If I had to list four cornerstone, foundational beliefs of my faith in God Almighty, I would list SOVEREIGNTY as one of those. Without this, I feel like I have nothing to believe in. Think of the game Jenga, if you pull out one of the bottom pieces, its gonna fall! Same deal here. No sovereign God, I come to nothing.
Moving on.
Jeremiah states, "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, 'Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will announce My words to you.' Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, 'Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?' declares the Lord. 'Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if 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." (18:1-10)
Now what does this say. Simply ... GOD IS SOVEREIGN! GOD IS IMMUTABLE! GOD IS MOBILE! ... Mobile? We will come back to that.
Clearly, as the illustration shows, as the potter chooses what his clay will become so God is sovereign over the plan of a nation's, a kingdom's, and peoples', & of an individual's life. Does that mean we do not make choices throughout our life? Absolutely not! But, in some mysterious way, that I cannot explain, God has sovereignly ordained a plan for each man, woman, & child's life & our choices - be they right or wrong - at any given moment cannot thwart the plan God has spoken over our lives.
But what about God "changing" His mind, as the passage clearly states? (read with inquisitive tone).
Good question, glad you asked!
It would seem that if God can change His mind about punishing a people or not, based on their obedience or not, that perhaps God does change? But this is not really the case. Lets start here.
GOD IS IMMUTABLE.
It means He is eternally unchanging in His ways, His glories, and His person (it means that His being, perfections, purposes & promises never change,1). He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow .... might I add forever and ever too (Heb 13:8)! At the core of who He is - perfection - He cannot stray. If He does, He ceases by definition of who He is to be God. Thats big. Chew on it for a while (I have been for the last 2 months). Consider Psalm 102:25-27, which is again quoted in Hebrews 1, in reference to Christ! See Malachi 3:6 too.
So what are we to do with words like, "I will relent" and " then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it"? Because, if you are like me, these words sound a lot like words I have spoken - at least thoughts I have thought - before, and I know me, I am by no means unchanging. In fact, I am in ways like the man tossed to and fro upon the tempest at sea (but that's becoming less and less). I know me, & I change my mind often! So, is God changing His mind, His will?
I think He is indeed changing His mind!
I do NOT think He is changing His will!
Think about it. God must change His mind to remain true to who He is - holiness, righteousness, justice, patience, graciousness, mercy, love, etc... If God never relented from the calamity that He had decided upon for a people who were wicked (see examples in Ex 32:9-14, Isa 38:1-6, Jonah 3:4, 10), then no one would be in existence today! If God had carried through on His numerous proclamations to destroy Israel for the wickedness, idolatry and injustice then we never would have had a Savior! If God never changed His mind concerning His people then He ceases to be just, merciful, and gracious. So, yes, I think God does change His mind.
I will refer to an "authority figure" on this one, who knows more than I. Theologian Louis Berkhof states, "The divine immutability should not be understood as implying immobility, as if there were no movement in God"(2). Immobility, whats that? It means, considering God is in covenantal relationships with men, & due to our changing relations with Him, that there is change round about Him - how we relate to Him - but He is not changing. *Read - I change, God does not.* Berkhof goes on to say, "As if Scripture speaks of His relenting, changing His intention, and altering His relation to sinners when they repent, we should remember that this is only an anthropopathic (ascription of human passions/feelings to a being not human, esp. a deity)way of speaking"(3). All this is to say, God is not some non-emotional "deity" acting coldly toward sinners, but rather that - although He never changes - He does indeed act with and feel emotions. He does act and respond differently in different situation (4). Let's consider the example of Nineveh, in Jonah. God tells Jonah to go and proclaim the Lord's coming destructive judgement upon them for their wickedness, in 40 days. Yet, we know the story, Nineveh repents and then God relents. Why does God relent? Because that was the plan of the announcement of coming judgement, for the wicked city to recognize their ways and to turn from their sin to God, repenting! So, it is now a different situation. Before repentance, God saw wicked Nineveh, and now He sees a repentant people - of course He is going to relent! Thus my earlier point, if He did not respond differently, as peoples' hearts were changed and softened toward Him, then He would cease to be the kind, merciful, and just God that He is (most of this is paraphrased from Grudem, see #4).
But I do NOT think this means that He has given compromise, even an inch, to His will. His will, or ultimate end, is His glory. Agreed? Good. If He compromises here, well then, all of Christianity is for naught! But think about it. Part of His over arching will encompasses His character - His unchanging nature that determines what He does and does not do - and thus being mobile in His interaction with finite humans, He maintains His eternally perfect justice and mercy. And since no single aspect of His nature can be discussed separately from any other, then all remain the same. All this includes His will.
Take for instance the story of Joseph and his brothers' evil actions against him. Clearly there are evil actions that take place, clearly God has a plan in store for Joseph, and clearly to the praise of God, this plan is brought about in mighty ways, and Joseph then proclaims to his brothers, "You did not, nor could you ever have changed God's perfect will for His glory through my life ... because whatever you meant for evil, He meant it for good!" (personal paraphrase). Now, I know this is a bit of an indirect correlation, but if you work it out, its all there.
So, assuming God does not relent, then by necessity, He would have punished - probably with death 0 Joseph's brothers. If they had been dead, there would have been no redemption in the story. Sure, Joseph may have gone on to be a wise counselor for Egypt and take the necessary steps in providing during the famine, but there would have been no glorious reunion with His family. So, at some point, God must have chosen to relent from destroying Joseph's brothers, knowing that - unrevealed to them - that He had huge plans for using that evil for good.
And so, in the end, I am just going to say, God is sovereign despite complexities about Him that I do not understand, though I try. And as a perfectly sovereign God, He is indeed immutable, but not immobile, and praise Him holy name for that! Praise Him that He relents from the evil He has intended when His Spirit works in our hearts to cause us to repent!
I would love some feedback, if you managed to read this whole thing.
1 - Berkhof, L. Systematic Theology. p 58
2 - Ibid
3 - Berkhof, L. Systematic Theology. p 59
4 - Grudem, W. Bible Doctrine. p 73
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