God is
Immutable
When we speak of the immutability of God we mean that God is unchanging. God remains the same in His divine nature and purposes - ALWAYS. To change means something is different than before and by design all change must be to the better or the worse. This can not be with God! God can not change to the better, since He is absolutely perfect; nor can He change to the worse, for the same reason. He can never be wiser, more holy, more just, more merciful, more truthful, nor less wise, holy, just, etc. To say that God can not change for the better or worse applies also to His plans and purposes and His will.
Immutability Declared
in Scripture
“God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of
man, that He should repen.” (Numbers
“Even they will
perish, but You endure…But You are the same.” ( Psalm 102:26-27)
“For I, the Lord,
do not change.” ( Malachi 3:6)
“Every good thing
given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of
lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17)
God is never subject to change. He does not change in nature – God is constant – God does not have good days and bad days. “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1John 1:5) – Means that change in degree of light (which relates to goodness) is always constant and can not change. God does not have a dad day where He decides to tempt people – He consistently gives good gifts and good things – ALWAYS! (see James 1:5: Matthew 7:7-11)
“As constant as the heavenly bodies are, they do exhibit changes as man
perceives them: Seasonal variations,
eclipses, phases of the moon, clouded skies, and the shifting shadows seen
hourly on the sundial, but God’s character and nature are unchanging. He does not shift from good given to
occasional evil giving.”
*** Application *** Are we thankful that God is always the same, that He is consistent, and that He does not keep changing the rules on us? God is always approachable. There is never a time that we can not find Him. God’s love is always constant and His desire is always for those lost in sin to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) God is always willing to forgive our sins – if we seek forgiveness.
The immutable nature
of Jesus
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8
People have tendency to change in their relationship (and feelings) since they first responds to the Lord’s will. Faith increases and then falls. Some look to a fellow Christian, (a teacher or leader) and lean on them only to later find that the faith of that individual is not what it should be, which may cause a person to question what they believe. Jesus does not change and never will. Jesus Christ cannot be anything but the same. To know and understand and believing this should give us reason enough to have a faith that does not diminish. His place or status with the Father does not change. By faith we respond to Him, knowing that He does not change in His will and His work for our salvation.
Benefits of
Immutability to Believers
His faithfulness and My faithfulness: Many people make the mistake of placing their confidence in someone who is undependable. This is a foolish and many time painful thing for people to do. “Like a bad tooth and an unsteady foot is confidence in a faithless man in time of trouble.” (Proverbs 25:19. Both the bad tooth and the lame foot are incapable of performing; they are both painful and ineffective. A person with a bad tooth, or a lame foot, are perfect illustrations of being unable to perform. Even though a person may desire to do something they are unable to do so because of pain and suffering or the ineffectiveness caused trusting in a faithless person.
*** Application ***
--- Wisdom will enable us to distinguish between the reliable and the unreliable. We must also be cautious in giving responsibilities to others – It should never be done just to make people feel better about themselves – they should be of such a character that they can be trusted with the responsibility – souls are at stake.
--- We can have total confidence in God’s word, we can build our entire future on the knowledge that His word is true, that God is absolutely faithful and keeps His promises. Hebrews 11, gives many examples of faith by those who trusted in the Lord and considered God to be faithful to His promises.
“By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11)
“He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” (Romans 4:20-21)
*** Note *** Placing all our hope in God does not
mean we are going out on a limb and just sitting there watching it break
off. Sometimes we must get off the limb
and get back on solid ground! (See Matthew 7:24; Psalm 36:5; 119:90; Lamentations 3:23; 1
Corinthians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 2 Timothy 2:13;
Hebrews 10:23; 1 John 1:9)
Peace of Mind: “In
this world where men forget us, change their attitude toward us as their
private interests dictate, and revise their opinion of us for the slightest
cause, is it not a source of wondrous strength to know what the God with whom
we have to do changes not? What peace it brings to the Christian’s heart to
realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to Him at any time we need not
wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He is always receptive to misery and need, as
well as to love and faith. He does not
keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one. Today, this moment, He feels toward His
creatures, exactly as He did when He sent His only begotten Son into the world
to die for mankind. God never changes
moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude towards sin is now the same as
it was when He drove out Adam and Eve from the eastward garden, and His
attitude toward the sinner is the same as when He stretched forth His hands and
cried, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest’” (The Knowledge of the Holy,
A.W. Tozer, p.59)
Courage and Confidence During Trials: “and God is faithful, who will not
allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will
provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it”. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
“Therefore let those
who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a
faithful Creator.” (1 Peter
4:19)
The word commit (entrust), is a word relating to absolute trust. It is the technical word for depositing money with a trusted friend. There were no banks and virtually no place safe to deposit or hold money. Before a man went on a journey, he would leave his money in the hands of a trusted friend – for safe-keeping. The friend was absolutely bound by all honor and all religion to return the money intact. We have been given God’s word and His promise – He is to be trusted and we can and should find peace and courage in suffering. God will take care of you – Do You Believe It??
The Reliability of God’s Word: God does not change, neither does His counsel or truth, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.” (Psalm 33:11) This should be cause for refreshment and revitalize those who believe. The knowledge of the Lords reliability should also bring about fear and terror for those who do not believe and/ or follow God’s will – “Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19) God has declared that because of sin the soul will die. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) God’s decree will never change. His Word says that the wages of sin is death, and this will be just as true at the final judgment as it was when it was written. God may feel grief, but God will not soften His position on sin. “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89) The standard set by the word of God is always the same – yesterday – today – tomorrow, and will be in effect and the standard by which all men will face judgment (see John 12:48 ; Matthew 7:21).
“Men sometimes say things they do not really mean, simply
because they do not know their own mind; also, because their views change, they
frequently find that they can no longer stand to the thing that they said in
the past. All of us sometimes have to
recall our words, because they have ceased to express what we think; sometimes
we have to eat our words, because hard facts refute them. The words of men are unstable things, but not
so with the words of God. They stand
forever, as abiding valid expressions of His mind and thought. No circumstances prompt Him to recall them;
no changes in His own thinking require Him to amend them” (Knowing God, J.I.
Packer, p.70).
Hope when we fail: God always stands ready to forgive us when approach Him in humility and are seek forgiveness. (1 John 1:9). There could be no comfort, no stability, no peace of mind if we served a God who changed as the wind. It should be encouraging to look to heaven and see a God who is of the same mind everyday – to know that His desire is for us to make it.
**** When God does
“Change”
Critics of the bible have often tried to make arguments of contradiction in the bible over passages such as Genesis 6:6 “The Lord was sorry (repented) that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” These people have a shallow knowledge and faith in the Lord.
As a
commentator put it -- “God’s
immutability is not like that of a stone that does not respond to changes about
it, but like that of the column of mercury which rises and falls according as
the temperature changes. God
never changes His standards or truth, but God has told us that sin will always
be punished and righteousness rewarded, thus if we change from good to bad or
bad to good God will adjust the rewards or consequences (Jeremiah 18:8; Joel
2:12-14). What this means is that
God’s standards are so unchanging that a Christian who becomes unfaithful can
lose their salvation (2 Timothy
***Application***
God’s standards will not change, nor will God be moved to
change His standards – no matter the grief or remorse God may have over the
actions of a sinner. “I regret that I
have made Saul king” (1 Samuel
--- What this means to every person is that God will allow
you to end up lost forever if you are not faithful. God will not adjust the standard of judgment
for you, neither will He bend the rules so that you can be saved without
repentance. At the same time, God’s
unchanging nature means that He is always eagerly awaiting the return of the
repentant sinner (see Luke
The promise of eternal life in Christ Jesus for all who obey
Him remains unchanged (Hebrews
We live in a world of constant change, where values are constantly changing and what is popular today or who is popular now is abandoned or forgotten next year (Ecclesiastes 4:15-16). How comforting to know that the God whom we serve is not changeable, that He is dependable and His standards and expectations are unchanging from generation to generation. Forever and ever Amen!!!