92SermonsofJonathanEdwards
Isaiah's preaching was, in itself, a message imploring these people to turn from their ways and follow God and His word. But their rejection of God's message caused it to be it an opportunity to further harden their hearts.
God is said to harden men, that He put a lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets. (2 Chronicles. 18:22). That is, He "allowed" a lying spirit to enter into them. And thus He is said to have told Shimei, a man from the same clan as Saul, to curse David. (2 Samuel 16:10). God did not directly command him to curse David; for it would be contrary to God's commands, for God has expressly said in His Word, "Do not . . . curse the ruler of your people." [Exodus 22:28] But God "allowed" the evil to work in the heart of Shimei, and then sovereignly brought about the opportunity of stirring it up, as a manifestation of his displeasure against David.
2. The second fact that can be seen in our text is the basic truth that when God deals with mankind, He does so according to His sovereign will and pleasure: "God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden."
This implies that God never shows mercy or denies it against His will, and that He is always willing to do it when He does it. A willing subject or servant, when he obeys his lord's commands, may never do any thing against his will, and yet it cannot be said that the servant does what he wills in the sense of the text, that is, according to his own will and pleasure. But in the case of God, it is His mere will and sovereign pleasure, which supremely orders the affairs of mankind. It is the divine will without any restraint, or constraint, or obligation.
The basic doctrine of our text is, that God exercises His sovereignty in the eternal salvation of men.
He is not only sovereign, but He has a sovereign right to do what He wants in the salvation of men. Nobody can charge Him with going