All throughout Scripture we see evidence of God’s
immutability and the attestations of His people who have been impacted by it.
On the surface, the fact that God doesn’t change may seem easy to grasp and
somewhat irrelevant for practical application, but this couldn’t be further
from the truth. God’s immutability is in direct harmony with his eternality and
infiniteness. If God were changeable, either by external forces, or somehow by
His own will, then the possibility of Him being eternal and consistent in His
promises would be up for question. The implications of that would be staggering, significantly casting doubt on His own
revealed Word and our faith in Him.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon said with conviction:
“The doctrine of the immutability of God should be more
considered than it is, for the neglect of it tinges the theology of many
religious teachers and makes them utter many things of which they would have
seen the absurdity long ago if they had remembered the divine declaration, “I
am God, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
As best as you can, think about God and how He has
forever existed, even before the world began, knowing that He will continue to
exist after the world is recreated. From the universal beginning to the
apocalyptic end, He has told us what already happened and what will happen and
has established the means for how we ought to live in the middle. He created
time. He created existence. He created the past, present and future. How could
a God who is subject to change, do this? How could God possibly orchestrate all
of these incredibly complicated series of events to work out perfectly in the
end if He was liable to change His mind somewhere down the road?
If this were the case, then the prophecies found in
Scripture could potentially be wrong, thus nullifying the infallibility and
veracity of Scripture. Our faith, originally founded in the promise of the
forgiveness of sins, would be left in a panic, wondering if God would change
His mind about that, too. The most important questions in life would have no
final answers if God were not a God of unchanging finality.
The Essence of God Does Not Change
Does Scripture really get this specific about the
immutability of God? It certainly does. As the first part of our definition
stated, the immutability of God is the perfection of God by which He is devoid
of all change in… essence.
Tozer once said,
“To say that God is immutable is to say that he never
differs from Himself. The concept of a growing or developing God is not found
in the Scriptures.”
Indeed, that is true. One of the most popular passages in
the Bible referring to God’s unchanging nature, in fact, the same one that
Spurgeon quoted, is Malachi 3:6, which simply says, “I, the Lord, do not change.”
The context around this verse is extremely important to understanding
the significance of it. For one thing, God just got done saying in the
preceding verse that He would be a swift witness against all kinds of sinners:
sorcerers, adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who
oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against
those who thrust aside sojourners, and against those who do not fear the Lord.
It is after this that he states, “I, the Lord, do not change.”
Immediately following that, He says, “Therefore
you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” Israel was not going to be
completely destroyed due to their sins since God had promised Abraham that he
would always have a great and vast nation, documented in Genesis 15. What is
also important to remember is that Israel has always been on the hook for one
thing that was essential to being God’s people: obedience.
When Moses arrived on the scene and was
communing with God on Mt. Sinai during the burning bush event, God told Moses
in Exodus 19, “If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall
be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me
a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall
speak to the people of Israel.”
Since the Lord does not change, in essence, the
Israelites knew they had a God who would never think of sin any differently
than he did when He flooded the earth, but they also knew that He would be
faithful to carry out His promise to be a great nation unto the Lord when they
were obedient to God’s commands. If God varied on any of this, then what God
would have to say would not be something that the Israelites could count on. He
would be just as good as any man could be to his word, which is unreliable.
In between condemning sin and promising vengeance upon
sinners, as well as affirming His promise remained to Abraham, God affirmed His
own sovereignty by stating simply, “I,
the Lord, do not change.”
James says it another way, “the Father of lights has no
variation or shadow due to change” (1:17). Nothing He does alters who He is or
contradicts what He has always been. He is the same yesterday, today and
forever (Heb. 13:8).
Of equal importance is in understanding that God’s
unchanging essence directly coincides with His eternal nature.
Of the earth and all that is in it, the psalmist says in
chapter 102, “Of old you laid the
foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will
perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they
will pass away, but you are the same and your years have no end” (25-27).
Verse 27 brings both God’s immutability and eternal
nature into the same thought, showing us that they are one together. Stephen
Charnock, a Puritan theologian in the early 17th century, is
probably known best for his book The
Existence and Attributes of God, which was published after his death in
1682. In his exposition of Psalm 102:27 he explains so wonderfully how much
truth to God’s sovereignty is found here:
“The essence of God, with all the perfections of his
nature, are pronounced the same, without any variation from eternity to
eternity. So that the text does not only assert the eternal duration of God,
but His immutability in that duration; His eternity is signified in that
expression, “thou shalt endure”; His immutability in this, “thou art the same.”
To endure argues indeed this immutability as well as eternity; for what endures
is not changed and what is changed does not endure. “But thou art the same”
does more fully signify it. He could not be the same if He could be changed
into any other thing than what He is. The Psalmist therefore puts, not thou
“hast been” or “shall be”, but “thou art” the same, without any alteration;
thou art the same, that is, the same God, the same in essence and nature, the
same in will and purpose, you do change all other things as you please; but you
are immutable in every respect, and receive no shadow of change, though never
so light and small. The Psalmist here alludes to the name Jehovah, I am, and
does not only ascribe immutability to God, but excludes everything else from
partaking in that perfection.”
It is no wonder that after this wonderful truth is
written, the psalmist ends his psalm with, “The children of
your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you” (28).
Tozer suggested that if God could indeed change, it would
have to be in one of three directions…
“He must go from better to worse, or from worse to
better; or, granted that the moral quality remain stable, he must change within
Himself, as from immature to mature or from one order of being to another. It
should be clear that God can move in none of these directions. His perfections
forever rule out any such possibilities.”
God has always been infinitely perfect and fully holy
without any possibility of attaining to something greater. He is the greatest
source and example of perfection and holiness we will ever have because He is perfect and holy. His immutability
goes hand in hand with His eternality, for if He could change, or was subject
to change, then his ability to be our holy, saving, righteous God would be cast
into doubt.
Let us not ever doubt that our God is unchanging and
unchangeable, lest our own faith fail due to our own unwillingness to believe
what Scripture has made so clear. Though the Lord, in His matchless glory and creative genius, has created beings like us humans, or animals, or processes, or insects like the Monarch Butterfly to change as a part of our finite ecosystem, He Himself does not change. Truly, it is for our benefit that the Bible
has shown us this divine characteristic of God, so that our faith can stay
strong and steadfast.
-How does God’s unchanging essence and eternal nature
impact your understanding of Him?
-What were the implications we saw that would come about
if God’s essence could change?
-What questions come to your mind now that we’ve seen
that God’s essence is unchangeable?
-Could understanding God’s unchanging nature help you in
sharing the Gospel more clearly? How so?
Follow up with Part 2b: "Immutable Attributes: Does God "Change" If He Is Merciful One Moment and Just the Next?"
Follow up with Part 2b: "Immutable Attributes: Does God "Change" If He Is Merciful One Moment and Just the Next?"
