The Immutability Of God

The Immutability of God

Ps 102:12-28

12 But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.

14 For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.

15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.

17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.

18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:

19 "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death."

21 So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem

22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD.

23 In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days.

24 So I said: "Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.

25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.

27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

28 The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you."

Immutability is one of the attributes of God, one of those characteristics that describe his essential nature. To say that God is immutable is to say that He never differs from Himself. He cannot change for the better since He is perfectly holy. Neither can God change for the worse. It is impossible for Him to change in any manner!

And, oh how we need to emphasize this truth today. Why? Because the world today seems to be in a constant state of flux. Change is taking place all about us. In fact, we have seen more radical changes in the 20th century than in all the centuries past.

This shouldn’t surprise us because Daniel the prophet foretold it. In Daniel 12:4, he wrote, “…people will be running to and fro, and knowledge will increase.”

Even in the last ten years we have witnessed a social revolution in our own country that almost defies description. Fashions, language, customs, values, morals, and a thousand other things have undergone tremendous changes. With the rapid advancement of computer technology, yesterday’s discoveries have become today’s antiquity.

Some days I feel a close affinity to Henry F. Lyte, the hymn-writer. In his hymn, Abide With Me, there is a stanza that says, “Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not, abide with me.”

I’ve often thought of those who have lived for the past 90 or 100 years and how much change they have observed—especially in the fields of transportation, medicine, and communication.

No books were published until the year 1500. By the year 1900, 35,000 books were published each year. In 1995, 500,000 new books were published.

What about changes in speed? For the first 1800 years since Christ, the top speed was 20 miles per hour by horseback. The train came along and it jumped to 100 miles per hour. When the passenger jet came along in 1952, it whisked through the sky at over 300 miles per hour. By 1979 that speed had doubles to 600 to 700 miles per hour. Then the manned rockets came along a few years later and now they speed through space at about 20,000 miles per hour!

Communication? From telegraph to telephone to e-mail. It makes your head swim.

Sociologists are careful to point out the devastating effect of all this on humanity. Such constant and rapid change is leaving mankind with a feeling of instability and insecurity. There’s a feeling by many that we have been cut loose from our moorings—drifting along, as though pulled by the current of change. This produces confusion and fear.

We are told that one of the major causes of stress is change:

 Marital status

 Occupation

 Health

 Finances

 Relocation

 Retirement

 Death of a spouse

But I am here to remind you, my friends, that there are still many things in life that remain constant in the midst of an ever changing world.

1. Sin Has Not Changed