By Ronald Bartanen
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
There is no
“variableness, neither shadow of turning” with God. The God of Genesis 1:1 is the God of
Revelation 22:20. He does not contradict
Himself. Because He is unchangeable, He
is dependable. We can trust Him to be
true to His word. We can lean upon His
promises when everything in life seems to be failing us. The writer of the lyrics of the song “Abide with Me,” when facing death, wrote,
“Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day.
Change and decay in all around I see.
O Thou that changest not, abide with me.”
All that is in the
world, however, has been in constant change.
God once repeatedly said of His creation, “It is good.” But then sin entered into the world, and it
has never been the same. History is the
record of change. Empires, once
powerful, have passed away. Rulers come
and go. Our president won the election
on the promise of “change.” There is no
segment of life that is unchangeable.
Change is evident
in us all—for the better or for the worse.
Life is full of changes from birth to death. Whether we like it or not, we change
physically. If you don’t think you have
changed much, find a 10-year-old photo of yourself, and then look into the
mirror. The church changes. We must always seek to better reflect Christ
as individuals and as the church, which would be a blessing, but we must guard
against an adverse change to mirror the world rather than Christ. Of course this is not to say all changes must
be avoided. While we are blessed with an
unchangeable gospel, the means of making the message of Christ more accessible
has become accepted. For instance, while
there is much on TV or the Internet that promotes evil, we do well to not
surrender these media to the devil, laying claim to them for Christ’s
sake. As individuals and congregations,
we do well to follow Paul’s advice in Romans 12:2: “Be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed, that ye may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.”
God does not
change. While we, with all of creation,
are subject to change, we serve an unchangeable God. He reminded Israel in the Old Testament, “I
am the LORD: I do not change—therefore,
you sons of Jacob are not consumed.”
Other ancient nations and empires have vanished, God has, for His name’s
sake, protected Israel from the likes of Hitler, who desired to rid the world
of Jews, even while they are largely still rejecting Christ. That is the same God who blesses us in
Christ. Unlike us, God does not ever
“get up on the wrong side of the bed.”
He is not subject to change of mood or change of mind. Nor is His Son. The old saying, “Like father, like son,” is
especially true regarding Christ, who is “the same, yesterday, today and
forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
God’s word does
not change. To “keep one’s word” seems
difficult for us, God has no problem with His word. A politician’s words may come back to haunt
him if he’s elected. Campaign promises
are easily made, and easily forgotten.
They’re often made to get elected.
But God is not campaigning for our votes. God’s words and deeds are timeless. The moral principles of the Old Testament are
unchanged in the New. “Judeo-Christian
values” (Biblical) are increasingly pushed away by the world. Man wants to make himself god. He removed God’s Ten Commandments from
court-and-school halls and decided he doesn’t want to be that strict. It laid the path to abortion rights, gay rights,
etc., and we can be sure there will be more to come.
The Gospel is
unchanged after almost 2000 years. It is
the one gospel our Savior and Lord instructed us to promote until He returns,
instructing His disciples just before He departed to be enthroned in Heaven,
“All authority is given me in Heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you:
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew
28:18-20). It is to be unchanged because
of its source— “not according to man,” but “through the revelation of Jesus
Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12) Paul also
made it clear that no other “gospel” could displace it (Galatians 1:6-9).
The means of
accepting the Good News of Jesus dying for our sins, being buried and then
raised from the dead was, in NEW Testament times, to be both believed and
obeyed. Upon a turning away from sin,
believers of the Gospel confessed their faith, in Christ as Paul explained in
Romans 6:1-7, and then adding in vs. 17-18, “though you were slaves of sin, yet
you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered,
and having been set free from sin and became slaves of righteousness.” God’s plan remains unchanged. There could be no greater change in a
person’s life than this!
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