God's Promise

‘It repented the Lord that he had made man…’ (Gen 6:6,5)
Does God repent or grieve over His creation or the work of His hands?
Let me cite two verses. ‘God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent.’(Num. 23:19) This verse was spoken by Balaam, a prophet. He was brought before the King of Moab to curse the people of Israel. Here repentance that he refers to is something else. God had earlier warned him in a dream not to curse the people whom He had blessed (Num 22:12). It had nothing to do with His work or creation. The next verse refers to the point where Samuel brings God’s word concerning the kingship of Saul. ‘…the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent’(1 Sam 15:29). Here the venerable prophet and Judge of Israel refers to David: ‘Out of the stem of Jesse’ as we read in the book of Isaiah(11:1) God had decided Saul had not in him to be the Chosen One. The anointed one or the Messiah was, instead, to emerge from the root of Jesse. Here again the word repentance is used to refer Israel and His promise to bless them through His anointed one who shall be an ensign …to it shall the Gentiles seek…’(Is.1:10)
God shall never repent as to His Promise, which is revealed gradually in a dispensation that as I mentioned earlier is representational. That Promise in a nutshell embraces both Old Testament as well as New Testament. In any case Israel is a linchpin around which His blessings should cover the whole earth. In a manner of speaking His Promise to Abraham is valid at any point of time. (Gen 12:1-3).
His repentance that He had created man must refer to something else to which I shall come in the next post.
benny

Representational Dispensation

Dispensation is a theological term. In American Heritage dictionary dispensation is defined as divine ordering of worldly affairs. Considering the order of Divine Will in Old Testament pertains to Israel in terms of other nations it is implied that His Dispensation is representational in its working. It becomes all the more significant since dispersal of Israel happened as a result of His judgment for their unbelief and apostasy, the blessing of God was to cover all other nations as well.(Gen12:3)This being the case judgment on Abraham’s seed was to work as a blessing for the gentiles by the same token. Like the widow whose lump of leaven covered the whole dough Divine chastisement though bitter at first shall work for the blessing of the whole nations. Hence we need to see Divine Will in terms of Judgment as representational in essence.
In Old Testament the Law of Moses set apart strangers from the Children of Israel. But in the New Testament grace that came with the advent of Jesus(Jn1:17) would reach the ends of the earth. The nation of Israel also would be reinstated consequently. (Rom 8:24) Such promises ought to show dispensation of God in setting apart the line of Seth from that of Cain would set apart a nation of Israel. As a prelude to this we see God sending a great flood. Did that cover the whole earth? In my opinion it was more of a local occurrence, which judged the nations inhabiting around what is now Middle East.
Divine dispensations prior to Last Judgment must be thus seen as representational in its nature.
benny