Not only do the weather, economics, and truth seem to be changing, but I change. By God’s grace, I am not the same man now as I was before I came to faith in Christ. I am also not the same follower of Christ today as I was when I was taking those first baby steps in the faith. As I have changed so has my relationship with the triune God. I am more sensitive to His corrections. More appreciative of His grace. More aware of His providential care. More dependent upon His sovereignty.

I am not unique in this. I am sure that you have observed and experienced the same changes that I have witnessed in the world and yourself. Like me, you know that more changes are on the way. Change is happening more rapidly and more radically than ever before. Yet, despite the maelstrom of change that is the 21st century, God’s changelessness offers us stability, security, and strength. He is the unmovable Stone of Israel (Ge 49:24), the Rock who is perfect, just, and upright (Dt 32:4), whose word is the rock on which a house may be built, one that will withstand the buffeting of the storms of life (Mt 7:35). The changelessness of our triune God is called His immutability. Immutability means that the Father, Son, and Spirit were always and will forever be unchangeable in essence, character, purpose, and promises.

God spoke through the prophet Malachi and declared His immutability when he said, “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal 3:6). Three things grab our attention in this verse. First, the reason God said this. He was answering a question that was posed to Him in Malachi 2:17, “Where is the God of justice?” He answered in 3:1-5 by saying that He, the God of justice, was coming. He would draw near to them like refining and purifying fire in just judgment. This reminds me of all those verses which reveal God to be a “consuming fire.” In Deuteronomy 4:23-24 Israel was warned not to go after any other gods because their God was a “consuming fire.” In 9:3 God preceded them in battle as a “consuming fire.” In Isaiah 33:14 sinners in Zion were fearful at the prospect of coming face to face with God who was “the consuming fire.” So, it is surprising that Malachi 3:5 ends with “do not fear me.” Why were they not to fear? Because in the very next verse He asserted He did not change. His immutability means fearlessness, even tranquility in the storm of refining, purifying justice that He was bringing. Their “consuming fire” was not to be feared.

The next thing to note is the recipients of His immutability. The “sons of Jacob” referred to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was the nation of Israel on whom He had set His love and affection. He was unchanging in His commitment to them. In Deuteronomy 7:7 Moses affirmed the Lord loved and chose them. His gracious love for them and election of them were unchanging. Although He may refine and purify His people, they were and always will be His beloved, chosen people. He was the “consuming fire” who was at the same time intensely loving and loyal to them.

Finally, note the result of His immutability, the sons of Jacob would not be consumed. “Consumed” means to be complete, at an end, or finished. In other words, God’s unchanging commitment meant that His people would not be wiped out by His judgment. In His love, He would refine and purify but He would neither abandon nor annihilate them. His immutability meant that He will forever preserve them.

Scripture is a double-edged sword (Heb 4:12). For God’s people, His immutability means that He will not ignore sin among them. His love, commitment, patience, mercy, grace, kindness, blessing, are to be put on display by His people for the whole world to see. When they fall short, He will act. At the same time, He corrects them as a father would correct an errant son or daughter. No matter how severe the correction might be, it is always in love and for their benefit. He never stops being their Father. They never stop being His people. So, although they might be corrected, God’s people can always rest assured of His paternal care because He is immutable in His love.

As much as the immutability of God is a comfort to His elect, so should it cause fear in those who resist Him and be a motivation for their faith. As surely as God will save, sanctify, and glorify His own so He will also condemn those who do not belong to Him. Luther wrote, “The immutable truth of God, makes the conscience tremble, terrifies it, and bruises it; and afterward, when it is contrite, raises it up, consoles it, and preserves it. Thus, the truth of God’s threat is the cause of contrition, and the truth of his promise the cause of consolation, if it is believed.”[1]

God’s immutability is fully integrated with His other attributes. His attributes are not a collection of parts that together equal God. Instead, every attribute exists fully and simultaneously with every other attribute. His justice and mercy exist together with immutability therefore we can say that God is always just in his mercy and merciful in His justice. God is immutable in His infinity, so we can say He is immutable to an infinite degree in all His attributes. He is immutable regarding His omniscience. Being unchanging in His knowledge of everything concerning Himself and His works means He does not change in intention or plans. Immutable and infinite in knowledge means He is never surprised or shocked. No lack of understanding or wisdom causes Him to change his plans. He is never thrown off balance by an unexpected event. God never falls back on a “plan B” when “plan A” doesn’t work out. His immutable and perfect plans extend back to eternity past and forward to eternity future. His councils stand forever and to all generations (Ps 33:11). Immutable and infinite in sovereign power means, negatively, that nothing ever has or ever will resist Him or frustrate his intentions. Positively it means that everything He has planned will come to pass exactly as He intends.

Isaiah 14:24 affirms this, “The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand” (Isa 14:24). Unchanging in holiness means He has always been and will always be perfect in holiness. Writing of the immutability of God’s attributes the puritan Stephen Charnock wrote, “None of them will appear so glorious without this beam, this sun of immutability, which renders them highly excellent without the least shadow of imperfection.”[2]

Undeniably there are places in Scripture that suggest that God does in fact change. One is in Genesis 6:6 where it says that “the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth.” Another is in Exodus 32:14 which says, “And the Lord relented from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people.” Still, another is in 1 Samuel 15. In this chapter God first says to Samuel in verse 11, “I regret that I have made Saul king,” then just a few verses later in v. 29 Samuel asserts, “The Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret.” What are we to make of this? I think the best way to understand this is that the actions of God’s people elicit the revelation of a particular aspect of God. While God Himself is immutable, simultaneously existent in all His attributes, people experience only one aspect of God. God does not change, but we do and we perceive God according to our current state. So, while God is immutable, our perception and experience of Him are conditioned by our mutability.[3]

Consider for example Hebrews 12:5-7. Here God reminds us that He chastises His people as a father would his sons. At the end of verse 5, He speaks of His reproof. “Reproof” happens when a person is brought to the point of recognizing sin. Think of it as getting a verbal reprimand. Perhaps you have experienced this while reading God’s Word. A verse or paragraph illuminates a sinful action or attitude from which you feel compelled to repent. This is reproof.

At the end of verse 6, God says He chastises. The word “chastise” translates the same Greek word that means whip or scourge. This is a severe correction from the Lord. Perhaps an adulterous relationship that is revealed, or a secret sin that is suddenly and providentially brought to light. Any sort of severe punishment for sin is scourging.

So, while God is immutable and infinite in all His attributes His people only experience some of them. He is gracious, merciful, and yet severe in the correction of His people, just as He is in Malachi 3:6. Whether His people experience His mild reproof or severe scourging depends on their reaction to His discipline. God has not changed in his intent to purify. Nor has He changed in how He will purify. He has not changed in any of His attributes. He is immutable, but His people are not. Their experience of Him is conditioned by their reaction to Him. What Hebrew 12:5-7 means is that, on the one hand, should they forget the exhortation that God is treating them as sons, should they regard His discipline “lightly,” and should they be unresponsive to His reproof then they will experience His scourging. On the other hand, should they be sensitive to the Lord and take his discipline, even mild discipline, with all seriousness so that they repent from sin as soon as they are convicted of it then they will experience his reproof.

What does the glorious revelation of God’s immutability mean for us today? Let me suggest four things.

First, we should know that during the tumultuous change that swirls in our lives we have an immovable Rock to cling to. He is the solid foundation of the house which is our life. His is our foundational peace and contentment. Whatever happens to us, whatever changes we experience, first pass through the filter of His unchanging love. His intent is, has always been, and always will be to make us holy and blameless (Eph 1:4). Whatever He allows in our lives is rooted in His immutable plan to refine, purify, mature, and conform us into the image of His Son (Ro 8:28).

Second, as in Malachi’s day, so in the Church, God’s people do not need to fear. Change holds no terror for those loved by an unchanging God. There is no horror, panic, or desperation for those who know that God will neither leave nor forsake them (Jos 1:5; 1Ch 28:20; Heb 13:5). Such knowledge does not exempt us from painful change. Yet as Paul found, in affliction we will not be crushed, in perplexity, we will not despair, in persecution we know we are not forsaken, if struck down we are not destroyed (2Co 4:8-9). We know that all things work together for our good (Ro 8:28).

Third, shouldn’t we confidently pray to our unchanging God? Why pray to one who might answer our prayer today but rescind what He granted tomorrow? Why search the Scriptures to pray for what He wills only to have His will changed? Should we pray for the blessings promised by God only to find those promises broken? God’s immutability gives us consolation, comfort, and confidence in prayer.

Finally, the immutable excellencies of God who loves us is an encouragement and ground for our worship. Adoration is due to Him who immutably wills our good. What other reaction might we have to Him who is without change and who provides us with every good and perfect gift (Jas 1:17)?

ENDNOTES

[1] Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 36: Word and Sacrament II, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 36 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 84.

[2] Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, vol. 1 (Robert Carter & Brothers, 1853), 318.

[3] John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 170.