| Psalm 102:18-28 - 9 May 2010
Andrew Lim
You have all heard
that one of the certainties of life is the uncertainty of life
and life is uncertain primarily because everything around us changes
The speed of technological developments has changed the way we live
People change: children grow up / we grow old
friends become enemies / stranger become friends
Things change: shoes wear out / computers crash / weather goes wonky
The entire universe / too / is changing
The universe is expanding
and everything in it is growing further and further apart
As it does / it grows colder and colder / and its energy is used up
Eventually all the stars will burn out
and all matter will collapsed into dead stars and black holes
There will be no light at all / no heat / no life
Only the corpses of dead stars and galaxies
ever expanding into the endless darkness
and the cold recesses of space / a universe in ruins
tumbling irreversibly toward its grave
Now / in a world of flux / where everything is so tenuous and transitory?
- one thing / one Being remains unchanged
Theologians use the word / immutable
Most of you have heard of “mutations”
genetic changes in the molecular cells
If a thing is subject to change in any degree / we say it is “mutable”
That said / to be immutable means to be unchanging and unchangeable
God is immutable / God is unchangeable
He is incapable of change / He’s not susceptible to change
The empires of the world / rise and fall
God remains unchangeable
The heavens and the earth will one day vanish
and a new heaven and a new earth take their place
but God remains unchangeable
Satan may marshal a mighty force / and pit himself against God
God remains unchangeable
Tozer says: “In God no change is possible
in men change is impossible to escape”
John Gill says: “Man / at his best estate / is altogether vanity
God alone / is / in and of himself / immutable”
This truth / is taught clearly in the Bible
* 1 Samuel 15:29 / “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change
his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind”
* Malachi 3:6 / “I the Lord do not change”
* James 1:17 / “Every good and perfect gift is from above
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,
who does not change like shifting shadows”
* Psalm 102:25-27 / “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the
earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 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. But you remain the same,
and your years will never end”
* Hebrews 13:8 / “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”
In what ways / is God unchangeable?
First / God is unchangeable in the essence of His Being
We change our minds / we have a change of heart
Our body cells go though ravages
Comes a point when they ceased to regenerate / and we age and die
We’ve all been tarred with the brush of changeability / mutability
The same with the products we use / Most products can be improved
It was once believed that no one could build a better mouse-trap
but the traditional mouse-trap has been improved
You could come up with a laundry detergent that makes clothes whiter
and is kinder to the environment
You could improve your favorite breakfast cereal
by adding more vitamins / more fiber / more crunch
But just how could you improve on omniscience?
How can you improve on omnipotence? / omnipresence
How can you improve on perfect righteousness / immaculate holiness?
God is pure / simple being / complete / perfect in Himself
He cannot come to have a new nature that He never had before
and He is incapable of losing a nature / that He already has
If God changed He would have to change in one of two directions
He would either increase / or decrease / in His divine Being
If God increases / whether quantitatively or qualitatively / it must
mean that prior to that change / He must have been incomplete
And if God decreases / then it must mean
that He is now / less than what He was / before the change
God does not evolve / Neither does He devolve
This is why of all the names He could possibly give to Himself
He calls Himself: “I am who I am” / Ehyeh asher ehyeh / Ex 3:14
Before anything was I AM / Before time or space came to be I AM
God / in the essence of his Being / cannot change / Ps 102:25-27
He is the only Being who just IS / He is pure existence
Uncaused / He never began to exist / He will never go out of existence
We need food / water / air / and health to exist
- and even then one day / the body will age and die
But God is not / in any way dependent on anything for His existence
He simple IS
He has no beginning / He will not come to an end
He can’t grow any older
He never gains any new strength or loses any abilities that He ever had
He never matures / never grows wiser!
The ancient hymn expresses it well
“We blossom and flourish / As leaves on the tree
We wither and perish / But naught changeth Thee”
God is utterly / undeniable / perfect
Perfection needs no change / Perfection will allow for not change
Perfection cannot be increased / Perfection cannot be diminished
Arthur Pink says: “He is altogether uninfluenced by the flight of time
There is no wrinkle upon the brow of eternity
Therefore His power can never diminish nor His glory ever fade”
He does not grow older
“In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth
and the heavens are the work of your hands
They will perish / but you remain / they all wear out like a garment
Like clothing you will change them / and they will be discarded
But you remain the same and your years will never end” / Ps. 102:25-27
“Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world
from everlasting to everlasting you are God” / Ps. 90:2
All that God is / He has always been / and is / and ever will be
Second / God is unchangeable in His character
J.I. Packer reminds us that “strain / or shock / or lobotomy
can alter the character of a person
but nothing can alter the character of God
With human people / their tastes and outlook and temper
may change radically
- a kind / equable person may turn bitter or crotchety
- a person of good will may grow cynical and callous
But God will never become less truthful / or less merciful / less good
than he used to be / Knowing God p. 77-78
He will not become either morally better nor morally worse
If God could change with regards to his moral character
it would be either for the better or the worse
If He changed for the better / it would mean
that before the change / He had been morally imperfect
But if He changed for the worse
it would mean that He is now morally less perfect
But if that’s the case He is not God
Pink says: “His power is unabated
His wisdom undiminished / His holiness unsullied”
God will never cease / to be good to you and I
He may hide His face from you / but he does not cease to love you
Isaiah 54:7-10 / “For a brief moment I abandoned you
but with deep compassion I will bring you back
In a surge of anger / I hid my face from you for a moment
but with everlasting kindness / I will have compassion on you”
says the LORD your Redeemer
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”
Further / God will never change in His faithfulness
Gloria’s grandmother used to have a plaque by her bedside
with a text from 2 Tim 2:13 / “Even when we abide faithless
He abides faithful”
People may finally give up on you / Not God
Heb 13:5 “Never will I leave you / Never will I forsake you”
And He is unchangeable in His love for you
You can come to Him / at any stage in your life
and never have to wonder if you catch Him in a receptive mood
He is consistently receptive to you
He never changes His mood / never turns cold towards you
He never wavers in His affections or loses enthusiasm
Third / He is unchanging in His plans and purposes for you
The plans we make can change / by a phone call that’s just come in
or by a meeting the boss has just called / by a flight delay
But God’s purpose never changes
* Isaiah 14:24 / “The plans of the Lord stand firm forever
the purposes of his heart through all generations”
In today’s language/ He is not fickle
That’s partly because He does not lack the wisdom and knowledge
to anticipate any and all the variables that could ever happen
Because God has both infinite wisdom and knowledge
He makes no mistake in His plans
Because God is infinite in power
He cannot fail to accomplish His purpose
From our finite limited vantage point / in human history
we only get to see a slice of what God is doing in human history
- some of us here were alive during WW 2
- we’ve lived to see 9/11 / invasion of Iraq
But those plans existed in the mind of God / all through eternity
I’ve said before when Gloria was rushed into the Emergency Room
over a serious heart problem / and lying there on the bed
with all those tubes and wires all over her / she turned to me
and said / “God knows from all eternity that this day / this time /
on this bed / I will be” Then she cites Ps 139:16 / “All the
days ordained for me were written in your book / before one
of them came to be”
Through all eternity / God already decreed what will come to pass
and in time / each one will come to be
* Psalm 33:11 / “The counsel of the Lord stands forever
His plans never change”
* Isa. 46:9-11 “I am God, and there is none like me
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times / things not yet done / saying:
‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose'’
I have spoken / and I will bring it to pass
I have purposed / and I will do it”
And Job / having suffered the death of all his ten children
and afflicted with boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet
looked up / and said these words
“I know that You can do all things
and no plan of Yours can be thwarted” / Job 42:2
I am not young anymore / and I can’t wind back the clock
but I know with indubitable certainty
God’s plan for me and my family is both good and unchangeable
Fourth / God does not change His word
We break our promises like the crust of an apple pie
We break our word / and we’ve got a thousand excuses don’t we?
God never makes excuses because He never breaks his promises
You may rely upon God to keep his word!
* Psalm 119:89 / “Your word / O LORD / is eternal
it stands firm in the heavens”
When God speaks / He speaks only what is true
There is not a single word spoken by God
that will ever be modified / retracted / or added to
* The prophet Isaiah reminds us
“The grass withers / the flower fades
But the word of our God stands forever” / Isaiah 40:8
* Num 23:19: “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 fulfil?
Isn’t that so reassuring!
We live in a society that’s plagued by relativism and political correctness
Ad God says / “Not one jot / not one tittle will be removed
Heaven and earth may pass away
but my words will never pass away”
I want to make a crucial point here / simply / dreadfully / humbly
Spurgeon says it s a “jarring note to spoil the theme”
And that is this: The consistency of God / is a terror to the wicked
For in the final day of reckoning / the wicked cannot expect mercy
even when they shall call out for mercy
For God cannot revoke His word
He cannot invalidate His promise to judge / not when life is over
These are His dreadful words:
“Therefore / I also deal with them in fury:
Mine eye shall not spare / neither will I have pity:
Although they shout in my ears / with a loud voice
yet will I not hear them” / Eze 8:18
It is a sobering thought / that all who die defying and unbelieving
will bear the brunt of God’s judgement / unsparingly
God unchangingly hates sin / and to that end
the consistency of God / is a terror to the wicked
All of us / believers as well as unbelievers / have an appointment a God
Who remains true to His Word of judgement
But for those who believe
the fire of the Lord’s judgment will not singe their clothes
neither will the smell of smoke be in our their garments
The Word of God says:
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 / Isaiah 54:10
Spurgeon says / that people who defy God / turn their backs on Him
break His laws with casual abandonment
have no concern for His glory / live their lives as though He didn’t exist
must not suppose that / when they finally cry to Him for mercy
that He will change His will / revoke His word
and abrogate and nullify His promise of judgement
If every promise God makes / stands fast
If every oath of the covenant must be fulfilled
then we need to hear the death-knell that will soon toll for each of us
Be as good as you please / be as moral as you can
be as honest as you will / walk as uprightly as you may
if you will not believe / you will have no life
Right / now to out “so what” question
If God is unchangeable / what implications does this have for us ?
What difference does it make for us / that God is unchanging
Well / the most obvious implication
is that if God is unchanging / then His Word is also unchanging
His unchangeability guarantees His trustworthiness
When we were living in the States we visited a Sears store
and a friend of mine told me
that his father had a hammer which he bought from Sears
And over 50 years later / it broke at the handle
He took it back to Sears / and a new one was replaced
without a single question asked
50 years later / and a replacement made / without a question asked
That hammer had the back-up / of Sears’ Lifetime Warranty
And they had remained true / to their word
It is like that with the Word of God
“The grass withers / the flower fades
but the Word of our God / shall stand for ever” (Is. 40:6-8)
John puts it very simply: “The Scripture cannot be broken” John 10:35
And just knowing that God doesn’t change
is a source of immeasurable comfort for us
How comforting to know that
however unstable I may be
however fickle my friends may turn out to be / God remains true
Plop right in the middle of this crazy / mixed-up / ever changing world
we have God as an Unshakeable Rock
He will fortify us / and bear us up
when misfortune and disaster pit themselves against us
In God / we have a solid buttress / our sure and certain hope
How very comforting
especially when we’re going through a serious crisis
to know / that our God is not shifting sand
that He is not a tumble weed
But instead / the Rock of Ages / the Anchor of our soul
Isn't that marvellous? / Isn't that consoling? / Isn't that comforting?
Secondly / God’s unchangeability / gives me an anchor for prayer
For if God is shifty / and acts according to His whims and fancy
why would we want to pray? / who would even care to pray!
We wouldn’t know
whether He’d be as caring today / as He was yesterday
whether He’d grant me an audience today / as He did yesterday
whether He’d be merciful and forgiving today as He was yesterday
All those doubts would be rise in our hearts
if we couldn’t be assured / that our God is immutable
But the Word of God says that He has promised
to hear everyone who turns to Him in faith
praying in the name of Jesus / and praying according to His will
Some people have asked:
If God’s purpose is unchangeable / and His will does not change
then what is the use of our prayers
For if He is unchanging / then surely His mind is already made up
over what actions He would take
what benefits He would provide
what blessings He would bestow / when pray to Him
What difference would our prayers make?
He has already decided what He has decided
What good would our prayers do / if God is unchangeable?”
The truth of the matter is this:
We do not pray to change God’s will
We pray / not to demand what we want
but in order / that through our prayers
we might know what God’s will is
and ask for strength to walk accordingly
The Word teaches us that as God’s children
that when we pray / we pray in the confidence
that God’s Holy Spirit will prompt us on how we ought to pray
Prayer / is one of the pivotal ways that God works
to help us come round to seeing His will and praying for it
Often / when God answers a person’s prayer
it really looks like God has changed His mind
But that is not true / When God answers your prayer
He does not change His mind
Rather / when you pray sincerely for God’s will to be done
you / are the one who change from praying for what you want
to praying for what God wants
This is why God consistently says in His Word
If you pray in my will / your prayers will be answered
And praying in God’s will / often demands that we make a change
from praying selfishly for what we want
to coming around and seeing God’s purpose in our lives
and then beginning to pray for what God wants
Thirdly / God’s unchangeability / gives us great hope and assurance
We live in a sad sad world / of great uncertainties and confusion
- politicians fail us / governments short-change us / friends betray us
- our civilization is crumbling right in front of our eyes
But underneath it all / up close and personal
there is a haunting that will not go away
for you know / that sometime / in some tomorrows of your life
people who are very dear to you / will be snatched from you
You don’t have to by lying on a bed in a sinking Titanic
to be holding hands with someone you loves as you go to bed
On some nights / in some seasons of your life
when the ground is you stand is a little more shaky
that’s what you do
You don’t have to listen to the 6 o’clock news
or visit a hospital ward / or attend a funeral
to know that there is something grievously sadly out of kilter
in the human heart and in the world
Its everywhere around us / The ancients called it “a vale of tears”
I saw it once when I came across three very elderly Dutch women
sitting on a park bench in a garden in Amsterdam
Approaching them and speaking to them
I was overtaken by a strange sense of sadness of the moment
It reminded me of a song by Simon & Garfunkle
Old friends, old friends sat on their park-bench like bookends
Can you imagine us years from today / sharing a park-bench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy
Old friends / memory brushes the same years
Silently sharing the same fears
We know what brought about this state of affairs
The Bible has a word for it and nobody likes it
But it’s there / it’s called sin
We hate it so much we don’t want to hear of it
We try to flatten the force of the word
So when we taste a great chocolate / we say “Its wicked”
we call something beautiful “decadent”
people use perverse words to describe something they like
you form a great band that plays great music
what do you name your band / “delirium”
sacrilege / abomination
Its as if by neutralizing it
it’ll go away / or it’ll somehow lose its sting
- that somehow by being blatant about it it’ll be diffused
Don’t bet on it
It is only by placing your heart in the heart of Jesus Christ
that you’ll be saved
By His death / He has effectively / decisively
drawn the sting out of death / and rendered it harmless
Are you safe / in the unchangeability of God?
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