Bible Synapse
Is prophecy certain, or can God change course?
Hard question · Prophecy and its fulfilment · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Peter calls the prophetic word “more sure”, confirmed by what the apostles saw at the Transfiguration, and spoken by holy men moved by the Holy Spirit.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
God says that if a nation he has threatened turns from evil he will relent, and if a nation he has promised to bless does evil he will withdraw the good.
At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
Jonah announces, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
When Nineveh turns from its evil way, God does not send the disaster.
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
The objection
Peter calls prophecy “a more sure word”, to be relied on like a light in a dark place (2 Peter 1:19). But Jeremiah says that God may ‘repent’ of the evil or the good he has announced for a nation, depending on what it does (Jeremiah 18:7–10). How can prophecy be sure if it can change?
The answer
Jeremiah 18 does not make prophecy unsure; it explains how one kind of prophecy works. When God announces judgment or blessing on a nation, the announcement is a call to respond, and the condition often goes unspoken; Jonah’s message to Nineveh named none: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). The city repented, and God “did it not” (3:10), just as Jeremiah 18:8 says he will. The warning did what it was sent to do, and nothing God said turned out false, for the rule of Jeremiah 18 is itself part of his sure word.
Peter is speaking of something else. His “more sure word” is the witness of the prophets to Christ, now confirmed by what he saw on the mount of the Transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16–18) and spoken by “holy men of God” moved by the Holy Spirit (1:21). God also binds himself by promises confirmed with an oath, which no human response can cancel (Genesis 22:16–18; Hebrews 6:17–18). Warnings that call for repentance and promises sworn on oath are both sure, each in its own way.
From the classic commentators
If he pronounces a people's overthrow or ruin, and if that people turn from its wickedness, He repeals His decree (Jeremiah 18:7.); and conversely, if He promises a people welfare and prosperity, and if that people turn awayKeil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, on Jeremiah 18:6–10
Sources
- Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: Jeremiah 18, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 2 Peter 1 (HelloAO)
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible: Jeremiah 18 (HelloAO)