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 115 - God's character never shifts like shadows, even when everything else does.
The unchanging nature of God stands as one of Christianity's most profound and practical truths. Far from being a dry philosophical concept, divine immutability offers genuine comfort and security in our chaotic, ever-shifting world.
Throughout this thoughtful exploration, we unpack what Scripture reveals about God's unchanging character. Psalm 18 presents Him as our Rock and Fortress—imagery that conveys absolute dependability when everything else proves unstable. Malachi's declaration "I, the Lord, do not change" addresses the perennial human tendency to believe God has somehow softened His stance on evil or grown less responsive to sincere seekers. The biblical message rings clear: God remains as committed to righteousness and as opposed to wickedness as He's always been.
Christ's remarkable claim that "heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away" elevates His promises above even the stars and galaxies themselves. While the universe has built-in obsolescence, the gospel stands eternally unchanged. James portrays God as "the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows"—unlike celestial bodies that wax and wane, God's character casts no variable shadow but remains pure light.
Perhaps most practically, Hebrews connects divine immutability directly to doctrinal stability: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings." While human philosophies evolve and cultural values shift, Christ's teachings remain perpetually true and relevant.
The unchanging God offers an invitation: build your life on the only foundation that will never crumble. When faced with personal crises, social upheaval, or spiritual confusion, we can return to this bedrock truth—the God who revealed Himself in Scripture and supremely in Christ remains exactly the same today. Join us as we discover how this timeless truth transforms our daily walk with the Lord.
The theme music is "Wager with Angels" by Nathan Moore
Well, we're continuing on with our exploration of the immutability of God and in this first section of it what we wish to do is just enjoy and explore and tease out all that the scriptures tell us about the fact that the Father, son and Spirit do not change. They are absolutely reliable and secure. The words of God are completely trustworthy and dependable. Whatever he has said, he stands by that. So all these scriptures that we're going to explore are taking us deep into the character of the living God and we think of that where, if a person we know and we'll say the word is the bond, what they say counts for something, the character stands behind the words. Their character stands behind their words and that is very important. The fact that the Lord's words do not change. It's not a mechanical statement that simply they happen to be, for instance, kept in a deep freezer, so these words are kind of frozen such that they don't change. It's not that kind of a statement. It's the statement that the lord makes promises and, because of his character as reliable and trustworthy and good and honorable, those words we can always bank on and they're guaranteed, they're secure because of the character, the trustworthiness of the living God. So Psalm 18, verse 2,. It's a wonderful example of this rock solid reliability of the Lord God. It just says the Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my stronghold. So it's a huge collection of titles of the living God that give this sense of security, trustworthiness, reliability.
Speaker 1:So again we'll pick a commentator, maybe Albert Barnes, who I often like, and him commenting on this verse. He says the idea in this expression and in the subsequent parts of the description is that the psalmist owed his safety entirely to God. He'd been to him as a rock, a tower, a buckler, that is. He derived from God the protection which a rock, a tower, a citadel, a bookler furnished to those who depended on them or which they were designed to secure. The word rock here has reference to the fact that, in times of danger, a lofty rock would be sought as a place of safety, or that men would fly to to escape from their enemies Such rocks abound in Palestine and by the fact they are elevated and difficult of access, or by the fact that those who fled to them could find shelter in the projecting crags or by the fact that they could find security in deep, dark caverns, their places of refuge in times of danger, danger protection found that couldn't be found elsewhere. Fortress god is to me a fortress, a place of defense, a place so strengthened that an enemy couldn't approach, uh, or where one would be safe. And the fortresses are constructed on the rocks or the hills so that people will be doubly safe. Um, my, and it's the I, this is my god, and in whom I have found all that is implied a protector, helper, friend, father, savior, and this notion, particularly of my strength, my rock, it's always this idea, and then it ends with in whom I will trust, that I found him to be such a refuge that I can trust in him and confide in him, and confide in him. The high tower, the name of and thinking of that Proverbs 18.10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe. So all these ideas in there. I love that. Psalm 18, verse 2, this the solidity of the character and the promises of the father through the son in the power of the spirit. I think I particularly love this.
Speaker 1:Um in malachi, chapter three, verses six to seven, and this often in theological textbooks, when it, when the, if there is any. But if Bible verses are ever given and not, as we'll see as we get towards the end and when we get into section three with the philosophical ideas about the immutability of God, sometimes there aren't really Bible verses given, but in theological books this, malachi 3, 6-7, is the the Lord do not change. I, the Lord, do not change. It's a very bold and clear and precise statement I do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Descendants of Jacob are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors, you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.
Speaker 1:Now the big issue in Malachi chapter 3 is that the people of Israel had got into their heads the idea that the Lord doesn't really reward those who draw near to him and he doesn't punish those who do evil. So in Malachi chapter 3, verse 14, here's a good example. Well, verse 13 and 14 of Malachi 3, you have spoken arrogantly against me, says the Lord. Yet you ask what have we said against you? Yet you ask what have we said against you? Verse 14, you have said it is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed? Certainly, evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it. So can you see, the idea is, it doesn't matter, like, maybe the lord, there's the, I, the. There's the idea that the lord um uh, blesses those who draw near to him and that the wicked are punished and that he's against wickedness. But in practice it doesn't make any difference whether you're righteous or wicked, that the wicked just get away with it. God doesn in serving the Lord because he's like maybe the idea is maybe once he bothered about things like righteousness and wickedness, but now he doesn't seem to bother about that anymore, or at least he doesn't take it as seriously as he used to do. That's the idea of Malachi 3. In many ways, that's what a lot of people think today also, and so the word into that is Malachi 3.
Speaker 1:Well, if we go from verse 5, right from the beginning of the chapter, is excellent because it's about John the Baptist will come and prepare for the Lord himself to come, and when he comes, he will purify, worship and bring and get rid of what's wrong and establish righteousness and so on. And then verse five so I will come to put you on trial. I'll be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of the wages, who oppress widows and fatherless and deprive the foreigners among you of justice. But do not fear me. Whether it be occult evil, sexual morality, social issues, the care for the needy, all of these things, what I'm looking for is people to fear me, says the Lord Almighty. And then comes verse 6.
Speaker 1:I, the Lord, do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors, you've turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me and I'll return to you, says the Lord Almighty. And they say how are we supposed to return?
Speaker 1:And the Lord says well, be serious with me, like, draw near to me in a serious way, with sincerity and honesty and love. And so his point is the reason you are not destroyed, the reason he doesn't destroy them for their wickedness, is because of his faithfulness to his gospel promises of old. That's why he is this Lord who is slow to anger, gracious, abounding in love and care and compassion and patience, abounding in love and care and compassion and patience. That's why they're not destroyed. It's not because he doesn't care about wickedness anymore, he really does. And, of course, prophesying that the Lord Jesus will show just how seriously the Lord takes the issue of evil. And then we see that, of course, maximally at the cross. So I, the lord, do not change. He still is just as strong.
Speaker 1:And those that draw near to him with sincerity because the book of malachi is all about how they haven't been doing that. They've been sort of pretending, going through the motions of doing the right thing, the rituals, the respectable stuff, giving the Lord, pretending to give the Lord good service, offering him things, and yet they're giving him the second best, what they've got left over, rather than the best of their heart, minds and resources and so on. And so into that there's this wonderful statement I, the Lord, do not change. And the idea then is, those that draw near to the Lord with love and faith and need and cry out to him with sincerity and come to him, you know, seek the Lord with all their heart, they will find that he does draw near to them, as he has always done, always done, no less today than ever. He's always the same, always dependable to those who call upon him and seek him and knock and ask. But for those who pursue sin and wickedness, they may think the Lord doesn't bother about that anymore and that they're getting away with it. But no, there is judgment. He's just as severe as he's always been. He hates evil as he always has done.
Speaker 1:So you can see, in Malachi, chapter three, this wonderful description of the way the Lord doesn't change is all about his hatred of evil and his love of the gospel. Worried about wicked people getting away with things, you're worried that the lord doesn't respond to to people who approach him, uh, for mercy and forgiveness anymore. Uh, and then it's not as if malachi says well, whatever's the case about that, I'd like to take you into a metaphysical consideration of timelessness or something it's like that would be ludicrously irrelevant to people with the concerns and sins and needs of Malachi 3. It's really saying as the Lord has hated evil and loved righteousness always, so he still does. So he still does and therefore come to him for mercy, take him seriously, seek for him, ask, knock and you will be answered. It's a wonderful gospel passage and, yeah we could go. And there's again lots of great.
Speaker 1:I'm always losing myself in these great commentaries and there's again just wonderful ones Matthew, henry and so on saying that this is an appeal for us to come to the Lord Jesus and find forgiveness in him and don't be complacent in sin and superficial religion. So Malachi 3, 6, I, the Lord, do not change. When we read those words, we are to realize that evil, we may think evil is prospering, but the Lord has not changed. But the Lord has not changed. He still hates evil. And we may feel, oh, but does he really respond to people who try to come to him as he once did? Yes, of course he does. So do approach him, do come to him with total confidence that as he responded to others in the past, so he will respond to you if you come to him with faith and need. So our Lord doesn't change his mind about good and evil. We can always rely on him to fulfill all he has promised and to keep his word.
Speaker 1:One of the preachers from the 19th century that I was looking at actually goes out of his way to make the point that when scripture assures us of these things, it is not attempting to get us into some sort of metaphysical meditation, but rather to draw us into intense devotion, repentance and faith in Jesus. Now, when we come to Jesus' own teaching about this changelessness and reliability, we get it in say Mark, chapter 13, verse 31. Jesus says 13, verse 31,. Jesus says heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away. And here there's this idea, then, that everything in the universe, even the galaxies and so on, are unreliable. Ultimately, even they pass away, like stars die, even stars die, they all have a time limit upon them, and that we cannot build eternal confidence, even on what's in the heavens, even on what's in the heavens. But Jesus says his words shall never pass away. So what Jesus promises is permanent and can be relied on for an everlasting future, even after the galaxies as they are now have all been passed away or been renewed into a new way, for a new creation or whatever, even after all that's in the universe is gone or renewed. Yet his words, his promises, his gospel never will pass away. It has no sell by date or end point. The words of God, the Son, do not change and are more reliable than the very universe itself.
Speaker 1:That same theme, of course is in Isaiah 40 and Psalm 90. 40 and Psalm 90, isaiah 40, all people are like grass and their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. So notice that ordinary human beings are like grass. The faithfulness, notice, is unreliable. The people can be faithful for for some time, but you can't be sure that they're always reliable, trustworthy, faithful. And then isaiah 40, verse 7 the grass withers, the flowers fall because the breath of the lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.
Speaker 1:And then, from verse 10, you get that lovely idea. See, the sovereign Lord comes with power, he rules with a mighty arm, his reward is with him. He tends his flock like a shepherd, he gathers the lamb in his arms. All of that wonderful vision. So the word of Jesus, he is the word of God and we can rest in his promises, his reliability. And the scriptures talk about this unfailing love, of this everlasting God, and we are to give our absolute trust and confidence in him, in this Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1:So the gospel that was preached in ancient times is always the same gospel that must be preached today. Nobody has ever been saved in any other way than this one unchanging gospel, of the one unchanging God, faith in Christ Jesus, the divine Messiah, in his death and resurrection. That's the only hope there has ever been. That's the only hope there has ever been and that, and we constantly, if we want, in all the changing nature of life and our lives, this lord jesus is the unchanging rock and his words, like at the end of the sermon on the mount, he says my words are this rock, and and if you trust those words and obey what I'm telling you, that is a rock solid foundation that will survive any storm. The character, then, of the Father, son and Spirit is always the same Righteous, compassionate, loving, holy, etc. Compassionate, loving, holy, etc.
Speaker 1:Romans 8, 37 to 38 declares this unchanging solidity of the father's love, shown or given through jesus, in by the power of the spirit. So there paul declares I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Everything else may change, but the love of God will never change towards us if we are joined to our Lord Jesus Christ by faith. And James 1 has that lovely example again of this unchanging character of our heavenly father. James 1 warns us not to think that our heavenly father ever varies in his opposition to evil. He is never the source of temptation or evil, but he's only ever the source of goodness and light.
Speaker 1:Isn't it interesting how often that theme comes up in the Bible With God, the living God, the Lord God does not change. Therefore be assured, he is always against evil and always for good. And it's as if the threat, the thing that's within us that makes us doubt the immutability of God. It's not metaphysical, philosophical things. That's the danger. The danger is that we think evil doesn't matter and goodness isn't worth it. That's the great threat and the answer to that is the immutability of God that this living God has promised his gospel and he will stand by that always. And his opposition to evil and everything, his proclamation against evil even. That's there on page one of the bible. His yes to light and life and order, and this kind of no to darkness and chaos, that declaration where he draws this boundary between good and evil, light and and darkness, that he's absolutely firm on that, and we must be too.
Speaker 1:So James warns us, then, that our Heavenly Father never varies in this opposition to evil. He says this, james 1, when tempted, no one should say God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Don't be deceived. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. I like Benson's commentary here when he says with whom is no variableness in his understanding or shadow of turning in his, but he is immutably wise and good, holy and happy. He infallibly discerns all good and evil and invariably loves the one and hates the other.
Speaker 1:There is, in both the Greek words here used, a metaphor taken from the heavenly bodies stars and sun and so on when the father of lights is mentioned. Both words are applicable to any celestial body which has a daily vicissitude of day and night and sometimes longer days, sometimes longer nights. In God is nothing of this kind, is mere light, just light. If there be any such vicissitude in us or change in us, it is from ourselves, not from him. Will he give us holy desires at one time and evil inclinations at another? No, he always gives us what is good and nothing but good.
Speaker 1:It is blasphemous, therefore, as well as absurd, to suppose that God either tempts men to sin or prevents them doing good on purpose, that he might have a pretense for making them miserable. So that is a very powerful idea, isn't it? That we? Even the stars seem to vary in light and brightness, and the sun Sometimes we can't see it, and sometimes it seems to be dark up in the sky. Well, it is, you know, at nighttime it's dark, daytime it's light, and so on.
Speaker 1:And we might say, well, maybe God's a bit like that. Sometimes he promotes evil, sometimes he promotes good, and it's like, no, he only ever promotes good. He's unvarying in his love of goodness and his hatred of evil. I know we're kind of like really emphasizing this. Maybe you might feel too much, but I think it's really important that we get what the Bible is concerned about when it is talking about the fact that the Father, son and Spirit they do not change. This living God does not change. What does the Bible mean when it emphasizes this point and teaches this point?
Speaker 1:Let's have another one Revelation, chapter 1, verse 4. This is this great word, the revelation. It's a word to us from him who is. It's a word to us from him who is and was and is to come, and we love that, don't we? This say this living God was, is, is to come, whether in the past, present or future. Whatever he does, whatever he says, he's the unchanging, reliable, faithful Lord who has triumphed over death and the devil.
Speaker 1:And so this book of Revelation is teaching us how to deal with history, and that history is full of challenges and situations and variations in our experience of things. And sometimes the world around us seems to confirm goodness. Sometimes the world around us seems to undermine goodness and celebrate evil. But we are to not be drawn in by that, to change what we think about good and evil. Rather, we are to keep our attention, our hearts and minds fixed on this Lord Jesus, who has overcome death and is alive forevermore, and remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And with that in mind, let's just go to Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 8, because the context sharpens the power of that memory verse. You know, if we slip into pagan religious philosophy, where gods are subject to change and development almost like mere creatures, then it's all too easy to be carried away with false teachings because we might say, well, maybe God no longer thinks or wills as he once did. But Hebrews 13, 7 to 9 says this remember your leaders, your church leaders, who spoke the word of God to you, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. So you see that. So it's this again. It's this concept of the teachings.
Speaker 1:What words are we allowing into our hearts and minds? Because human words or demonic words, human philosophies, all these things that can bewitch us, are unreliable. They're variable. What is the dominant philosophy one day is is considered wrong the next day. No human philosophy, no matter how clever or brilliant it is, is worthy or can sustain an eternal weight of trust. It's very important to us that the living god doesn't change in these ways what he has once taught. He always teaches what his word is unchanging. He is always faithful, he always hates evil, he always loves good, he always responds to those who call out to him with faith in Christ. Always, whoever calls on the name of the Father, son and Spirit means total trustworthiness, total reliability, total solidity in the chaotic changes of this present darkness. And this I, the Lord, do not change, is a kind of a gospel call to us to run away from evil and flee to Christ, to trust on him, because he doesn't change. The gospel that saved people in the past will save us today and tomorrow.