Behold Your God — Immutability — Divine Perfection
In a world where everything changes and is in flux, it is important for us to know that the Lord our God is immutable and perfect. God’s immutability is closely associated with His aseity or self-existence. The word immutability means unchanging or not able to be changed. Divine perfection is the state of being totally complete, flawless or supreme excellence. God is absolutely complete in every way and is totally without room for improvement. God is changeless in every aspect of His being, perfections, purposes and promises. His knowledge and plans, moral principles, acts of His will, providence, attributes and characteristics remain eternally the same.
God’s immutability and divine perfection is important in relation to all of our interaction and fellowship with Him.
The Lord God Almighty is exalted above the process of changing and is totally free from increasing or diminishing. He cannot grow, nor can He decrease. Consider this in relation to His omnipresence. If it were possible for God to increase or diminish, He would not indeed be everywhere present. In relation to His power; if God could gain more power, He would not be all powerful or omnipotent. Apply this to every aspect of His person, being, will, attributes, nature and actions. Since God is absolutely perfect, improvement or deterioration are impossible.
Exodus 3:14 NKJV And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
When Moses met God at the burning bush, the Lord declared, “I AM WHO I AM,” (Exodus 3:14). Only the immutable Creator of all things can call Himself the “I AM.” Everything else is created and is in the process of becoming or changing. Only God is infinite, eternal, immutable and perfect. Yahweh (YHWH) is the only One Who is and causes to be. He alone is the Creator of all things.
Psalm 102:25-27 NKJV Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will have no end.
It may be hard for some to accept the fact that Yahweh, the only eternal God, is the Creator and immutable God.
God’s immutability is eternal in nature.
Malachi 3:6 NKJV For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
James 1:17 NKJV Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Hebrews 1:11-12 NKJV They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.”
As we consider God’s immutability and perfections, we notice how dependent everything is upon Him. The unchanging God alone is in control of His creations. After the flood, God promised Noah that He would never again curse the ground for man’s sake nor would He again destroy everything as He had done with the flood, (Genesis 8:21).
Genesis 8:22 NKJV God said “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, Winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.”
On the basis of His Own integrity and immutability, God established His perpetual covenant and set His rainbow in the clouds as a sign to all generations.
Everything we contend with and depend on for stability and continuity depends on the immutability of God.
God’s immutability does not imply immobility or static inactivity. Contrarily, God is always active and working. There is constant and continuous change around Him in relation to His manifold actions in the lives and dealings with humanity and all of His creations. Since God is perfect, there are no changes in His being, attributes, purpose, motivations or promises.
Change belongs to man.
We are not perfect in intellect, work, or character. We are always learning and are never able to come to the full knowledge of truth. God is a Rock; His work is perfect. Because God is immutable, what was true with Adam, Abraham, Moses and all of the patriarchs and prophets is still true and right.
Joshua 21:45 NKJV Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Isaiah 55:11 NKJV So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
The immutability of God is associated with His veracity or truthfulness or accuracy. Because God does not change, His Word and promise is reliable. God’s Word is substantiated on His Own being, attributes, purpose, motivations and promises. We can trust His word because we can trust in God. As we noticed in the study of God’s infinity, God knows all things (omniscient) and is everywhere present (omnipresent) at the same time and in all places.
From before the creation, God’s eternal purpose and plan was established.
Consider the incarnation of Christ in relation to God’s immutability.
When did God come up with the idea, purpose and plan to redeem man? Did God wait until there was a need for a Savior and then contemplate and plan what He would do? Was God taken aback by the actions of Adam and Eve? Did the omniscient God find that He had failed and was without a plan?
1 Peter 1:18-20 NKJV Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
We may find this hard to rationalize in the economy of man’s thoughts, wisdom, plans and needs.
Since God is infinite, omniscient, and omnipresent, He settled every contingency of man’s need before the creation.
God foreknew that we would need a Savior, so, in love God provided, planned, and ordained Jesus Christ His Son to be our Redeemer. Consider the fact that before the foundation of the world, Christ was chosen to be revealed in the fullness of times (in these last times) for our sakes.
Ephesians 1:3-5 NKJV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
God made provision ahead of time to bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. This loving choice of God the Father is related to and provided for anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of His love. Everyone who believes receives the full benefit of the good pleasure of His will.
Throughout Biblical history, God has remained true to Himself and His immutable nature and being.
There are times it appears that God changes in His dealings with individuals. Sometimes God reveals Himself and at other times He is hidden. He is represented as repenting and changing His intention, as when in Noah’s day, God was sorry that He had made man on earth and was grieved in His heart, (Genesis 6:6-7) He has different relationships with individuals before and after conversion and when they obey or disobey His commands. God told Jonah to go and tell the people of Nineveh that He was going to destroy the city and everyone in it in forty days, (Jonah 3:4). When the people of Nineveh proclaimed a fast, cried mightily to God, and turned from their evil ways and violence, God relented from the disaster that He said He would bring, (Jonah 3:10). When this happened, Jonah became angry at God and said that was why he had fled from Nineveh.
Jonah 4:2 NKJV So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
We see this same thing repeated throughout history with God’s dealings with people. God, Who is true to His holy and perfect nature and being, cannot tolerate the wickedness of man, but He is merciful and gracious and not willing that any should perish but come to repentance. Often in Scripture, God gave warnings of what would happen if individuals persisted in sin, but He also made a way to escape should they turn to Him. The stubborn and disobedient would reap the reward of their actions. Consider the fact that there is “rejoicing and joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” (Luke 15:10).
God’s relations and actions may change, but His being, attributes, purpose, motives of actions and promises never change.
When God changes in His actions and relations toward sinners, it does not mean that God is subject to change. Our negative actions and attitudes may diminish our experience of God’s blessings, but this does not change God’s immutable nature.
God spoke through Malachi and said, “Return to Me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord of Hosts,” (Malachi 3:7).
Compare these verses and see the immutability of God.
Isaiah 65:2-3 NKJV I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face…
2 Peter 3:9 NKJV The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Why would God be merciful, gracious and loving to people who are rebellious and walk in a way that is not good?
There is only one reason, God is true to Himself. He wants to show mercy and not wrath. He is willing to forgive our sins and return us to fellowship.
Psalm 103:17-18 NKJV But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.
Now consider the immutability and perfection of God in relationship to all of God’s being, attributes, purpose, motivations and promises.
Take any of the divine attributes and apply immutability and perfection to it. God’s goodness does not change. His love remains perfect and full. His grace, mercy and kindness is unchanging. God’s truthfulness, holiness and righteousness is perfect. All of His ways are immutable and perfect.
What can be said of the being and person of God the Father can be said of the God the Son and Holy Spirit.
Numbers 23:19 NKJV God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Hebrews 6:17-18 tells us “God determined to show the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation…”
Ephesians 1:11 tells us that “God works all things according to the counsel of His will.”
Psalm 103:17 NKJV But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children,
Hebrews 13:8 NKJV Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
In addition to His being and attributes, God’s purposes do not change.
Proverbs 19:21 NKJV There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.
Isaiah 14:24 NKJV The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand.”
God’s immutable truthfulness makes His promises sure and reliable.
2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
Numbers 23:19 NKJV “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
We depend on the immutability and perfection of God in every aspect of our relationship with Him.
Our faith and prayers rely on God being true and faithful to what He has said. Our Christian stand and life depends on God our Rock and Sure Foundation. We would not be able to withstand in the evil day were it not for the immutable nature and character of the Lord our God. Trust in the Lord at all times, may His praise continually be upon our lips.
