There is a time coming, and is coming soon, of an irrevocable and “FINAL HARDENING”.

     For just as there will be a great and terrible tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be, which is when God’s judgments shall be in the earth (Isaiah 26:8-9), being a time of great and final reckoning, an almighty shaking, there shall likewise be a final hardening.

     “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21-22).

     For of those days, “just as the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken” (Matthew 24:29), so too shall the hearts of many men in those days, likewise harden and darken. And because of this hardening, just like their father Lucifer before them, who hardened his own heart against God, and who then fell like a falling star from the skies, so too shall all who have hardened their hearts fall “like stars from heaven”.

     For although, at that time, “Michael, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of Your people, shall stand up, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation”, and although, at that time, “Your people shall be delivered, being every one that shall be found written in the book”, (Daniel 12:1), there will be those, who like Pharoah (1 Samuel 6:6), that will harden their hearts. For are we not told three times that Pharoah hardened his OWN heart? (Exodus 8:15; 8:32; 9:34).

     For to be clear, this hardening is not the endeavour or the will of God, but rather the end result of God finally permitting men to be filled with their own ways. Being when God takes His hand off their lives. Which is when, at their own insistence, God acquiesces to their demands and insistences of living a life entirely separate from and completely independent of God, of choosing for themselves what is good and evil, and right and wrong, that He removes His hand of restraint off their lives. And that men are then filled with the fullness of their fallen ways and natures.

     Just like Pharoah’s own heart was likewise hardened, not by a decree of God as some may think, but simply by God allowing Pharoah to be filled with his own ways and nature. For if it was God who hardened man’s heart to rebel and sin against Him, would that then not make such a man entirely blameless? And then free of any judgment? For how could a just and holy God attribute blame and judgment when the sin they commit is of His will overriding theirs?

     But such is not the case. For is it not written in the book of Revelation, that even when a loud voice was heard from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth”, that even though the angels poured out the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth, that there were still those who refused to soften their hardened hearts, and repent. “They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.” (Revelation 16:9).

     And for all those who harden their hearts, and refuse to repent, being like all those in Jeremiah 18:12 who were so hardened in their sins, so fixed in their wicked ways, and so determined to go on in those ways, that there was no room for the prophet Jeremiah to hope of ever reclaiming them for God; signifying, that it was of no purpose for him to talk to them, or exhort them; that his labour would be in vain; for they were already at such a point of hardness, as well as resolved to continue in their evil practices, that they were happy to let the consequences be what they would be, it shall be they who will likewise say in those days to soon come, “It's hopeless (for God)! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.” (Jeremiah 18:12).

     And this hardening will be a three-fold hardening.

     Firstly, it will be a final hardening of all those men who, being “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18), that, just as of the son of perdition, will be so hard of heart as to be entirely beyond redemption.

     Secondly, not that there is any remote chance of them ever softening their hearts, but just like Pharoah put up a final stand of hardness and defiance, being a foreshadow of the devil’s own last stand, so too will the devil and all his subjects harden their hearts for one final stand. Which is the day when the devil shall gather the nations for battle, and their number shall be like the sand of the sea (Revelation 22:7-9). But instead, it will be the day for the devil and all his armies that their wrath has finally come. “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?" (Revelation 6:17).

      And thirdly, it will be a hardening of the heart of God Himself against all those who, in the folly and pride of their own ways and nature, have irrevocably turned their backs on love, and scorned righteousness, in favour of their own ways, and their own truths, and their own lives. Which will be a day when, “During those days people will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. (Revelation 9:6). For, “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.” (Isaiah 13:9). For has it not been written: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31).

     So then, just as there will be a time coming soon of a great and terrible tribulation, which is a time when His judgments are in the earth, for “thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land’” (Haggai 2:6), so too shall there be a time coming soon of a great shaking and reckoning, and a final and irrevocable hardening.