HoHum:
The following list of statements are not meant to be offensive to the Open Theist. They are meant to be both humorous and illustrative. Open Theism teaches that God does not know future events, that He can be surprised by them, that He can make mistakes, and that He learns what will happen as people make choices. Therefore, what kinds of things might we hear the God of Open Theism say? 1. Ooops 2. Uh, oh. 3. Oh, no. 4. Shucks! 5. Let me get back to you on that. 6. Wow, that was a surprise. 7. I hope it works out. 8. Oh no, now what are they going to do this time? 9. Please, oh please, please, please believe in me. 10. I'll not do that again. 11. That didn't turn out to well, did it? 12. I'll try and get it right next time. 13. I'd answer your prayer but I don't know what is going to happen. 14. Hey, I just learned something. 15. Well, I can always go to plan B or plan C or plan D, etc.
This is lighthearted, and I mean no mockery nor insult; but this is a way of illustrating the point that the view of God in open theism means God does not know all of the future and can even make mistakes -- otherwise, according to openness, God wouldn't have any regrets.
If we assumed that the god of open theism was true, would it bring us comfort to know that God learns, that God doesn't know future completely, and that He has to wait to find out what people will do? How would that affect our prayers to Him? Would it give us confidence in God? After all, what if something happens that surprises God and He is unable to answer our prayer? If God is hoping for the best, reacting to people, and working around them to make things happen, then can we really count on God to be the in-charge Lord of the universe? I think not.
WBTU:
A. The main Scriptures that disprove open theism are from Isaiah 40-48. Have not studied these passages for sermons or lessons. Need them for a paper for Dr. Cottrell. Isaiah 40 last week.
Isaiah prophesied in Judah from 740 to 681 BC. Isaiah gives a lot of insight into the nature of God often calling Him the Holy One of Israel.
Chapters 40-48 Isaiah prophesies about the coming destruction by the Babylonians and after this the return of the exiles. 150 to 200 years until the return of the exiles from captivity. In the beginning of chapter 41 we see in vs. 2 talking about one who will come from the east and the north (vs. 25). This is talking about King Cyrus, King of the Medes and Persians. The conqueror who destroyed the Babylonian empire. He is called by his name in Isaiah 44:28 and Isaiah 45:1. Must remember that this is at least 150 years before he came to great power.
Another theme is comparing the gods of the nations to the God of Israel. Since this great nation and King is coming what will the nations do. They will try to encourage each other. They will turn to their gods. Comparing the gods of the nations to the God of Israel.
Beginning in vs. 21 God is putting the gods of the nations on trial before Him. Bring your best arguments and your strongest reasons to prove that these idols are gods.
Vs. 22- A god must have understanding and power in perfection; and do these idols appear to have these? No. Several reasons given:
They do not help us to understand history (Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome) God is working his plan to bring about the end of the age. “to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” Ephesians 1:10.
tell us what is going to happen, declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so that we may know you are gods (Vs. 22-23). “Declare the things that are going to come afterward” Isaiah 41:23, NAS95. Let them foretell the entire series of events, showing, in their order, the things which will first occur, as well as those which shall finally happen; the false prophets tried to predict isolated events, not a long series of events mutually and orderly connected, and stretching far into the future. They did not even try to do this.
Vs. 23- Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. Let us see them either inflict great plagues such as God brought on Egypt or give such blessings as God bestowed on Israel.
Vs. 24- But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless. Their claims have no foundation at all. They are nothing but a sham.
Vs. 24- he who chooses you is detestable. Anyone who chooses any other God than the true God chooses to become an abomination (NASB).
Thesis: With that introduction, God gives proofs that He is the true God.
For instances:
God has infallible power
Vs. 25- For this to happen to the people of that day was beyond comprehension. First of all, the Assyrians had to fall, then had to come the Babylonians to power, and then after the Babylonians would be the Medes and Persians. Nothing but a small kingdom at that time. God was not that specific in his predictions but He is the one who empowered all of this.
Cyrus’ father was a Mede, his mother was a Persian, brought the two together. Northeast of all the countries that Israel had dealings with. Only God could do this for Persia.
Calls on my name- this is beyond anyone’s mind that Cyrus would call upon the name of the one true God. Look at Ezra 1:2-4. He not only encouraged the building of the temple but he also helped to finance it. Beyond the Israelites minds.
God has infallible foreknowledge
Vs. 26- None of these gods could foretell this, only the one true God.
This all agrees with Vs. 22-23. No gods could foresee all of this. The Assyrians fall, the Babylonians coming to power, then the Babylonians falling to the Persians. Who could have foreseen all of this but only God.
Vs. 27- God is letting the people of Israel know (before they are taken into captivity, exile) that their deliverer is on his way (before he is even born or thought of).
Vs. 28-29- God is challenging the gods to give some predictions but they really do not. They are false. The predictions of the heathen gods are ambiguous, uncertain, mere juggle, trick, and deception. Only God can predict the future. The Lord can declare the end from the beginning, and make known things that are not yet done. God sees the past, present, and future in one unified act of knowledge. The dumb idols of the heathen know nothing concerning the future. They cannot predict what is going to happen. And man himself is powerless to know future events and cannot find out things to come.
God, who has made this challenge and declaration, has also fully demonstrated His power to do so. He has done it in His holy Word, the Bible. Other religions possess books called "sacred books." Few contain any predictions concerning the future. If the authors of these writings had attempted to foretell the future, they would have shown this clearly, but they cannot. The Bible is the true book of prophesy. These predictions are declared to be the utterances of true God; they show that the Bible is a supernatural book, the revelation of God.
John Oswalt- I was teaching a Sunday school class. As we came to the end of one study, I asked the members of the class what they would like to study next. The consensus was that they would like to study “prophecy.” I was delighted with the idea and began the next week with an overview of Amos, proceeding on through Hosea and Micah. But I began to see a questioning look in the members’ eyes. Altough they were too polite to say so, something was wrong. Finally, I stopped and asked them what the trouble was. After much hemming and hawing, one of them fianlly blurted out. “Well, we were kind of wondering when we were going to get to prophecy.” Suddently it dawned on me. When they said “prophecy,” they meant predictions associated with the end of time. What they really wanted was a study of the book of Revelation. However, if we are to understand the prophecies of Revelation and how accurate they will be (not the interpretations of the prophecies but the prophecies themselves) we need to understand predictive prophecy. The fulfilled prophecies in the Bible are one of the greatest proofs of the Bible’s trustworthiness.
The God that Isaiah describes is all powerful and all knowing even of the future. Why is it so difficult to believe that God can tell the future? If he did create the world for a purpose, if he is leading all of history to the fulfillment of that purpose, and if He is outside of time and space and has the capactiy to intersect those realms at any point, why should we think it impossible for him to tell us what will happen in advance?
Millard Erickson says of Isaiah 41. To my knowledge, no open theist discusses this passage. They restrict their comments to portions of chapters 46 and 48. If God were to be limited to vague prophecies, or those which only may come true, as open theists suggest, then his prophecies are not prophecies at all and he is, in fact, not God at all!
Conclusion and invitation:
Talk about Cyrus, think about the predictions of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Wilbur M. Smith in the Incomparable Book says this: Mohmmedanism (Islam) cannot point to any prophecies of the coming of Mohammed uttered hundreds of years before his birth. Neither can the founders of any faith besides Christianity rightly identify any ancient texts specifically fortelling their appearance. Peter Stoner in Science Speaks takes 8 prophecies of the Messiah coming true in one man. We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all 8 prophecies is 1 in 10 to 17th power. We find the chance that any one man fulfilled all 48 prophecies to be 1 in 10 to 157th power.
