I have three object-lessons before me.
First, out of the mass of the people at the time of the flood. Christ was preached to them, only to be scoffed at.
Second, that of Pharaoh when he hardened his heart, was softened, hardened and softened, yet hardened again; so that we are reminded of the proverb: "He that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." (Proverbs 29:1)
Third, that of the children of Israel, of whom God said: "Forty year was I grieved with this generation." (Psalm 95:10) "Harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation and temptation in the wilderness." (Hebrews 3:8)
My question is, Where, then, was the influence of the great compassionate love and work of the Spirit, which is shed abroad in the hearts of men, and melts the hearts of the hardest sinners? Having hearts like stone, we are softened and subdued by grace, through the Holy Spirit, according to the promise, "I will take away the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)
If we read the Scriptures aright, we shall see in every occurrence, "the lovingkindness of the Lord," (Psalm 107:43) and that "His mercy endures for ever." (Psalm 136:1) "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting." (Psalm 103:17) "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion." (Psalm 111:4)
And the instances that you have referred to show it. Take the case of the people before the flood. The compassion of the Lord was shown in that He strove with them by His Spirit, to turn them away from iniquity, so that they might be saved. Moreover, the Lord tells us that: "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." (Luke 17:26)
It is true He refers specially to the wickedness of the people; but that shows also that the mercy of the Lord is the same. The people before the flood were no worse than the people will be in the last days, when "the everlasting Gospel" (Genesis 6:3) will, we know, be preached in its fullness; so that there is no occasion for asking where the compassion of the Lord was then, than for asking where it is now.
We must not get the idea that if people are defiantly wicked, and are destroyed, it is because God is lacking in mercy, or that His patience has become exhausted and worn out. We are called on to: "Give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endures for ever; ... [Who] overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for His mercy endures for ever; ... To Him which smote great kings; for His mercy endures for ever; And slew famous kings; for His mercy endures for ever." (Psalm 136:1,15,17-18)
The Lord did this while He was in mercy leading forth His people whom He had redeemed from the enemy; and He was just as merciful in the overthrowing of Pharaoh and his host as in protecting those who trusted Him. Both things were parts of the same act. God never lays aside His mercy, to take up the sword of justice. His strict justice is but the evidence of His everlasting mercy. "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." (1 John 1:9)
Your own statement of the case sets forth the fact that the compassionate love of God was at work upon Pharaoh, melting his heart into submission to God. True, he became hardened time after time, and at last rushed defiantly forth to destruction; but that very thing shows that a man cannot be lost without first rejecting and trampling upon the mercy of the Lord that is drawing him to salvation.
Unwillingness to give up one's way, and to acknowledge the hand of the Lord, must always tend to harden one; and the more that spirit is cherished, the more is one hardened. Thus it appears that the greatest manifestations of wicked rebellion are where God's loving mercy is most plainly revealed.
So in the case of the children of Israel, who stand as a warning to us, that we do not harden our hearts as they did. They hardened their hearts even while seeing His gracious work. "In all their afflictions He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old." (Isaiah 63:9)
He bore them "even as a man bears his son." (Deuteronomy 1:31)
He says: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. ... I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love." (Hosea 11:1,3-4)
Just as one takes a little child gently by the arms, to teach it to walk, so the Lord bore His people of old; but they were too proud-spirited to acknowledge that they could not walk alone; and there is nothing that will harden one's nature so much as failure to recognize and acknowledge kindness shown.
The fact that people reject the mercy of the Lord is an evidence of their high calling in Christ,--that they are allied to Divinity, in that they can act for themselves. The inanimate earth acts automatically, and cannot choose but receive and show forth the goodness of the Lord. Even the beasts, who have reason, do not know enough to resist the influence of God's Spirit, and are all passive to His will.
Now it is not the part of wisdom for man to resist God; but the fact that he can refuse to be led by Him shows that God has in His great love endowed him with His own attributes; and so, when man is as passive to the will of God as the beasts and the inanimate creation, that is counted to them for righteousness; it shows that they are worthy to rule with God on His throne.
So it is because "God is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us," (Ephesians 2:4) that God makes us sit together with Christ. Verse 6. And it is only this crowning mercy rejected that results in the destruction of anybody. "The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy; teach me your statutes." (Psalm 119:64)--Present Truth, July 31, 1902.