Our Days Were All Written
Hi N____,
Thank you for your question.
You ask:
“If God commanded not His subjects to do sacrifices and burnt offerings, (Jer.7:22 & Isa.66:1-4), then why would He require Cain and Abel to do the same? As you know, God tells us He changes not.”
Here are the verses you reference:
Isa 66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven [ is] my throne, and the earth [ is] my footstool: where [ is] the house that ye build unto me? and where [ is] the place of my rest?
Isa 66:2 For all those [ things] hath mine hand made, and all those [ things] have been, saith the LORD: but to this [ man] will I look, [ even] to [ him that is] poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
Isa 66:3 He that killeth an ox [ is as if] he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, [ as if] he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, [ as if he offered] swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, [ as if] he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
Isa 66:4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose [ that] in which I delighted not.
Jer 7:22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
Jer 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Yes, God does tell us that he changes not:
Mal 3:6 For I [ am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
As you point out, it was Christ Himself who killed animals and taught Adam and Eve to make blood sacrifices for their sins. The book of Leviticus is full of Christ’s instructions to Israel concerning the various sacrifices which God had commanded Israel to make on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual schedule. God was indeed the author of animal sacrifices. How then can He tell us that He no longer requires sacrifices and still maintain that “I change not?”
As with all of God’s word, truth is never to be found in a single verse. The truth of God’s word, we are specifically told is found only in the sum of His words. And when we read the whole of God’s Word we make the incredible discovery that God has had a plan for all of mankind which he has “written in His book… before there were any of them.”
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.
That book is not concerned only with King David. As a matter of fact, King David wrote of God’s book, as he was ministering to us. It was actually written for our benefit, rather than His own:
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed [ the Old Testament prophets], that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
So this revelation that God has recorded every step of His plan for every member of mankind was actually given to King David, and it was written for our admonition:
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [ Greek, tupos, types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
So everything that happened in the Old Testament, happened and was written for one purpose, “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the aions are come.” The ends of the aions could not come upon anyone in the Old Testament because Christ’s sacrifice for sins had not yet been made. All that administration could offer was the blood of bull and goats:
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
But God’s book foretold the introduction and the expiration of the laws of animal sacrifices. Had those sacrifices continued after that unchanging plan of God, then God could not say, “I change not.”
The name of every man who ever has been and who ever will be born is written in God’s book, and it was all written “before the world began.”
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called [ us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
All of the apparent contradictions of God’s word were planned and have been occurring right on the schedule given in God’s book. In other words, God knew when He told Adam “… Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die,” God already had written in His book, exactly what Adam and Eve would do, and He had already prepared a sacrifice for Adam’s sins and for the sins of all mankind for all time:
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The very thought of our hearts and the answers of our tongues were all written in God’s book… before the world began.
Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
We are all “the children of disobedience” long before we become the
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
It was all written in God’s unchanging script for all of mankind, and while God may appear to repent of putting man on this earth, of bringing Israel up out of Egypt and of making Saul Israel’s first king, in reality, He had already written in His book exactly what would be the circumstances leading up to and what would be the outcome of every one of these situations.
Gen 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Will anyone contend that the great flood was not written in God’s book, before the world began? Yet we are told, “it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth,” because God had already written in His book that He would repent of making man.
When God brought Israel up out of Egypt, we are told that while He was in the process of giving Moses the ten commandments, God told Moses that Israel had corrupted themselves and had made a golden calf and were worshiping it. God then informed Moses that He was about to destroy all Israel and make a nation of Moses. Upon hearing God say this, Moses cried out to God to spare Israel, and again the Lord repented of the evil He had determined to do to Israel.
Exo 32:7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted [ themselves]:
Exo 32:8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These [ be] thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Exo 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it [ is] a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10 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.
Exo 32:11 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?
Exo 32:12 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.
Exo 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit [ it] for ever.
Exo 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Is God just a wishy- washy God who can be swayed by the appeals of men? No, not at all. It was all written in God’s book before the world began. Moses reacted just as God knew he would, and now we have been made to know just how serious God is about spiritual fornication. God’s repentance was only from Moses’ point of view. We now know that it was all written in God’s book, even the days ordained for Israel, before there were any of them.
While there are several other examples of the scriptures telling is that God repented, we will end this discussion with the example of King Saul’s fall from God’s favor. God had commissioned King Saul to destroy all of Amalek; men, women, children and livestock because Amalek had ambushed Israel as they were coming up out of Egypt. But King Saul decided that He would serve God as he saw fit, and he returned with the spoils of war instead of obeying God. Notice how scripture tells us “It repented me that I have set up Saul to be king,” and then Samuel tells King Saul that God is not a man that He should repent.
1Sa 15:10 Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,
1Sa 15:11 It repenteth me that I have set up Saul [ to be] king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
1Sa 15:12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
1Sa 15:13 And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.
1Sa 15:14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
1Sa 15:15 And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.
1Sa 15:16 Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.
1Sa 15:17 And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?
1Sa 15:18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.
1Sa 15:19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
1Sa 15:20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
1Sa 15:21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.
1Sa 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
1Sa 15:28 And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, [ that is] better than thou.
1Sa 15:29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.
Is God confessing to having made a mistake by anointing Saul as king of Israel, or was it not all written in God’s book, just as every experience in the Old Testament is “for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come?” Yes, King Saul was intended to typify God’s rejected anointed “before the world began.”
No, God does not change, but that does not contradict the fact that there was a time to offer animal sacrifices, and there was a time to cease offering animal sacrifices. It is all written in God’s book:
Ecc 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecc 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Ecc 3:3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
Ecc 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Ecc 3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
Ecc 3:6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
Ecc 3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
Ecc 3:8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
Ecc 3:9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
Ecc 3:10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
Ecc 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.
All that we all do was written in advance simply because of the depth of the truth of these verses
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words [“In thy book”] shall not pass away.
God’s book is God’s word by which all men will one day “live every word.”
Rev 1:3 Blessed [ is] he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
God knew in advance what each of us would do because He knows that we will all “Live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
I hope this helps you to see that when we take the sum of God’s word, we can say with conviction that “God changes not.”
Mike
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