Does God change?
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| The Prophet Hosea, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, in the Siena Cathedral (c. 1309-1311) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Hosea 11:8 says “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.
Many would say that since God knows all things, he does not change his mind. Yet the Bible frequently speaks of God’s mercy in terms of God relenting from threatened judgment.
God’s intentions—both for blessings and punishment—are often tied to our response.
God wants us to see him as a God who cares passionately for his people and longs to have a loving relationship with us.
God in his sovereignty can make promises that are conditional, dependent upon the obedient response of his people.
God’s judgments can also be conditional, dependent on the continued refusal of his people to repent.
Jeremiah 18:8-10 "and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."
Jeremiah 18:8-10 "and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."
God wants us to see him as a God who cares passionately for his people and longs to have a loving relationship with us.
To dramatize the depths of God’s love for Israel, Hosea spoke of him changing his mind, still looking for some glimmer of response from the people.
“For I the Lord do not change.” Malachi 3:6
It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no furrows. All things else have changed—all things are changing. The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old; the folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens and earth must soon pass away; they shall perish, they shall wax old as doth a garment; but there is One only who has immortality, of whose years there is no end, and in whose person there is no change.
The delight which the mariner feels, when, after having been tossed about for many a day, he steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot of his faith upon this truth—“I am the Lord, I change not.”
The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at last obtained a holdfast, is like that which the Christian’s hope affords him when it fixes itself upon this glorious truth. With God “is no variation or shadow due to change.” Whatever his attributes were of old, they are now; his power, his wisdom, his justice, his truth, are alike unchanged. He has ever been the refuge of his people, their stronghold in the day of trouble, and he is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in his love.
“For I the Lord do not change.” Malachi 3:6
It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no furrows. All things else have changed—all things are changing. The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old; the folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens and earth must soon pass away; they shall perish, they shall wax old as doth a garment; but there is One only who has immortality, of whose years there is no end, and in whose person there is no change.
The delight which the mariner feels, when, after having been tossed about for many a day, he steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot of his faith upon this truth—“I am the Lord, I change not.”
The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at last obtained a holdfast, is like that which the Christian’s hope affords him when it fixes itself upon this glorious truth. With God “is no variation or shadow due to change.” Whatever his attributes were of old, they are now; his power, his wisdom, his justice, his truth, are alike unchanged. He has ever been the refuge of his people, their stronghold in the day of trouble, and he is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in his love.
He has loved his people with “an everlasting love”; he loves them now as much as ever he did, and when all earthly things shall have melted in the last conflagration, his love will still wear the dew of its youth. Precious is the assurance that he changes not! The wheel of providence revolves, but its axle is eternal love.
