“When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said, ‘What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.’ So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him; he took six hundred of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out defiantly. The Egyptians – all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army – chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever had buyer’s remorse? I remember once getting a nearly free tablet with a phone upgrade. We agreed to get it because the salesman told us it came loaded with a movie app that gave us access to all kinds of movies for free. What he didn’t say was that they were all pirated Chinese versions with subtitles that gave you access to streamable versions of some films before they had even left the theaters. I promptly took the tablet back. I was watching when he had to check the box to give a reason for the return. He checked “buyer’s remorse.” They didn’t have a box for “salesman dishonesty.” In this next part of our story, we encounter Pharaoh experiencing a bit of buyer’s remorse. Let’s talk about what was going on here and why his hard heart was still a problem.

God told Moses He was going to lead the people to camp where they did because it was going to entice Pharaoh into coming after them. Then, He was going to be able to fully and finally deal with Pharaoh in a way that was a good deal more permanent than He had before. After this final act of defending His people from Egypt’s aggression, they would not be a meaningful threat to His people for a very long time. And, true to His word, when the people camped where God led them, Pharaoh responded just like He said.

What we cannot miss here, though, is how Moses presents this next part of the story. The words matter. Pharaoh responded the way God said he would not only because of where he heard the people were camped, but because he regretted letting them go in the first place. With the threat of their God no longer looming over his shoulders, he was emboldened, just like we talked about last Thursday. He thought something like, “Their God sucker punched me before. They won’t be able to withstand the might of my army.” Then, he loaded up all of his best troops all driving a massive force of chariots (which were the ancient equivalent of tanks), and took off after the Israelites. Something else worth thinking about, is the fact that unless Israel was camped in front of Baal-zephon for several days, Pharaoh had made his decision to go after them before God told Moses his plans. This doesn’t mean God adapted His plans in light of Pharaoh’s actions. It means He knew about it even before He told Moses anything.

Ultimately, what we are seeing here is a presentation of both sides of this uncomfortable tension we have been managing throughout this story. Pharaoh is stubborn and God hardens his heart. Which is the dominant narrative? Both. Pharaoh is intractably stubborn. He is absolutely incorrigible in his commitment to getting his own way. His pride was such that the shame of Israel’s escape from captivity was not going to be allowed to be sustained. His whole nation’s image depended on it. That kind of a failure on Egypt’s part was the kind of thing that broadcast weakness to their enemies. If they couldn’t hold on to their slave labor, then they were weaker than they seemed and ripe for being conquered. He had to go after them or risk a national crisis. And God allowed it to happen. He allowed Pharaoh to walk the path he chose without getting in his way. In fact, He smoothed it all out for him all the way to its bitter end. And in the end, Pharaoh drowned in his pride…literally.

This is uncomfortable to think about, but the truth is that there are some people who are simply unwaveringly opposed to God, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Now, we don’t know who these people are. God has long been in the business of changing the hearts of people we have long since written off as hopeless cases. But in the end, there will be some people who simply won’t submit their lives to Him, who resolutely insist on their own way. And after putting as much effort into convincing them otherwise, God will eventually grant them their wish. He will give them a whole eternity to be separated from Him.

We see this unfold in Revelation 20 as John describes the vision of the future God gave him. When Jesus returns and the dead in Christ are raised as Paul told the Thessalonian church, the first thing that will happen is that Jesus will reign over this world for a thousand years. This is the famous millennium you’ve perhaps heard about from Revelation. Some people think it will be a literal thousand years. Some think it is more of a metaphor. Either way, what John sees is a period in which Christ will be bodily present and ruling over this world. Perhaps you’ve heard a skeptic claim that if Jesus were here running things directly, then they would believe in Him. This will be that time. What’s more, during this whole sequence, Satan and his ilk will be locked in the abyss, whatever exactly that is. In other words, they’ll all be out of the picture.

Imagine that for a moment: Jesus here in person and Satan off the table entirely. Sounds like a recipe for a heavenly pre-show. Here’s the kick, though: at the end of that time – however long it actually turns out to be – Satan will be let out of the abyss and will immediately be able to raise a huge army to launch one final attack on the faithful. Well, after a thousand years of Jesus’ direct rule, who on earth will be interested in joining Satan in attacking Him and His people? Apparently a lot of people. Think with me here: if there are people who still aren’t willing to follow Jesus after a thousand years’ worth of being with Him in person, all eternity won’t be long enough to convince them to change their minds. Thus, God will be just when He finally judges and gives them over to the hell they desire.

I submit to you that Pharaoh was one of these people. There was ultimately nothing God was going to be able to do to convince him to give it up and back down. And so He finally gave him over to what he desired. He gave him up into the embrace of his gods who were never more than gods of death. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll get to that part of the story soon. For now, what are we supposed to think or do about these folks who are simply not going to accept Jesus’ invitation to life? Well, again, we don’t know who they are, so we assume everyone around us who is not currently following Jesus is merely someone who hasn’t yet made the decision to do so and share the Gospel with them. If they reject our efforts, we love them anyway. We treat them with kindness and respect and compassion. We make sure they are able to experience the love of God through us as fully as we can make that happen. We keep trying until we run out of opportunities to convince them to enter God’s kingdom and live. Then we let God’s Spirit take care of the rest. Nothing less than that will do.