The Messenger, June 9, 2011
God Unchanging

By ZACH BUCKLAND
Special to The Messenger
When reading the Bible, we can feel disconnected and even puzzled by the stories that took place thousands of years ago. Our minds wander off into an ancient and barbaric world that is foreign to everything we know in today’s post modern world. The stories intrigue us, but it seems as though we are on the outside of the Bible world looking in. We can see God and all His glory, but we just can’t seem to make the connection between that world and ours.
This feeling can be very discouraging when trying to have an intimate relationship with God. So, how can this sense of remoteness from the biblical experience of God be overcome? In chapter seven of his book, “Knowing God,” J.I Packer agrees that in terms of space, time and culture, we are far removed from the characters of the Bible. However, we find a link by the fact that we worship exactly the same God.
“Thus it appears that the truth on which we must dwell, in order to dispel this feeling that there is an unabridged gulf between the position of men and women in Bible times and our own, is the truth of God’s immutability,” says Packer. Let’s look closer at what Packer means by God’s immutability.
God’s life does not change. The most important difference between the Creator and His creatures is that we are mutable and our nature admits of change, but God is immutable and can never cease to be what He is. “For I the Lord do not change.” (Malachi 3:6)
God’s character does not change. He never becomes less truthful, or merciful, or just or good than He used to be. His character is today, and always will be, exactly what it was in Bible times.
God’s truth does not change. Unlike human words, the words of God are stable. They stand forever as valid expressions of His mind and thought. “All flesh is grass … the grass withers … but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:6-8)
God’s ways do not change. He continues to act toward sinful men and women in the way that He did in the Bible. God predetermined to redeem a people for His own glory, and nothing can thwart that plan. “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29) His perfect knowledge, freedom and limitless power allow Him to accomplish all that He perfectly wills.
God’s purposes do not change. “God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19) God never needs to change His plans. They are made on the basis of a complete knowledge and control which extend to all things past, present and future. “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!” (Psalm 33:11-12)
God’s Son does not change. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) Jesus’ eternal life and priesthood make possible His eternal intercession for those who draw near to God through Him, leading to their complete and eternal salvation.
As we begin to understand the immutability of God, we see the gap between the Bible world and ours becoming nonexistent. Fellowship with God, trust in His Word, living by faith, standing on the promises of God — these realities are the same for us today as they were for the Old and New Testament believers.
Jonathan Edwards said immutability provokes sinners to enmity. The world hates God because it knows that His unchangeableness guarantees He cannot forget or overlook its rebellion. But for Christians, the unchanging character of God is the rock upon which we stand. We can always trust in His holiness, justice, goodness, love and every other attribute of His being.
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Editors’ note: Zach Buckland and his family attend Grace Community Church (PCA) in Troy.