A Moment for Christian Discernment: Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar?

We’re living in a moment where political rhetoric is loud, fear is high, and claims of divine backing are being thrown around with increasing confidence. This post isn’t written so much for non‑Christians – you’re not expected to see the world through the same lens. This is for believers. It’s a “look in the mirror” moment, a chance to ask who truly holds first place in our hearts. Although, I do hope non-Christians will read it and learn the truth about those of us who truly try to follow Jesus.

The adjacent watercolor captures the moment I’m trying to describe: a modern couple standing in a quiet gallery, contemplating two ancient kings whose stories still echo today.

Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar faced the same crossroads – truth confronting power – and each responded differently. One hardened his heart until disaster was unavoidable. The other eventually humbled himself and found clarity.

Their portraits hang near each other and yet on different walls, as in Scripture – a reminder that every generation, and every leader, reaches a similar moment. And so do we.

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Living a Christian Life

It’s not easy, but Scripture does call us to live a certain kind of life. For instance, consider just these two passages.

Final Instructions for living a Christian life

The first is a passage titled “Final Instructions”. It’s not about the end of our lives. And make no mistake, these are far from afterthoughts at the end of a letter either.

Of course, the highlighted verse is the obvious choice out of the passage: “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” That means we should, while testing everything as usual, with discernment to be able to tell what’s pleasing to God and what isn’t, consider all these things as well: Live in God’s joy (not the same at all as the normal definition of joy); pray – consider God in all things; Do not ignore the Holy Spirit to the point of never paying attention; remember and respect prophecies; avoid what is evil.

Yes, all of those things are important, or should be, for Christians. And if we remember, those things were defined both Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. And so, for us, the task is to look at our leaders. Are their words, actions, policies, etc., in line with the way we’re expected to live as Christians? In Christian terms, be discerning about our leaders. And if/when they get far enough out of line from the way we should live – what are we going to do?

The Christian life is a living sacrifice to God

The second passage is “Living Sacrifices”, which is about conforming to the ways of the world. It calls on us to remember that just as Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of all who accept God’s offer of salvation, our lives are also a sacrifice – in that we promised to give up our desires in this life to live the kind of life that will honor God.

No, this isn’t talking about sacrifices in the Old Testament style of sacrificing animals for sins. And obviously, it’s not the same as Jesus dying on the cross. Rather, this is about what Christians call dying to self. It’s where we give up the desires we had before becoming Christians, and instead do things that line up with what pleases God. Of course, it takes time to be able to do that. When Paul wrote: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will”, he didn’t mean it was an instant success thing. It takes practice. And of course, discernment.

With that as background, you probably have a question or two. Maybe more. But let’s start with this one: What does any of this have to do with that opening sentence: We’re living in a moment where political rhetoric is loud, fear is high, and claims of divine backing are being thrown around with increasing confidence.

The Biblical Pattern: God Chooses the Battles, Not Us

Well, the heading is a hint about what we’ll examine today. A news headline from this morning brings the topic front and center: Rattled Trump plots major escalation as his war backfires. This isn’t about whether or not Trump is rattled. Honestly, it doesn’t matter. It’s the possible – not planned – but being prepared for escalation. He’s literally all over the map on whether or not the escalation will happen. And yet, even though there’s supposedly been no planning, real Marines are on their way to the Middle East.

And that is what makes this article important. If we are to be discerning, we must be aware of the possibilities, the realities – as much as we can, and begin praying for discernment on how things like this affect our allegiance to the One we promised to follow. Jesus, who died on the cross for us.

Who are we following as our “god”?

The very first of the Ten Commandments, which were not repealed but were summed up by Jesus, is:

Ex 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me”.

And then later, Jesus said:

And so, the very first question for us to answer, as followers of Jesus is, quite simply: who is our “god”? Is it Jesus Christ? Or is it a human – regardless of the person’s name, state of mind, etc.

What does “this “Rattled Trump plots major escalation as his war backfires” and the current state of affairs in Iran have to do with Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar? Well, the latest news, as of the time I’m writing this is: Trump says ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ ahead of deadline for Iran. That’s Trump putting himself into a Pharaoh / Nebuchadnezzar situation.

Yes, that certainly has huge implications for the world. But let’s not lose sight of something else. It also has implications for every person who voted for and/or supports Trump and what he’s doing to people – millions of people in the Middle East, millions of people in America – and billions of people around the world.

That all should be obvious. But let’s go back to the question of, “Who is our God?” Jesus said we cannot serve two masters. We’ll get more into that in a bit, but let me say now, we cannot serve both Jesus and Trump. No matter what he or anyone claiming otherwise might say, Trump and his kind do not serve Jesus.

And so, for anyone who truly wants to follow Jesus – we need to decide if our God is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as revealed in the New Testament – or the one way too many people have made in the image they want to see.

With that in mind, let’s go back to Egypt, with the Israelites & Pharaoh.

The setup for the plagues in Exodus: God, Moses and Aaron

I’m going to assume that you’re at least familiar with what happened in Exodus. If not, you can start at Summary of the Book of Exodus – Bible Survey | GotQuestions.org and go deeper from there if you’d like.

I’m going to start with the end of Chapter 6, where God describes, from a very high level, what’s about to happen.

Notice – God tells Moses: “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.”

I point this out to clearly show who’s who. God doesn’t speak directly to Pharaoh. But, when Moses speaks God’s words to Pharaoh, Pharaoh will see him as God. And Aaron will be seen as a prophet from God assigned to Moses.

It’s important to realize this. It’s not like Moses claims something out of thin air – or just makes up a story about being God’s representative. Nor is Aaron making claims on Moses’ behalf.

The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart during the plagues in Egypt

There’s one more thing to notice before going any deeper into the plagues. It’s something that many people miss. Sadly, it’s because it’s not at all apparent in the English translations that there’s more to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart than a simple, “God did it!”

To see how it all went down – and put it in a logical order, I went through a 9-part Q&A with the LOGOS/Faithlife AI Agent on topics ranging from Pharaoh to Nebuchadnezzar to us to Jesus.

I know, some people don’t like using AI with anything, much less Christianity and the Bible. The thing is, even with an AI engine that’s put out by a Christian organization, the onus is still on us, Christians, to be the discerning ones. To verify what it says really does line up with God’s Word, that the context is considered fully and correctly, and to be discerning when we come up with conclusions.

So, at the end of this Q&A session, my last comment – after verifying the responses I received to my queries – was:

Interesting. I know all these verses – but never made that connection to the Revelation passage. It really ties things together and brings them home.

With that as our backdrop, let’s see how I came to make that statement.

When did God harden Pharaoh’s heart and make it unchangeable?

Did you catch that part about and make it unchangeable? It’s incredibly important. There’s something going on that, as I mentioned, isn’t obvious at all in English. Yes, the earlier verse we looked at says, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.” The thing is, it’s pretty common in the Bible for a summary to be given of something – and then it’s followed up later in more detail.

Maybe you noticed, that happened in Genesis, with the creation of Adam and Eve. My mother told me once that she liked the second creation of Adam and Eve better than the first. I had to ask, what second creation? It only happened once. She actually thought God did it twice. How or why she thought that? Who knows. But she never knew, after decades of being Catholic and studying Hebrew and Judaism, she had no idea it was one and the same event – with more description in the second telling of it.

My point is – that short passage we looked at was a short statement, minus details, of what was about to take place. Now, we’re going to look at some of the details and see what the “hardening of Pharaoh’s heart” actually entailed. It’s not, as many assume, a case of Pharaoh never had a chance. He did. He had several chances. Eventually, God gave Pharaoh what he wanted – and that’s when his fate was sealed.

Way back in 2014 (I can’t believe it was that long ago) I wrote something titled, “God, The Father – Friend or Foe? A look at Pharaoh” that look at the plagues in detail, with this very issue in mind. If you’d like to check it out, it’s old enough that it’s a different format, I had a different tone in my writing – but the analysis of the heart-hardening is still valid. For those that want the short version of what happened in those critical plagues – here’s how it gets condensed by the LOGOS/Faithlife AI agent.

Notice what it says there about Pharaoh hardening his own heart for the first 5 plagues. Things change in the sixth one. And by the end of the seventh one, Pharaoh has the hardened heart that he’s displayed all along. It’s the ultimate “be careful what you ask for” scenario. My earlier article goes into the details on that. It also gets into the difference between God making something happen because it’s what we wanted all along – or making something happen for no other reason than the reality that He can do it.

The rest of the plagues took place with Pharaoh unable to change his mind and soften his heart. But remember – it’s only because of who he was – and who God knew he would’ve continued to be.

Did Pharaoh change his mind after The Plague on the Firstborn?

There’s a moment, after The Plague on the Firstborn, where Pharaoh seems to change his mind – then renege on his promise for yet another change of mind. Was it also a change of heart?

It’s a reasonable question. More to find out the cause than to question the change of heart. After all, the previous verses indicate that Pharaoh’s heart was essentially set at a point where he was incapable of softening it on his own. So, if not that – then what caused the changes that led to the events that followed?

The first portion of the LOGOS/Faithlife AI response is not surprising. It’s something we see in life, even today.

Yes, terror and immediate loss. The question though is this – what caused that terror and what was the immediate loss? These things are very much situational. There’s no one size fits all answer. Each situation, the people involved, and the various possible consequences must be examined.

The thing is, how much concentration and knowledge is put into the examination? Consider checker and chess. Both are played on the same board. But they have different pieces, with different moves, and different relative importance of each piece. But then, other than the king, the relative importance of any given piece depends on the skill of the player.

Why does that matter? In this case, it’s Pharaoh against his own people. And it’s Pharaoh against Moses – although we know that’s actually Pharaoh against God. What probably seemed like a simple game of checkers suddenly turned into an exponentially more complex game of chess. And while Pharaoh could probably think a few moves ahead – moves he never thought he’d need due to his hard heart and tremendous ego – he was up against God, who knew all the possible moves, and all the moves that will be chosen, for all time. Even the wildest dreams for quantum computers won’t be able to do that.

Now, let’s pick things up with the Israelites gone, Pharaoh is beginning to realize what he just allowed to happen, aka the consequences of his actions and emotions, here’s what came next.

The loss of a massive labor force. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it? For us today, a massive labor force that’s (1) willing to do work the vast majority of Americans don’t want to do and (2) the willingness to do that work for less money that most Americans are willing to accept.

Of course, this dichotomy produces further issues and questions that we don’t even want to think about. For instance, what is the value of a human life? How much, or little, are we willing to pay to have something done that we consider important but also consider the person doing that work not worth even enough to live? And then, for the 1 or 2% – those in Pharaoh class – how much are you worth compared to those who did all the work to make you part of Pharaoh class?

And so, in modern terms, Pharaoh just let go all those people who made the millionaires and billionaires of his time as rich as they were. Yes, he has power that they don’t, but he still needs to worry about them. Plus, for the peasant class that’s Egyptian but not in Pharaoh class – just how much of this will they put up with before they revolt?

We’re not quite done here. Let’s move on to one final piece of the Pharaoh response from AI.

Earlier, I included the players in this scenario. Let’s consider the Egyptian soldiers. It seems a bit more hardening was necessary to ensure Pharaoh followed through. But nothing’s said about the soldiers. They went without any hardening at all. That’s an indication of the training they had. Whether it was fear of disobeying, desire to perform the assigned task, or just plain desire to kill the Israelites, they were all in with no hesitation and no push from God. That training is further indication of the start of Pharaoh’s heart. Everyone in the full chain of command was – as we say today – locked and loaded – ready to reign (sic) hell down on whoever they’re told to go after.

The other thing to understand and acknowledge is God’s ability to know the future, the decisions that will need to be made, and the choices that will be made. It’s not just the interactions of Moses/God and Pharaoh. It’s also the people in Egypt, the Israelites, literally everyone. We talk about unintended consequences today – as if they’re mistakes, even if we use “mistake” as a coverup for an intended action. With God – there are no unintended consequences.

However, that’s only understandable if (1) we acknowledge that this is a fallen world, there is evil in it, and it’s the consequences from the actions of Adam and Eve, plus – every single one of us would’ve done the same thing they did if we were in their place. The simple truth is that we do the same thing – failing to listen to God and act on His words – many times every day. With all that, we must come to realize that the “unintended consequences” are a result of our actions – not of God’s actions, which are really giving us a chance to turn to / return to Him. It’s a hard lesson, but we are the sum of everything that’s happened after the fall.

All of that is what led to what comes next:

The final events when the Israelites fled from the Egyptians.

Here’s how it ended, after all the plagues, all the actions, reactions, and all the emotions that went along with it, both driving it and coming from it.

Some people read this and see justice. Others read it and see nothing of the sort. It depends on our own personal views, biases, and so on. But let’s try a different point of view. God’s point of view. He created us, and everything we can see, and a bunch of stuff we can’t see.

If we think God pulls all the strings, made Pharaoh what he was, made the soldiers what they were, then we can walk away thinking God likes to kill people. The catch is that, no matter what people think, the Bible doesn’t say that and the events in it don’t show that.

The reality is that some people often scream for God to show up and bring down some justice. We wonder what He’s waiting for. But then, we don’t agree on who the justice needs to come down on.

If, and it’s a big if, we take the time to learn what God said about Himself, we’ll know. He gives us time to learn, but we don’t. He brings justice when it’s at the time it can do the most good. But we disagree.

Once again, it’s about our choices in this fallen world. Those choices will determine what we think of Pharaoh and God. If you think God was wrong, I encourage you to check out the referenced article from above: “God, The Father – Friend or Foe? A look at Pharaoh“. If you’re not sure, want to learn more, check it out. While this may seem long, that one goes into more detail, getting into the words in Exodus – not just summaries of them. Considering the impact it may have on your life, it’s definitely worth the time.

Let’s move forward to another time and another leader

Fast‑forward roughly 850 years. Another empire rises, another king stands at the height of power, and once again God confronts a ruler who believes he answers to no one. But this time the story bends- and ends – differently. King Nebuchadnezzar was every bit as ruthless as Pharaoh, yet his journey ends not in defiance but in recognition – though only after his mind was taken from him and he lived like an animal. To understand how that transformation unfolded, I turned to LOGOS for the key moments.

Somehow, in spite of much research into the Book of Daniel, I’ve never written much on King Nebuchadnezzar. Consequently, I have nothing more detailed to point you to. However, if you need a refresher or would like a high level intro to the king and the events we’ll look at, you can begin here: Who was Nebuchadnezzar? | GotQuestions.org.

Let’s compare Pharaoh to Nebuchadnezzar

Since we’re examining two similar rulers, but with two totally different endings, a comparison seems like the way to go. That end, here’s my opening question to the LOGOS/Faith AI agent.

I intentionally left the question very much wide-open. I know what I expected to get back. However, I didn’t want to rule out getting something unexpected from an unknown source, because it’s been a while since I did any research on this and I’ve never written much about it.

Let’s move on now, with the next piece if the LOGOS response.

Did you notice, there’s two things in there for King N. His ego – believing everything he did was all on his own. Not surprisingly, he also has little to no regard for those who have little to nothing. I know, that was pretty common back then with various kings. And it’s all too common today, with all sorts of leaders.

But it’s really amazing, even today, people believe someone came to power because of God, and they think that God wants them to do what they’re doing – even though what they’re doing is so much against what Jesus told us to do and how to treat others.

It’s our own little Pharaoh / Nebuchadnezzar moment. We get to decide who to support. Maybe who to vote for. But will we choose based on our own desires – or on God’s? And by God’s, I mean God as He told us about Himself in the Bible and as Jesus both taught and modelled.

Obviously, we won’t do it all the time. And so, when improper/unloving choices are made, we have chances to change our ways. But choices will have consequences and may come with discipline.

Let’s hope we don’t have to go that far.

But here’s the thing about that segment of the response. We read “since the king had elevated himself to God’s level” and we think – “I’ve never done that”. And yet we all have. And we all will do it again. And again. Rinse and repeat.

You may remember, that’s exactly what Adam and Eve did. I wrote earlier that we’d all do the same thing as them if we were in their place. Maybe you thought – I’d be different. And yet – you aren’t. None of us are any different.

Let’s take a moment and look at the opening verses of that fatal event – The Fall of Man.

And there it is: You will be like God.

So, no matter how much we might like to say we’re not like Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar, the truth is that we can’t truly say we’re different. Certainly, for most of us, the scale is lower. We don’t have that kind of power, money, influence, etc. And yet, we do share the desire to be like God – in one way or another.

Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar aren’t just ancient rulers. They are mirrors. Showing ourselves to us.
They show us two ways a human heart can respond when confronted with truth, power, and the living God.

Pharaoh shows us what happens when pride becomes a self-imposed prison – when a leader refuses correction, refuses humility, and drags an entire nation into suffering with him. His heart didn’t become stone in a moment; it happened through repeated choices, each one making it that much harder to turn back.

Nebuchadnezzar shows us something different. His pride was just as real, his power just as intoxicating, but when God finally brought him low, he lifted his eyes toward heaven. That single movement – upward, away from himself – changed everything.

And now we come to the part that matters most.

Christians cannot pretend that our allegiance to earthly leaders is spiritually neutral. Jesus told us plainly: “No one can serve two masters.” We will love one and despise the other. We will follow one and ignore the other.
There is no version of Christianity where we can give our loyalty to someone who leads us toward fear, vengeance, cruelty, or self-exaltation – and imagine our souls remain untouched.

Where are our eyes, mind, and hearts looking?

We maybe like – even want – this passage to only be about money. But it’s not just about money. Yes, money is a common issue when it comes to taking us away from God. But really, it’s about anything that gets in the way.

For a whole lot of people today, that “anything” is leaders. Christian Nationalists. Political saviors. Strongmen who promise protection, identity, or victory.

It’s not a new problem. Even Hitler went for the Christian Nationalists in Germany. And he was neither Christian nor German.

Every leader we support shapes us.
Every voice we elevate forms us.
Every allegiance we make bends our hearts either toward Christ or away from Him.

This is why discernment isn’t optional. It is spiritual survival.

So, what should Christians do?

1. Test everything – especially the leaders we’re tempted to defend.
   Scripture doesn’t tell us to test “the other side.” It tells us to test everything – including the people we want to trust.
2. Watch for the patterns, not the headlines.
   Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar weren’t defined by single moments but by trajectories.
   Is a leader growing in humility, truthfulness, compassion, and justice?
   Or in anger, self‑exaltation, and contempt for the vulnerable?
3. Refuse to let fear choose your king.
   Fear is the oldest idol-maker in the Bible.
   It will always push us toward Pharaohs.
4. Remember that following the wrong person will always take you towards, if not on the wide path to destruction.
   No one drifts toward Jesus by accident.
   No one drifts toward the narrow path.
   We are shaped by the people we imitate, defend, and empower.
5. Lift your eyes toward heaven – sooner, not later.
   Nebuchadnezzar waited until everything collapsed.
   We don’t have to.

The real question of this moment is the same one Moses asked: Who is your God?

Not who you say is your God. Not who your church claims is your God. But who actually receives your trust, your fear, your loyalty, your hope.

If it is Jesus, then the path is narrow, but it’s life. Life to the full.
If it is anyone else, the path widens quickly, and the heart follows. It’s the path to the second death.

My prayer is that this moment becomes a Nebuchadnezzar moment for many – a turning, a lifting of the eyes, a rediscovery of the God who still calls His people back from the edge.

Because in the end, the story of these two kings leaves us with a simple truth:

We become like the one we follow.
So choose your king carefully.