Beth-El Baptist Church
03/18/06
Greg Tomlinson
How can a God who repents (admits he makes mistakes) be worthy of worship?
There are many people who read in the scriptures about God having “repented” concerning a judgment or concerning an action that he has done and would like to know how anyone could follow a God that makes mistakes. It would be fully logical to understand that if God discovered a “mistake” that he made that there are many others that he has not yet discovered. As we look into each of the scenarios we will first look at the scripture that would raise the question and then the context in which it is found to get an understanding of our understanding of repent as a mistake or error on our part is what God has in mind when he repents.
1. Did God ever “repent” of doing something?
Genesis 6:6-7 context 6:1-8
God “repented” that he had made man because man had become so wicked. In this context the word repented carries the meaning of deep sorrow and grief. V6 uses parallelism between repented and grieved. Thus God was in much grief over the sinfulness of men. He is not saying that he is sorry he made man. Making man was not a mistake on his part, but he is sorry for man that he so quickly and easily sought only evil. The great story of repentance in this passage is verse 8, in which God’s greatest demonstration of his repentant heart is that he showed grace to one of the men of the land who did not deserve it.
1 Samuel 15:10-11 (35) context 8:5-7; 15:2-9
God had provided judges to rule over Israel on God’s behalf yet Israel was no longer interested in being ruled by judges or by God’s hand picked individuals. They now wanted a king to rule over them instead of God. In particular they wanted a king “like all the nations” so God obliged them with Saul, a king just like what the nations had in all respects. Thus when Saul rejected the command of God to destroy the Amalekites and their animals by preserving the king and some of the animals, he had rejected God as well. God was very sorrowful that Saul was like the nations that had been displaced. God’s repentance then was deep sorrow for Israel having a world minded king instead of a God minded king. It was not that God had made a mistake but that the results of getting what you asked for as a person is usually not what you really meant.
Jeremiah 15:5-7 context 15:1-19
God was now getting tired of not bringing upon Israel the fullness of the judgment that they were basically asking for. Up to this point Israel would sin then God would provide a great rescue then Israel would get complacent and would sin again. His repentance then was dealing with a cease to rescue the nation of Israel as a whole because of their repeated rejections.
Jeremiah 18:8-10; 26:2-6; 42:9-12
And yet God was looking forward to some forms of repenting and not to others. This passage in scripture begins to open up the meaning of repenting that is associated with God and his message. God performs two types of repenting. There is a repenting of bringing ‘evil’ to the people and there is the repenting of bring ‘good’ to the people.
2 Samuel 24:16-17 (1 Chronicles 21:15) context 24:1-20
This passage is one of the clearer descriptions of what God means about his repenting. David had sinned a great sin against God and as a result, God brought about a form of judgment upon the people of Jerusalem. When the angel of God reached a particular threshing place in Jerusalem, God repented and told the angle “it is enough”. Thus from this passage associated with God’s repentance is God’s discontinuance of judgment.
2. Was God ever asked to repent?
Exodus 32:12-14 context (32:9-14)
Psalm 90:13 context 90:10-17
Jonah 3:9 context 3:4-10
In each of these cases the targets of God’s wrath fully deserve to receive it for they have sinned greatly against God. Each time they are asking for God to show mercy in not destroying Israel (or Ninevah as in Jonah) who rightly deserves it.
3. Did others ever recognize God for repenting?
Deuteronomy 32:36 context 32:34-40
In context Moses recognizes the sinfulness of God’s chosen people and God’s desire is to correct his peoples’ values. Thus Moses recognizes the full authority in all things of God rightly remains with God and that it would be legitimate judgment.
Judges 2:18 context 2:11-18
Despite the great sinfulness of God’s people, those called God’s people would get into trouble, then call on God to bail them out instead of seeking God first. . It would not take long after God delivered them that they would once again be in trouble and again begging for God’s deliverance.
Psalm 106:43-46 context (42:38-48), 135:14 context (135:6-18)
This passage is actually about God not giving us individually what we deserve but is actually showing them mercy.
Jeremiah 26:13 context (26:8-13), 26:19 context (26:18-24)
Amos 7:3, 6 context 7:1-9
Jonah 4:2 context 4:1-4
4. What else does God have to say about his ‘repenting’?
Numbers 23:19 compare Jeremiah 8:6
1 Samuel 15:28-29
Psalm 110:4
Jeremiah 4:27-28
Ezekiel 24:14
Zechariah 8:14
These verses in particular show the difference between God’s repenting and man’s repenting. God repents to show mercy while man repents seeking mercy. God’s repentance is not a show of weakness but a show of strength and mercy. God is fully justified in following through with the execution of his wrath but chooses not to in order to be merciful and grant man another chance to humble themselves before God.
In the Old Testament, there are several places that talk about God repenting. These are generally used as an alternate picture of grace and mercy since the people deserve the punishment but it was withheld due to mercy or repentance on God’s part by not destroying them.