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Exodus 7:13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said. 14 And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.
Exodus 9: 12 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.
13 And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
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Matthew 13 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
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Ephesians 417 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
The efficacy of God's Word is no longer taught in Christendom, and one can find scant reference to this Biblical doctrine in all the scholarly Biblical literature.
Simply put, God's Word always has an effect - when read, heard, or remembered. The clearest and most powerful statement of many can be found in Isaiah -
Isaiah 55 8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
This does not limit God's Word to positive effects - contrition and faith, fruits of the Spirit - but includes the divine effect upon individuals from rejecting, scorning, and twisting God's Word.
To think otherwise would mean - as an analogy - that I can power a subdivision with electricity and yet cut into a live electrical cable at the substation without any danger to myself. People have done that, to steal copper from thick cables, but they have not escaped the experience.
Moses asked for God's Name at the Burning Bush, and God said, "Tell them I AM sent me." Therefore, Moses was not speaking on his own when he spoke to Israel and Pharaoh. He was speaking the Word of God to them. Pharaoh grew increasingly hardened until he sent out troops to kill the Israelites.
However, after the Angel of Death killed the firstborn, Pharaoh repented for a short time and believed the Word. I have marked his temporary conversion in red below.
Exodus 12 31 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said.
32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
So his final hardening was deadly in all respects. And so we have an example from the ancient past of the effect of God's Word when obstinately rejected, time after time.
One Modern Example, Biblical Studies
Biblical studies have been pursued as an academic exercise for several centuries. Halle University was founded for Biblical piety and quickly became rationalistic - the Bible was just another book about religion. Modern scholars hail that turn of events.
Modern Biblical scholars mock the Bible, laugh at its historical narrative, and glory in rejecting its doctrine. Moreover, they cannot tolerate any Biblical scholar among them who believes in Christ and the truth of the Scriptures. Thus the product of modern seminaries is going to be a man or woman or transition who only uses the Bible as a political podium.
A Second Modern Example - Halle's UOJ
Universal Objective Justification came from Halle University's rationalistic phase. By the way - Halle absorbed Wittenberg, which is no more, just as DMLC swallowed NWC in WELS.
A brief glance, a passing word from the mainlines - will teach anyone that the entire National Council of Churches and Rome teach all people have already been forgiven and saved. Like Karl Barth and his hawt assistant Charlotte Kirchbaum, they embraced the OJ and dropped any mention of the SJ in their dogma. Note - SJ is not faith, but a decision to accept universal absolution without faith.
But lo, the robed and doctoral-striped leaders of WELS, ELS, LCMS, and the CLC (sic) teach Halle's UOJ too. Are they blinded and hardened by toying with the power of God's Word, scorning and twisting and rejecting it? Yes, they are.
They show that first in their utter and comprehensive corruption. They treat pastors as their slaves and eunuchs, except for the equally corrupt ones. They treat the laity as their harem and as sheep to be fooled and fleeced and fooled again.
The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation was more than an x-ray of Lutherdom in America. It was a complete Positive Emission Tomography scan of all the sects, from the dying ELS down to the pagan Rome they call ELCA.
UOJ is obviously Halle rationalism and clearly shared by all the Christian denominations in America. What the big seminaries of the past failed to accomplish was completed by Fuller and Trinity Divinity.
The Lutheran conversion from Justification by Faith has been slow but inexorable. Each generation buries a few more of the faithful and raises up more of the blinded and hardened UOJ experts.
People should be terrified by this last age, the Era of Apostasy. When Noah built his ark, at God's command, the rest mocked him and ignored his preaching of righteousness through faith.
They did not consider their fate until the atmosphere condensed down upon them and the earthquakes spilled millions of gallons of water into their lands, the volcanoes
