Today's post is a share of a recent bible study lesson I wrote up discussing Chapter 9 in A.W. Tozer's, Knowledge of the Holy. The chapter is called The Immutability of God. Because of the style of A.W. Tozer, most people have a hard time following his ideas, so I attempted to reorder the chapter and rewrite some sections to make it easier to follow along.
God, we are constantly being tossed about by the changes we face in this world of nature and men, but we find our shelter from this storm of change in You, as you never change. We rest in you without fear or doubt and face our tomorrows without anxiety, because we stand firm in you, knowing that none of the changes that we face surprise you, and there is nothing we can’t face with you as our anchor. Amen.
To say that God is immutable is to say that He never differs from Himself. He is constant. The idea that God is growing or developing is not found in scriptures- He is truly never changing. God cannot and has not changed for the better. Since He is perfectly Holy, He has never been less holy than He is now and can never be holier than He is. If we attempt to think of God as changing, we are no longer think of God, but something else and something less than He is.
The fact that He never changes makes God truly unique, as everything else is in constant flux. Only beings composed of parts may change, but there are no parts in Him to be altered. “All that God is He has always been, and all that He has been and is He will ever be.” Nothing in scriptures is going to lose it’s validity. His never-changing nature guarantees that.
What makes God never changing such a beautiful thing is contrasting that with the everchanging man. In God, no change is possible. In men, change is impossible to escape. We appear for a little while to laugh and weep, to work and play, and then to go to make room for those who shall follow in the neverending cycle. It is the law of impermanence. Not to mention the moods, attitudes, beliefs and emotions of man are constantly changing.
When we turn our attention back to God, we find a comforting eternal permanence. I think man instinctively seeks the unchanging and we are upset at the disturbance of things that have grown dear to us and familiar. Fredrick Faber said, “O Lord! my heart is sick, sick of this everlasting change. Life moves so quickly through its unresting race, but nothing resembling change can be found in you, as you are eternal true and constant.”
As much as we hate the everchanging nature of earthly life, in a fallen world there is an importance to developing our ability to change. Some would even consider this a gift from God, as our ability to change is what gives us hope for redemption. We don’t have to stay stuck where we are at: the liar could become honest, the prideful humble, the greedy generous. The thoughts, the desires, the affections of man can be transformed! Man no longer has to be what he was before! Ephesians 4:24 says “to put on the new-self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” We take off the temporal life of Adam and put on the new eternal life of God.
This idea of change is one that is throughout the Bible. The old covenant, as something provisional, was abolished , and the new everlasting covenant took its place. The blood of goats and bulls lost its significance when the blood of the spotless sinless Lamb was shed. The law, the altar, the priesthood, all were temporary and subject to change; The ancient sanctuary is no more, but the new sanctuary is eternal in the heavens and there the Son of God has eternal priesthood. God uses change as his servant to bless His redeemed household, but He Himself rests outside of the law of mutation and is unaffected by any changes that occur in the universe.
But what good is this knowledge for us? One reason is that we were created to worship God and to enjoy His presence forever. Learning more about the God who we shall spend eternity with can only deepen our worship. Also, in the world where men rise up and are forgotten, where attitudes change as constant as the tide, and we are left in a constant state of “catching up” to the changes all around us, it should bring great peace to know that God never changes. Every morning when we wake up, we know He is there and we shall find Him ready to listen and speak. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours or block out sections of his schedule. He’s not going to change His mind on an issue, or change His mind on how he feels about you. Today, at this moment, He feels towards His creatures, towards babies, towards the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to die for mankind. His mood is constant. He never cools off from his affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove Adam and Eve from the garden. His attitude toward the sinner is the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
God will not compromise, He will not be persuaded. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. We have but to meet His clearly stated terms, bringing our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly available for us in the manner set forth through His Word.
Why did I pick this chapter out of all the others? Yesterday, the post talked about how the devil wants to use our past against us, as if we are still the same way we once were- but the beauty of it is, God allows us to change. Like the passage says "We don’t have to stay stuck where we are at: the liar could become honest, the prideful humble, the greedy generous. The thoughts, the desires, the affections of man can be transformed! Man no longer has to be what he was before!" So allow the never changing God to change you- to transform you into what He wants you to be! Don't let the devil or anyone hold you back because of your past!
When we turn our attention back to God, we find a comforting eternal permanence. I think man instinctively seeks the unchanging and we are upset at the disturbance of things that have grown dear to us and familiar. Fredrick Faber said, “O Lord! my heart is sick, sick of this everlasting change. Life moves so quickly through its unresting race, but nothing resembling change can be found in you, as you are eternal true and constant.”
As much as we hate the everchanging nature of earthly life, in a fallen world there is an importance to developing our ability to change. Some would even consider this a gift from God, as our ability to change is what gives us hope for redemption. We don’t have to stay stuck where we are at: the liar could become honest, the prideful humble, the greedy generous. The thoughts, the desires, the affections of man can be transformed! Man no longer has to be what he was before! Ephesians 4:24 says “to put on the new-self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” We take off the temporal life of Adam and put on the new eternal life of God.
This idea of change is one that is throughout the Bible. The old covenant, as something provisional, was abolished , and the new everlasting covenant took its place. The blood of goats and bulls lost its significance when the blood of the spotless sinless Lamb was shed. The law, the altar, the priesthood, all were temporary and subject to change; The ancient sanctuary is no more, but the new sanctuary is eternal in the heavens and there the Son of God has eternal priesthood. God uses change as his servant to bless His redeemed household, but He Himself rests outside of the law of mutation and is unaffected by any changes that occur in the universe.
But what good is this knowledge for us? One reason is that we were created to worship God and to enjoy His presence forever. Learning more about the God who we shall spend eternity with can only deepen our worship. Also, in the world where men rise up and are forgotten, where attitudes change as constant as the tide, and we are left in a constant state of “catching up” to the changes all around us, it should bring great peace to know that God never changes. Every morning when we wake up, we know He is there and we shall find Him ready to listen and speak. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours or block out sections of his schedule. He’s not going to change His mind on an issue, or change His mind on how he feels about you. Today, at this moment, He feels towards His creatures, towards babies, towards the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to die for mankind. His mood is constant. He never cools off from his affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove Adam and Eve from the garden. His attitude toward the sinner is the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
God will not compromise, He will not be persuaded. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. We have but to meet His clearly stated terms, bringing our lives into accord with His revealed will, and His infinite power will become instantly available for us in the manner set forth through His Word.
Why did I pick this chapter out of all the others? Yesterday, the post talked about how the devil wants to use our past against us, as if we are still the same way we once were- but the beauty of it is, God allows us to change. Like the passage says "We don’t have to stay stuck where we are at: the liar could become honest, the prideful humble, the greedy generous. The thoughts, the desires, the affections of man can be transformed! Man no longer has to be what he was before!" So allow the never changing God to change you- to transform you into what He wants you to be! Don't let the devil or anyone hold you back because of your past!
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