Fear No Fear

For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’
Matthew 13:15 (emphasis added)

Why would God PREVENT people from being helped? People often use this verse alongside others like Ephesians 1:11 and Romans 8:29-30 to say only those who were predestined to salvation can be saved. I think scripture is clear about that not being the case. And while there is merit in the arguments that since He knows the beginning from the ending (Isaiah 46:10) He only called those He knew would choose to answer, I think today’s verse points toward at least one other and simpler thing.

First, regardless of your stance on predestination, let me say this: the WORD says Yahweh wants EVERY SINGLE HUMAN SAVED. “Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). “Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

No matter how YOU feel, the Word is clear that the Lord wants EVERYONE to be saved. The Word is ALSO clear that NOT everyone will CHOOSE to be saved. Not everyone will CHOOSE to believe in Jesus. ““Enter through the narrow gate because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). The Holy Spirit came into the world to convict it of not believing in Jesus – which clearly shows that Adonai WANTS them to believe. “And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment— concerning sin because they do not believe in me;” (John 16:8-9). Jesus came to save EVERYONE, not condemn ANYONE (John 3:17-21).

So what is with this hard-heartedness thing? This not hearing so that He won’t heal and save and all that? We see the same thing with Pharaoh in Egypt (Exodus 10). It has a simple explanation. Our patterns of behaviour matter. Our choices matter. When we have a pattern of abuse and violence, sooner or later punishment comes. We reap the harvest of what we have sown. It won’t matter if we get repentant before the judge or beg the police officers not to arrest us. The balance of evidence is against us and we will get what is coming to us.

But what about Grace? What about the idea that Adonai paid the price and saved us from what we deserve? He certainly did (Psalm 103:10). Absolutely. But what if we have a pattern of NOT believing that? What if we AGAIN and AGAIN reject that message? Reject what Jesus did for us? What if we stand against Him and don’t CARE that He died to save us? What if we are in REBELLION? You know, no one goes to Hell by accident. The Lord doesn’t count against them the sins of people who don’t even KNOW they are sinning (Romans 5:13). He is MERCIFUL. But there are those who STILL reject Him when they KNOW what He did. Hell will be full of those who KNEW and still refused. Who went there willingly – though they may not realise the severity of what they have chosen. We ALL choose. One way or the other.

When we harden our hearts against Yahweh again and again and again, we will eventually pass the point where He can hold back the judgment. “In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”” (Genesis 15:16). We get chances upon chances upon chances upon chances… until we have used them all up. Yahweh led the Philistines and the Arameans into the Promised Land (Amos 9:7). But they rejected Him, practised abominations, and eventually even the very ground itself vomited them up (Leviticus 18:28).

There is another side to all this though. Sometimes, we are kept apart in order to PROTECT us. “And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:22-24). Adam rebelled, he fell, and he COULD have also eaten from the tree of life. If he did, Adam would have never died AND STAYED UNDER SIN. If he had not been kicked out of paradise, he would have been doomed to Hell. Remember, Hell was NOT made for PEOPLE but the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). It is not a place meant for humans. But humans are choosing it. That choice is ONLY possible because we were kicked out. If Adam had stayed and eaten, we would be doomed and unable to accept Jesus’ sacrifice. Yahweh did us a SOLID.

In the same way, Yahweh lets us harden our hearts – and sometimes hardens them for us – so that we don’t reap the BENEFITS of His Grace and Mercy when we are UNWILLING to accept the WHOLE PACKAGE. He doesn’t want us getting healing and then walk out flipping the bird to everyone. He doesn’t want us being saved from something and then doubling down on immorality. He is looking for TRUE REPENTANCE and moves us ALL toward that point. When we are READY, He offers it all. When we are READY, He will move heaven and earth to get us to accept Him. When we are NOT READY or when it will be a HINDERANCE, He lets (or makes) us wait.

Nineveh was warned to repent by Jonah. It did. They repented. But it was not TRUE repentance. Jonah was ONE of the chances. ONE of the steps. In the end, they went back to idolatry and abomination and were laid waste (Nahum 3). We don’t want to be like Nineveh and Adonai doesn’t either. Don’t shut your eyes on purpose. Don’t choose to look away from Jesus. Don’t hinder your healing by hardheartedness. Don’t stay in a place of rebellion and nope-nope-nope.
Choose to believe. Choose to listen so your faith will strengthen. Choose to stretch out to the Most High. He will stretch back and you WILL find what you seek – make sure you’re seeking His Righteousness.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Exodus 15:11

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, working wonders?”” Messiah’s very NATURE is to be HOLINESS. Yahweh is Righteous with no shadows or turning of ways (James 1:17-18). Messiah will be of the same cloth. Jesus was born to holiness and in holiness. “The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Jesus was the holy servant of the Most High Father. ““For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,” (Acts 4:27). Jesus’ character WAS holiness. Jesus IS Messiah.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b