Prophecies do not necessarily communicate God's ideal

Summary:

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

Some prophecies (from God) can be concessions that God communicates to people, and may not necessarily reveal His ultimate own ideal for them. Concessions can still be ultimately good for people in the long term, but they are not the same as what God's ultimate own ideal would be, which would be better. 

There can be several reasons for God to choose to communicate concessions, such as:

- God may have to accommodate people's lack of spiritual maturity (because not everyone can bear every spiritual thing).

- God may have to accommodate people's lack of faith (because God's responses can be contingent on the faith people have).

You can find more details below:

Prophecies do not necessarily communicate God's ideal:

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.

This may be evidence in how God then went on to describe that earthly king, saying immediately after: "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 desired, highlighting that it was a concession He would make for them but not His ideal, which would have been that He Himself would be their only king. 

Accommodating people's lack of spiritual maturity:

God may want to communicate ideally everything at once to people, but He may not do it because the people may not be able to bear it now (because of a lack of spiritual maturity). Thus God may have to accommodate people's lack of spiritual maturity.

Jesus said to His disciples: "I STILL HAVE MANY (THINGS) TO-SAY (TO) YOU, BUT YOU-ARE NOT ABLE TO-BEAR (THEM) NOW. BUT WHEN THAT (ONE), THE SPIRIT (OF) TRUTH, COMES, (HE) WILL-GUIDE YOU IN ALL THE TRUTH" (John 16:12-13). Jesus may have ideally preferred to tell many more things to His disciples, but to accommodate their lack of spiritual maturity in that moment He did not end up doing so and instead let the Holy Spirit coming later do so.

Paul wrote: "And-I, brothers, WAS NOT ABLE TO-SPEAK (TO) YOU AS (TO) SPIRITUAL (ONES), BUT AS (TO ONES) MADE-OF-FLESH, AS (TO) INFANTS IN CHRIST. I-GAVE YOU MILK TO-DRINK, NOT FOOD, FOR YOU-WERE NOT-YET ABLE. But not-even still now are-you-able, FOR YOU-ARE STILL FLESHLY. For where (there is) jealousy and strife among you, are-you not fleshly and walking in-accordance-with human (thinking)? For whenever one says “I am (of) Paul”, and another “I (am of) Apollos”, are-you not (mere) humans?" (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Paul may have ideally preferred to speak to the Corinthians as spiritual ones, but to accommodate their lack of spiritual maturity in that moment He did not end up doing so and instead gave them milk instead of food.

It is written in Hebrews about Jesus being the "HIGH-PRIEST ACCORDING-TO THE ORDER (OF) MELCHIZEDEK, CONCERNING WHOM OUR MESSAGE (TO SPEAK IS) GREAT AND HARD-TO-INTERPRET (SO AS) TO-SPEAK, SINCE YOU-HAVE-BECOME SLUGGISH (IN) THE HEARING. For indeed, (although) being-obligated to-be teachers because-of the time, you again have (a) need (that) someone be-teaching you the elements (of) the beginning (concerning) the oracles (of) God. And YOU-HAVE-BECOME (ONES) HAVING (A) NEED (OF) MILK AND NOT (OF) SOLID FOOD. For everyone partaking (of) milk (is) untried (in the) word (of) righteousness, for he-is (an) infant. But the solid food is (for the) mature, the (ones) because-of habit having (their) senses trained for distinguishing (of) both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:10-14). The author of Hebrews may have ideally preferred to speak to his audience as mature ones, but to accommodate their lack of spiritual maturity in that moment He did not end up doing so and instead gave them milk instead of food.

Accommodating people's lack of faith:

Rewarding according to the faith:

God may want to bless people, but He can choose to do so according to their faith, so as to reward their faith. 

For example it is written: "the blind (men) came to Him. And Jesus says (to) them, “Do-you-believe that I-am-able to-do this?” They-say (to) Him, “Yes, Master”. Then He-touched their eyes, saying, “LET-IT-BE-DONE (TO) YOU ACCORDING-TO YOUR FAITH”. And their eyes were-opened" (Matthew 9:28-30). 

Another example: "YOU-WERE-FAITHFUL over (a) few (things). I-WILL-SET YOU OVER MANY (things)" (Matthew 25:21).

Accommodating people's lack of faith:

God may still want to bless people in an ideal way, but according to their faith (so as to justly reward one's faith with the proper reward), so if people have a lack of faith, God may have to accommodate people's lack of faith. 

For example, it is written: "when Pharaoh sent out the people, GOD LED THEM NOT BY THE WAY OF THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES, because IT WAS NEAR; for God said, “LEST THE PEOPLE CHANGE THEIR MIND WHEN THEY SEE WAR, AND RETURN TO EGYPT.”" (Exodus 13:17). God may have ideally preferred to go by the land of the Philistines because it was near, but to accommodate people's lack of faith He did not end up leading the people by that way.

Another example: it is written about Jesus that when He went somewhere "HE-WAS NOT ABLE TO-DO ANY MIRACLE THERE, EXCEPT, HAVING-LAID (HIS) HANDS ON (A) FEW SICK (ONES), HE-CURED (THEM). And He-was-marveling because-of THEIR UNBELIEF" (Mark 6:5-6). God may have ideally preferred to do many great miracles in this instance, but to accommodate people's lack of faith He could only end up doing smaller miracles.

Another 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. The people could learn by the descriptions of the king the consequences of their choice to not want what is not better for them.

Prophecies are not necessarily meant to come to pass:

If a prophecy of concession is given, it does not have to ultimately be meant to come to pass, as it is not God's ideal. This is consistent with the fact that prophecies are not necessarily meant ideally to come to pass. 

For more information:

Prophecies are not necessarily meant to come to pass:
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