(074) – THE GIFTS OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE

 

“…for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29). This declaration of Paul reveals a facet of the character of the Father God. Whatever God gives he does not take away, for it is given for eternity. As an example, we mention the greatest gift: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And God the Father gave his Son for the lost and the sinner. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). In the cross of Christ, God proclaimed the grace that is far-reaching and universal. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men” (Titus 2:11). Everything has been done, and God does not go back on it, because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. God does not change his mind, because He is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. Everything that God does is perfect and absolute. “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (James 1:17). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” (Heb. 13:8). And Jesus is exactly like the Father, and said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). If God ever changed his mind, he would be admitting that he had made a mistake, and God does not make mistakes. This is why the grace of God (the gift of God) is superior to sin. “…but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:20).

In the Old Testament, things were different. The gifts and the calling of Jehovah were revocable. Jehovah chose Saul to be king in Israel. Jehovah said to the prophet Samuel, “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over My people Israel” (1 Sam. 9:16). “Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, blessed him and said, ‘Has not Jehovah anointed you a ruler over His inheritance?” (1 Sam.10:1). And Samuel sent Saul to a group of prophets. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Saul there, and he prophesied (1 Sam. 10:10).

After Saul took charge of the kingdom, he disobeyed Jehovah (1 Sam. 15). As a result, Jehovah declares that he had changed his mind about setting Saul as king over Israel (1 Sam. 15:14). He rejected Saul as king and set David in his place, and as to complete the transaction, removed the good spirit from Saul, and filled him with an evil spirit (1 Sam. 16:1; 16:3-15). This proves that Jehovah is a God who changes his mind about the things he does, that is, he is not omniscient, neither is he omnipresent, because if he were, he would know the future, and would not need to confess that he had made a mistake. Jehovah also took away the calling and the gift of the spirit that was upon Saul, and in this way, the gifts and the calling of Jehovah are revocable, going against Rom. 11:29, which refers to God, the Father of Jesus.

Jehovah chose Solomon from the womb, and loved him (2 Sam. 12:24). A long time before David’s adultery and Solomon’s birth, Jehovah prophesied his birth: “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me” (2 Sam. 7:12-14). David declares that, among all of his sons, Jehovah chose Solomon. “And of all my sons (For Jehovah has given me many sons), He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Jehovah over Israel. And He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me” (1 Chr. 28:5,6). Jehovah gave Solomon his name (1 Chr. 22:9). So that Solomon was able to accomplish all the work that Jehovah had dreamed, he gave him divine wisdom (1 Kings 3:12). Well, then, Solomon, the loved one, chosen, and affirmed of Jehovah, was a carnal and lascivious king, for he had seven hundred women and three hundred lovers, all of them taken from the nations from which Jehovah had forbidden his people to take wives (1 Kings 11:1-3). Solomon, in his carnal passions, and lured by his wives, became an abominable idolater (1 Kings 11:5-8). Besides all of this, in order to become rich, Solomon oppressed his people (1 Kings 12:3,4). Solomon was a cruel king (1 Kings 12:11). As a consequence of this, Jehovah tore the kingdom of Israel in two (1 Kings 11:11).

Any Old Testament reader is going to think: Jehovah made a mistake in his choice. He gave the kingdom in the hand of Solomon, and afterwards divided it as punishment for his wrongdoings. Jehovah is not omniscient, nor omnipresent.  The one to be demoralized by this was not Solomon, but Jehovah, who makes irreparable mistakes. He is a god who gives and then takes away, who chooses and afterwards rejects, who removes his spirit from his anointed and puts evil spirits in its place.

Jehovah is a god whose decisions are determined by men; therefore, he changes his mind. We read in 1 Sam. 15:29 that he is not a man that he should change his mind. In 1 Sam. 15:35 we read that he regretted that he had made Saul king.

Jehovah promised to Abraham, with an oath, that he would bless and multiply the people of Israel. The people sinned at the foot of Mount Sinai, and Jehovah, filled with anger, decided to destroy them and change the promise over to Moses’ descendants. Moses opposed these new plans of Jehovah with much determination, demanding even that Jehovah changed his mind about doing such great evil. Jehovah repented and reconsidered, persuaded by a man (Ex. 32:1-14).

Another time, when the spies degraded the Promised Land, Jehovah decides once more to destroy them. Again Moses opposed the homicidal plan, and used the same arguments he had used the first time. Jehovah relented (Num. 14:1-20). Jehovah did not have a definite purpose; Moses had. Moses loved the people. “‘You who have forsaken Me,’ declares Jehovah, ‘You keep going backward, so I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting’” (Jer. 15:6).

Jehovah confesses that he practices evil and afterwards repents from it. In 2 Sam. 24:15-16, Jehovah confesses that, when a nation does not walk according with his word, he begins to imagine and devise many evils against it. If the nation turns back and repents, he also repents from the evils he had planned to do (Jer. 18:7-10). Jehovah inflicted calamity on Israel and afterwards confessed, saying, “I shall relent from the calamity that I have inflicted on you” (Jer. 42:10).

To sum this issue up, Jehovah saved his people from Egypt, and afterwards changed his mind about saving them, and killed them (Jude 5; Num. 14:28-30). Jehovah ordains a blessing, and afterwards, not only removes the blessing, but also curses the blessing given. “‘If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,’ says Jehovah of hosts, ‘then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart. Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces’” (Mal. 2:2,3). This is enough. Nothing about Jehovah is certain, except the curses.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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