How can I better understand what happened to Pharaoh and Judas? It seems like their decisions were made for them.
ANSWER:
The testimony of scripture suggests that the decision WAS made for them before the foundations of the Earth were formed.
I would have to say the doctrine behind these questions is difficult to understand. The idea that God would intentionally “allow” someone to ultimately go to hell for eternity has been a stumbling block for many believers who came before you and me. Few doctrines cause more angst and argument within the Body of Christ than those of election and predestination, in my experience. The good news is that God knew that we would struggle with this concept, so He provided answers for us in scripture. Paul himself asked the exact question you posed:
ROM. 9:14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
ROM. 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
ROM. 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
ROM. 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
ROM. 9:18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
ROM. 9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
Notice Paul addresses’ the concept and question… why does God find fault with anyone? Is there injustice with God then? A great place to study the Biblical concept of God’s grace and sovereignty is chapter 9 of Romans. Simply put, God MUST act first to give a person HIs living Spirit in order for the person to gain the capacity to respond to the Gospel and demonstrate saving faith - Jesus put it this way:
JOHN 6:65 And He was saying, “For this reason, I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
Our prideful, sinful nature prefers to believe that we are in control of every aspect of our lives, and this includes the decision to believe. God desires to confront our pride head-on and transform our understanding. In His word the Lord makes clear we are not a participant in our own salvation, even in the process of believing:
EPH. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
EPH. 2:9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The Bible teaches that even our faith itself isn’t something that we came to “of ourselves” but instead “it is the gift of God.” This truth offends our pride because it completely removes the opportunity for us to boast that we where acting sensibly when we “chose” to accept Christ.
Taking it a step further, we prefer to think of people who refuse the Gospel as those who are “getting what they deserve” for their failure to believe the Gospel. By giving the responsibility for belief to each person (rather than God) we comfort ourselves in the idea that some spend eternity in Heaven while others spend eternity in punishment. We rationalize that this outcome is not God’s “fault” since each person made a choice. This viewpoint is NOT what scripture teaches. Paul talks about the “sensibility” of believing the Gospel here:
1COR. 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
1COR. 1:22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
1COR. 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
1COR. 1:24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1COR. 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1COR. 1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
1COR. 1:27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
1COR. 1:28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
1COR. 1:29 so that no man may boast before God.
Paul says that the message of the cross (the Gospel) is NOT sensible. It is foolishness, in fact to the natural man. God designed the message of grace so that natural man will be shamed by relying on wisdom to discover the truth about God. (V21)
Of course, we rebel at the idea that God is in control of every person’s eternal destiny, and we assume (incorrectly) that such a conclusion will make God to be unjust and unfair. We dismiss the possibility and then search for verses that will confirm our preferred view. Even so, scripture stands ready to debunk our false assumptions by presenting the truth concerning God’s sovereignty.
The Bible teaches that God made His decision concerning our salvation long ago:
EPH. 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
EPH. 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
EPH. 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
EPH. 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.The fact is, God used both Pharoah and Judas (and many others) as crucial characters in the program of salvation.
Before the foundations of the Earth, the Lord had already chosen who would be “in Him”, which means who would receive His grace. He determined that His elect would receive His mercy before they were ever born. He made this decision before the foundations of the earth so that HIs children could never claim that God’s offer of mercy arrived on the basis of merit.
Paul uses Jacob and Esau as an example:
ROM. 9:10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;
ROM. 9:11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
ROM. 9:12 it was said to her, “ THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”
ROM. 9:13 Just as it is written, “ JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.”
David gives a similar testimony concerning his own salvation:
PSA. 22:9 Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
PSA. 22:10 Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.
It is a good way to think of this concept of God’s sovereignty is that God does not create evil, but he controls it.
Regarding each character you mentioned:
Judas:
Judas was by definition not a believer, or someone who every placed their faith in Christ. Jesus knew from the beginning who Judas was. This man was determined to be a vessel of Satan. This wasn’t a small thing Judas committed, after all this was the murder of the Son of God!
Pharoah:
Pharaoh was also used by God to bring about His sovereign will. Even the most powerful ruler in the world at the time couldn’t stand against God’s ultimate purpose.
As a way to bring this thought to a close at least in this explanation, I would point anyone to this concept: God hardening, punishing, chastising, disciplining, and event allowing death is not unjust in the light of what we have done. it actually is merciful in comparison to what the person deserves.
I would suggest also, researching a term called “Dispensationalism”
Dispensational theology is the view that God has instituted seven distinct periods in His plan of redemption, as revealed to us in the Bible:
1) Innocence
2) Conscience
3) Government
4) Patriarch Rule
5) Law
6) Grace
7) Kingdom
This would aid you in understand God’s ultimate objectives in His sovereign plan.
God bless you in your digging!