On Wednesday, temperatures of 50 C, and people in danger of death through dehydration. Today: thunder, lightning, torrential rain, and hailstones - and all of that in the space of less than fifteen minutes (the storm, itself, lasted for more than an hour!).
Regardless of climate change, global warming, or any other fad or buzz-word to which we are regularly exposed, there can be no doubt that the weather can be very changeable. One of the regular 'jokes' about Scotland (and other areas!) is that it has four seasons - every day!
Of course, life itself is filled with change. People grow - and the "I" in a photograph of me at about seven years of age, is very different, physically, from the "I" who is typing this post. I am also different in terms of the knowledge and understanding that I have gained during those intervening decades (both of them - if you are one of my former LHS pupils! But don't forget the "few months"!). I have changed my place of residence more often than I care to recall; I have changed from being a single young man to being a husband, a father, and now a grandfather. I have experienced change in terms of taste - in music; in food; in reading material; etc.
All of that, and more, was going through my head as my wife and I sat in the car, outside the shop we planned to enter, waiting for the rain to ease off sufficiently, and the hailstones to stop playing drum-rolls on the roof of the car! Then I thought of the unchanging One!
The fancy, theological word for the associated doctrine (teaching*) is "the immutability of God". What that means, simply, is that He is unchanging in His love; in His character; in His will; in His purposes. Louis Berkhof, in his classic volume of Systematic Theology, defines the immutability of God as "... that perfection of God be which He is devoid of all change, not only in His Being, but also in His perfections, and in His purposes and promises." (p.58). Q.4 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism ask "What is God?", and supplies the answer: "God is [a] Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."
These 'credal' statements are, of course, fully backed up by the written Word of God. To give just a few of the Scripture references, we read in the book of the prophet Malachi: "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." (Mal 3:6; emphasis added). James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, wrote: "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:16-17; emphasis added). In perhaps the best-known reference to the unchangeability of God, in the Persona (not a typo - see the chapter on The Trinity, in "Great Words") of the Son, the writer of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus states clearly that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever." (Heb 13:8; emphasis added).
So, is this doctrine nothing more than academic pretentiousness, or esoteric grandiloquence? (tongue in cheek, there!). Is there any comfort, or encouragement for the true child of God? There most certainly is! The concept is taught, not simply as belonging to the nature of God in Himself, but as being in the closest connection with His covenant relation to His people, so that the 'religious' value of God's unchangeableness is most clearly implied in this fundamental assertion of the attribute. He is YHWH - the "I AM THAT I AM" - and that very Name, the Covenant name, indicates His immutability. If He ever "was", then He might now be different to what He was before! If he was ever to be, then what confidence could we have that He is not yet all that He might be? However, He Is - eternally; and in that assurance we may take comfort.
As I finish typing this post, the sun is again breaking through the clouds. There, too, is a lesson. Sometimes we may feel so far away from Father God. The clouds of sin get in the way. But He is still there - just as the sun was still there even in the midst of the thunder-storm. And our God, Who created the sun, and all that exists, is far greater, and more dependable, than is it.
The immutability of God. A wondrous doctrine that may be an encouragement to all who call upon the Name of the Lord. May we do so - for our own good; for the blessing of others; and for His eternal glory.
*see my book "Defending the Faith". Details above. Remember, I receive no financial benefit from the sale of any of my books, paperback or e-book. ALL royalties are now paid directly into the bank account of Release International, in support of the persecuted church.
The fancy, theological word for the associated doctrine (teaching*) is "the immutability of God". What that means, simply, is that He is unchanging in His love; in His character; in His will; in His purposes. Louis Berkhof, in his classic volume of Systematic Theology, defines the immutability of God as "... that perfection of God be which He is devoid of all change, not only in His Being, but also in His perfections, and in His purposes and promises." (p.58). Q.4 in the Westminster Shorter Catechism ask "What is God?", and supplies the answer: "God is [a] Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."
These 'credal' statements are, of course, fully backed up by the written Word of God. To give just a few of the Scripture references, we read in the book of the prophet Malachi: "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." (Mal 3:6; emphasis added). James, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, wrote: "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:16-17; emphasis added). In perhaps the best-known reference to the unchangeability of God, in the Persona (not a typo - see the chapter on The Trinity, in "Great Words") of the Son, the writer of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus states clearly that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever." (Heb 13:8; emphasis added).
So, is this doctrine nothing more than academic pretentiousness, or esoteric grandiloquence? (tongue in cheek, there!). Is there any comfort, or encouragement for the true child of God? There most certainly is! The concept is taught, not simply as belonging to the nature of God in Himself, but as being in the closest connection with His covenant relation to His people, so that the 'religious' value of God's unchangeableness is most clearly implied in this fundamental assertion of the attribute. He is YHWH - the "I AM THAT I AM" - and that very Name, the Covenant name, indicates His immutability. If He ever "was", then He might now be different to what He was before! If he was ever to be, then what confidence could we have that He is not yet all that He might be? However, He Is - eternally; and in that assurance we may take comfort.
As I finish typing this post, the sun is again breaking through the clouds. There, too, is a lesson. Sometimes we may feel so far away from Father God. The clouds of sin get in the way. But He is still there - just as the sun was still there even in the midst of the thunder-storm. And our God, Who created the sun, and all that exists, is far greater, and more dependable, than is it.
The immutability of God. A wondrous doctrine that may be an encouragement to all who call upon the Name of the Lord. May we do so - for our own good; for the blessing of others; and for His eternal glory.
*see my book "Defending the Faith". Details above. Remember, I receive no financial benefit from the sale of any of my books, paperback or e-book. ALL royalties are now paid directly into the bank account of Release International, in support of the persecuted church.
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