Prophecies are not necessarily meant to come to pass

Summary:

Prophecies are not necessarily meant to come to pass, as their intention is not necessarily that they come to pass. 

It is possible for prophecies to be intended to NOT come to pass, BUT INSTEAD have for their ultimate goal:

- To bring people to repentance. 

- To bring people to reflect on their desires, so that they might ultimately end up growing in faith. 

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Bringing people to repentance:

Prophecies can have conditions and can include a call to action (explicit or implied).

For example it is written that Jonah the prophet said to Nineveh: "Yet forty days, and NINEVEH WILL BE OVERTROWN" (Jonah 3:4). No conditions were STATED in this prophecy concerning if Nineveh would be overthrown or not. Yet conditions would have been implied, and a call to action TO REPENT would have been implied (which the people ended up doing).

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Prophecies can have conditions:
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Prophecies can include a call to action (explicit or implied):
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Such prophecy as the prophecy of Jonah can have for its ultimate goal that the people repent and the prophecy NOT come to pass, instead of the prophecy necessarily coming to pass and the people being overthrown as a result. 

This can be inferred by the desire of God to prefer mercy over judgment, as it is written that Jonah said to God: "I knew that You are MERCIFUL and compassionate, patient and abundant in kindness, and RELENTING FROM THE EVIL THINGS" (Jonah 4:2). God spoke things against the people, but is merciful and would prefer to relent from doing them, under the condition that the people repent. It is written elsewhere: "thus says the LORD, ‘I DO NOT DESIRE THE DEATH OF THE UNGODLY PERSON, BUT for the ungodly person TO TURN FROM HIS WAY AND FOR HIM TO LIVE" (Ezekiel 33:11).

The ultimate goal here would thus not for the prophecy of judgment to come to pass, but rather that it does NOT come to pass because the people would have repented.

Bringing people to reflect on their desires and end up growing in faith:

Prophecies (from God) do not necessarily communicate God's ideal. 

For example: people of Israel said to Samuel: "you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your way; and NOW SET OVER US A KING TO BE JUDGING US, AS ALSO THE OTHER NATIONS HAVE.” But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to be judging us.” And Samuel prayed to the LORD. And the LORD said to Samuel, “Hear the voice of the people, just as they shall speak to you; for they have not rejected you, but THEY HAVE REJECTED ME, SO AS NOT TO BE REIGNING OVER THEM. According to all their works which they did to Me, from which day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, and they deserted Me, and began serving different gods, so they are also doing to you. And now, be listening to their voice; only that testifying, you shall testify to them, and YOU WILL DESCRIBE TO THEM THE MANNER OF THE KING WHO WILL REIGN OVER THEM.”" (1 Samuel 8:5-9). 

God would have ideally preferred to reign Himself over the people in this instance, but to accommodate people's lack of faith He ended up giving them an earthly king to reign over them. 

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Prophecies do not necessarily communicate God's ideal:
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The prophecy of a king (other than God) to rule over the people was not meant to ultimately come to pass as it was a concession for the people, but its description should have led the people to reflect on what they were desiring, knowing how it would plan out, by reflecting on the consequences of their current demands and why they demanded such thing in the first place.

For example, immediately after that the people desired a king other than God, it is then written : "So Samuel spoke every word of the LORD to THE PEOPLE ASKING FROM HIM A KING. And he said, “THIS WILL BE THE MANNER OF THE KING WHO WILL REIGN OVER YOU: HE WILL TAKE your sons, and put them in his chariots, and among his horsemen, and running before his chariots, and to make them to himself captains of thousands and captains of hundreds; and to be reaping his harvest, and to be gathering his vintage, and to be preparing his instruments of war, and implements of his chariots. “And HE WILL TAKE YOUR daughters for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers. And HE WILL TAKE YOUR fields, and your vineyards, and your good olive groves, and give them to his servants. And HE WILL COLLECT a tithe of YOUR seeds and of your vineyards, and give it to his eunuchs, and to his servants. And HE WILL TAKE YOUR male-servants, and your female-servants, and your good herds and your donkeys, and will collect a tithe for his works. And HE WILL TITHE YOUR flocks; and you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of the face of your king whom you chose to yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in those days, because you chose to yourselves a king”" (1 Samuel 8:10-18).

The LORD here highlighted several consequences of the choice that their desires, so that they could reflect from this on what they were desiring, and perhaps be open to grow in their faith to believe for something better for them. 

This may be deduced from the verses following that, indicating: "But the people WERE NOT WILLING TO LISTEN to Samuel; and they said to him, “NO, BUT there will be a king over us" (1 Samuel 8:19). The fact that it is indicated that "the people WERE NOT WILLING TO LISTEN" (1 Samuel 8:19) may imply that there would have been something to listen or pay attention to in the description of what would happen.

If they had been willing to listen to this, they may have come to reflect on what they were desiring (and perhaps be open to grow in their faith), which would have been God's ultimate intention in describing to them this possible concession. 

God did not ultimately desire any other king than Him over His people, so His ultimate desire when describing this concession would NOT have been for this concession to come to pass, but instead for it to ideally not come to pass because the people would have reflected on their desires and grown in faith as a result.

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