The Knowledge of the Holy: God’s Immutability
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Today’s chapter features another one of those attributes of God that seems to bleed over from some of the others. God’s immutability simply means that God doesn’t mutate or change. Because God is eternal, however He appears to us now is how He will appear to us throughout history, forever. Not only does God appear to us unchanged throughout history, though, He never changes. God tells the prophet Malachi this very clearly: “I am the Lord, and I do not change…” (Malachi 3:6).
That God is immutable, Tozer tells us, means that God cannot differ from Himself. To change would mean to admit some kind of defect in the Godhead. If God went from bad to better, it would mean God was at one point bad. If God went from better to worse, that would mean God would decrease in His glory. And God certainly is not now more mature than he was thousands of years ago. There is no maturing God described in Scripture.
We come to value and understand God’s immutability when we compare him to man who is always changing. Man is constantly changing, sometimes from worse to better, sometimes from better to worse, and sometimes just maturing. But the old saying is true for man: “Change is the only constant in life.” In this there is hope. God, in His perfection, never changes, nor does He need to. But God uses change for man to offer the hope of a different life, centered around His Son. That change is possible in man and impossible with God is the hope of the Christian life.
As I thought about this reality, I remembered how the writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus Christ is the same, “yesterday, today, and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8). What we can take away from this, though, is that Jesus (and by extension the whole of God) feels the same way about us and our circumstances that He felt about things when He was here on Earth. He’s not capricious, talking one way and acting another. Instead, He is faithful and true. We can always count on Him to be a sympathetic high priest towards us. And that is what can give us confidence and boldness to approach Him in our time of need.
Most of us know people who we couldn’t trust to remain the same. They would act one way in front of us and another when we were gone. Or we know people who act reliably aweful. But God is always the same and because He is good and full of love, we can draw near to Him, trust Him, in a way that is difficult for us to do with another here on Earth.
So spend some time today, enjoying Him for who He is, knowing He will never change. He is always constant and His love for you will never wane.
Those are my thoughts. Let us know yours in the comment section.
It’s not to late for you to join in with us. You can catch up in the posts below:
The Knowledge of the Holy Series
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 11: The Wisdom of God
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 14: God’s Omnipresence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 16: The Goodness of God
Day 17: The Justice of God
Day 18: The Mercy of God
Day 19: The Grace of God
Day 20: The Love of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
The Knowledge of the Holy: God’s Infinitude
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Sometimes as we’re going through each of these studies, they begin to blur together. One topic spills over into another topic which spills into the next. God’s infinitude is like that. Its one of those facets of who He is that touches every other characteristic.
Tozer’s point for the chapter is that God is limitless. As creatures of limit, we’re not used to discussing or thinking about things that have no limits, so he admits right from the start we have to imagine something just a step below what we are actually talking about. But we serve a God who is both limitless and boundless. That’s what makes Him God.
This gets truly practical when Tozer starts talking about how God’s limitless nature means that His other virtues are limitless as well. His grace is limitless. His mercy is new every day. His love is never-ending. All of these things never run out because God is never runs out.
I don’t know about you, but when we start talking about limits on God, I start to think about all the places I feel like I’ve exhausted God. Now, to think that even my deepest needs could go toe to toe with a limitless God and win is a fairly proud thought, but bare with me. When I bring that prayer that I’ve prayed a million times and I feel exhausted with it, I can feel like God feels the same way. Or when I sin the same way for the ten millionth time, I can get frustrated with myself and think God has the same frustration.
But today, instead of painting our uncreated God without limit with our feelings, lets stop and realize that God has more patience and grace than we have with ourselves. God has love that never ends. Others have loved us to their limits, but God has no limits.
Let’s learn from the Gentile woman who brought her daughter to Jesus for healing: There must be crumbs that still fall from the table (Matthew 15:21-28). God has more for you. He has no limits.
Let’s learn from Jacob who wrestles with “the angel of the Lord” and won’t let him go until he gets a blessing (Genesis 32:22-32). God has more for you. He has no limits.
Let’s learn from the little boy who brought his meager lunch to Jesus, not because he thought it could fix things, but because it was what he had (John 6:1-13). Jesus brought his infinitude into that situation and changed it. God has more for you. He has no limits.
So believe today that you can’t exhaust God. Believe that how ever much need or sin you have, He has more supply and grace. Believe, as a good Father, He desires to overwhelm you with good things. If you do, you will be closer to knowing God as He should be (and wants to be) known.
Those are my thoughts for the day. I hope they are encouraging to you. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
It’s not to late for you to join in with us. You can catch up in the posts below:
The Knowledge of the Holy Series
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 8: God’s Infinitude
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 11: The Wisdom of God
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 14: God’s Omnipresence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 16: The Goodness of God
Day 17: The Justice of God
Day 18: The Mercy of God
Day 19: The Grace of God
Day 20: The Love of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
The Knowledge of the Holy: The Eternity of God
[Editor’s Note: This is a 23-Day Series exploring different aspects of God’s nature and personality, using Tozer’s “The Knowledge of the Holy” as a discussion starter. You can read the introduction of the series here.]
Sometimes when you start talking about God and His nature it starts to sound more like a Sci-Fi story than the God that you’ve always thought you knew. This is certainly the case as Tozer begins to dissect God’s relationship with time. Instead of being someone who experiences time like we do, Tozer declares God stands outside of time. This doesn’t just make Him timeless or ageless, but alien to time. One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is this: “God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.” This allows God to exist as the same God at every point in history. God is unbound by time.
According to Tozer, this should have two results in our life: It should cause us to seek refuge in Him and cry out to Him for Him to teach us His perspective of life on Earth. Finally, Tozer points out that the image of God inside of humanity longs for eternity, yet our fallen nature rages against the shortness of life. These two opposite desires meet resolution in the saving message of Jesus, who frees us to join God in eternity.
This chapter was an absolute thrill for me. I all too often forget how conscious I am of the day I live in, the constraints of time and scheduling, and the perspective of other time-bound humans. Reading about God’s eternal nature reminded me again how God is like the ultimate historian, who understands more from a big picture perspective than we do. He values heart attitudes and actions that are eternally good, not just the ones that are pronounced good by our ever shifting cultures.
Instead of causing us to believe that we have all the time in the world and there is no rush, the message of God’s eternal nature causes Moses to cry out to God for help to use his days wisely. “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom,” (Psalm 90:12). When we see how limited our lives are compared to God’s eternal nature, it provokes in us a desire to use the limited time we have wisely. It frees us from the rat race and the trappings of our short-sighted cultures.
This message is so necessary in the body of Christ today! So often we are so bound by what is culturally appropriate, even though our culture has only existed a short time. Instead, we can be freed to serve a God who has eternal values that He backs up with eternal rewards. Giving your life to serve and witness to a remote village with little fanfare will make you neither rich nor famous. It can look like a waste of a life. But when we understand that we serve a God intent on drawing as many people as He can to His son Jesus and He rewards those who serve the least with places of honor in the age to come, then we can look at that life and call it wisdom. We can gladly surrender ourselves because we serve a God who isn’t bound by our shortness of life. And that is freedom.
My encouragement for you today is to take some time thinking about God and His eternal nature. And as you do, pray the prayer of Moses: “God, teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.”
That’s my take. Please share with us yours in the comment section!
It’s not to late for you to join in with us. You can catch up in the posts below:
The Knowledge of the Holy Series
Day 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
Day 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
Day 5: The Self Existence of God
Day 6: The Self Sufficiency of God
Day 7: The Eternity of God
Day 8: God’s Infinitude
Day 9: The Immutability of God
Day 10: The Divine Omniscience
Day 11: The Wisdom of God
Day 12: The Omnipotence of God
Day 13: The Divine Transcendence
Day 14: God’s Omnipresence
Day 15: The Faithfulness of God
Day 16: The Goodness of God
Day 17: The Justice of God
Day 18: The Mercy of God
Day 19: The Grace of God
Day 20: The Love of God
Day 21: The Holiness of God
Day 22: The Sovereignty of God
Day 23: The Open Secret
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 