To: DoorGunner
If God is not immutable then your salvation is at risk, as is every promise He has ever made to men .
Everything is open to the fickle change of a mutable god.
He could decide to be just to us and throw us all in hell where we belong ,.We can have no confidence in His word.
When God gives an ultimation that something will happen because of a behavior or a rebellious act , He gives it knowing the outcome of that ultimation. It is given not to change Him..but to change the one it was proclaimed to .
"God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that We should repent : hath He said, and shall He not do it ? or, hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Numb. 23:19). "The Strength of Israel will not lie, nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent (1 Sam. 15:29). " He is in one mind, and who can turn Him ? '' (Job 23:13). "I, the Lord, have spoken it, it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent " (Ezek. 24:14). "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance " (Rom. 11:29). "He abideth faithful, and cannot deny Himself " (2 Tim. 2:13).
By the purpose or decree of God, we mean His determinate counsel, whereby He did from all eternity preordain whatever He should do, or would permit to be done, in time. In particular, it signifies His everlasting appointment of some men to life, and of others to death, which appointment flows entirely from His own free and sovereign will. ''The children not yet being born, neither having done any good or evil (that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth), it was said, the elder shall serve the younger: as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated " (Rom. ix. 11).
In the case of Nineveh , the message was sent as a rebuke to rebellious Israel and the first time that a gentile nation had a prophet come to a gentile nation.
A prophecy that the gentile nations would hear the gospel .
It showed how relentless God is in conforming men to His will and purpose.See how He pursued Jonah .
It was a prophecy of the resurrection as taught by Jesus .
Did a change occur YES the change was in Nineveh not God.
For He had ordained the entire event as a testimony and prophecy
On Hezekiah
Look at the prayer of the King
2Ki 20:3**
I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done [that which is] good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
He did not beg to be spared at all.He begged to be remembered by God .
Perhaps we could liken this prayer to the prayer of the thief.."remember me when you come into your kingdom". He was frightened to die as are most men, He had no heir (thus the admonition to put his house in order.)
If you look through the OT you see that prophets were to warn, and to get people to change their ways. This illness brought the king to prayer, as God knew it would .
Think of the result of His prayer . He asked for a sign , God gave him a miraculous sign that was seen by the Babylonians .
The sun cast would go backwards instead of forwards . The son of the King of Babylon had heard of Hezekiah's illness and healing, and the "scientists" of Babylon observed the sun changing directions , so Babylon sent messengers with a gift and instructions to find out what happened to Hezekiah's God.
Hezekiah was feeling so good about his recovery and the interest of the Babylonians that he decided to show them all the wealth of his country.
Was that sign preordained?
During these extra 15 years the seeds for the ultimate destruction of Judah are planted and Hezekiah's evil successor is born. This led to a plundering of Judah and their captivity .
Now look at the lineage of Jesus.
Remember that Hezekiah had NO Heirs , NO son . If he had died at the time of the prophecy he would have ended the line of David from which the savior came.
See the prophecy
Luk 1:32**
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
**
*
Luk 1:33**
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Without those 15 years (and the son born during that time ) there would have been no Kingdom without end
Mat 1:10**
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.
Mat 1:11**
Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon
So was this an ordained work of Mercy and grace?
I think it clearly was as it was a part of the fulfillment of the prophecies an not coincidental or the act of a fickle God that has no set plan .
Consider the natural consequences of the god of open theology .
There can never be an ultimate truth . All things and event are open to revision . God is as changeable as man , so like man He could never be trusted to be faithful to anything in scripture . Even your salvation could be taken , should God change His mind about saving any men ..of withdrawing His mercy from us.
One of the natures of God is His immutability.That is why we can always trust His word .Open theology robs that from Him and instead it make Him some what immutable .
How often in scripture is God called the ROCK of our salvation ? He is not a pebble .
It is God that places prayer in our mouth. He knows the words before we say them . We do not pray to change God. We pray to change ourself . God will only grant that which is within His will when we pray .
Consider that the God presented by Boyd is a uninvolved God that can not be trusted.
That is not the God presented in the Bible
__________________
32 posted on
02/05/2004 2:59:53 PM PST by
RnMomof7
To: RnMomof7
Consider the natural consequences of the god of open theology .
Consider that the God presented by Boyd is a uninvolved God that can not be trusted.
Why do you burden me with "open theology," and "Boyd?" What have I to do with them?
DG
33 posted on
02/05/2004 5:30:46 PM PST by
DoorGunner
( Fool, Liar, Sinner, etc.(Non Hæretico Comburendo))
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