10 Years Later: Some Things Never Change
TCF Sermon
September 25, 2011
In the days surrounding two weeks ago today, September 11, we were bombarded with several days of remembering what happened 10 years ago on that date. You couldn’t turn on a TV set, open a newspaper, turn on the radio, without seeing, reading, or hearing something related to the events of that awful day.
It’s interesting to note that, on the 10th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, in 1951, you couldn’t even find a mention of it in the New York Times. The next day, there was a one paragraph story. It was a small story, not a multi-page special section, like the Tulsa World featured on September 11 this year, or a days-long series of programs on TV and radio.
I’m not implying there’s necessarily anything wrong with these things. But, in the last 60 years, we as a culture have become significantly more introspective about such things. We’ve become more parochial, too – that is, we’re more concerned than ever with how such national and international events affect us as individuals. These retrospective looks at 9/11 often included the recalling of individuals’ experiences on that date, whether they were directly or even indirectly involved, or not at all involved other than as observers, like all of us here this morning.
But there was one common theme, which I heard again and again in the days surrounding the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America. This thought came home to me as I was exercising on the elliptical machine on the Thursday preceding the anniversary. When I do my elliptical workouts, I have an mp3 player, usually listening to music, sometimes listening to podcasts or sermons. But most days, I also glance at the TV screens, which typically have sports or news on. Usually, the sound is turned down, so there’s closed-captioning and you can read what the people on the program are saying.
On one particular program, several women were sitting around a coffee table remembering where they were on 9/11/2001, and how it impacted their thinking and their lives. The most common statement they made about the events of that day, which I heard in so many places that long weekend, was this:
Everything changed. Everything changed.
And as I’m sort of watching this program and reading the closed-captioning, while also listening to the music on my mp3 player, these song lyrics come on my music player:
How many deaths did I die before I was awakened to new life again?
How many half-truths did I bear witness to, ‘til the proof was disproved in the end?
How long? How far?
What was meant to illuminate shadowed me still, and all you ever wanted…
Only me, on my knees, singing holy, holy
And somehow all that matters now is you are holy, holy.
Nichole Nordeman, Holy
So, here’s the world, by way of this TV show, telling me everything has changed, but this song is telling me God is holy. And at that moment, I think - you know what - certainly some things changed, but some things never change. God was holy then – He’s holy today. God doesn’t change. His purposes don’t change.
Yes, we have tighter security at airports. Yes, we’ve waged war because of these attacks. Certainly, for those directly and even indirectly involved, those who lost loved ones, those whose lives have been impacted by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, many things have changed as a direct or indirect result of what happened that day.
But some things never change. God never changes. At the beginning of preparing for this message, I started with a list of things that haven’t changed since 9/11 – I actually came up with a list of about 14, and began to explore these things. But this morning, I’m actually going to examine just two of these things, and then take a look at the underlying foundation of these things – the reality presented in His Word, that God never changes.
One thing that isn’t any different today than it was before 9/11: God loves Muslims.
Yes, radical Muslims attacked America and killed nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens in one day. And yes, I believe God hates Islam, because it’s a false religion. But Muslims - God loves each and every one of them.
1 Tim 1:15 (ESV) The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…
Acts 10:43 (NASB77) 43 "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
Ezekiel 18:23 (NASB) 23 "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?
John 3:16 (ESV) “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God so loved the world was quite an amazing statement for that time. The Old Testament and other Jewish writings had spoken primarily of God’s love for His people Israel.
God’s love for “the world” made it possible for “whoever” (v. 15) believes in Christ, not Jews alone, to have eternal life. God’s love for the world was not mere sentiment but led to a specific action: he gave his only Son, ESV Study Bible
The “world” in this verse, as well as the word “whoever” clearly must include Muslims. So, that hasn’t changed. God still loves Muslims.
Another thing that’s still true, that hasn’t changed since 9/11 is this: God’s still on the throne. God’s still in charge.
Nothing surprised Him about 9/11, and the explosions, the collapse of the buildings, did not shake His throne, or His sovereign care. Let’s suffice it to make this point mostly by reading these passages:
Psalms 47:7-8 (NIV) 7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. 8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.
Revelation 7:10 (NIV) 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Jeremiah 32:26-27 (NASB) 26 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 27 "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?"
Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
Ephes. 1:9-11 (NIV) And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. 11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
Psalm 115:3 (NIV) Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 (NIV) 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
Psalms 24:1 (NIV) 1 The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
One commentator wrote:
The Christian view affirms that God has not merely created the universe, together with all its properties and powers, and that He is preserving all that He has created, but that as a holy, benevolent, wise and omnipotent being, He also exercises sovereign control over it. This sovereign control is (also) called Providence. …providence (is) that continuous activity of God whereby He makes all the events of the physical, mental, and moral phenomena work out His purposes; and that this purpose is nothing short of the original design of God in creation. To be sure, evil has entered the universe, but it is not allowed to thwart God’s original, benevolent, wise and holy purpose. Henry Thiessen
This leads to a truly foundational truth. Remember I told you I started out with a list of 14 different things that hadn’t changed since 9/11. I was going to whittle that down to ten or less and that was going to be the focus of today’s message.
But as I got into the Word, I was truly captured by the underlying idea that these things don’t change, because God doesn’t change. And I found myself studying this attribute of God, immersing myself in this amazing and profound idea, and finding God re-directing the scope of this message to take a longer look at this truth.
We’re going to look at a lot of scripture, and we’re going to add the clear thinking of many theologians on this truth, so hang with me here.
Scripture is full of this truth – one of the many attributes of our great God. Theologians call it immutability. We laypeople might call it unchangeableness, unchangeability. But regardless of what you call it, the Word of God presents this idea as absolutely true of God. He doesn’t change. We see it in the Old Testament in this most familiar verse:
Malachi 3:6 (NIV) 6 "I the Lord do not change.”
That’s pretty clear. We also see it in the New Testament:
James 1:17 ESV Every good gift 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.
But as are all of the attributes of God, this one is a tough one to grasp. It’s tough for us to entirely understand, because scripture not only tells us that God is unchanging, but also, that He wants us to ask Him, seek Him, and knock on His door with prayers and petitions and requests.
Now, if God is unchangeable, why would we, why should we, pray? Why should we ask for anything at all if God doesn’t change at all? But scripture indicates both God’s unchangeable nature, and His responsiveness to His children. How can we reconcile these seemingly opposing things?
First, let me say that I don’t believe we can reconcile these things, at least not entirely. There are some things that scripture teaches quite clearly, but that don’t seem to make perfect sense to our finite minds. Fully God and fully man, for example. The Word of God is very clear that Jesus was both, at the same time, in the incarnation.
Who here can say they fully understand this? But there are things, such as Jesus’ complete divinity, even as He was also, at the same time, completely human, that scripture tells us, but God apparently doesn’t feel the need to explain in its entirety.
Just as God didn’t feel the need to open the window to what was going on in heaven to explain to Job the reason he was suffering so. All God told Job was, “I’m God and you’re not. Here’s what I can do and have done – can you do these things? Trust me. Trust me.”
There are things that are a paradox – seemingly contradictory things, impossible for us to fully grasp this side of eternity, and we just have to live with this tension.
But, that said, nevertheless, I believe we can explore these things and gain some hints of what’s at work here. Exploring these things doesn’t answer all of our questions, but it does magnify and glorify our great God as we consider His amazing attributes.
God’s immutability is one of these things. God doesn’t change. So on the anniversary of 9/11, we were reminded that, to many people, it seemed that everything changed. But God, and the things He has determined, and especially His plan of redemption, have not changed.
In their prayer, after Peter and John had been questioned and threatened before the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 4, the believers recognized in prayer this reality. This is part of that prayer:
Acts 4:27-29 (NIV) 27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
They – Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles and the people of Israel – all of them, participated in God’s plan. Though they conspired against Jesus, though it might have looked in our finite understanding, as if God had to respond to the actions of His creatures, in effect somehow changing Him and His plans, they were in reality fulfilling God’s purpose.
They did what God’s power and will had decided beforehand should happen. God’s purpose was unchanging. It was all part of His plan of redemption. When we look at Malachi 3, we see the important context in which we read the words, “I the Lord, do not change,” in verse 6. Let’s look at the verses around this statement.
Malachi 3:5-7 ESV “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. 6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
God had promised redemption to His people – in this context called “children of Jacob.” So, the context in which God is declaring that He does not change, is in the context of judgment, which he declares as certain for some, as well as redemption, which is every bit as certain for others.
God tells His people that because He does not change, they can depend on their redemption – they can rely on the fact that they will not be consumed – or destroyed, if they respond in repentance.
I the LORD do not change implies that God’s character and eternal purposes do not change, which gives a solid foundation for his people’s faith and hope. However, unchangeableness in character does not mean that the Lord is unchanging in his actions, for the very next verse, “Return to me and I will return to you” (v. 7), shows that God acts differently in response to different situations. Therefore implies that God’s purpose to bring blessing to the world through Abraham’s descendants and through a Davidic Messiah will not be defeated, and thus the children of Jacob are not consumed: their existence as the restored community is evidence of God’s faithfulness. ESV Study Bible
God’s unchangeability means we can depend on Him. Even though we see many passages of scripture where it says God relents, forgives, responds to repentance, where God encourages us to ask, seek and knock, where it seems God is not only subject to change, but is prompted to change by we creatures of questionable character, in light of this passage in Malachi, we learn this:
“God is not an overindulgent parent continually spoiling His bratty children, but a stern and just judge who is Lord of His creation. He does not respond to history, which is like a river constantly running over its banks. Instead, God steadily channels that river toward the Kingdom of heaven. We can fight the current, and drown trying. Or we can order our lives to move with the current of God. Mark Galli – A Great and Terrible God
This understanding might also help us when we consider the paradox of prayer. God responds to His people’s prayers in order to fulfill His unchanging purpose. That’s one reason Jesus instructed us to pray to God: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Here’s one good definition of immutability:
Immutability: God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, although as He acts in response to different situations He feels emotions. “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6; for “being,” cf. Ps. 102:25-27; Mal. 3:6; James 1:17; for “purposes,” cf. Ps. 33:11; Isa. 46:9-11; for “promises,” cf. Num. 23:19; Rom. 11:29). God can always be trusted because he always keeps his word, and is never capricious or moody. ESV Study Bible
Here’s another good definition, which fleshes out this idea even more:
God, as the Scriptures portray Him, responds to the needs of His creation and, therefore, changes in the sense that He relates to what is not God. The biblical idea of immutability is couched in the constancy of God’s self-revelation to humanity: He is holy (Josh. 24:19), jealous (Ex. 20:5), zealous, (Isa. 9:7), beneficent (Ps. 107); and righteous (Ex. 9:27). God expresses wrath, though He is “slow to anger” (Neh. 9:17). He expresses love (Prov. 3:12) in the election of His people for service (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 28:19-20; Eph. 1:4) and by sending His one and only Son as the Savior of the world (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:9-10). The God of the Bible is the constant, unchangeable God in His revelation and response to humanity. He gives His name as “I am that I am” (lit. “I will be what I will be,” Ex. 3:14). He is the God who is and will be what He has already been in the past: “the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob… this is my name for ever…” (Ex. 3:15). The greatest religious significance of the unchanging God is His eternal stance of salvation toward His creation. He is eternally faithful to His people. Holman Bible Dictionary
The great systematic theologian Charles Hodge noted:
God is absolutely immutable in his essence and attributes. He can neither increase nor decrease. He is subject to no process of development, or of self-evolution. His knowledge and power can never be greater or less. He can never be wiser or holier, or more righteous or more merciful than He ever has been and ever must be. He is no less immutable in his plans and purposes. Infinite in wisdom, there can be no error in their conception; infinite in power, there can be no failure in their accomplishment. Charles Hodge
God is unchangeable in His essence. His nature and being are infinite, and never change. There never was a time when God was not – when He didn’t exist. He also didn’t earn His way to Godhood – He was never promoted from a lesser being to King of the Universe.
There never will come a time when He will cease to be. God has neither evolved, grown, nor improved. All that He is today, He has always been, and always will be. He can’t change for the better, because He is already perfect; since He’s already perfect, He can’t change for the worse. He is completely unaffected by anything outside Himself, so improvement or deterioration is impossible.
He only can say, “I am that I am” (Exodus 3:14). He is altogether uninfluenced by the flight of time.
Arthur Pink wrote: There is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity. Therefore His power can never diminish nor His glory ever fade.
God is also immutable in all His attributes. Whatever the attributes of God were before He spoke the universe into existence, they are precisely the same now, and will always be that way. His omnipotence – or almighty power, doesn’t fade or wear down. God’s the original Energizer bunny – He keeps going and going and going.
His wisdom doesn’t diminish. His holiness is never blemished. His truth never changes. His Word is forever settled in heaven.
Psalm 119:89 (NIV) 89 Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.
His love is eternal:
Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) 3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
Psalm 100:5 (NIV) 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Think about this a moment. As limited human creatures, our will changes, our plans change. We change. But God’s will never varies. Why would God’s will need to change? If we consider some other attributes of God, this is clearer still. He’s omniscient – that means He knows everything. Not just what’s going on now. Not just what’s happened in the past, but what will happen in the future. Even what we think.
He’s also omnipotent. All powerful. Able to do anything He wants to do. Why would such a being ever need to change His plans?
Psalm 33:11 (NIV) 11 But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Hebrews 6:17 (NIV) 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
God is constant. We humans are inconstant. Subject to change. Changing our minds. Change in us, because we’re not perfect beings, can be good – the Bible talks about transforming us into the image of Christ.
But change in us can also be bad. That’s because we’re fickle. We’re moody. How we react is contingent on so many things – from how we’re treated, to the weather, to how we feel physically. The words of Jacob about Reuben in Genesis 49:4 could apply to all of us. He said of Reuben that he’s as “unstable as water.”
But God’s not like us. God’s plans, purposes, will, are not contingent on anything but what He’s already decided to do. I don’t know about you, but rather than bringing me to dismay with this understanding of God’s immutability, it brings me great comfort. Human nature can’t be relied on. But God can.
However unstable I can be, however fickle my well-meaning friends might be, God doesn’t change.
Think of this – if God’s mood changed like ours, if He wanted or willed one thing today and something else tomorrow, if He were arbitrary or capricious, how could we rely on Him, depend on Him, confide in Him?
Have you ever heard it said about someone: “How he or she responds will depend on what kind of mood they’re in.”
We needn’t worry about such things with God. Because we know from His Word that His purpose is fixed and unchangeable, His will is stable, rather than being Someone we cannot depend on ultimately, He is a rock, The Rock, we can build our lives and hopes on.
The permanence of God’s character guarantees the fulfillment of His promises. Arthur Pink
Isaiah 54:10 (NIV) 10 Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Rather than God’s immutability being a hindrance to prayer, it’s an encouragement to prayer. Of course, there’s a darker side to this immutability. His unchanging love is comforting. But His promises include promises of justice.
God will not deny Himself to gratify their lusts. God is holy, unchangingly so. Therefore God hates sin, eternally hates it. Hence the eternality of the punishment of all who die in their sins.
The Divine immutability, like the cloud which interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptian army, has a dark as well as a light side. It insures the execution of His threatenings, as well as the performance of His promises; and destroys the hope which the guilty fondly cherish, that He will be all lenity to His frail and erring creatures, and that they will be much more lightly dealt with than the declarations of His own Word would lead us to expect. We oppose to these deceitful and presumptuous speculations the solemn truth, that God is unchanging in veracity and purpose, in faithfulness and justice. (J. Dick, 1850).
Yet for us, as followers of Christ, relying on the redemption He bought for us with His blood, there’s comfort and peace in God’s unchangeable nature.
Isaiah 46:9-11 (NIV) 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.
Numbers 23:19 (NIV) 19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Human leaders are frail and changeable. Jesus has been and always will be the same. Our world changes. Our God doesn’t change.
Hebrews 1:10-12 (NIV) 10 He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end."
Whatever changes happen in our world – from world-shaking events like 9/11, or a struggling economy, to life-shaking events like the loss of a job, or the death of a loved one,
Whatever may happen in this world, Christ remains forever changeless. If we trust him, we are absolutely secure, because we stand on the firmest foundation in the universe—Jesus Christ. A famous hymn captures this truth: "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Life Application Study Bible
I remember singing that song in our corporate prayer meeting on the 12th of September, 2001. And I remember clinging to that truth when the world seemed so uncertain in those days immediately following September 11, 2001.
Those words remain true today, for you and for me, whatever we face. On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Whatever we’re facing today, we can rely on, we can trust in, we can stand firmly on our immutable God.
Pray.
