What does it mean than God is immutable? What does it mean that God is sovereign? -Podcast Ep. 238

The Immutability of God

Welcome to the Got Questions podcast. So today, Nelson, the Director of Video Content for Got Questions Ministries, and Gwen, one of our Associate Editors and our Manager of Volunteer Services, are joining me.

We're going to continue our series in discussing the attributes of God. The two attributes we're going to be discussing today is the immutability of God and the sovereignty of God. Two really big topics, two great attributes that have a lot of practical implications, but also ultimately help us to get to know God better, so that's our goal today.

So we start with immutability. What does it mean that God's immutable? Simply put, it means that God does not change. Let me read a couple of scriptures that make that very clear. You have Malachi 3 .6, where it says, For I, the Lord, do not change.

Or even Numbers 23 .19. God is not a man that he should lie, or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said, and he will not do it? Or has he spoken, and he will not fulfill it? And then New Testament, James 1 .17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning.

So Gwen, why don't you start us off? What does it mean that God does not change, and how is this attribute supposed to be a comfort for us? How does it help us to trust God more?

Yeah, so the immutability of God is actually my favorite attribute, because it just makes me feel so secure. I think that we even see this attribute of his in Exodus 3 .14, when God says, I am who.

I am.

God is who he is, and he's always going to be that way. And so that means that every other attribute of God, I can completely trust. He's never not going to love me. He's never not going to be just. He's never not going to be righteous.

So it just gives me a real sense of peace that who God says he is, is who he actually is, and who he always will be. And I think too that, well, actually one thing that came up at our church sermon this weekend was trusting in the promises of God.

And we talk about standing on God's promises. And since he doesn't change, he's actually going to fulfill those, and he has the power to do it. But one thing our pastor brought up is, you know, there are some kind of negative promises of God too, like there's judgment.

And so that means God really is going to do that. So it's also kind of sobering to think, wow, God doesn't change. I can't convince him otherwise. I can't say, you know, if God says this is the standard of holiness, he's not going to change his mind on that.

But I think in a lot of ways, you know, like they talk about for parents, having boundaries with your kids makes them feel secure. And I think that's the same for me with God, of knowing who he is and where he stands.

Nelson, what encourages you about the immutability of God?

I love what you brought up, that we can trust in his promises. And why can we trust in his promises? Because he said it. We can believe him. There's no lie, no evilness in him, right? And he will not change.

It's not like we read the Bible and those times or those words and those messages were for different people, meaning it only applied then and it stayed there then, right? The words of God are forever, they last, and his promises endure forever.

And so we can trust that if he said he was going to do something, it's going to be done. If he said that we are saved through Christ alone, then we are saved through Christ alone. Could you imagine if God changed?

I mean, could you imagine the uncertainty you would have as an individual, as a believer? I mean, how could we fathom, how could we even have any peace at all knowing, I don't know if God's in a bad mood today.

I don't know if he's holding on to a grudge. I don't know if he just decided to be different. I don't know if he decided to scrap his whole plan of salvation. There's enough people in heaven and the rest of us are just done, right?

I mean, could you imagine if that were the case? And so the immutability of God provides this security blanket. It provides the safety net to the truth of the word of God, that no matter what happens in our world, because all we know is change.

As we grow, we change, the people around us change, and that's okay in some instances.

For them, right?

But it presents this idea where God might change too. And if he were to change, then we would have just so much confusion, so much fear, and that's not the case. And so the scripture is clear, you know, for I, the Lord, do not change.

Malachi, as you read 3 .6, that is such an enduring and such a strong promise for us to hold on to. And it's something that we can tell others too, because some people might say, well, what if God changes mind on this particular topic or on this particular sin?

Or what if he were just so frustrated with us and he would do something rash or angry outside of his character? And we can say, no, that's not what's going to happen. We are assured in scripture that he does not change.

And that is an amazing truth to hold on to during our changes from life to in life and to problem to problem and things like that.

Well, I think that's so interesting, as you pointed out, like we live in a world of change. And how interesting that this unchangeable and unchanging God chose to create a world of change, like all we know is change.

And that's such a good thing, right? Like we want to grow and we want to develop. And the whole message of the gospel is transformation. It's like you were condemned and now you're not. You were dead in your sins and now you're alive in Christ.

So like we want that change. And yet in order to have it, it has to rest on an unchangeable God.

Right, because he is that standard of holiness. Right. And so he's not going to change because he already is perfect. There's no need for change in God. I mean, for him to change would imply that something was wrong or that he learned some new thing or that he changed his mind about something.

And yet that would go against his omniscience, omnipotence and his sovereignty. Right. As we'll talk about in a little bit, if he were to change, that would imply there was something wrong or there's something better.

But there's not. He is holy, holy, holy. He's perfect in and of himself perfectly. And so he draws us and he changes us to be more like him. The whole standard, the complete holiness of God. I mean, there's that's an amazing thought to have that he's there anchoring in who he is, anchored right there in who he is.

And he brings us and invites us to say that through Christ, we can be like him. And that's that's awesome because I know I need change. And I think all of our viewers and listeners need change in their life, too.

And who better to do it than a person who is perfect, who has no need for change, who will never change because he has no place to go. There's no better example, no better attribute, no better decision than he's already done.

He's perfect.

Yeah, great points, both of you, Gwen, I love what you shared about how immutability impacts the other attributes and you touched on that as well. To me, that's the biggest one of the biggest issues with this.

Just like we study with the holiness of God, where all of God's attributes are holy, completely free of any taint of sin, completely set apart. And so all of God's attributes are loving, even if God's justice is righteous.

So God's attributes are distinct aspects of his character, but they're also unified in one person that God is immutable. So that brings comfort because Nelson, as you focused on God's attributes, that's always going to be who God is.

It's not like he's going to suddenly stop being loving or stop being righteous or to me, that's such a huge comfort. It's not just the fact that God hasn't changed, but God doesn't change who he is, how he acts.

We can trust it. We can rely upon it. I look at, I got a question from a Muslim the other day, and their view of Allah has some similarities to the God of the Bible, but some differences. This is one of them is like in Islam, Allah could completely change his mind.

We could say, oh, I'm not actually going to save any of the people that I previously was. I mean, there's a capriciousness to Allah that's not in Christianity, but in their view, to say that he couldn't change, to say he's somehow limited.

But no, for Christians, the fact that God doesn't change is a powerful comfort that we know that God is who he is and always will be, and therefore we can trust his promises without the immutability of God, that wouldn't exist.

But so I would like to maybe throw out a couple of questions that we get related to God's immutability, not necessarily as a challenge, but just some things to think through. So there are a few instances in the Bible where it seems like God changes his mind, whether it was Moses in the wilderness, he was going to say, I'm going to wipe out the Israelites and start over with you.

Moses pleads with the Lord and God doesn't do that. Or in Jonah, where God was going to destroy the Ninevites, but they repent and therefore God does not. So some people say, well, how can you say God doesn't change when there's examples in scripture where it seems like at least God changes his mind?

So would one of you like to tackle that one?

I can take a start. You know, I think that it's in some ways it's similar to the to the question of why does God ask people questions if he knows everything, why does he ask? And I think that's what I see in these situations is it's God drawing out people's faith and kind of testing them, but also showing them like their involvement matters.

I mean, so we'll get into this with sovereignty of how does that work with God and control and free will. And I think these instances of God, quote, changing his mind are kind of the same. So you look at, okay, God created Adam and Eve and then everybody is evil and he.

Destroys the world.

So did he change his mind? He doesn't want creation? No, because he rescued Noah. And so I think the same thing when you see like, oh God, well, and actually that is one of those examples, right? In Genesis six, God repented of what he had done, but you actually see, no, this is a refinement and God, what he ends up doing is reconfirming that choice to create because he starts again with Noah's family.

So I think that those things are really for our benefit and to see and to pay attention to how God is working and what we expect.

God is living and active. He's not locked into one single stamp of form or of mind, which means he thinks and he is able to change directions, meaning he's able to make choices and things just because he's sovereign or immutable doesn't mean that he can't make a choice too.

And clearly in his immutability, in his perfection, he has availed himself to hearing the prayers of the saints. And he has availed himself and made himself like a father who, while his ultimate direction will not change, his ultimate plans and promises will not be broken or altered in any sort of way, but he is able and fully lovingly and in control when he allows a change in a decision, perhaps.

And so if one of the saints goes and prays and say, will you save the city or will you don't destroy them? And God hears his saints and he decides to move in that direction. But it's not a change of direction.

I think it's simply a way of listening to his children and continuing on the plan he was always going on. But in those moments, he decides to change an action of what might have happened. But that doesn't mean he himself changed.

It doesn't mean his plan of salvation has changed. It just means he has availed himself to make a decision. And I think he's fully within his right to make a decision within his sovereignty and within his immutability.

He can make decisions and he can hear the prayers of saints and make decisions. But what scripture promises is that he doesn't change his holiness, his standards, his love, his wrath, his all of these attributes of him.

He does not change, but certainly he can make decisions and hear the prayers of a saint. Why would we pray if he would not lovingly hear us and consider our prayers? And I think that is an amazing example of how loving he is in his perfection and knowing all events and know the outcome of every decision and every possible decision.

He still yet hears our prayers and in his sovereignty and in his perfectness, he can make a decision and say, yes, I will do that as requested because it aligns with my plan. And I think that's how we have to look at it.

When I think you draw the idea of like, yeah, God's character doesn't change and his intent doesn't change. And I think you're also bringing out that idea of time. So like if God is outside of time and he already knows everything, so it's like he knew what decision he was going to make.

And so, I mean, and I guess that is one of those frameworks that just kind of blows our mind of it's not like things are necessarily locked in the way we experience it. So we maybe experience like, oh, change, like I prayed and something changed.

And it's true, like something does change when you pray. But does that mean like God changed or was he always planning to answer that prayer request that way? And yeah, it's just one of those kind of incomprehensibility things that we talked about before.

I've heard it described sort of like a movie where the filmmaker knows everything that's going to happen, but the characters don't. So they experience change, but like the filmmaker already knows. So even if it seems like it's going one way and then goes another.

So for the character that's changed, for the filmmaker, it's not.

Shane, what do you answer there?

No, truly, like those are the two big points. The fact that God's character doesn't change. God's who he is doesn't change. His nature doesn't change. But that does not mean he can't adjust his plan. For example, like a really big change in the Old Testament, God required animal sacrifices after the death of Christ.

He no longer requires that. Why? Because Jesus' death paid for the sins of the whole world. So there's no longer any need. So did God change or did what God requires, how God initiates his attributes into his creation, that is what changed.

But God as a person who he is, his attributes did not change. And maybe the only other point I'd make is very similar to what you were saying, Gwen. A lot of scripture is God communicating to us in ways that we can understand.

Some call it anthropomorphism, where God is communicating to us in human terms, like God does not literally have a right hand or feet or is not literally seated on a throne, but those communicate to us something that we can understand.

So saying that God changed his mind is not actually what happened, because God knew what his plan was all along, including the fact that when you would pray for something that he would respond to that.

So his plan didn't change. But from our perspective, it certainly looks like a change. So I think those are two important points. But, you know, you two answered that question super well. And what I love is what we were just talking about segues perfectly into the next conversation about what does it mean that God is sovereign?

What does it mean that God is in control? Obviously, God not changing and yet adjusting his how he displays his attributes is a communication of God being in control. So, Nelson, for you, what does it mean that God is sovereign and how is this attribute something that we can draw comfort from and learn to trust God more?

The Sovereignty of God

Sovereignty of God, we could define it in one of our articles is defined that God has the power, wisdom and authority to do anything he chooses within his creation. His sovereignty means he's in complete control.

There's no one he has to ask. There's no one he needs to check with. There's no one that nothing that needs to be done to enable him to do anything. He himself is able to do all that he wants to do and can do all that he desires to do.

And so his sovereignty means he's in control. He deserves to be in control. He created the universe and every single one of us. And he has this amazing plan of redemption and salvation for all of us. And that is part of the sovereign plan, his plan that will go unchanged.

I look at sovereignty a lot like in the last question, immutability and decision making. I look at the sovereignty like a train and it's moving in one direction. And I feel like his sovereign will is that train.

It's moving that direction. But within that train, the people on that train, they have choices. Things happen. People bump into each other. They can choose a different meal. All these sort of things can kind of happen within the confines of that train moving forward to that destination.

The destination is not going to change. He has a sovereign plan for each one of us. And that's not going to change at all because he's in control. He's moving it forward. He's he's he's created all the stops.

He's created the train itself. He's created the whole entire plan. And he takes us aboard with him to move on in that direction. And whether or not we are defiant or not, is it the, you know, the the example or the proof, you know, if we're trying to get off the train, trying to thwart the train's will, trying to move it, get off the tracks or, you know, do anything we will, that's when we're out of God's plan.

We're trying to we're trying to to move his will in a way that he doesn't intend it to go, perhaps in a sinful direction. Or in fact, we were just wrathful and don't want anything to do with God. And we jump off.

We attempt to jump off. No matter what happens, this sovereign plan moves forward. And as part of his immobility, he's in control and there's nothing we can do to change that. And that might sound a little concerning to some.

I find, again, great comfort in the fact that his plan is perfect and that there's nothing I can do to mess it up because like he has a plan for the entirety of humanity. He has a plan for my life and his plan for everyone who's watching and listening to this.

He has a plan for your life and there's nothing that you can do that can thwart his plan. You may walk outside what he wants you to do. You may sin. But if he's calling you, the Bible said that we love him because he first loved us.

Right. And so he calls us to love him. Again, that's within his sovereign plan for us to know him, to love him and to understand his plan of salvation and to accept that plan of salvation. And so I find great comfort in the fact that he's in control and I'm not and no one else is.

I think some of what you brought up, one of our articles talks about the difference between God's sovereign will and his permissive will. So there's this idea of like, yeah, God is in control and what he wants to happen does.

And yet we know evil things happen. Does God really want that? So there's this tension for people. What's the difference between what God allows versus what he actually causes to happen? And how does all that fit into a sovereignty?

But like you, Nelson, for me, it really is the sense of security of, OK, God is in control and I know who God is, you know, like enough of who he is to know his character. And so I can trust that his control is good.

And for me, one of the things about a sovereignty that's encouraging is it shows me that God is actually able to do what he says he will do. I mean, you know, it's great if you have a loving God, but if he's not actually in control, that's not really going to do anything for you.

So, yeah, so I guess to me, this is another one of those attributes that gives me a sense of security.

I see a lot of comparisons to one of the attributes we'll cover in a future episode with God's omnipotence, meaning he's all powerful. So I think it goes hand in hand with God's sovereignty is that God is in control and he has the power to remain in control to make sure his will is always fulfilled.

But Gwen, like your question about the different wills of God, so to speak, that is such a difficult question. We get so many questions about is like, so there's God's sovereign will, which we'd say this is everything that happens is within God's sovereign will.

But then people use the different terms differently. So God's perfect will, some say that's what God actually desired to happen. So if that's the case, what God wants, you say, well, obviously, God didn't want sin into the world, doesn't want all the evil to be there.

So is that God's perfect will or is that God's permissive will in terms of he allows some things to happen that isn't his desire, but it still fits within his sovereign? So we could obviously have a whole nother episode just talking about that.

But one of the key questions that you raised is, why does God allow evil? If he is sovereign, if he's in control and could prevent it, why did he allow evil to enter into the world? And that's the whole theodicy concept of God and evil.

Why did God allow it? Again, we've done an entire podcast episode in the past on this issue, and it's an exceedingly difficult one to answer. But ultimately, we trust that God in his sovereignty even allow its evil and uses it for his purposes, which in the end will be good.

But when we're in the midst of living in a universe filled with change, filled with difficulties, it's hard for us to understand, to see the big picture like God sees it. To use your example, as a movie director who knows how everything is working together, we don't see it.

We just see an individual evil act. And it's like, why in the world would God allow that? Well, God sees it. He knows exactly why he allowed it and knows exactly what he's going to bring about as a result.

So I don't know that in this side of eternity, we can never perfectly explain why God allowed evil to enter the universe and why he allows continued acts. But God's sovereignty enables us to trust him even when we don't understand.

And I think that's key.

And Scripture remind us that he is patient, that he's giving humanity time to come towards repentance. And because we have free will, we're able to make right and wrong choices. Otherwise, we would just be robots.

Right. And that wouldn't be life at all. If it were the case where our every word or every action, everything was predetermined beforehand, then we have no responsibility for even our own actions. We could say, it's not my fault.

God made me this way. God declared in his sovereignty, some people say, that I would do these things. And if you don't like it or God doesn't like it, there's no one else to blame except God. But that's not how it works.

All right. God has this plan. He's and he's given us free will. And that allows us to choose to love him because that's how love exists. Love is a choice to trust and to to honor someone and to to want to be a part of someone's life.

Right. And so we love God. We are choosing him over other things, over ourself and pride, over sinful actions and things like that, things that he doesn't approve of or like. And so our free will is is what allows us to be human in the sense where as soon as we understand it, meaning that we can make choices.

We're not robots. And I think every example is going to break down, like my example on a train, you know, breaks down examples of like a movie breaks down because, you know, we don't have a script in life where he where he's the director and he declared everything that we're going to say.

It's all scripted out. That's what's so amazing about life is that he's created us in a way that we can love, which means we need to have choice, which means that sometimes we'll make the wrong choice.

And thankfully, he's given us a guide, right, the Holy Spirit in his scripture. And he sent Jesus to forgive us of our sins, to to be more like him and to make better choices as we walk in sanctification, to become more like Jesus.

And so, yeah, I think his servanty is tremendously powerful. And it's not a cause for us to think it's not my fault. It's God's fault. God allowed you to make a choice. And within that choice, we can choose to love or not love and do wrong or do good.

And so, you know, when people talk about the problem of evil and pain, like that's a consequence of love as well, because we couldn't love well if we couldn't also make a choice not to love and to do harm.

And so you have to take those hand in hand. And that's that's just part of the double faceted coin. Almost there's two sides to it.

I think that's an interesting point about, yeah, kind of using sovereignty as an excuse to to just blame God and not even try. I do also I think for some people, sovereignty does kind of bring up this sense of fatalism, you know, like, oh, what I do doesn't doesn't matter because God's plan happens anyway.

But for me, it actually brings up something different. So I guess I'm wondering from you guys, how does God's sovereignty impact the way you like interpret events in your life or does it?

So when this episode goes live, the election in the United States will be in the past. But right now, it's experiencing the questions we receive and conversations I'm having. There's people who are having an epic freak out about who's going to win the presidential election.

And for me, God's sovereignty is like, I mean, I have a preference. I think one choice will result in better government than the other. But I'm not living in fear because I know and trust that God is sovereign, that no matter who's elected president or senator or representative, governor or whatever ballot initiatives, I know that God is in control.

And I know that my relationship with him is secure because he does not change and because he is in control. And therefore, I do not fear. So I don't allow, if it's in the world, things bother me and things happen that I don't like, that I don't understand.

But having a trust in God's sovereignty to me is above all of that. And ultimately, I can rest and trust because I know that God's in control. And that's huge for me. And you can tell in some of the questions, some people, the way they're reacting to the political season that, oh, no, if my candidate doesn't win, it's the end of the world as we know it.

Like, no, it's not because God is the one who's in control of the world. And things may change in a way we don't like, but having a trust in God's sovereignty above all is such a comfort for me, not just in politics, but in everything.

So many, I know I make mistakes. I have errors in judgment. I sin, knowing that God is in control and can redeem that, can use that and can forgive me and still use me. All of that is just a comfort. So the ability to trust God, I think God's sovereignty does that for me more than any other attribute.

But with that said, I get the fatalistic part. It's obviously when it comes to Calvinism versus Arminianism, all those different things are related to this issue. But trusting that scripture presents, yes, God is sovereign.

He knows the future. He's in control of the future. And yet we are responsible for our actions, which in itself communicates that we do have freedom. Like Nelson was saying, if we don't have free will, then God is to blame for everything.

Scripture definitely communicates the opposite. So somehow God created a universe in which he is sovereign, fully, perfectly sovereign, and yet we are free and responsible for our choices. So to me, fatalism doesn't come into effect because the message of scripture is, no, we are responsible.

God calls us to make right decisions. God calls us to love and to follow him. And none of those commands would make sense if it was all just predestined to a fatalistic extent. So to me, God's sovereignty is a tremendous comfort.

It's not something I don't view it as a negative attribute like some people do. And that's, I think, an important thing for people to remember. God's sovereignty is a very, very good thing.

Yeah, I feel the same as we mentioned as well. You know, when I think about God's sovereignty, I think about despite the hurt and the wrong, well, we could say it one way. Despite the hurt and wrong done to me, I know that in the end, God's sovereignty holds out and that he will use that situation in a powerful way for good.

That doesn't mean we relish in the fact that I was hurt or, you know, a loved one was hurt. It just means that God can use the circumstances of perhaps other people's direct free will choice. He could still use that even in that evilness, which is amazing.

Even in the evilness of someone's act, he could still turn that the trajectory of that into something good. Perhaps, you know, I mean, you think of things as heinous as rape and things like that. How can God possibly allow things for that to happen?

And like God doesn't, he didn't decree for someone to get raped. He doesn't decree that sin happens. He allows free will and people in their own sinfulness make decisions. And sometimes those sins are despicably evil and vile.

And so he doesn't like it. He doesn't want it to happen. But just because he can stop it, his sovereignty doesn't mean that he has to stop it. He doesn't have to do anything. If he had to do something, then he'd be bound by something greater than him.

And he's not. And so he's able to allow things that even he doesn't want to happen, like sin, like something harming someone, because in the end, justice will be had. Scripture promises that that vengeance is his.

So at the end, everyone will face the perfect wrath that they deserve, everyone for every choice. And so we can rest in his sovereignty that the perfect wrath for whatever happened that we're so angry at God about, perhaps that perfect judgment will come.

And you will agree in that moment, yes, perfect judgment happened. And so when I look at sovereignty again, I think that no matter what happens to me or no matter what I do wrong, that it does not affect God's sovereign plan.

It's almost like there's an endless ocean, right? And I can I can throw in a rock or I can throw in a boulder and it might create these ripple effects. But at the end of the day, I'm not going to affect the whole ocean.

I can't change the ocean. I can't create waves big enough to to disrupt the whole thing because it's so vast and so big. I can make a little change. I can make little ripples, perhaps. But in the end, those ripples don't affect God's plan, doesn't affect his sovereignty.

And in the end, his his plan, sovereignty again, will work out for exact purposes that he desired it to be. So I find comfort in God's sovereignty, I think maybe above everything else as well. Because I know God is in control and he can turn even the most terrible situations, he could still use them for something good.

And in the end, justice will be had no matter what.

Well, I think for me that, yeah, like you guys have both brought up of we can't mess up God's plan. And so there is a sense of safety in that and security in that. And and I think, Nelson, like you're bringing up of, wow, God can even redeem evil.

Like I think of Joseph who told his brothers, you know what you meant for evil, God used for good. Or of course, there's Romans 8, 28, all things work together for the good of those who are called according to his purpose.

So I think for me, God's sovereignty gives me that bigger picture sense of security and then also kind of like medium picture, like my life sense of security. But even the daily, like for me, since I trust that God is in control, I'm looking for the ways that he's weaving things together.

So there are like often volunteers will say, you know, it's like we send them a question and they'll say something like, oh, wow, I just heard a sermon about this or, oh, that question that I answered, I ended up using it later or, oh, I'm so glad you asked this because God is actually stirring the same thing in my heart.

I mean, when we're assigning it, we have no idea. Like that's the Holy Spirit. And so seeing God at work, it's just so cool to see. And to me, that's well, because God is in control and he's like putting all these pieces together, but not in some, I'm making people be like robots or puppets on a string, but in this beautiful way that we get to experience and enjoy all knowing that we're in the security that is his good overall plan.

So, yes, that means even the evil and bad things that are happening, we know that's been filtered through his hands. And so we can turn those over and trust to him and we can rejoice in all the good things and like all the little details that had to come together for those things to happen.

Gwen, I love that illustration. That's happened to me before. I'm just assigning a question. So I'll write and say, how did you know to assign that question to me? I was like, Jay, you must be hardwired into the Holy Spirit.