Look beyond our small planet, and see that even the universe itself is ever-changing. Stars go supernova and erupt. Comets hurl through the far reaches of outer space and leave trails of dust in their wake. Everything changes – everything, but not God. In Psalms 102:25-27 The Psalmist speaks of the foundations of the earth and the heavens above us; and states that they will one day perish, but God will endure. They will get old, like a used piece of clothing, but God is the same, and His years have no end. Indeed, “All that God is, He has always been, and all that He has been and is, He will ever be.”
The fact that God does not change is simply staggering to our mortal minds. God is immutable, or God is always the same. JP Boyce writes: “By the Immutability of God is meant that He is incapable of change. Either in duration of life, or in nature, character, will, or happiness. In none of these, nor in any other respect; is there any possibility of change with God.” God doesn’t increase, or decrease. He doesn’t get better, or get worse. He is fixed in who He is. He doesn’t change because there is no need for Him to change. If God changed, it would be because there was some impurity, some incongruity in Him, so that He needed to alter. But the Bible teaches us that God is eternally, unchanging. Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. For God to change, He would either have to go from better to worse or from worse to better. He would need to either improve or decline. Change naturally implies imperfection. But God is eternally perfect, in every way so there is no need for change, and in fact, demands that God cannot change. God cannot change for the better, because He is perfectly Holy. Likewise, He cannot change for the worse, because He is perfectly Holy.
His very character is Immutable. God is Irreversibly Glorious. Unchangeably Wise. Unalterably All-Powerful. Inflexibly Just. Unwavering in His love. There are some who think there is a vast difference between the Old Testament God and the New Testament God, but this isn’t so. You don’t get to pick and choose which version of God you like better, He is immutably the same. In fact, James 1:17 states that God doesn’t even cast a shadow of change. God was just as pure, perfect, and unimpeachably judicious when He delivered the people of Israel by parting the Red Sea, as He was when he drowned the armies of Pharaoh moments later.
Kingdoms rise and fall. Civilizations change. Ideals change. What men accept and condone, change, but not God. God’s will is immutable. His Word is immutable. What God determined to be evil in eternity past, is still evil. Woe unto those who call evil, good and good, evil. (Isaiah 5:20) God’s hatred of sin is unchanging. His righteous indignation towards ungodliness is inflexible. His wrath and anger is fixed, but so also is His grace and love.
God’s means of salvation is also Immutable. Regardless of what our pluralistic society suggests, there is One way, and only One way to life eternal. True salvation can only be found by faith in the virgin birth, the perfect life, the atoning death, and the victorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This may seem a troublesome truth, but it is God’s truth; and His truth is immutable. Rather than being critical that God only provided one means of salvation; let us rejoice that He provided any means of deliverance. This One way may seem narrow, but it is broad enough for all who will, by faith, repent and turn to the unchanging Christ.
Pastor Lewis Kiger
Memorial Heights Baptist Church
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