Saturday, June 03, 2006

The Petitionary Prayer Process Part III: Does God change His mind?

In the previous post, I asserted that God is omniscient, basing my claim on verses from the Old and New Testament. In this post, I want to preface my explanation of "1,2,3,4" (if you don't know what that is, read the first post in this series) with an assertion that not only is God omniscient, but He is also perfect in truthfulness. In the 23rd chapter of Numbers, Balaam receives a prophecy from God:

"Then the LORD met Balaam and put a word in his mouth, and said, 'Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.' "
- Numbers 23:16

And what is the first thing that Balaam says about God in his discourse?

"God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"
- Numbers 23:19

Samuel corroborates Balaam's statement with his own declaration:

"Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind."
- 1 Samuel 15:29

Hebrews 6:18 states that it is impossible for God to lie. Titus 1:2 affirms this truth.

So, if God is omniscient and perfect in truthfulness, then I will make these assertions regarding Exodus 32:7-14:

1) God knew that He would not destroy Israel
2) God did not lie to Moses about His intentions

Observe,

"Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."
- Exodus 32:10

In other words,

"Leave me alone, so that I will perform X and Y."

If this is true, I argue that the following is implied:

"If you do not leave Me alone, then I will consider not performing X and Y."

The actual outcome of the event bolsters my implication assertion. In the passage, Moses (a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ) intercedes for God's people, and God grants his request.

In context of "1,2,3,4", here is the event sequence:

1) God wants to shower His grace and mercy upon His people to maxmize His glory.
2) God ordains that Moses intercede for the Israelites (whether God brought this about through His statement or by moving in Moses' heart, or both, I am not sure)
3) Moses pleads to God that He be merciful to His people
4) God answers Moses' prayer.

Now how does "1,2,3,4" reconcile with verse 14?

"So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people."
- Exodus 32:14

One should not understand this verse to mean: God thought it would be a good idea to obilerate the Israelites, but after considering Moses' request and thinking it over, He changed His mind. That interpretation implies that God changes His mind like a human. Humans can change their mind based on learning new facts about a situation, or based on appeals to emotion, or for illogical, arbitrary reasons.

This is not so with God, indicated by verses such as Numbers 23:19, 1 Samuel 15:29 (both quoted earlier) and this verse regarding God's immutability:

"For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed."
- Malachi 3:6

Therefore, Exodus 32:14 should be interpreted as follows: because of Moses' intercession, God did not destroy Israel. God is sovereign - He ordained Moses' prayer. Yet Moses' actions had a real consequence - the preservation of Israel.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hmm...nice.

i am not sure if i totally agree with everything posted here, but mad props to you on the thoroughness man. you really put some time into this jounce. and it definitely makes a boy think.

10:58 AM  

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