The Unchangeableness Of God

The Unchangeableness of God

The Book of Malachi

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6jVAbGXhsk

When we think about the topic of change, the one thing that stands out above all the rest is the fact that everything changes, which is the only thing that is unchangeable in this world. Change is a part of life, and what we are told, and for the most part is true, is that change is good.

Now, there’s an old saying that variety, or change, is the spice of life, but the only problem with that is that too much spice can either burn out our taste buds or make us sick.

But change is a part of life, and we live in a society that embraces change. How else can we explain over 200 plus channels on cable TV, or the millions of Internet sites?

But this begs the question, “Why so many?” Well, the answer may be as simple as we quickly tire of the same old thing, which is why the shock value of both TV and movies are at an all-time high. I guess that the old reliable “G” rating doesn’t cut it anymore.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against change or doing things differently. And as Christians and the church, we must always be seeking new and better ways to reach out with the gospel message of Jesus Christ. But what I am against is changing the gospel message itself to make it more palatable to a society that is against everything that speaks of God’s will and ways in accordance with His word.

This is what we see in Malachi’s day as well, as the people were changing the basic fundamentals of the faith and their relationship with God. This is seen in a series of statements made by the Lord throughout the book of Malachi concerning the people’s relationship with Him, and their defense in asking “how.”

Let me give you just a few examples so you see what I am talking about.

“‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord. Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’” (Malachi 1:2 NKJV)

“‘Where is My reverence?’ says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’” (Malachi 1:6 NKJV)

“‘Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!’ But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’” (Malachi 3:8 NKJV)

How did they, and then for that matter, how do we let this happen? It happens when we start to change the basic foundations of our faith. This is seen when the church actually goes against God’s word and allows our society and culture to dictate what we believe and what we say.

It also happens when we start seeking after experiences instead of God’s word. I’ve seen people literally leave a church based upon the goosebumps. They say, “I don’t feel the Holy Spirit.”

Has God’s word changed? Has God changed? The answer clearly is “no.” So what has changed? We’ve changed! We’ve taken our focus off the Lord who does not change and placed it upon ourselves or upon our culture and society which do change and always seem to be in a state of change, including our feelings.

And so, we need to center our focus off of ourselves and our society and place it firmly upon the Lord God who does not change. And God’s unchangeableness is seen throughout the Bible, not only here in Malachi, but throughout God’s word.

“For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore, you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” (Malachi 3:6 NKJV)

In the Law it says, “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.” (Numbers 23:19 NKJV)?

And of Jesus, the writer of Hebrews said, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 NKJV)

From what we see from these verses about the fact that God doesn’t change is how it dovetails into the themes we’ve looked at on goodness and faithfulness of God from the books of Jonah and Hosea. That is, because God doesn’t change, he is both faithful and good, and because God is both faithful and good, He doesn’t change.

Let’s look at the ways that God doesn’t change from the Book of Malachi.

God’s Love Doesn’t Change

“‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.” (Malachi 1:2a NKJV)

Now, in the Hebrew language, this is in the present subjective tense. Now, I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but what I am told is that this indicates that God always has and always will love His people.