“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

The attribute of immutability is the unchangeable nature of God. God is perfect, holy, complete. He has all knowledge, wisdom, and power. He is true, faithful, and righteous. He does not change. That is a wonderful attribute of God, but it is also one we do struggle with. It is because we are always changing. We learn we forget; we grow we decline; we get strong only to become weak; we receive we give; and we know that we live and we die. These are our characteristics and not God’s. However, we do find help in God’s immutability. We know He is always faithful, just, kind, merciful, reliable, stable, and loving. It is here where God is at work in us. He is preparing us for eternity.

Jesus Christ is the immutable God who has become one of His creations. Jesus is God in the flesh. (John 1:14) We are to follow Jesus as we live this life. God’s goal is that we will live and act as Jesus did. God’s predetermined destination was for the followers of Jesus Christ is “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” (Romans 8:29b) All because He would “be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29c) This is the reason why everything you go through is for your good. Remember these words, “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) How can we know this is true? It is because God’s purpose is to reform you into the image of God, to be like Jesus. If God is unchangeable then He is always faithful. Paul’s trust in God’s work in the lives of the believers gave Him the confidence to say “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

One of my seminary classmates, Walter Draughon, put it this way, “The biblical idea of immutability is couched in the constancy of God’s self-revelation to humanity: He is holy (Joshua 24:19), jealous (Exodus 20:5), zealous, (Isaiah 9:7), beneficent (Psalm 107:1); and righteous (Exodus 9:27). God expresses wrath, though He is “slow to anger” (Nehemiah 9:17). He expresses love (Proverbs 3:12) in the election of His people for service (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians 1:4) and by sending His one and only Son as the Savior of the world (John 3:16; Romans 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,”) (Exodus 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 forever” (Exodus 3:15). (Holman Bible Dictionary)

God is constantly at work in everything. He is faithful to His purpose for us. His desire is that we will spend eternity with Him. We will come to know Him in this life, so “we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block