Chapter 11 - DOES GOD EVER REPENT?
In the history of Jehovah's dealings with the
people of Israel there is perhaps no story more
affecting than that of Balak's effort to induce
Balaam to curse them when they were encamped on
the plains of Moab. The faithless prophet who
loved the wages of unrighteousness was eager to
comply with the wicked king's request, but was
hindered each time he attempted to curse the
people, by the Spirit of God. At last he
confessed his inability to do the thing for
which he had been called to Moab and instead of
cursing Israel he blessed them, and foretold
their glorious future in such a manner as to
stir the ire of Balak, and to move the hearts of
God's saints to devout thanksgiving. He
introduced the narration of the divine purpose
concerning the tribes of Israel, with the
remarkable words: "God is not a man, that he
should lie; neither the son of man, that he
should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do
it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it
good? Behold, I have received commandment to
bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse
it" (Numbers 23:19-20).
This is surely a marvellous declaration. It
tells us that once God enters into an
unconditional covenant with any people He will
never call back His words. And He had definitely
confirmed just such a covenant with Abraham.
This was before the giving of the Law. The legal
covenant they had a part in, and they failed to
keep what they had promised. Only a few days
later we read of the terrible sin of Baal-peor.
On the ground of law they forfeited everything,
and that covenant God Himself abrogated. But His
covenant with Abraham was pure grace. He was the
only contracting party. Whatever Israel's
failures, He could not break His promise. He had
bound Himself by an oath and He would not and
could not repent, or reverse His decision. His
attitude of grace through the promised seed
would persist throughout the ages.
How comforting this is to the heart of one
who has turned to Him for refuge. He may be
assured that "the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance" (Romans 11:29). A careful
reading of the entire dispensational section of
the Roman Epistle, chapters 9, 10, and 11, in
which we have, respectively, God's past,
present, and future dealings with Israel, will
make this doubly clear. Yet it is singular how
many read with blinded minds and fail to get the
truth that the Holy Spirit seeks to reveal. Only
recently a tract was mailed to me on the subject
of salvation. The writer sought to show that,
while in past ages, even in what he called "the
Pentecostal dispensation of the early part of
the book of the Acts," repentance had a place in
the preaching of the Gospel as then made known,
a very different Gospel was revealed to Paul in
his later years, in which repentance had no
part. And to prove his amazing theory he quoted
as a proof text the words above referred to,
"the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance."
The interpretation he gave to this verse was
that now God gives salvation to believers whom
He calls by His grace, on the basis of sovereign
mercy alone, and altogether apart from any
repentance on their side. Do my readers exclaim,
'What almost unbelievable ignorance?' Yet I have
heard others affirm the same foolish thing. It
shows how carelessly even good men sometimes
read the text of Holy Scripture.
The Apostle's argument is clear as crystal.
God made certain promises to Abraham. Israel
sought those blessings by works of law and
failed, so they forfeited everything on that
ground. Temporarily the nation is set to one
side, and is partially blinded to the true
meaning of the very Scriptures in which they
glory. Meantime God is active in grace toward
Gentiles, saving all who believe. In the same
way He is now saving individual Jews, though the
nation as such is no longer in the place of the
covenant. But by and by when Israel shall turn
to the Lord, they shall be grafted into their
own olive tree again and brought into fulness of
blessing. And the proof that it must be so is
this: When God gives a gift or makes a promise
to bless He will never reverse Himself. He will
not change His attitude, for His gifts and
callings are without repentance. It is the same
as the declaration of Balaam, "He is not a man
that he should lie nor the son of man that he
should repent."
But what then shall we say of such a
Scripture as Genesis 6:5-7: "And God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. And it
repented the Lord that he had made man on the
earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the
Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have
created from the face of the earth; both man,
and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls
of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made
them"? Here God is distinctly said to repent,
and His attitude toward man is completely
changed. In place of longsuffering mercy He acts
in condign judgment, blotting out the corruption
and violence of the antediluvian world by
destroying the human race with a flood,
excepting that Noah and his house were saved in
the ark. Is there a contradiction here? Do
Genesis and Numbers teach oppositely the one to
the other? We may be sure they do not.
In the first place, we need to remember that
the same human author, Moses, who wrote the one
book wrote the other also. He evidently saw no
discrepancy, nothing incongruous or
contradictory, in the two statements. And in the
second place, back of Moses was God. The human
writer spoke as he was moved by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore we know there can be no mistake or
erroneous conclusion.
Is not the explanation simply this: In
Genesis we have a figure of speech in which God
is represented as reasoning like a man. This is
what theologians call an anthropomorphism, that
is, God, acting in the manner of man. And it has
to do, not with a promise made or a covenant of
grace given, but with His attitude toward a
sinful race. They had plunged into evil of the
most repellent nature; so much so that God
Himself abhorred them. He changed in His
behavior toward them and destroyed them instead
of preserving them alive in their vileness and
corruption. Often has He thus dealt with sinful
nations and individuals.
But where His pledged word has been given, He
never repents. "I am the Lord, I change not;
therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed."
How wondrous the grace that shines out in words
such as these! Not all the waywardness of His
people can make Him change His mind, once He has
given His promise, or cause Him to alter His
attitude toward them when He has entered into
covenant with them.
It is because of Christ and because of His
redemptive work that He, the Holy One, can thus
bless a sinful nation. And concerning Christ
Himself, who has become the Mediator of the New
Covenant, He declares: "The Lord hath sworn, and
will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4). Thus
has our blessed Lord been confirmed as "a surety
of a better testament" than that of legal works.
He is the Man of God's purpose, who represents
all His people before the throne in heaven, and
in whom all the promises of God are "yea and
amen."
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the "exact
expression of his [that is, God's] character"
(Heb. 1:3, literal rendering); therefore we are
not surprised to find that there is no such
thing as repentance in His attitude toward the
Father or toward mankind. Horace Bushnell years
ago, in his Character of Jesus, drew
attention to the essential difference between
His piety and that of all others who profess His
Name. We are sinners, and we must come to God as
such if we would ever be saved at all. Therefore
we come to Him confessing our iniquities and
bowing before Him in repentance. It was thus the
publican in the parable came. "God," he
exclaimed, "be propitious to me the sinner."
Propitiation was made on the cross. But our
attitude of soul must still be the same as his.
We come confessing we are without merit and
trusting in Him who is the propitiation for our
sins. Until we take this position before God we
cannot really know Him as Father, and so enter
into fellowship with Him.
But the piety of Jesus was on a totally
different basis. He never confessed a sin either
against God or man, in thought or word or deed.
He taught others to pray, "Forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors." But He could never
join with them in the use of such words. In
fact, nothing brings out more clearly the
essential difference between Him and us than the
amazing fact that He is never found praying with
anyone. Some of our most blessed experiences are
enjoyed as we bow reverently and penitently
before God with fellow believers, together
acknowledging our mutual needs and confessing
our common sins. But He never had any such
experiences. He prayed for others, not
with them, because His relationship was
different from ours. He was "the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth." And He
prayed as the Son in manhood, who was
nevertheless ever dwelling in the bosom of the
Father. Hence He never shed one tear over His
own sins or shortcomings, for He had none. He
wept for those of others, but never for His own.
His was "piety without one dash of repentance,"
to quote Bushnell again. He never sought for
forgiveness. He never owned the need of grace.
For He was ever the unblemished, spotless Lamb
of God, perfect without and within, who came
into the world to offer Himself without spot
unto God, for our redemption.
If any have not yet sensed the vast chasm
separating His holy humanity from our poor,
fallen, sinful nature, let them weigh these
things carefully. "If we say that we have
no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us" (1 John 1:8). But He definitely
challenged His bitterest foes to give evidence
that He had come short in anything. "Which of
you convinceth me of sin?" To this day none have
ever been able to reply to this challenge by
pointing out one flaw in His life, one defect in
His character, or one error in His judgment. He
never retracted anything. He never said, "I am
sorry." He never apologized for any offense
committed. He could say, "I do always those
things that please him." And it was this very
perfection of His character that fitted Him to
make expiation for our guilt. God "hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
become the righteousness of God in him" (2nd
Corinthians 5:21).
It is true that, as Captain of our salvation
He was perfected through sufferings (Hebrews
2:10). As to His nature He was perfect
throughout. From babyhood to His death upon the
cross He was the Holy One. But if He would
become our Redeemer He must win the title by His
sufferings. Only in this sense could He be said
to be perfected. He who had always commanded,
deigned to take the servant's form and "to learn
obedience" as He walked this scene in holy
subjection to the Father's will. "I came," He
said, "not to do mine own will, but the will of
him that sent me." And such delight did the
Father have in this perfect devotion of Jesus
that He twice opened the heavens to declare,
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased; hear ye him."
Surely the more we contemplate with adoring
love His matchless perfections, the lower we
will bow in humiliation before Him, confessing
our sins and repenting, like Job, in sackcloth
and ashes. It was the revelation of the wisdom
and majesty of God that brought the patriarch of
old to that place. How much more may we be
humbled as we behold His love and holiness
meeting in Christ. In Him "Mercy and truth have
met together; righteousness and peace have
kissed each other." His cross reveals, as
nothing else could, our sinfulness and His Holy
love. If God has so loved us as thus to give His
Son to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,
how can we ever doubt His intention to save
eternally all who bow in repentance before Him
and put in their plea as sinners and trust His
matchless grace?
Having "spared not his own Son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things?" He knew all we
were, yea, all we would ever be, when He put us
in Christ, and nothing now will ever cause Him
to repent or to change His attitude toward us.
It is not humility to doubt Him, and to wonder
whether He will really bring us through to
heaven at last. On the contrary, it is downright
unbelief. "Hath he spoken, and shall he not do
it?" Faith sets its seal to what God has said
and rests serenely upon that inviolable pledge
knowing that "God is not a man, that he should
lie, neither the son of man, that he should
repent."
It is true, He will not be indifferent to our
sins as believers. "Whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth." "As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." But
he will never cast us off, however severely He
may have to chastise us if we persist in
willfully disobeying His Word.
The principle on which He deals with erring
believers is clearly set forth in Psalm
89:27-36: "Also I will make him my firstborn,
higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy
will I keep for him for evermore, and my
covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed
also will I make to endure for ever, and his
throne as the days of heaven. If his children
forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if
they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments; then will I visit their
transgression with the rod, and their iniquity
with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness
will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of
my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness, that
I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure
for ever, and his throne as the sun before me."
He hath promised His Son to take all to glory
who put their trust in Him. He will discipline
them if wayward; but He will never cast them
off, for the blood of the cross has settled the
sin question eternally for all who believe.
Listen to Paul's exultant words (Romans
8:38-39): "For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What is there that is neither a thing present,
nor a thing to come? What is there that is
included neither in life nor in death? Could
stronger words be used to assure us that God
will never repent of His purpose of grace in
Christ Jesus?
What we need to see, then, is that He who
created man might well repent that He had made
him when He saw the depth of wickedness into
which the race had fallen, and so He determined
to blot them out in the judgment of the flood,
as later on His patience came to an end with the
corrupt inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities of the plain after He had (to use
another Biblical anthropomorphism) come down to
see if they were as bad as had been reported. He
gave Canaan to seven great and powerful nations,
but when at last the iniquity of the Amorites
was full, He used the armies of Israel to
destroy them. As Moral Governor of the universe
He has used one nation to chastise another, and
then in turn punished the people thus used, when
they too became as vile as, or worse than, those
they had destroyed. In all such instances it may
be said that "it repented the Lord that he had
made man," or permitted certain blessings to be
lavished upon him. But when He gives His pledged
word to deliver and to bless, He never repents.
His promises are irrevocable, because based on
what He is Himself, not on what man deserves.
In the stirring little book of the prophet
Hosea, God is portrayed as still yearning over
Israel, even after He has decreed their
judgment. Likening them to the cities of the
plain, destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah,
because of their wickedness, He cries, "How
shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I
deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as
Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboiim? mine
heart is turned within me, my repentings are
kindled together. I will not execute the
fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to
destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the
Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not
enter into the city" (Hosea 11:8-9). This is
most heart moving. He who will never repent when
He promises blessing is pictured as repenting
concerning the predicted doom of His people. He
would, as it were, alter His attitude toward
them if they would but change theirs toward Him.
It is enough to stir the soul to its depths; yet
on Israel's part there was no response, and
judgment had to take its course.
But the future holds promise of a glorious
recovery. All, even of the rejected nation, who
have personally sought His face in blessing will
have part in resurrection glory. So God gives
the gracious assurance of Hosea 13:14: "I will
ransom them from the power of the grave; I will
redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy
plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction:
repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." Nothing
shall ever take place in all the ages to come
that will invalidate or alter His settled
purpose of grace. Repentance shall be hid from
His eyes. That is, He will never, by any
possibility, change His attitude toward those
whom He has redeemed to Himself.
"His is an unchanging love,
Higher than the heights above,
Deeper than the depths beneath,
True and faithful, strong as death."
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