The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GC 1301-T, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 22."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.  ©1982. All Rights Reserved.

Question

Did the prayer of Moses on behalf of the people in Exodus 32 change the mind of an omniscient, sovereign, immutable God?

Answer

No. No, it did not change His mind. What you have to understand in the scripture is, that God relates to us in human terms. Okay? In other words, when it says, "It repented that He made man." Did God really repent? No! But, we understand that, that means that on the surface it appears as though God was sorry about something that He had done. He felt sorry that He even made man. What that means is that God is not ipso facto, saying, "I am sorry I made man" like He did something wrong. But He is relating to us in a human emotion that helps us identify with what God was feeling when He saw people turning their back on Him. Okay?

Now, when Moses prays to God on Israel's behalf or to spare the people, you know, if there are just a few righteous. Abraham did the same thing, you remember, in Sodom and Gomorrah. The same kind of thing, "...if you just find a few, will you spare them?" and so forth and so on. God is not changing His mind. God is not altering His behavior. God is not changing the plan. But, from the human viewpoint, prayer appears to have that effect on God, and so, God talks to us in those human terms, so that we can perceive that, that can be understood that way.

For example, if the Bible says "the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the earth," does God have eyes? No! But, if it said God uses His "glips to fricas," we do not know what that is. But, if it says He uses His eyes to see, we perceive, then, that He is able to take in information. Or, it says, "the arm of the LORD is not shortened, that it cannot heal," and He doesn't have arms. It says, "His ear is not deaf, that He does not hear," In fact, it even says that, "He covers us with His feathers," and it doesn't mean that God is a chicken or a duck or whatever. But, God reduces Himself, and this is very important, it is what is called an anthropomorphism. That comes from two Greek words: anthropos, man; morphe, body, terms of a body of a man. God reveals Himself to us in terms that are understood in human life, so that we can perceive what is happening from the only vantage point that we could ever perceive it. And, that is on human terms.

So, it is not to say that God changes His mind or alters His position or alters His view. It is to say that it appears that way from the human viewpoint. For example, in any time you pray. All right, let us say a sequence is going on, and you pray, and the Lord heals somebody. Did God change His mind? Would God have healed the person anyway? That is a very difficult question because the will of God, ultimately, was to heal the person. So, whether you prayed or not, what would God have done? Healed the person, except for the fact that your praying was part of the process for God to heal the person. So, that was in the plan too. Very difficult! Now, you are trying to unscrew the inscrutable.

Question continues

So, when God told Moses that "I will destroy these people," even if Moses had not prayed, God would not have destroyed the people?

Answer

No, because you can't say, "If he hadn't prayed," because he did pray. In other words, God is talking to Moses in human terms to draw him to pray for the people. That is part of the plan. God knew what he would do in the end, but, again, God is reducing Himself to a conversation perceivable to the human mind. It is the only way we can understand God. Okay? I grant you, it leaves some tough areas out there. But, someday, we will know as we are known, right?

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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