Conditional prophecy—The principle of conditional prophecy is
well explained by the prophet Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 18 God instructs the
prophet to visit the potter down the road. Jeremiah visits the potter’s
workshop and observes the molding, shaping, and reshaping that characterize the
work of a potter. It is precisely this action of molding and reshaping that God
utilizes to explain the principle of conditionality in biblical prophecy,
focusing upon the human element and response involved in human history.
The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to
pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have
spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to
bring upon it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or
concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight so
that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with
which I said I would benefit it (Jer 18:7–10; NKJV).
Thus, the fulfillment of a prophecy is, to a certain degree, dependent
upon a particular human response. The best example of this principle can be
found in the book of Jonah. The divine message that Jonah communicated to the
people of Nineveh was clear and left no margin for renegotiation: “Yet forty
days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4; NKJV). However, the
Ninevites repented (Jonah 3:6–9), and after 40 days Nineveh still stood. This
lack of fulfillment also explains, at least partly, the strong reaction of the
prophet Jonah in this matter (Jonah 4:1). After all, fulfillment of prophecy
was one important indicator to distinguish a true prophet from a false prophet.
How would he stand before the Ninevites (and perhaps even before his own people)
if the Word of the Lord, which he proclaimed, was not fulfilled? Another
example for a conditional prophecy is the revoking of the pronouncement of
Hezekiah’s imminent death found in Isaiah 38:1–22 in which God, through the
prophet Isaiah, first tells Hezekiah that he will die, but then adds another
fifteen years to the king’s life because of Hezekiah’s earnest entreaties.
It should be noted, however, that not all prophecy is conditional.
General prophecy concerned with individuals or a particular people (e.g.,
Israel) can contain conditional elements that are dependent on the human
response in a particular historical setting. Apocalyptic prophecies, on the
other hand, particularly apocalyptic time prophecies are always unconditional.
These prophecies deal with the history of humanity and the final advent of the
kingdom of God. They are not dependent on human responses; they will be
fulfilled no matter how human beings respond.
Conditional prophecy involving individual lives or corporal entities
underlines the important theological concept of human freedom. God did not
create robots and, although He is sovereign, in His acts and designs, He
accommodates human responses in His prophetic master plan. (Gerald
A. Klingbeil, “Why Were Some Prophecies in the Old Testament Not Fulfilled?,”
in Interpreting Scripture: Bible
Questions and Answers, ed. Gerhard Pfandl [Biblical Research Institute
Studies 2; Silver Spring, Md.: Biblical Research Institute, 2010], 92-94)
