God is Unchanging Review Questions

I love mountains. They stand out as a symbol of stability in a world of change. Floods, fires, tsunamis, tornados and hurricanes may come, bringing much change to the landscape, but the mountains remain seemingly untouched.

 

Amazingly, even the unchangeableness of mountains doesn’t serve as an adequate illustration of God.

 

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,

  and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you will remain;

  they will all wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

  but you are the same, and your years have no end.

(Psalm 102:25-27)

 

In this Psalm, God is contrasted with the heavens and the foundation of the earth. The remarkableness of this contrast is that elsewhere in the Psalms, these things are used as symbols of stability and permanence.

 

The Psalmist searches for that which seems most unchanging in our experience, and then says, when compared to God, they are as changing as fashion.

 

The Psalmist’s point is that God does not change. He has always been, and will always be, the same. He does not weaken or increase with time. ‘He cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect; being perfect, He cannot change for the worse.’ (A.W. Pink, Gleanings In The Godhead available from http://www.pbministries.org/)

 

 

God's Unchanging Character

 

God’s unchangeableness means that His character is constant. He is, and will forever be, good, holy, just, loving, wise, faithful etc.

 

"Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me," says the LORD of hosts. "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed." (Malachi 3:5-6)

 

In this passage, God’s unchangeableness forms the guarantee that He will bring judgment upon the wicked and that He will be faithful to His covenant people. He is eternally just and faithful.

 

 

God's Unchanging Plans

 

Why do people change their plans? They may realise they can no longer fulfil the original plan, or it is discovered to be bad or foolish. God’s plans are different. They are made in His perfect wisdom and knowledge, and are worked out with infinite power. He will never need to revise them.

 

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.(Psalm 33:11)

 

Many are the plans in a man's heart, But the counsel of the LORD, it will stand. (Proverbs 19:21; see also Hebrews 6:17-18)

 

remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. (Isaiah 46:9-11)

 

 

God's Unchanging Promises

 

The unchangeableness of God’s character is reflected in His promises. He is unchangeably faithful to His word.

 

"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 it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19)"

 

And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.“ (1 Samuel 15:29)

 

 

God's Changing Relationships

 

In speaking of God’s unchangeableness, we shouldn’t think that there is no sense in which He changes. The Bible presents God in relationship with His creatures. One thing that becomes very obvious is that these relationships change from time to time. But this change does not effect or contradict the unchangeableness of His character, plans or promises. In fact, the opposite is true. The change of relationships is an expression of His unchangeable character, purposes and promises.

 

Consider Adam and Eve as an example. They were made righteous. While they continued in righteousness, they enjoyed a close relationship with God, but when they sinned, the relationship changed. God acted in judgment against them, cursing them and casting them out of the Garden of Eden (i.e. away from His presence). God’s change in relationship was consistent with His just and holy character with which He hates sin and must punish it. In actual fact, the ones who changed in the story were Adam and Eve, not God.

 

 

Does God Repent?

 

Some people object to the idea of God’s unchangeable purposes because the Bible presents God as repenting from time to time. Consider these two examples:

 

And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.“ But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Exodus 32:9-14)

 

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" …When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3:4, 10)

 

In both these examples, we see God proposing a course of action, and then acting differently in response to some human action. What does this relenting of God indicate about the unchangeableness of His plans and purposes? In seeking an answer, there is an important phenomenon of language we need to bear in mind.

 

Phenomenological Language

 

This is language that describes things from the perspective of the observer. Consider Malachi 1:11.

 

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 1:11)

 

Speaking of the sun rising and the sun setting is phenomenological language. From our perspective as an observer on earth, the sun seems to rise, move across the sky and set. It seems to us that the sun revolves around the earth.

 

It is obvious from the passage that Malachi is not trying to make a true to fact statement about the sun’s relationship to the earth. He is using this phenomenological language to talk about the extent of God’s fame. ‘From the rising of the sun to its setting’ means from one end of the earth to the other, from the east to the west. He is saying God’s name will be great throughout the whole world.

 

We see that the literalistic interpretation of the phrase is quite different from Malachi’s intended meaning. Therefore, we need to be careful when interpreting sayings about God‘s relenting. They are sayings from the perspective of the human observer, who hears God’s words in time and sees God’s actions in time, but is not privy to God’s eternal perspective. To read them literalistically and not take into account the nature of the language can cause error in our understanding of God.

 

So how should we understand God’s relenting in the examples of Moses and Nineveh?

 

Jonah 3:4, 10

 

In verse 4, we see that the people of Nineveh were living in wickedness. God‘s attitude and intention toward them in that state was judgment. This is an expression of His holy character. Therefore, Jonah declared the coming judgment. Then by verse 10, the situation had changed. The people had repented. They had heard the message of coming judgment and had turned from their wicked ways. So God responded to this change in situation. He withheld judgment. God‘s attitude and intention with respect to repentance is different than His attitude and intention to unrepentant wickedness.

 

[Out of grace, He did] ―what He has promised to do all along – not punish sinners who repent and turn from their evil ways. He chooses not to do what He has every right to do. (R.C. Sproul, One Holy Passion, 94)

 

Does this indicate that God changed His overall purpose? No. It is evident that the declaration of future judgment implied that there was still the opportunity to repent and be saved. God’s purpose in Jonah’s message of judgment was to bring about the repentance of the Ninevites. Therefore God’s relenting from bringing judgment was actually in accord with His overall purpose.

 

Moses’ Intercession – Exodus 32:9-14

 

Rather than being an example of God changing His plans, Exodus 32:9-14 is an illustration of ‘how God in theophany accomplishes his eternal plan: through dialogue with a man. He first states an initial intention (a statement of what Israel actually deserves), but then, in response to Moses’ intercession, promises mercy instead. Mercy was always his eternal plan; but he also planned to bring that mercy through human prayer, not without it. Before Moses’ prayer, only judgment was in order. Through a give-and-take between God and Moses, the Lord works out his eternal intention.’ (J. Frame, The Wonder of God Over Us and With Us)

 

The passages in the Bible about God relenting do not call into question the unchangeableness of God’s eternal plans and purposes. They do, however, show that God brings about His purposes through real give-and-take relationships.