The notion that the Bible is a dull book is flattened in Genesis 6, if not before. It is there that we find that some angels left their first estate to engage in marriage and sexual relations with the daughters of men (Gen. 6:1-2; Jude 1:6; Job 1:6, 38:7), which produced an offspring of literal giants in the earth (Gen 6:4). And if that data were not jarring enough, we also discover that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). Before we even get out of the sixth chapter of the first book in the Bible, things are far from what God intended!
It is essential to understand that God’s chief trait is holiness. It is the only trait of His that is given a threefold emphasis in His word (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). More than knowing that God is a merciful God (Deut. 4:31) and that He is love (I John 4:8), we must know that He is “Holy, holy, holy.” That knowledge should produce in us a great respect for the zealous contempt He holds toward sin. He hates it and nothing bothers or grieves Him like sin because, in nature, sin is the antithesis of who He is and everything that He is about. Knowing this helps us to understand and properly interpret His response to the conditions of man in Genesis 6:
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Gen. 6:6-7)
The LORD’s heart was to see man bear His image and likeness (Gen 1:26), but the portrait of man in Genesis 6 was far from that. In Adam, man expressed the darkness of his fallen image, and it grieved the LORD at His heart. That response from the LORD is not hard to grasp or understand. But what baffles many or causes many to call into question the sinlessness of God is the statement that says He “repented” of something. In our thinking, repentance is the business of the sinner or the carnal believer. So, if that is true, if the LORD repented of something, was it because He sinned? God forbid!
For starters, anytime we encounter something in scripture that appears to contradict a clear and established truth, we must revisit the topic from a panoramic perspective. In other words, what does the word of God teach about this from Genesis to Revelation? With that in mind, here is the clear teaching of the word of God regarding the character and nature of God:
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? (Num. 23:19)
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. (Deut. 32:4)
As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. (Ps. 18:30)
To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Ps. 92:15)
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isa. 6:3)
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isa. 46:9-10)
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (I Tim 6:16 )
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (I John 1:5)
Based on this, the LORD’s repentance is not identical to that of mankind. His repentance is not in response to the commission of sin (Num. 23:19), nor does it refer to Him having changed His mind about something (Isa. 46:10). Contextually speaking, the repentance that the LORD experienced over making man referred to the sorrow that He felt over the sinful condition of man.
This sentiment is repeated in Exodus 32 where God’s people immersed themselves into idolatry after believing that Moses had abandoned them (Ex. 32:1). Given that the LORD had taught them not to have any other gods before Him (Ex. 20:3) and not to make any graven image (Ex. 20:4), He was righteously angry after they had done just that:
And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. (Ex. 32:9-10)
Israel had not only broken God’s Law, but they had also broken His Heart. Contrary to the agnostic heresy which says God is unknowable, God manifests Himself here as a God who was in a personal relationship with His covenant people who had been unfaithful to Him. And based on His Law, He would have been just to consume them for their disobedience. However, while God is just, He is also merciful (Ex. 33:19, 34:7; Ps. 86:15) and faithful (Ex. 2:24; Deut. 7:8-9; Neh. 9:6-10), so when Moses interceded for the people on whom God had justly set His wrath, He appealed to God’s mercy and faithfulness:
And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. (Ex. 32:11-12)
The wages of Israel’s sin had earned them death, but in the economy of God, mercy and faithfulness weigh as much as justice. Therefore, God could have consumed them or preserved them. Either way, He would have remained blameless. While some might object to that reasoning, it should be noted that God could have consumed them and remained faithful to His covenant to Abraham (Ex. 32:13; Gen. 17:2-8) by starting over with Moses as the patriarch of the nation (Ex. 32:10), who was also in the direct lineage of Abraham.
In another instance where Israel tempted God, He is observed balancing His mercy and faithfulness with His justice:
And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. (Hos 11:7-9)
The Northern Kingdom of Israel had backslidden hard from the LORD, and it grieved Him. Admah and Zeboim were cities that were overthrown with Sodom and Gomorrah by the LORD in His anger and His wrath (Deut.29:23). Based on their whoredom (1:2), the Northern Kingdom of Israel deserved the same judgment. But the LORD’s “repentings” (His compassion) prevented Him from executing the fierceness of His anger.
In honoring the intercession of Moses, the LORD allowed Moses to influence how He would respond to the egregious sin of His people. Essentially, God gave Moses, the intercessor and mediator, the opportunity to determine how He would respond. In like fashion, the LORD dealt with King David after he foolishly numbered the people by allowing him to choose his judgment; he could choose to fall into the hand of the LORD, or he could choose to fall into the hand of man (II Sam. 24:10-14). In all of this, we see how the sovereignty of God works in perfect harmony with the free will of man – they are not mutually exclusive.
This is also observed in how God deals with the sinner. The sin nature with which everyone enters the world earns them death (Rom. 6:23) and God is just to enact that sentence. However, through the propitiatory work of Christ (I John 2:2), God allows the sinner to claim which attribute of His they will experience. They can appeal to His mercy, grace, and love by receiving the precious gift of salvation (Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9), or they can choose His judgment of their sin in the lake of fire by rejecting His gift (Rev. 20:15). Either way, God is guilty of nothing.
This helps us to properly interpret the words of Moses when he called on the LORD his God to repent of this evil against His people (Ex. 32:12). Rest assured, Moses was not accusing God of sin or of being evil. If God kept Moses from bringing the people into the Promised Land for smiting the rock twice (Num. 20:10-12), it is hard to imagine that Moses could have accused God of sin or evil without feeling the brunt of God’s wrath, especially with the LORD making it known that He was ready to unleash His wrath (Ex. 32:10). The LORD was sorrowful over the unfaithfulness of His people and their provoking of Him to severely punish them. But as it relates to Moses beseeching the LORD to repent of evil, we should remember that evil is the byproduct of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. God created sinless beings and placed them in the perfect environment with the will to choose. Eventually, they chose to sin and from that, sin entered the world and death passed upon all men (Rom. 5:12). Because God created human beings who were sinless but with the will to choose sin and evil, by default, He is also the creator of evil (Isa. 45:7). Like Adam and Eve, Lucifer (light-bearer), who is the epitome of evil, was perfect in all his ways from the day he was created (Ezk. 28:15) but he chose darkness. In that regard, God created evil not because He is immoral or cruel, but because nothing can exist without Him (John 1:3) including the creation of human and angelic beings capable of grieving Him by choosing evil. Consuming the people was an evil act in that it was a consequence of the fall of man, which produced the need for such judgment. So, on behalf of the people, Moses pleaded with God to withhold the evil of destruction. The LORD is not evil, but just like He used pagan kings to righteously judge His people (Isa. 10:5-6; Jer. 25:9), He could have used evil to execute the judgment of His people.
In the end, there is something in the carnal nature of man that desires to catch God in something, which is why many find the thought of God repenting to be very tantalizing. We ought to be very grateful for how He balances His mercy and faithfulness with His justice and judgment. Without that, we would all be consumed.
Kenny Morgan is the discipleship pastor at Midtown Baptist Temple in Kansas City, where he also leads the Life Fellowship adults’ class.
