The Unchanging God
Malachi 3:6: “I the LORD do not change…”
We live in a rapidly changing world. Technology is constantly advancing. Political leadership is continually changing hands. Cultural trends are always in flux. Even our physical bodies change. Psalm 102 describes the fleeting nature of our lives: “my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers” (v. 3) and “my days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass” (v. 11). That is our reality – and it is even the reality of our world itself. Verse 25 cuts to the heart of the issue: “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.” It can be rather unsettling to live amid so much change. Where can we possibly find stability?
The answer lies in the glorious truth that God alone is unchanging. Psalm 102:28 declares, “But you [LORD] remain the same, and your years will never end.” This unchangeability or “immutability” of God is the glorious truth upon which we can rely in changing times. Moses referred to God as “the Rock” (Deut. 32). Since God is constant, He is the stable Rock to which we can cling in the storms of life. He is immovable and thus utterly dependable.
First, God’s character does not change. It can be unsettling to interact with an unpredictable person. But our unchanging God is constant in His character. As His people, we are not subject to divine whims and divine mood swings. He will treat us today as he has always treated his people. As Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Jesus Christ never changes. He will behave toward us as He did toward believers who have gone before. He will be gracious and kind and forgiving and persevering and sustaining. How comforting that Jesus never changes!
Second, God’s purposes never change. Companies develop new mission statements, governments rewrite policies, and schools revise curriculum. But God’s purposes are constant. Numbers 23:19 states, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act?” God’s grand plan for the universe is to exalt Christ—to make Him Head over all things—and to bring all people into a place of submission to Him. As Ephesians 1:22 declares, God “placed all things under his [that is, Jesus’] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.” This should clarify our priority, which is to submit ourselves to Jesus Christ and to live for His honour and glory. And our passion should be for others to know, trust, and submit to Jesus Christ—that they may honor Jesus as King and, at the final Day, bow to Him in a position of grace and not of judgment. If this is our life’s purpose, we are investing well.
Third, and last, God’s promises are unchanging. Human beings are very good at making promises – and often very poor at keeping them. As a result, we tend to lack trust in one another, doubting that anyone could possibly keep their word. Not so with God, whose word is “eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Psalm 119:89). Jesus is Himself the great confirmation that God is a promise-keeping God. God promised a Saviour, a deliverer, throughout the Old Testament – and in Christ, the deliverer has come, just as God said He would. As the Apostle Paul puts it, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” (2 Cor. 1:18). This is a wonderfully comforting truth. And it has both a negative and a positive side. On the negative side, it means that God’s warnings of judgement are inescapable. On the positive side, it means that God’s hope-filled promises will also come to fruition.
Today, are you building your life upon the unchanging Rock that is God alone? If you find yourself in stormy waters, take comfort: the enduring Rock that is God alone is utterly dependable and will never fail you. Edward Mote expresses well the glorious reality of God’s unchanging nature in these lines from his famous hymn:
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand…
…When darkness veils His lovely face
I'll rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy day
My anchor holds within the veil
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand