HIS-STORY OF THE REMNANT

CONT., page 3

 

WHEN YAHWEH CHANGES HIS MIND

Let me restate the compelling issue that was brought up at the end of the opening section. Can a man be "wrong" in what he proclaimed would happen, and still have the confidence that he did in fact proclaim the words of Yahweh? This is a most unusual question that at first glance would seem to have only one obvious answer - No! But, if we can go to the Scriptures and see example after example of men of God who did in fact speak those things given to them by God, yet they never came to pass, then we must conclude that the answer to this question is not near so simple nor easily arrived at as one might first surmise. Let us look at three, four, and even more examples where men spoke the words of Yahweh, but He clearly chose not to carry out those words. He "changed His mind," a phrase that is entirely scriptural - Jeremiah 26:19, Amos 7:3 and 6! I think you will be surprised at what we find.

In Isaiah 13 we find Yahweh’s forthright declaration concerning the judgment and destruction of Babylon. There is another descriptive word which could have been used here to express these words of Yahweh, but it would not have held true. That word would be - conclusive, or "Yahweh's forthright and conclusive declaration." In this case, this prophecy of Isaiah was not conclusive, though it had every appearance of being so. To help you understand the tone and content of this chapter, read here verses 17 through 22.

Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them (Babylon),
Who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold,
And their bows will mow down the young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their eye pity children.
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldean’s pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there,
But desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of owls,
Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there,
And hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious palaces.
Her fateful time also will soon come
And her days will not be prolonged.

Two important points need to be recognized here. First, the destruction of Babylon was to have been accomplished specifically by the hand of the Medes. Any other fall at the hands of any other power would contradict these words, even today. And second, most importantly, all of these foretold events never took place; "her days" were in fact prolonged. When the Medes did take Babylon, they took it without a single battle. The king of Babylon, King Belshazzar, was the only man to lose his life in the conquest, and Babylon remained an inhabited and frequently highly important city up to and even following the time of Yahshua. It is highly noteworthy that these prophecies of Isaiah concerning the destruction of Babylon were remarkably never fulfilled! Yahweh quite obviously changed His mind. Babylon finally wasted away in time, but not with rampant bloodshed, and certainly not at the ill hands of the Medes.

Let us look at another set of prophecies concerning the destruction of Babylon. This time we read from the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 50 and 51, we find an expansive 110 verses of clear proclamation that Babylon would be utterly destroyed and decimated by the Medes. Here are only two examples from these hardy chapters.

"For a nation has come up against her out of the north (specifically the Medes - 51:11 and 28); it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it" (50:3).

"And I will dispatch foreigners to Babylon that they may winnow her and may devastate her land. ... So do not spare her young men; devote all her army to destruction. And they will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and pierced through in their streets" (51:2-4).

Once again, despite these clear statements from Yahweh now spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, these events never took place. Oh yes, the Medes did indeed come in and take over Babylon, but not at all with the total devastation and carnage which the prophet foretold.

So, let me ask you - Are Isaiah and Jeremiah then false prophets? What they declared, clearly failed to come to pass. The Medes never "winnowed" Babylon. Instead they took Babylon and preserved it as a great and prosperous city. Here we indisputably see that Yahweh declared beforehand His plans, only to change them. Clearly, Yahweh repented of the judgment He planed against Babylon, which of course makes Isaiah and Jeremiah look like false prophets. But these are not isolated examples; let us look at yet another better known case, our third example.

Of course everyone is familiar with the account concerning Jonah, and we have already mentioned it per my trip to Georgia. Yahweh had given Jonah a very specific message to speak to the Ninevites, the oppressive enemies of Jonah and his people, the Israelites. His message was not a call for repentance, something which Jonah was afraid they would do and that Yahweh would thus have mercy on them. The message he was to deliver to Nineveh was very clear - "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." No ifs, ands, or buts about it; in forty days destruction would come! But did destruction come? No, not at all. The Ninevites repented and Jonah went out east of the city to watch what would happen. Nothing happened! Nothing at all! So in the eyes of some, Jonah was a false prophet; what he declared would take place, did not come to pass.

Had Jonah declared the words of Yahweh? Indeed he had; only, Yahweh repented of the judgment He planed against Nineveh and did not carry out His destruction. Once again we see the clearly declared words of Yahweh not being carried out, to the apparent defamation of a prophet. And now let us look at a fourth example.

This is a little known but most interesting and certainly most important example of Yahweh declaring something, and then changing His mind. Once again in the book of Jeremiah, we read of a king of Judah, Jehoiakim, who burned the scrolls of prophecy which Jeremiah had sent to the people of Judah. For this act, Yahweh declared through Jeremiah that Jehoiakim "shall have no one to sit on the throne of David" (Jeremiah 36:29-30). Did then this Jehoiakim have any children to sit on the throne of David? One would think it almost sacrilegious to even ask this question, since Yahweh God declared this. But when examining the Scriptures, we find that Jehoiakim did indeed have a son, and he sat on the throne of David. Granted, it was for only a short time, but Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin, sat on the throne of David for three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9).

This alone is contrary to what Jeremiah had said concerning Jehoiakim; and if this was all there was, it is still noteworthy. But this was not all that Jeremiah prophesied concerning this family and it not come to pass.

We read in Jeremiah 22:30 the following concerning this prophecy-contradicting son of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin.

"Thus says Yahweh,
Write this man (Jehoiachin) down childless,
A man who will not prosper in his days;
For no man of his descendants will prosper
Sitting on the throne of David
Or ruling in Judah’" (Jeremiah 22:30).

First, once again, we find that contrary to Jeremiah’s prophecy, Jehoiachin was not "childless." Jehoiachin was taken to prison in Babylon, but while there he had seven children (1 Chronicles 3:17-18). And did Jehoiachin prosper in Babylon? Not for thirty-seven years. During those years in Babylon he was imprisoned. But we cannot maintain this conclusion for the remainder of his life. After Nebuchadnezzar died, his son Evil-merodach came to the throne, released Jehoiachin from prison, and gave him a regular allowance. Jehoiachin ate his meals in the king’s presence and was given the highly exalted place of a throne above all the kings who were with him in Babylon (2 Kings 25:25-30). It could most clearly be said then that following thirty-seven years of imprisonment, Jehoiachin prospered very well in the remaining years of his life in the king's palace in Babylon, contrary to what the prophet of God declared (much to Jehoiachin’s consolation, I’m sure).

We cannot just pass by the great significance of this Jehoiachin and Yahweh’s repentance concerning him. Are you aware that if Yahweh had fulfilled these prophecies given through Jeremiah, then there could not have been the birth of Yahshua. Jehoiachin and his offspring are in the line of Judah that brought forth the Savior. In Matthew 1:11 we find our man Jehoiachin, his name being listed there as Jeconiah, but this is one and the same man. If in fact Jehoiachin had been "childless," as spoken by Jeremiah, then the line of Judah and the seed of David leading to Yahshua would have been broken with no possibility of His birth. It is good that Yahweh sees the end from the beginning and repents of the things which would not be good for us.

By now Jeremiah, we could say, is looking pretty questionable in the accuracy of some of his prophecies, even threatening his authenticity as a prophet of God (using the standard of some).

(1.) Babylon was not destroyed by the Medes.

(2.) Jehoiakim did have a son to sit on the throne of Judah.

(3.) Jehoiachin was not "childless" and did prosper very well in the latter years of his life.

If one takes a cold look at these prophecies, then they appear to be highly questionable. But the fact is, the problem of their accuracy did not lie with Jeremiah, but in a truer sense with Yahweh, who, fortunately, proceeds to change His mind, to repent of the calamitous judgment He clearly plans.

Isaiah, who prophesied a hundred years before the proclaimed events regarding the Mede conquest of Babylon were tested, was spared in his lifetime this appearance of being wrong, or in harsher words being viewed as a false prophet. But even while Isaiah lived, he experienced the always real possibility that Yahweh would change His mind. As now a fifth example of Yahweh "changing His mind," we find in 2 Kings 20 the account where Isaiah went to ailing King Hezekiah and declared to him - "Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live." But Isaiah did not have to wait long for Yahweh to change His mind; for before he had even gone out of the middle court of Hezekiah’s house, Yahweh declared to him - "Return and say to Hezekiah ..., ‘I will heal you.’" Yahweh gave Hezekiah not only another fifteen years of life, but most importantly, Hezekiah was childless and Yahweh gave him a son. Without this son, once again the line of Judah that led to Yahshua would have been sorely cut short. Seeing the end from the beginning, Yahweh again repented of the misfortune He planned, this time regarding Hezekiah (Jeremiah 26:19).

We have now seen five clear examples of Yahweh repenting of the judgment He had declared beforehand, even to the humiliation of the prophet. And there are other cases in which Yahweh changed His mind as well. We read that four times Yahweh planned to destroy the Israelites - once in Egypt and three times in the wilderness (Ezekiel 20:1-26, Numbers 14:11-19). Yet in each case He repented of the judgment He had planned against them (bringing our total examples now to nine).

In Jeremiah 26:18-19 we read that Yahweh spoke through the prophet Micah saying that Jerusalem would "become ruins." But once again, Yahweh repented of the judgment He had proclaimed against them and did not perform it.

We now have registered ten clear examples of Yahweh planning judgment, but then repenting of it; and there are many more. So, what does all of this have to do with what I saw and declared would take place in 1995-96? Based on the Word of God (a sound support for all I have written here), and may I add as well, based on the leading and witness of Yahweh in my life before this time, based on the dreams and visions I had earlier in my life, based on Yahweh’s dealings with me and His leading me during and subsequent to that time, based on Kent's testimony, based on the evidences I witnessed in creation and history, based on events which have happened since then, I say Yahweh once again changed His mind and repented of the judgment which He had planned for the church, for Jerusalem, and for President Clinton. Do I have a right to presume this of Yahweh? To presume? - Absolutely not! But to carefully examine His ways and His word, His dealings in my own life, and events in history so as to come to a trustworthy conclusion? - Most definitely, Yes!

From what I have seen and learned, I find that all of these specific examples that we have seen here in the Scriptures are very clear types or foreshadowings of the mercy Yahweh is showing to harlotrous mystery Babylon Christianity. Consider reading THE ISSUE - II that includes a more complete examination of this subject of Christianity's place as mystery Babylon. (If Babylon was not a mystery, everyone would know its true identity.) Even as Yahweh had mercy on Babylon, He did so, once again seeing the end from the beginning, as a foreshadowing type of the mercy He has shown and will show to mystery Babylon Christianity. What He did for Babylon, He will do for mystery Babylon; the former foreshadowing the latter. We cannot here delve any further into this matter, so it would be well worth your time to read the "The Great Harlot/The Great City" in THE ISSUE - II regarding the evidences of mystery Babylon being Christianity.

 

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