diff --git a/terraform/context_apply_test.go b/terraform/context_apply_test.go
index 58c61a393..c74dddfcd 100644
--- a/terraform/context_apply_test.go
+++ b/terraform/context_apply_test.go
@@ -9002,15 +9002,14 @@ func TestContext2Apply_ignoreChangesWildcard(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 
 	if p, diags := ctx.Plan(); diags.HasErrors() {
-		t.Fatalf("diags: %s", diags.Err())
+		logDiagnostics(t, diags)
+		t.Fatal("plan failed")
 	} else {
 		t.Logf(legacyDiffComparisonString(p.Changes))
 	}
 
 	state, diags := ctx.Apply()
-	if diags.HasErrors() {
-		t.Fatalf("diags: %s", diags.Err())
-	}
+	assertNoErrors(t, diags)
 
 	mod := state.RootModule()
 	if len(mod.Resources) != 1 {
diff --git a/terraform/eval_diff.go b/terraform/eval_diff.go
index 6f0dccfb4..40f89e56a 100644
--- a/terraform/eval_diff.go
+++ b/terraform/eval_diff.go
@@ -415,6 +415,12 @@ func (n *EvalDiff) Eval(ctx EvalContext) (interface{}, error) {
 }
 
 func (n *EvalDiff) processIgnoreChanges(schema *configschema.Block, prior, proposed cty.Value) (cty.Value, tfdiags.Diagnostics) {
+	// ignore_changes only applies when an object already exists, since we
+	// can't ignore changes to a thing we've not created yet.
+	if prior.IsNull() {
+		return proposed, nil
+	}
+
 	ignoreChanges := n.Config.Managed.IgnoreChanges
 	ignoreAll := n.Config.Managed.IgnoreAllChanges