Our text touches on two mysteries: first, the mystery of prayer. It is through the agency of human prayer that the eternal, unchangeable, infallible will of God is brought to pass. Prayer that begins with God’s perspective and looks up to divine mercy is effectual because there is in the nature of God something to which an appeal to pardoning mercy can be effectively made. There belongs to God the power and willingness to forgive (Ps 103:8-13).
The second mystery is the concept of the repentance of God. Think about this; if repentance suggests the changing of one’s mind, how is it possible that, and in what way does, the Lord who changeth not, change His mind? The answer is found in the Hebrew word nacham, which translated repent, but really means to comfort oneself. The wrath of God is the perpetual and natural reaction of a holy God in the face of unholiness and sin. Yet equally eternal and natural is His determination to save a people for Himself (Read God’s description of Himself in Ex 34:6-7). Despite this there is no strain, but rather only harmony in the divine mind. Love does not beat wrath out of existence, but rather the blood of Jesus, satisfies divine wrath, so that as the Father looks upon His children, though they be sinners deserving of judgment, mercy triumphs over judgment. So we find the repentance of God beautifully demonstrated in the cross, where justice and mercy meet.
