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When the sovereign God seems to be surprised, part 2

When Paul discusses how God gained glory at Pharaoh’s expense, he asks the pointed question: “Why does He still find fault, for who resists His will [boulema, “plan”]?” It is a question of justice. Is it not unjust to harden Pharaoh’s heart and then judge him for it? Where lies the responsibility for Pharaoh’s actions?

The very fact that Paul even raises the question shows that we indeed understand the problem as laid out in Scripture. In other words, if we try to absolve God of all responsibility for Pharaoh’s actions, there would be no point in asking the question, “Why does He still find fault” (with Pharaoh)? Did Pharaoh harden his own heart?

Exodus 7:13 says, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened,” which caused God to respond saying, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn.” It appears from this that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, although the word is not specific. Exodus 8:32 again says,

³² But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

Perhaps the most telling passage is found in Exodus 9:35 and 10:1, 2,

³⁵ Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses [in Exodus 7:3]. ¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, ² and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

Men try to justify God by removing responsibility from Him and putting it fully upon men. But God justifies Himself by telling us the purpose of hardening Pharaoh’s heart. He did it for the benefit of future generations, that they may learn from it, and that they “may know that I am the Lord.”

Nonetheless, the question still remains: How can God blame Pharaoh and still remain just? Paul’s answer, though inspired, is inadequate. Romans 9:20 says, “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” Paul simply invokes God’s sovereignty, likening God to the Potter making a clay vessel. While that is true, some of us need an actual answer.

Justifying God

Paul does not accuse God of injustice, for he says in Romans 9:14,

¹⁴ What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!

The answer is found in Romans 5, where we learn about the restoration of all things. When Paul says in Romans 5:18 that Christ’s righteous act “resulted in justification of life to all men,” Pharaoh was included in the phrase, “all men.” Pharaoh was judged according to the level of his own actions, but God also took responsibility for His actions by sending Christ to die for the sin of the world (1 John 2:2).

In other words, when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, He took the responsibility upon Himself for His actions, and He sent Jesus Christ to do justice to Pharaoh. This does not mean that God sinned, for sin is a failure to hit the mark. Our mark is to be perfectly obedient to the law and to conform to the stature of Christ. Pharaoh missed the mark, which made him a sinner. But when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, He hit the bull’s eye. He accomplished His purpose. In essence, Paul invokes God’s rights as the Creator (Potter). We do not have the right to tell the Potter how to make a clay vessel such as ourselves.

We must read Romans 5 before reading Romans 9. We must understand the love of God and His plan to justify all men in the end before we can really understand the sovereignty of God in Romans 9. Otherwise, we will tend to conclude that God has unjustly blamed Pharaoh—and, by extension, all of us.

For this reason, the love of God (Romans 5:8, 9) and the sovereignty of God (Romans 9:15) are two sides of the same coin. Each depends upon the other. Each explains the other.

When David sinned, he repented and wrote in Psalm 51:4,

⁴ Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.

To justify is to pronounce innocent in a court of law. David confessed his sin and threw himself upon the mercy of the court (Psalm 51:1). By admitting his fault, he justified God who had brought the charges against him. He did not accuse God of injustice, nor did he try to hide behind the sovereignty of God.

It was not the time or place to justify himself by reminding the Judge that He had spoken all things into existence in the beginning. The court of justice was dealing with David according to the level of manifestation, not existence.

God’s Judgments

I have already shown how God spoke things into existence (Romans 4:17) long before these things manifested in the earth. The spoken word of God brought the physical creation into existence, including all generations that were yet to be born. More than that, His word established history itself, with every event that was yet to be manifested. He established the blueprint for all that would manifest during the ages of time.

This includes Adam’s fall and all of its derivatives. The fall of man violated the will of God, but it was all part of His plan. Hence, God Alef-Tav, the beginning and the end, was not taken by surprise. God did not have to reach for Plan B. In fact, Plan B simply says, “See Plan A.”

On the Creation level, God takes responsibility upon Himself to make it right. God’s liability laws, which form part of God’s own nature, make Him responsible. Exodus 21:33, 34 says,

³³ If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it over, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the owner of the pit shall make restitution…

What God creates, He owns and is responsible for it. What man makes, he owns on a secondary level “under God” and is responsible for it as well. God’s ownership is above all on account of the labor that He invested in its creation. Yet on a lower level, God respects man’s property rights as well. Man owns his labor that he has invested in his projects, whether these be earthly or spiritual. Adam fell into the pit that God left uncovered, so the Owner of the pit has to make good on the damages.

God functions by His sovereignty; man functions by authority (authorized by God). Authority comes with an equal level of responsibility, and God judges accordingly. Both God and man have rights in accordance with their level. God has rights as the Creator; man has God-given rights, or rights under God.

The sovereignty of God demands the restoration of all things, which is the divine plan (boulema). The authority of man demands that he fulfills the will (thelema) of God. Each are judged according to his level of responsibility and authority.

So when David sinned, he submitted to the judgment of God, recognizing that he had violated God’s will, as expressed in His law (Romans 2:18). In this case, it was primarily the 7^th and 10^th Commandments. David, being a clay vessel, did not answer back to the Potter saying, “Why did you make me like this?” (Romans 9:20). The sovereignty of God was not the issue in this court case.

Revelation 20:12 says that God will judge all men “according to their deeds.” All will be judged according to their level of authority, both generally as men and individually according to their positions of authority among men. Luke 12:48 establishes individual responsibility and accountability, saying, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required.”

God also judges (or measures) Himself according to the standard of His own nature. He will always be true to Himself, of course, and therefore, He stands without sin. Even so, by including sin and its resulting chaos in His plan for creation, He took upon Himself the burden to make it right. He does so by restoring all things. He puts blame upon men for their actions, but He does not judge them forever, for if He were to do so, then God would be unable to fulfill His responsibility to restore all things.

Many people do not understand this, because they are unaware that the Scriptures speak only of aionian judgment, which pertains to an age—not eternity. Its Hebrew equivalent is olam, which means a hidden or unknown period of time. By rendering these words “everlasting,” or “forever,” they bring God into disrepute by denying His right and responsibility to restore all things.