, hard labor that likely killed many of them and maimed many, withdrawal of food and more scourgings and torture as punishment for not delivering on their quotas, their very hearts and souls for hundreds of years cried out in anguish and abject desperation! They told Moses they did not know of the God of their Fathers--the I AM, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose second-youngest son Joseph was a type of our Precious Savior to come. So were the Hebrews praying and weeping before idols? But THE I AM THAT I AM, JEHOVAH, heard.

Joseph, by the Lord's will--despite all of the suffering he endured beforehand--became second-in-command to Pharaoh himself and executed a God-inspired plan to save not only Egypt but vast other areas of populations from the horrible famine that struck and laid hold of the lands for seven whole years. But then after Joseph's death, another Pharaoh took power that did not know him nor decide to continue in what was the best plan for success from God Himself for Egypt--and soaked the entire land with the blood of the Hebrews for 430 years.

After such an arduous journey of 40 years because of the Israelites' rebellion, murmuring and complaining--even as the Lord Almighty provided for every single thing that they needed and was in the midst of them in the Tabernacle, guiding their every step with His Holy pillars of fire and cloud---God culled out an entire generation until not one person over their 20's was left when He finally led them through Joshua across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land-- Israel.


TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; General Discusssion
KEYWORDS: belief; disciples; faith; jesus

1 posted on 01/03/2020 3:56:09 AM PST by Patriot777
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To: Patriot777

With all that’s going on in the world and within some of our families,we have to resist the hardening of our hearts. Please forgive us Lord.


2 posted on 01/03/2020 6:00:31 AM PST by HighSierra5
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To: Patriot777

So true.


3 posted on 01/03/2020 8:02:19 AM PST by Cottonpatch
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