"But, don’t we see God changing His mind and actions based on man’s rebellion or repentance? Didn’t God change His mind when He told Moses He was going to destroy Israel? Didn’t God change His mind and decide not to destroy Nineveh?
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:10 ESV)Certainly, these look like genuine changes of God’s mind and plans. We could or course view these as anthropopathisms and to some degree, they are. But there is another principle at work in these situations in scripture also. Spiros Zodhiates explains:
Sometimes, there is a change in His purported (believed) course of action based upon man's change of heart. This does not mean that the exercise of God's sovereign will is contingent (dependant) upon man's behavior. Jehovah is not whimsical or fickle. God is consistent. He is morally bound not to change His stance if man continues to travel on an evil path. Yet, if man turns from his wicked ways, God, in His graciousness, exercises mercy in withholding judgment. Though it might appear that God's purposes had changed, according to God's perspective, nothing had changed.Because God is omniscient, He knows how man will respond, all this is part of His eternal plan and there is in reality, in the mind and plan of God, no real change.
We look at these things and we see a change in God’s mind and action. But it is only an apparent change. Most often, when scripture says that God “relented” or “changed His mind” this is what is happening. This apparent change is actually, in keeping with what God had declared from the time of Moses in Deuteronomy. It is stated most clearly in the prophecies of Jeremiah and Joel.
"At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; 8if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. 9"Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. (Jeremiah 18:7-10 NAU)
Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. "Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you. "But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight. "Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and on its inhabitants; for truly the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing."
Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God." Then some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, "Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Thus the LORD of hosts has said, "Zion will be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem will become ruins, And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest."' "Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and entreat the favor of the LORD, and the LORD changed His mind about the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against ourselves." (Jeremiah 26:12-19 NAU)
The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it? "Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God? (Joel 2:11-14 NAU)Jonah fully understood these truths about how God operates. That is why he fled to Tarshish the first time God called Him to go to Nineveh. He knew the pronouncement of judgement was conditional and he didn’t want the Ninevites to be spared by God.
He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. (Jonah 4:2 NAU)Since it is God who changes hearts (Eze. 36:26) and gives the gifts of repentance (2 Tim. 2:54) and faith (Eph. 2:8), and because God is all-knowing and has an eternal plan for His creation, it is clear that all this takes place according to His sovereign will. God pronounces judgement contingent on man’s rebellion or repentance. Man continues to rebel and faces that judgement or he responds to God’s gift of repentance and is spared from judgement. And all of this takes place according to God’s permission and plan, according to His sovereign will. Nothing changes in God or in His plans. It only appears to be a change from man’s perspective and is expressed that way to accommodate man’s finite understanding of God as an anthropopathism.
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