It is one thing to hear on the news about the sad, sad state of the world: the effects of sin on our society. But it is another thing to get out into the world and to see it first hand. It is sad to see family members, people we love, terrified at the world’s current conditions, because they have no peace founded in the omnipotent God. It is heart-breaking to see Christians who are caught up in the latest hysteria. But then to walk among the drunks and drug addicts, freezing in sub-zero weather and totally oblivious to their desperate situation, takes things to an even lower level.
Of course, society was very different in the days of Malachi, but only in the expression of man’s depravity. They were sinners, no more and no less than people in our day, or even as ourselves before salvation. Those people didn’t have the same powerful poisons that people today can buy today. And they didn’t have the news media and social media constant stirring the paranoia pot. Do you remember when our greatest fears were AIDS, then Ebola and then North Koreans. They all subsided, so the media has to terrorize us with the latest strain of COVID. There will be a new strain within the next six weeks, when this latest one dies down. Our world may be more hectic and chaotic than that of Malachi’s day. But we can all agree that the Book of Malachi is not the most cheerful book in the Old Testament.
Despite his melancholy kinship to the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, Malachi does, every once in a while, pull out his little pocket flashlight to lighten the darkness. It may be a very narrow beam, lasting only one verse, but it is very bright. In the midst of the darkness, there is hope, and God through His spokesman makes sure we realize it. “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
I didn’t look at every Bible in my library, but I consulted enough of them to note that scholars and editors are divided on whether or not verse 6 belongs at the beginning of the paragraph we studied this morning. I personally believe that this afternoon’s scripture concludes the first paragraph of the chapter. I think that the word “for” is used as a “coordinating conjunction” tying it to the previous thought. This is probably unimportant; I am just telling you that I’ve mixed up the order of my messages today. This message should have preceded this morning’s, if we were worried about proper chronology.
Let’s consider three points this afternoon: Something which I didn’t mention about the church in Brandon is that 75% of the people take notes. Even though my messages usually have three or four points, I don’t often make them obvious. I should, perhaps, outline my outline for all you note-takers. What does this statement mean? What does it directly say? “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Then what does it indirectly suggest? And we’ll conclude with some of the problems with the idea of the immutability of God.
What does “I am the LORD, I change not” mean in regard to God Himself?
The technical word would be “immutability.” The theologian would say that God is immutable in His ESSENCE, in His substance, in His being. It is not exactly the same thing, but a non-theologian might say that the life of the Lord does not change. You see, God is self-existent. He derives nothing from anyone or anything beside Himself. He cannot, and will not, be anything but what He is. He is the “King eternal,” “the immoral God;” He is “from all eternity.” Jehovah, “before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
Created things have a beginning and an end, but the Creator has neither. The answer to the child’s question: “Who made God?” is simply that God did not need to be made, because he has always been. He was not born. He does not get older. He doesn’t get smarter. Nor does He get stronger or weaker. He cannot get any better or more glorious than He is at this moment, because He is already perfect. And being perfect He can’t become anything less than perfect.
Jehovah’s character doesn’t change; it cannot change. In the course of our lives, we are in constant change, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. I said the other day that there is always room for improvement in our spiritual lives. But that is not true with the Lord. I have known happy, joyful Christians who in their latter years became bitter and crotchety. But this cannot happen to the Lord. He doesn’t become more or less merciful, just or good. The God of comfort in the New Testament was the God of the Old Testament, and He is the God who can bless and comfort us today.
Sitting in the airport in Vancouver, reading and thinking about this verse, I jotted a note to examine the words “I am the LORD, I am Jehovah.” I was wondering if potentially there wasn’t the doubling of the Hebrew. When the Lord was introducing Himself to Moses, in Exodus 3, Moses asked, “Who shall I say sent me?” “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.” In my Bible the words of Exodus 3:15, “I am that I am” are all in capitals, because the Hebrew behind our translation is a form of the word “Yahweh” or “Jehovah.” In speaking to Moses, the Lord was not simply naming Himself, but describing Himself. When I got home and was able to study Malachi 3:6, I was a bit disappointed, because the Hebrew is not doubled the way it is in Exodus. He doesn’t say here, “I am that I am” But still, “Jehovah,” the great “I am,” does not change; He is not the “I was,” nor is He the “I will be.” Our God never changes because He is “Jehovah, I am.”
And God’s ways never change. The grace He showed to Noah, He gave to Ruth and to Nebuchnezzar, and to Peter and Saul of Tarsus. The mercy which the Lord showed to David in his sins, He has showered down upon us. But also, the wrath which He poured out upon the wicked in Noah’s day, He still administers today. Furthermore, it will come crushing down on the unbeliever when they hear, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”
God is immutable in His will and purpose. Have you ever made plans, and begun to complete those plans, when something came along upset those plans? Maybe it was as simple as planning on coming to a Wednesday night church service. But then you got sick, or the car had a flat tire, or someone needed a lift to hospital. Your will, purpose, intention and plan was not fulfilled. But God, who knows all things, and who is omnipotent, will never be overcome by such sudden events. And the Lord is FREELY immutable which means He has never wished to be anything other than He is. Not only has He never changed His mind or will, He has never considered changing it.
God is immutable in terms of space and time. He is present everywhere all at the once and doesn’t have to travel from point A to point B to be there. “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24)? When God is said to draw near to one of us, it is not by a change of place on God’s part, but by the special influence of His Spirit. It is more His drawing US to Him, than Him coming to us. Monday, we left Brandon in the dark, driving east, and slowly the sky lightened, turned pink, then orange, and finally the sun arose. But we know that essentially the sun didn’t move. With the revolving of the earth the darkness simply retreated, exposing the sun. The Lord draws nigh to His servants as they move closer to Him.
This is but a brief summary of the immutability of God. Large books and thousands of sermons by previous generations have been preached on this subject. But we must move on.
Consider what the immutability of God means INDIRECTLY; what it means to us, His creatures.
“I am the Lord, I change not; THEREFORE ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” This “therefore” takes Israel back to the promises which God earlier gave to those people. From day number one, the Lord has been true, and revealing the truth. People often say things that they don’t mean, and sometimes they use words in order to cover the truth. Many times, we speak out of turn, simply because we don’t really know our own minds. And then we have to “eat our words.” But these things are not so with the immutable God. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89). God’s word stands as firmly as the heavens and the throne of God from which it was given. “Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever” (Psalm 119:52). The word “founded” is related to a “foundation;” God’s word is rooted in the essence of eternity. As Christians have proven to themselves over and over again, God’s Word, His truth, is as relevant and viable today as it was in the days of David.
The Lord did not reveal Himself differently to Noah than He did to the people who were destroyed in the flood. The God who talked with Adam in the garden during the cool of the evening, didn’t change when He expelled the man and his wife from that garden. Didn’t the Lord tell Adam what would happen if he chose to sin? Didn’t God simply keep His word?
“I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” I wonder if anthropology has ever counted the number of civilizations in the history of man which have flourished for a few years and then disappeared? We are told that the Incas and Aztecs in the Americas prospered for centuries, but they are gone today. There have been hundreds of tribes in the east which have come and gone; some of them in the last few generations. But there is Israel, or at least the Hebrew people, which have stood the test of time, despite the hatred of so many of their enemies. Why are they still here, awaiting the coming of the Messiah? Because God made promises and covenants with Abraham, Moses and David. “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
And yet isn’t there something else in this statement? Maybe it is my imagination, but even in this blessed thought, I detect God’s displeasure with those people. Notice that the Lord didn’t call them “the sons of ISRAEL.” He spoke of them as the children Jacob in days of his flesh and rebellion, before he became the prince of God – “Israel.” But because God does not change, and because God’s unconditional promises are based on His own immutable heart, the sons of Jacob continue to exist even into the 21st century.
If God were changeable, He would not be an object worthy of our trust or our worship. For example, we worship Him because He is omniscient. God knows all things, and He has always known all things. He has never gained knowledge about anything, because there is nothing more for Him to know. His knowledge is perfect and immutable.
“Known unto God all all this works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).
And, praise the Lord, that includes our salvation. The idea that God looked into the future and watched us repent is inconsistent with His omniscience. The unchangeable God didn’t, at some recent point in time, become convinced of our faith in Christ and at that point He chose to save us or elect us to salvation. The idea is ludicrous and inconsistent with nature of Jehovah. The immutable God has always loved those He intended to save. He does not change. “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
But doesn’t our text, and other scriptures prove that God is NOT immutable?
In verse 7 we read, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you.” Doesn’t change His course of action? In verse 9 the Lord says, “ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me.” But in verse 10, if you bring your tithes into my storehouse, I will “open you the widows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” “And I will rebuke the devourer.. And he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground.” Don’t such statements prove that if sinners humble themselves, and pray and seek God’s face, and turn from their wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land? Doesn’t this prove that God responds to repentance and faith by changing His attitude toward us? Doesn’t God Himself repent when He sees repentance in sinners?
“Repentance” is a word which refers to changing one’s perspective and changing one’s plan of action. Human repentance involves sorrow for sin and a turning from that sin. But God never reverses course or changes His mind, because, humanly speaking, His plans are made on the basis of complete knowledge and sovereign control of all things. The word “repentance” is anthropomorphic when speaking about God. Human language lacks an appropriate word for God’s “reaction” to what we sinners do. We are stuck with using inadequate human words to describe something divinely indescribable. The fact is, God is both omniscient and omnipotent so there is never any need for him to revise his decrees. “The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:11). Everything God does in time, He purposed to do from eternity. And what He planned in eternity He carries out in something which we call “time.” All He has committed Himself to do will infallibly be done.
It is true that there are scriptures which speak of the repentance of God. But in each case what we see is a reversal of God’s treatment of people, because those people have done something. Sometimes they have sinned, and God carries out His judgment, as He always does. But in others those sinners have repented, and so God blesses, as He always has. The principles of God’s justice and judgment, mercy and grace never change. And in those scriptures there is no suggestion that what God does was not His plan to begin with. The sins of men don’t take God by surprise. No change in His eternal purpose is implied when He begins to deal with someone in a new way.
One more thing:
The immutability of God provides proof that Christ Jesus is divine; that He is God. Hebrews 13:8 declares, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” That statement has never been said of any other son of Adam; it cannot be said of us. We are in constant change. But our Saviour, despite taking upon Him human flesh, has never changed in His mind or His behaviour, His actions or His promises. Churches changer their doctrinal statements and their covenants, but God’s nature cannot be altered. And therefore, He is still “able to save them to the uttermost that come to God through Him, because he always intercedes for them.” He never changes.
This is a matter of great consolation to the people of faith. This verse was meant to encourage those people whom Malachi was so severely chastising. And the immutability of God toward us should be a huge, huge comfort and blessing. “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”