The Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation
Rod Dreher wrote “to order the world rightly as Christians requires regarding all things as pointing to Christ”
Christ is the One in Whom in all things consist and humanity is not the measure of all things. If a defining characteristic of the modern world is disorder then the most fundamental act of resistance is to discover and life according to the deep, divine order of the heavens and the earth.
In this series we want to look at the big model of the universe that the Bible and Christian history provides.
It is a mind and heart expanding vision of reality.
It is not confined to the limits of our bodily senses - but tries to embrace levels fo reality that are not normally accessible or tangible to our exiled life on earth.
We live on this side of the cosmic curtain - and therefore the highest and greatest dimensions of reality are hidden to us… yet these dimensions exist and are the most fundamental framework for the whole of the heavens and the earth.
Throughout this series we want to pick away at all the threads of reality to see how they all join together - how they all find common meaning and reason in the great divine logic - the One who is the Logos, the LORD Jesus Christ - the greatest that both heaven and earth has to offer.
Colossians 1:15-23
The Christ Centred Cosmic Civilisation
Episode 114 - Divine Immutability: Understanding God's Constancy Through Scripture
Divine immutability—the teaching that God doesn't change—sounds simple enough. Yet beneath this straightforward concept lies one of theology's most contested battlegrounds. What exactly remains constant about the Father, Son, and Spirit? Is God's unchanging nature a philosophical abstraction or a life-transforming truth revealed in Scripture?
We journey through three distinct perspectives on divine immutability, beginning with the Bible's fundamental portrayal of God as utterly reliable and trustworthy. This isn't mere consistency but perfect faithfulness—the living God always keeps His gospel promises. As Hebrews reminds us, God confirmed His unchangeable counsel with an oath, providing believers with an "anchor for the soul" amid life's storms. When human words fail and human faithfulness falters, divine dependability stands firm.
The Scripture repeatedly employs the powerful metaphor of God as "the Rock"—unshakable, sheltering, and eternally present. In Hannah's prayer, David's final words, and throughout the Psalms, this image reinforces the profound security found in God's unchangeable nature. While philosophical speculations about divine immutability may divide theologians, the biblical testimony remains clear: when everything around us changes, the Trinity stands firm.
Jesus' remarkable declaration, "Before Abraham was, I am," reveals not merely pre-existence but eternal, unchanging presence. He is the fixed point to whom believers in every generation can turn. As Matthew Henry beautifully explains, God's unchangeable nature provides a foundation that "cannot be changed or moved," offering refuge when the world crumbles around us.
How might your perspective shift if you truly embraced the unchanging character of God? What anxieties would dissolve if you recognized that the same God who proved faithful to Abraham, Moses, David, and countless others remains exactly the same today? Allow this profound truth to transform your approach to life's uncertainties and deepen your trust in the Rock who never changes.
The theme music is "Wager with Angels" by Nathan Moore
Well, welcome to the next episode of the Christ-Centered Cosmic Civilization. And this time we're, when we say that the father, son and spirit don't change. Um, superficially it sounds easy. We would say, if you just say that, and a childlike point about that is saying something like uh, that, what the? That the way the living God is now is the way or the character that the living God has always been, equally reliable, totally dependable.
Speaker 1:And yet that isn't really how it is often debated. It's something that becomes quite abstract and also quite intense in modern times and there are very polarised, opposite views about what it means. So there have been all kinds of recent debates about the immutability of the living God Father, son and Spirit, and it does get quite intense. So on the one hand there are those who feel that any hesitancy of some to affirm this attribute attribute is a denial of the historic creedal, confessional doctrine of God and some fear the invasion of modern pagan philosophy. But on the other hand, there are feel that the abstract way that some affirm this attribute is also a denial of the biblical, creedal, saving, personal doctrine of God and some fear the invasion of ancient pagan philosophy. So it sounds, that sounds extreme, like there there's two, there's two kind of extreme views, and both fear the invasion of convinced about that, and it can feel like, oh, I understand the points that kind of each side may make, but how are we going to negotiate that Now? There might be some genuine misunderstandings in all of this, although and so sometimes we might think well, that it's just God and how to go about defining the God of the Bible, or understanding, or exploring, or knowing the God of the Bible. So, throughout this, like over the past I don't know 30, 35 years I've been engaged with this kind of questioning and analysis of the doctrine of God at quite a deep level, partly because of my constant engagement with Islam. That forces very intense engagement with the doctrine of God, but also in Christian theology as well, and there are these very, very different perspectives, sometimes about what is the God, what the Bible says, or threaten what the Bible says.
Speaker 1:So I think what I've tended to try to do is to set out what the Bible seems to teach, and then other things that maybe cause more concern. So before we do this, though, I want us to go back to that wonderful introduction to Spurgeon's sermon on the immutability of God, diving deep into the scriptures concerning the wonders and glories of the eternal God, father, son and Spirit. That's the best possible activity for any of us. So we might think, oh, is it worth spending so much time exploring the doctrine of God? And I want us to say yeah, it is. It always is, because so long as we're doing it in order to know the Father through the Son, in the power of the Spirit, better to worship and have hearts that are motivated by worship and love. So here's what Spurgeon says the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead.
Speaker 1:The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can ever engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings and the existence of the great God whom he calls his father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the divinity. It's a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with. In them we feel a kind of self-content and go our way with the thought behold, I am wise. But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumb line cannot sound its depth and that our eagle eye cannot see its height. We turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise. Vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass's colt, and with the solemn exclamation I am but of yesterday and know nothing. So no subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind than thoughts of God. We shall be obliged to feel great God, how infinite art thou. What worthless worms are we. But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God will have a larger mind and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the deity.
Speaker 1:And whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently comforting. Ah, there is in contemplating Christ a balm for every wound. In musing on the Father there is soothing, for every grief is soothing for every grief, and in the influence of the Holy Spirit there is an ointment for every sore. Would you lose your sorrows? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea, be lost in his immensity, and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul, so calm the swelling billows of grief and sorrow. So speak, peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. Well, that's the end of the Spurgeon quote. It's wonderful, and with that great encouragement we press on in this exploration of the living God, father, son and Spirit.
Speaker 1:So immutability, it's simply me, it's simply the truth that the living God does not change. But what is meant by that? And there are perhaps three ways that the immutability of God is thought about, and we'll list these three ways and then we'll try to examine them in more detail. So, three ways that the immutability of God is thought about. And the first is this the core teaching of the Bible is that the living God is utterly reliable, trustworthy and constant. The Father always keeps his promises through his Son, by the power of his Spirit. So that's the first fundamental way in which God is immutable the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, is utterly reliable, utterly trustworthy, always keeps his promises. The second is this it's the second way to think about the immutability of God is the core teaching of the creeds is that the Trinity is always and eternally begetting his son and always eternally breathing out his spirit. The father, son and spirit always remain the full, equally divine trinity, the full, equally divine Trinity. So there in that second category of the immutability of God it's talking about, like it's not that the Father decided to have a son at some point and the once was a time when the son didn't exist, so that, structurally speaking, you know, there was once one member of the Trinity or once were two members of the Trinity and then three, or something like that. It's saying no, the Father, son and Spirit is the way God is, always from everlasting to everlasting, is always from everlasting to everlasting.
Speaker 1:Now there's a third category of thought about the immutability of God, and I'll say that this is kind of speculative ideas developed in religious philosophy, and many people have connected these more speculative ideas to these biblical and creedal truths, and so people have developed ideas about God being simple and God being something that we might call a perfect being. We'll explore these things later, so don't worry about them too much now. So people have developed ideas about God being timeless, simple and a quote perfect being. But not all Christians are persuaded by these philosophical speculations and some Christians reject them entirely and quite passionately. So we've got these three categories then of immutability. The first is the kind of just basic core teaching of the Bible that everybody's happy with and that's easily understandable Reliability, trustworthy, constant, keeping promises, that sort of thing. There's a second category that everybody seems happy with all real Christians, and that's the way that, structurally speaking, the living God is always the same. But there's a third category of philosophical speculation and this not everybody is happy with. Some people are very passionately committed to these ideas and believe them to be either compatible with the Bible, or some people think they're even taught in the Bible or implied in the Bible. And then there's other people who would say the exact opposite. Genuine biblical Christians would say the opposite and say these philosophical ideas are against the teaching of the Bible.
Speaker 1:So what we'll try and do then over these coming episodes is to explore all of this. So let's begin with that first category, the core teaching of the Bible that this living God Father, son and Spirit is utterly reliable, trustworthy and constant. Now there's a lot of teaching in the Bible that asserts that in one way or another, that the Lord God does not change, and in those occasions when the Bible just literally teaches that God does not change, we'll see that this is the basic idea that's being taught in those scriptures and it's good for you to, if you're following, to try and look these up and meditate upon them. So, first, the immutability of God means that this living God, the Trinity, is faithful, reliable and trustworthy. And this does seem to be the prima facie way in which the scriptures talk about the Lord, god who doesn't change. So the living God always keeps his gospel promises and always hates evil, hates sin. So there's no kind of what people call development of doctrine within the Trinity. It's not as if that once the Trinity believed certain things and now the Trinityinity believes different things, because that the members of the trinity have gone through a process of developing their teaching or beliefs or something like even to say that is absurd the character and beliefs of the father, son and spirit. It's always the same, always reliable, always consistent, always trustworthy.
Speaker 1:So consider Hebrews, chapter 6, verses 17 to 20. It says this God willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. Confirmed it by an oath, so that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. So in this scripture, the living God does not change in two ways in what he has purposed to do and what he has promised to do. The Lord God cannot change what he said, he can't bear false witness, he cannot back. The idea is like the living God doesn't make promises that he isn't completely committed to. He doesn't. He just doesn't lie. He doesn't tell us something that is not true or that he isn't completely committed to. So any human soul that needs strong reassurance, this anchor, need only fasten onto this unableness of the counsel and promises and gospel of God is so important to us, so hope has.
Speaker 1:This is Matthew Henry, now the old 18th century, late 17th century, 18th century Bible commentator. Hope has its degrees as faith. Also, the promise of blessedness God has made to believers is from God's eternal purpose, settled between the eternal Father, son and Spirit. These promises of God may safely be depended upon. For here we have two things which cannot change the counsel and the oath of God in which it is not possible for God to lie. It would be contrary to his nature as well as to his will. And as he cannot lie, the destruction of the unbeliever and the salvation of the believer are alike certain here observe those to whom God has given full security of happiness have a title to the promises by inheritance. The consolations of God are strong enough to support his people under their heaviest trials.
Speaker 1:Here is a refuge for all sinners who flee to the mercy of God through the redemption of Christ according to the covenant of grace. Laying aside all other confidences, we are in this world as a ship at sea, tossed up and down and in danger of being cast away. We need an anchor to keep us sure and steady. Gospel hope is our anchor in the storms of this world. It is sure and steadfast, or it could not keep us. So. The free grace of God, the merits and mediation of Christ, of Christ and the powerful influences of his spirit are the grounds of this hope, and so it is a steadfast hope. Christ is the object and ground of the believer's hope. Let us therefore set our affections on things above and wait patiently for his appearance, when we shall certainly appear with him in glory. So that's a wonderful application of all that from Matthew Henry.
Speaker 1:So this idea that it is impossible for God to lie. There's this immutability that he has made, these covenant promises eternally between the Father, son and Spirit. They had this council, this agreement, and then he's spoken those promises to us and neither his nature or his eternal counsel can change, neither can his word fail. And so the point of that is that we can completely trust the gospel promises in Jesus Christ and bet everything we've got in life and death and eternity on Jesus and the promise of forgiveness and life in him. That's the purpose of that scripture, that's the purpose of that scripture, that's the meaning of that scripture.
Speaker 1:But there's other ones like it that are very strong on the faithfulness and dependability of God. So take Deuteronomy 32, verse 4. He is the rock, his works are perfect and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong. Upright and just is he? Upright and just is he. I love Matthew Henry, so I can't resist. Let's have a bit more of Matthew Henry, this wonderful Bible commentator, and let's hear him once again apply this wonderful scripture to us. He is the rock, his work is perfect this faithful God. So this is Matthew Henry. He is a rock. This is the first time God is called so in scripture.
Speaker 1:The expression denotes that the divine faithfulness and love, as revealed in Christ and the gospel, form a foundation which cannot be changed or moved on, which we may build our hopes of our enemies and in all our troubles. As the rocks in those countries sheltered from the burning rays of the sun and from tempests, or were fortresses from the enemy, so his work is perfect, that of redemption and salvation, in which there is a display of all the divine perfection, complete in all its parts. All God's dealings with his creatures are regulated by wisdom which cannot err, perfect justice. He's indeed just and right. He takes care that none shall lose by him. So there we get that wonderful application of Deuteronomy 32 for this dependability and faithfulness of the father through the son, by the spirit, and it means again like this we can handle all the things in life where everything seems to be shaking around us, but this gospel of Christ Jesus, the redemption that's in him, there is absolute perfection there, and we may get completely frustrated at the imperfection in ourselves and in the world around us, and even in the best people in this broken world. They are not perfect and they do let us down and they are still floored by sin. But when we come to Christ, there is perfection and perfect righteousness and he's upright. There's no wrong in him. He never does anything wrong. That's this. It's this wonderful declaration of this unchangeable, faithful character of the father through the son, by the spirit, and how dependable he is in all the problems of life. And in Deuteronomy 32, there's this examination of how flawed his people are, but not in him.
Speaker 1:There's another really good one, carrying on that theme, about the rock, and it's Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2, this resting in the reliability of this living God. And Hannah says in 1 Samuel 2, there is no one holy like the Lord. There is no one besides you, there is no rock like our God. And for this one I like the comment of John Gill I often enjoy him because he's so Jesus centred, but he just makes the point under this metaphor of a rock, hannah is thinking of the Lord.
Speaker 1:Jesus, christ being signified. He is the rock of Israel, the rock of refuge and of salvation. And there is no rock can do what he does hide and shelter from the justice of God. There is no rock like him for strength and duration, none like him for a foundation to build upon or for. Of this word of the rock is God is unchangeable, in that we can always flee to him for refuge and protection and strength and so on.
Speaker 1:And then that idea of the, that he's always there and always the same and always dependable, and always the same and always dependable. We think about that in John 8, 58. Jesus reveals that he's much older than the 50 years of age that his audience attributed to him. He's much older than Moses or Abraham, as he says before. Abraham was, am I am. He has always existed and he always will be. He's the fixed point for his people, in every age and every place they can come to the Lord Jesus. He will always be the same, always dependable, always the one to flee to in all the storms of life. There is this rock of safety and security.
Speaker 1:Let's have another one, and it's to Samuel 23,. Three to four, and it's the last words of King David, and he's talking about what is always the case in how a ruler must rule. And he says the spirit of the Lord spoke through me. His word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke.
Speaker 1:The rock of Israel said to me, and again, the idea of that is listen carefully to what I'm about to say, these last words of King David, because these are not like human words which sound good and are, you know, may sound good and maybe somewhat reliable, but maybe won't, maybe fail, maybe don't have the correct balance, maybe are complete lies, human words. But David is saying listen carefully to what I'm about to say, because this is spoken by the Spirit, through Jesus, from the Father. The rock of Israel said to me, and therefore these words cannot possibly change, these are locked in and maybe that's all we'll do. I want to still look at more examples of the Scriptures. I've got many more on this unchangeability, immutability of the living God in Scripture, but maybe that's enough for this week.