God Can Answer “What If” Questions

This is an excerpt from last night’s message.

Mat 11:20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Mat 11:22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. Mat 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Mat 11:24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.

There are, to me, two major aspects about these passages.

1) For those people who actually encountered the Lord, heard Him speak, witnessed His miracles, they have a greater responsibility to respond to that light, to accept by faith the truth of who Christ was. But if they rejected Christ and died in unbelief, they will receive greater condemnation than the unbelievers who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. Because being in the light of God in the person of Jesus Christ, there is greater accountability for rejecting God.

2) God can answer “what if” questions. Do you remember in 1 Sam. 30 when the Amalekites stole so many of the women in Israel, including two of David’s wives? David asked the Lord, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all (1 Sa 30:8). Or do you remember the issue with the town of Keilah in 1 Sam. 23? David wasn’t sure if he should go into that town because he was afraid the people would turn him over to Saul. So he asked the Lord, Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up. (1 Sa 23:11-12) David never went into the town. Saul heard that David left, and he never sent men into Keilah.

And nothing happened.

The Lord can answer “what if” questions. If we were able to talk to the Lord today and you asked Him, “If I married this other person instead of this person, what would have happened to my life?” The Lord could tell you everything that would have happened as a result of your choice of marrying someone else.

“What if I made this choice instead of that choice?” The Lord could tell you.

Predestination proves, to me, that God can see into the future. Rom. 8:29 – whom He did foreknow. God foreknew us personally before He created the universe. How? The heavenly realm is not constrained by time. God can see into the future. He chose to implement the age of grace because He could see into the future. He could foresee you would accept the gospel, and He wanted to have a relationship with you. Therefore, God predestinated that He would implement the age of grace because He foreknew you and He wanted you in His life. God can also see all the alternate realities. He can tell you what would have happened if you had made different choices just as He could tell David what would happen if David made specific choices.

And here, in Matt. 11, the Lord tells us what would’ve happened in Tyre and Sidon and even Sodom if the Lord had showed up in those cities and performed the same mighty miracles He performed in so many cities in Galilee. He says, if the same mighty works had been done in… Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago… If the same mighty works had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. This wasn’t conjecture, speculation, and guess work. The Lord was stating facts. If the Lord had showed up manifested in the flesh in Sodom, like here, and He did the same miracles He had been doing in Galilee, the people of Sodom would have largely accepted Christ by faith, and Sodom would have still existed in the Lord’s day. It’s just stunning to me that God is also the God of alternate realities.

He can answer “what if” questions.