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Jonah 3:9-10 The God Who Relents
I have a question this morning. Does God change his mind? If someone asks you that question,
what would you say? One thing about preaching through books of the Bible is that we must deal
with difficult questions, and even more difficult answers. So, our text today gives us an
opportunity to answer this question. Look at v. 10: “When God saw what they did, how they
turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to
them, and he did not do it.” This is one of the clearest examples in the Bible where God says
one thing, then does something else. How do we make sense of this truth?
1. God does not change. Let’s begin with something we do know. From one perspective, God
does not change. As the seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, decades, centuries, and
millenniums, etc. pass by, God stands outside of time as the eternal God. He has no beginning or
end. He is eternal. Philosophers have always tried to discover that which does not change. For
Plato it was the world of forms. For Aristotle, it was the great unmoved mover. We live in a
changing world, but if we are to have real knowledge there must be something unchanging that
gives meaning to us. And we know that the unchanging rock of eternity is our God. Ps. 102:2527 says: “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your
hands. 26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You
will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, 27 but you are the same, and your
years have no end.”
As humans we change our mind and we waver between decisions. I don’t know how many times
I have changed my mind back and forth, and even when I make a decision, I still question if it
were the right one. But, this is not so with God. Num. 23:19 says, “God is not man, that he
should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do
it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” There are many verses that express this truth
in the Bible. Let me just mention a couple more. In Psalm 33:11 we read: “The counsel of the
LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” Is. 43:13: “Also henceforth
I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?”
We even sing about the unchangeable nature of God when we say, “Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father,There is no shadow of turning with Thee;Thou changest not, Thy compassions,
they fail not. As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.” So, in some way (which we will come
back to more specifically later) God does not change. However, there are many places in the
Scriptures where God does appear to change his mind. So, my second point is this: God does
change his mind.
2. God does change his mind. There are many passages in Scripture that say God changes his
mind. One example is found in Exod. 32:9-10 God announces judgment against Israel for their
idolatry with the golden calf. We read: “And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen this people,
and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may
burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of
you.” But, then in v. 11 and following Moses says to God, “O LORD, why does your wrath
burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great
power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, With evil intent did he
bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the
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earth? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.”
Then, in v. 14 we read: “And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of
bringing on his people.”
In this passage we see the Hebrew word (naham) translated as “relent.” And clearly, it means
some kind of change. In Num. 23:19, which we have already read, we see the same word
translated as “change his mind.” But, sometimes we see the exact same word translated as
“grieve” or “be sorry for” or “regret” something. An example is found in Gen. 6:6, right before
the flood, we read from the NAS: “And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the
earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” The ESV says, “The Lord regretted. . .” The KJV
translates this same word in 6:6 as: “It repented the Lord. . . ,” signifying some kind of regret
or grief.
In Joel 2:13-14 we see this word again; actually two times. We read: “Rend your hearts and
not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14 Who knows whether
he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink
offering for the LORD your God.” What is interesting about this passage is that Joel quotes the
words of Moses in describing the character of God. Here is what we see. He is gracious. He is
merciful. He is slow to anger. And, He relents, or “changes his mind.” This truth is SO
important! It is important because this is our God.
As I studied this concept I found out that this “relenting” is a part of God’s character. This is
why it is so important. We serve a God who not only relents, but this is his very nature. This is
who He is and what He does flows from who He is. And, from our perspective, it is so good.
How God acts flows from who he is. It is good that God is love. “For God so loved the world
that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have
everlasting life” (John 3:16). It is good that God is longsuffering. “The Lord is not slow to
fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any
should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). It is good that God is holy.
For all his ways are right. It is good that He is just. For He is: “The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is
he” (Deut. 32:4). It is good that God relents. Now, back to Jonah for a moment.
The relenting of God is this very truth that causes Jonah to flee the presence of God. He knew
that God was a God who relents. When Nineveh repented, Jonah has a bit of a temper tantrum.
We read: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the
LORD and said, O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is
why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah says the
same thing as Joel. Both of them were simply stating a truth about God that Moses says is at the
very heart of who He is.
So, let me ask my question again? Does God change his mind? Yes! But, I think the key to
understanding is context. With Moses, with Joel, and with Jonah, (and others) the context is
repentance. With Joel God called his covenant people to repent and turn from their ways and, if
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they did, God would not punish with calamity and sword and famine, etc. With Jonah, however,
he knows that Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God, is so compassionate and gracious that he would
relent from sending calamity even upon the pagan city of Nineveh.
One quick application: Even the worst of sinners who repents and turns from his ways, will find
a God who relents. From the beginning, God told Adam and Eve, “the day you eat of the tree of
knowledge of God and evil you will die.” But, from this perspective, God, who is gracious and
compassionate and merciful, gives them a promise that one day a deliverer would come. From
this perspective, God said they would die in their sins. Yet, He promises to send his Son. And,
even in his relenting, God’s justice is still preserved. “For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by
faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had
passed over former sins” (Rom. 3:23-26).
In Rom. 1:18 we read: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
But then we read “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Today,
even as the worst of sinners, you can call upon the NAME of the Lord. And, His name is: The
God who relents. Today, I am simply saying: if you repent, even though God says that his justice
demands punishment, He will consider your helpless estate and be compassionate and gracious
upon you. And, He will do this today because he has punished his Son in your place, and in the
place of any person throughout history who calls upon his name. Jonah 3:9: “Who knows? God
may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” From this
perspective, God is a God who changes his mind.
Now, let’s return for a moment and try to pull these two truths together before we move to some
applications. God does not change in respect to his person. He is who He is. He is the rock that
cannot be moved and is always constant. He is the unmoved mover. God does not change in
respect to his decrees, his plans, his secret counsels. History is moving exactly where God is
taking it. He is not wondering where it will go. Eph. 1:11 says that God works ALL THINGS
according to the counsel of his will. From creation to the reality of evil to redemption in the Son,
to the reconciliation of all things, God’s purpose will stand. He does not change his plans.
From another perspective, God does change his mind. But, the change of his mind is always
consistent with his character. And in the context of today’s sermon, He is a God of compassion
and mercy, not sending his judgment even after he says he will send it. One way of helping with
this tension is to consider the will of God from two perspectives. The first is his decretive will.
This is the secret will of God that does not change. This includes the eternal covenant within the
Trinity before time began to send the Son to redeem a people from every tribe and nation and
tongue that will be included around the throne of God. This includes his covenant with Israel that
cannot be broken, and continues now with the church in this age until the coming of the Lord
Jesus and then for the rest of eternity. The second perspective we may call the will of command.
God says, “if you obey me, you will be blessed.” “If you disobey me, you will be punished.” “If
you repent, who knows, maybe God will relent and show you compassion.” Is it God’s will that
you be a bad parent? Is it God’s will children, if you are a disobedient to your parents? What
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about the death of the Son of God? Was it the will of God from this perspective that evil men put
him on the cross? No. Would they have been blessed if they received him? Yes. But, behind it
all, it was the will of the Father to crush the Son! “Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” (Prov. 19:21).
Let me try and sum this up. From one perspective, God does not change. And this is the basis for
all truth and all events and all outcomes. Yet, from another perspective, God acts in ways that are
consistent with his commands to obey him. And when some repents, we can say, “God changes
his mind.” “God relents.” “God is grieved.” And, all the time, historical actions, historical
contingencies are under the secret decrees of God so that even a sparrow doesn’t fall to the
ground without his plan.
Applications:
God always uses means to accomplish his purposes. Where there is repentance, there is
forgiveness. When there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness. This means that turning away
from sin, offering prayers, and working for the kingdom must become our central concern. This
truth keeps us focused on the main thing.
Many times it helps if we look at things from different perspectives. We can't put God in a black
and white box. Often, this is what we do. We must consider difficult truths from varying
perspectives. This helps us understand the Scriptures. This helps us with the seeming paradoxes
of Scripture: For ex. the problem of evil; the sovereignty of God and responsibility of man; the
“desire” of God for all to be saved and the fact that only the elect are saved.
One example is the tension between the working of God in us and the command from God to
work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We know God is working; yet we also work.
Another example is the doctrine of eternal security. From one perspective, we are chosen from
before the foundation of the world. From another perspective, “those who endure to the end
will be saved.”
There are many tensions in the Bible. Be careful how you approach these tensions. Don’t look
through your eyes. Look through the eyes of the Scriptures. See things out. Read books on the
subject. Then, compare with the Scriptures.
Doctrines like this may show how really concerned with truth we are? There are answers for
those who seek. God will give his greatest “secret” truths to those who dig and work and toil and
labor to find the truth. DON'T BE LAZY when it comes to these difficult theological issues.
Turn off your tv and read and study and pray and seek. They will benefit your soul so much
more.
Finally, this doctrine (and others like it) brings humility to our lives. I haven’t done this doctrine
justice this morning. God’s ways aren’t man’s ways. Our ways are not his ways. Our
understanding of the deep things of God cannot be expressed by words like minimal, or not as
much, or not very much. If I had to walk around the earth 1 billion times to gain just a glimpse of
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his wisdom, then I have been on the first step for the past 25 years. And, all of eternity will not
contain Him in this regard.
In the end, the greatest expression of relenting is the sending of his Son. This is the proof that,
though God does not change, from another perspective, He is still the God who relents. “But
God commanded his love toward us while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us.”