I want you to take a moment and think of things that change. Take 30 seconds with your group.
Changes are everywhere around us. People, landscapes, emotions, animals, weather, and creation changes. It is hard to think of anything at all without thinking of how it can change.
Take another minute or so to look around the room and find just one thing that never changes.
Could you find anything? Of course not, everything changes in some sort of way. Everything needs something. It can be from a baby needing a mother, to a chair needing someone to sit on it. In a creation of change, only its Creator is one that does not change. That is God’s immutability. To understand His immutability, we must first understand that to be immutable is to be unchanging and unable to change. This means God is unchanging and unable to change.
Before we dive into what God’s immutability is, let me ask you a few questions.
1. Do you feel that God changes? Why or why not?
2. Have you ever felt while reading the Bible that God is different in the Old Testament than He is in the New Testament? Why or why not?
There are many ways people see God as changing in the Bible. When I was younger, I had a friend who used to tell me that God seems more merciful in the New Testament than the Old Testament and that He must be “changing with the times and His people.” I would be dishonest if I said I did not believe him if even just a little bit. Many times, when we read about God in the Old Testament, we see a God who is all about rules and smiting people. Then we read about Jesus in the New Testament and think, “Wait, why is He not as angry anymore?” When I was told that God is never changing, I was so confused by that. Yet, as I got older and read more Scripture, I started to see God’s immutability.
Read Ecclesiastes 3:14
3. What is the passage saying about God’s nature?
So, if God’s nature is never changing and never wanting nor needing to change, why is He so different in the Old Testament to the New Testament? It is helpful to look at the attributes of God in both testaments.
Merciful
Old Testament – Read 2 Samuel 24:14; 1 Chronicles 21:13; Psalm 25:6; and Psalm 40:11.
4. What do these passages state God is “great” in?
New Testament – Read Mark 5:19; Luke 1:72; Romans 9:16, and 2 Corinthians 4:1.
5. What do these passages state God has?
God has mercy for His people throughout the Bible. From rescuing the Israelites from Egypt to sending Jesus to die for our sins and bring us eternal life, God’s mercy is prevalent and the same. God is merciful. That has never changed.
6. What are ways God has been merciful to you?
Faithful
Old Testament – Read Joshua 21:45 and Exodus 6:1.
7. What do these passages say about God’s promises and faithfulness to His people?
New Testament – Read 2 Thessalonians 3:3 and 2 Timothy 2:11-13.
8. What do these passages tell us about God’s faithfulness?
We could continue to go in so many different ways God is the same and never changes. Ultimately, it is said best in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
God is immutable. He is never changing and will always remain the same. He has no need for anything and is satisfied in Himself. However, in that satisfaction, we are created to share in His glory and perfection. He loves us so much that even in the need for nothing, He still created us to only have a need for Him. He is the One who never changes, never waivers, never ceases, never ends.
If you have more questions about His immutability, please share them with your leaders or write them down to be discussed at a future date.