I
think predestination is God physically doing it Himself or Him promising
something.
This statement requires a lot of qualification. For example, the fact that a person sins, and God ordained that a person would sin, does not mean that God physically did the sin. And, though predestination does certainly include God's promise or a certitude of what will happen, it is not merely that. I think that what I have provided above in terms of God's ordaining all things that come to pass, and Him not being the author of sin, etc., more or less addresses your statement here, so I would refer you to that, as well as to the other resources that I will recommend.
For
example, in Exodus, God (Jesus??) in the burning bush promises to harden
Pharaoh's heart 5 times and Pharaoh hardening his own heart 5 times.
The issue of God hardening Pharaoh's heart is interesting. In Romans 9:16-18 we read:
"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."
The first thing to take note of in any passage we examine is the context
of the passage, and the context of the passage I quoted is Paul's discussion of
sovereign election in one of the most controversial passages in the entire
Bible, Romans 9. Some have come up
with rather unique and I might add creative (yet quite unconvincing) ways to try
and get around the clear teaching and force of Romans 9.
However, they simply cannot withstand the exegetical evidence leveled
against them. Romans 9 is just too
clear and too straightforward. Probably
the best exegetical analysis of Romans 9 in recent years is offered by Dr. John
Piper, pastor of
Anyway, having made that qualification, the first thing to note in the passage I quoted is the fact that for the apostle Paul, salvation does not depend on man's effort or desire. This is a bombshell that completely obliterates the common thinking many have, as well as the whole concept of libertarian free will. Salvation depends solely upon the mercy of God. Paul had earlier used the example of Isaac (vv. 6-9), and then Esau and Jacob (vv. 10-13), and now in verse 17 he uses Pharaoh as an example to illustrate his point that salvation depends solely upon the grace and mercy of God alone. However, in using Pharaoh as an example, Paul also adds that not only does God have mercy on whom He will have mercy, but, maybe more shockingly to our man-centered ears, He actually hardens whom He will harden! WOW! Again, another bombshell that obliterates the concept of free will that many people have.
The background for this hardening is Exodus 4:21 and the subsequent times we read of Pharaoh's heart being hardened (as you rightly point out, sometimes we read that he hardened his own heart, and other times that God hardened his heart). In an effort to blunt the force of what the Scripture plainly says in terms of God actually hardening Pharaoh's heart, many have focused almost exclusively on the fact the Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and that God merely reacted to Pharaoh's actions. But this is far from a satisfactory explanation, and does a tremendous amount of violence to the text, both in Romans 9 and in Exodus, and leaves many questions unanswered.
Well, let's go back to the first instance of where God says that He will harden Pharaoh's heart in Ex 4:21:
"And
the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to
First, we notice that God states His purpose and what will transpire before it ever happens. Again we have to ask, where does that leave the libertarian freewill of any single individual in the text (whether it is Moses, Aaron, the Israelites, the Egyptians, etc.)? It leaves it non-existent, because not one single individual could actually choose a thing contrary to what God’s fore determined will and purpose were and are. They only have “free will” in the sense that I have spoken of throughout (i.e., Compatiblism).
Second, according to this passage, who is the active agent, and who is the passive agent? God is the only active agent in the passage. The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was not something that Pharaoh “cooperated” in, rather, it was something that God sovereignly accomplished in Pharaoh. Now, this does not mean that God did not use certain means to accomplish His hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, nor does it mean that Pharaoh did not want to harden his heart, nor does it mean that God created fresh evil in Pharaoh’s heart. Rather, Pharaoh, like the rest of us prior to regeneration, was already a God-hater, and enemy of God who would not, because he could not, embrace the things of God (Rom 3:10-18; 1 Cor 2:14). He, like the rest of us, already had a heart of stone. In one sense, Pharaoh is just a microcosm of all of us (which is one reason Paul uses him, as well as others, as examples of the point he was making in Romans 9). He is an apt example of all fallen human beings because even in the face of incredible mercy, and even being an eyewitness to the glory of God, he did not fall on his knees to receive the things of God; rather, he continued in his rebellion. If that doesn’t describe the human race, I don’t know what does.
God then, in dealing with Pharaoh, was dealing with an unregenerate sinner who was dead in his trespasses and sin and was already an enemy of God and a God-hater, and would continue to be so unless God sovereignly removed his stony heart and gave him a heart of flesh. The means that God used to hardened Pharaoh’s heart was not evil; rather, it was a manifestation of His divine omnipotence, sovereignty, grace, and mercy. To put it simply, with God being so glorified, what could one who hates God do? Unless God intervened with His Spirit and grace, Pharaoh, and any other person for that matter, would only grow to hate God even more. As Paul tells us, the message of the cross is an offence to those who are perishing, and Christ and Him crucified is a stumbling block and foolishness to the natural man (1 Cor 1:18 and following). It will always be that way to us, unless God removes our heart of stone, and gives us a heart of flesh. And, the more that God is glorified—the more that Christ is lifted up—the more callousness that will develop around our hearts if God does not intervene with His Spirit and grace.
Also, it should not be lost on us that God’s Word always accomplishes what He sends it out to do; it never returns to Him void. But, that would not be the case if God’s purpose was to always save every single person to whom He brings His Gospel, because many reject that message. If many reject the message, and God’s purpose was to save them through it, then His Word has indeed returned unto Him void. Instead, we discover that God’s Gospel is designed specifically to save the elect, and it is to the elect that God’s Word becomes the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works to bring about saving faith. In terms of the reprobate, the Gospel serves as a testimony against them and their sinful hearts. Thus, God’s Word always accomplishes its purpose, and never returns unto Him void. In the one (the elect), His Word is seed, and the Holy Spirit works through it to bring His people to Himself. In others (the non-elect), His Word is a testimony against them and their sinfulness, and in a very real sense serves to harden the sinner even further against God.
As for the times when the Scripture says that Pharaoh hardened his heart, obviously, that is true. But, at that point, the Scripture is merely presenting the human side of the equation. It is merely presenting Pharaoh's response to God's activity. God's activity and purpose was to harden Pharaoh's heart through various means. Pharaoh responded by hardening his heart.
Lastly, going back to the immediate context of Romans 9:16-19, once again in that passage the whole point is that God is sovereign in the His bestowing of His mercy, and that bestowment is not done with a view to anything in man (cf 9:11), and that He is also sovereign in His raising up and hardening of people (9:17-18). This is the reason why Paul anticipates the objection “why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” Again, if the Scriptures taught a free will view of salvation, this question would never have been asked.
Dr. John Piper preached an excellent sermon on this topic of Pharaoh's heart. Go to this link for the manuscript as well as audio: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByTopic/84/124_The_Hardening_of_Pharaoh_and_the_Hope_of_the_World/). At one point he lists each instance of Pharaoh's heart being hardened, and makes this statement that I think really summarizes what I said above:
"And in every case what the Lord had said was, "I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go" (4:21; see 7:3). The point is this: whether it says Pharaoh hardened his heart (8:15) or that his heart "was hardened" (8:19) in each case it is happening "as the Lord had said," and what he had said was, "I will harden Pharaoh’s heart." Which means that behind "self-hardening" and behind the "being hardened" is the plan and purpose of God. It is not described as a response to what Pharaoh does, but as a sovereign rule over what Pharaoh does. Paul sees this and draws it out and states it in Romans 9:18, "[God] has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills."
There is much more that can be said about God hardening Pharaoh's heart. See these resources:
- http://www.solidfoodmedia.com/messages/seriesview.php?id=11
- See also Martin Luther's discussion of this in his book The Bondage of the Will. The book can be found on-line here: http://www.lgmarshall.org/Reformed/luther_bondagewill.pdf. Go to pages 106-112 to see the discussion of Pharaoh. Note: when Luther speaks of the "Diatribe," he is referencing Erasmus' book which went by that abbreviated title.
Then
there is Christ's promise of His return. It hasn't happened yet but God promised
it would. To me that means it is going to happen, God has predestined or
preordained that to take place and nothing or no one is going to stop it. But
God Himself will make it happen therefore He has the responsibility of it.
-- Good insights, while keeping in mind the things I stated earlier about the will of man, God's sovereignty, etc. And, as has been noted throughout, the fact that God has told us what will certainly unfold in the future is impossible to square with free will theology. The only escape for those that wish to maintain their free will theology is to embrace Open Theism, which denies that God has exhaustive knowledge of the future, and is really a heretical view.
Just
like my salvation. I believe God chose me to do something in His body... I don't
believe I chose Him but He chose me and He opened my eyes, the Spirit came and
here I am. Jesus told the Apostles, "it is not you who chose me but I who
chose you".
-- Amen! And, here is
another point of qualification to consider:
many people object to the Calvinistic by saying that they do not believe
that God believes or makes a choice for Christ for us.
However, that is a misguided objection, because Calvinism does not teach
that God believes for us or chooses Christ for us.
Rather, we maintain that the reason we believe, or the reason we choose
Christ, is because God first chose us, and has graciously enabled us to believe
in Him. We actually do the
believing, the choosing, the repenting, and the loving.
But we do those things because God first chose us, and we
love Him because He first love us, and we do those things because
God first had to bring us to spiritual life.