Originally posted by vivify
Numbers 23:19: "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind."
God changes his mind:
Exodus 32:14:
"So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people," (NASB).
Jonah 3:10: "...he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened."
1 Samuel 2:30 “Therefore ...[text shortened]... your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me!'"
Numbers 23:19: "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind."
Once again. If God should become a man (as He did when the Word became flesh
(John 1:1) He was not a Person to lie - ever. Praise the Lord.
God changes his mind:
Exodus 32:14:
Exodus 32:14 says -
"Thus Jehovah repented of the evil which He said He would do to His people."
The previous passage you quoted was
Numbers 23:19 said God is [at that time] not a man that He should lie, nor [at that time] s son of man that He should repent.
It is true that before the incarnation you have this
Exodus 32:14 verse saying God repented of the judgment He said He would perform -
"So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people," (NASB).
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While I see your point, I also don't see HOW ELSE God could manifest His salvation to a man who deserves His righteous judgment. To impress generations to come of His plan of salvation, He has to explain that rather than condemn man justly for his sins, God has a plan to righteously save man by causing that judgment to fall upon a Redeemer, His Son.
So I would not say that you have no point. But I would say my reaction is gladness that God shows He has a way that I can be justified, redeemed, reconciled to a righteous and holy God
rather than being on the end of His righteous condemnation.
While you may have a point in that one verse says God doesn't repent and another says God repented, it is peculiar that a sinner's reaction would not be thankfulness. Do you instead put that aside for the happiness of claiming you caught God lying ?
That is strange indeed. While it is a paradox it is a fortunate one. And I don't think it proves any unrighteousness in God. For His plan of salvation is that we are forgiven not as backdoor deal unrighteously, as if God showed partiality or crooked favoritism that we be saved. But the Bible shows the debt of sin is PAID.
In context of the whole revelation of Scripture, while God says He repents at what He intended in judgment to those whom He loved, the judging of the actual evil does not go unaddressed in a sloppy hyper-liberal permissivist way. Rather judgment is carried out on the sinner's behalf in a Substitute.
Look at that whole section again in
Exodus 32. Moses is a type and foreshadow of the interceding Redeemer to come - the Son of God. Moses is a foretaste of the Savior Christ making intercession for us as He did that we be saved from eternal judgment.
" And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." ( Luke 23:34 )
My opinion is that this interceding prayer was that they did not realize that they were murdering God incarnate. They were attempting to kill God. They did not know what they were doing in that regard IMO.
Moses is a type [edited] and foreshadow of Christ, standing between the righteous justice of God's condemnation and the condemned sinners. And because of Moses fulfilling that intermediary symbolism (for our education) God says He repents of the evil He said He would do to the people.
For space sake, your other examples I probably address below.