In II Samuel 24:16; Jeremiah 26:19; Deuteronomy 32:36; Psalm 106:45; and Jeremiah 18:6-8, God describes how He applies His merciful systems to particular situations. God knows perfectly when to spare punishment or when to apply punishment as the case may be. But in either case, whether God destroys or whether He spares, He is merciful. God may destroy nations or groups of people to spare future generations from their evil influence, or He may spare a nation or group of people when He knows that His use of such a merciful system will better serve His purposes.
In II Samuel 24:16; Jeremiah 26:19; and Jeremiah 18:6-8, the Lord uses the phrase "repent of the evil." The word "evil" here does not mean a sinful system. The word "evil" in these verses means the same as it does in Isaiah 45:7 where the Lord states, "I...create evil." These verses simply mean that God allows pain and suffering as a result of sin in order to deter people from committing sins. Good parents may punish their children or withhold punishment according to how they feel about a particular situation. Parents possess these kinds of feelings because they were created in the image of God which causes them to use God's methods. God uses these same kinds of good systems except that God knows how to use them perfectly while parents can make mistakes.
The last half of Numbers 23:19 simply means that God will always make His Word good. God is Almighty, and His Word can never fail. Ecclesiastes 3:14 states the same basic idea. Colossians 1:16 informs us that God created absolutely everything that exists, "visible and invisible." "Visible" refers to the concrete universe of matter and energy. "Invisible" refers to the subjective universe of abstract thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Lucifer never created anything. Lucifer only invented sinful systems by misusing some of God's ideas. Colossians 1:20 clearly states that God will "reconcile all things to Himself." In order to do this, God must recover all things He has ever created that has been sullied by sin. Verses such as Romans 11:36; Revelation 4:11; Revelation 21:5; and Revelation 22:11-12 further support this teaching.
This truth means that God could never cast living humans into the lake of fire because He created them in His image. God will cast humans into hell in order to use the fires of hell to separate His goodness He created in them from the rebellious evil that is foreign in them. God will cast only that part of man which is totally evil, rebellious, and allied with Satan into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8. God could never cast living humans into the lake of fire because He would lose a part of that which He created. According to Ecclesiastes 3:14, God can never lose anything He has ever created. According to Luke 20:38, God can never lose any life He has ever created. And according to Numbers 23:19, God's Word can never fail.
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