Class Notes: 2/8/2015

Mark 13:31; Heaven and earth will pass away but my Words will never pass away; The doctrine of immutability part 1

In our study of Mark we are in Mark 13:31; where Jesus backs up his promises to Israel with a reference to the immutability of His Word with His statement "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."

Even if heaven and earth were to pass away the Words of the Lord will never pass away. Heaven and earth will be destroyed before eternity begins but God's word will eternally exist. 2Peter 3:10;

You can count on God's Word because God keeps His word. God keeps His word to Israel and although these unconditional covenants have not yet been fulfilled they will be and their fulfillment is more sure than the existence of heaven and earth because God's word is Immutable.

Based on this we have taken up a study of the Doctrine of Immutability and the principle that Divine integrity is never compromised.

God is immutable, Psa 102:27; Mal 3:6; James 1:17.
Jesus Christ is immutable, Heb 13:8.

Some passages of scripture seem to present the idea that when man changes, God changes.

But in reality, God is always consistent with His own unchanging integrity. While God is immutable, He handles different things in different ways but He is always consistent with His immutable integrity.

Immutability means that God always uses His power in a manner consistent with His person and integrity no matter what.

God's policies and acts are never arbitrary. They are never dependent on human responses. They are always totally and completely compatible with His plan and His purpose.

"Repent," translated from the Hebrew "nacham" or the Greek "metanoeo" means to change one's mind is sometimes used in reference to God: Exod 32:14; Gen 6:6; 1Sam 15:35; Psa 90:13; Jer 15:6, Jer 26:3.

This appears to contradict the principle of immutability but these are anthropopathisms that ascribe to God a human characteristic that He does not actually possess.

It is used to explain divine policy in terms of human frame of reference. Therefore, it is language of accommodation that does not really describe the integrity of God.

The immutability of God's character means that God never loses His integrity or fails. "With God there is no variableness or shadow of turning," James 1:17.

Therefore, God's unchanging integrity and His word provide the basis for His promises to Israel or the function of the protocol plan of God for the Church.

Num 23:19, 1Sam 15:29; "God is not a man that He should lie." "or change His mind,"

Psa 33:11, The decisions of the Lord stand forever, and His plans abide through the ages. Net note 18

The unchanging nature of His person and His word demonstrate His immutability. Mark 13:31; "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away."

The first aspect of God's immutability is based on what God is, and what He did for us in eternity past, when He deposited escrow blessings for us based on His perfect integrity.

In eternity past, God the Father deposited in escrow greater blessings for every believer. God the Father is the grantor; Jesus Christ is the depositary, and believers are the grantees.

Once this deposit was made, God's sovereignty established election and predestination in the divine decree that determine His objective to convey His highest and best to every Church Age believer.

During the course of human history election and predestination read out of the divine decree that the sovereignty of God wills the conveyance of what was previously deposited in escrow for every Church Age believer.

God's omniscience and omnipotence provide the environment of equal privilege and opportunity for every Church Age believer to receive what God has previously deposited according to His the good intention of His will. Eph 1:5;

The conditions for conveyance of these escrow blessings include the fulfillment of the protocol plan of God and the advance into the perfect happiness that God has created for every believer to have.

The second aspect of God's immutability is revealed by what God says or communicates from the divine decree during the course of human history. This takes the form of promises and God's Word aka faith or doctrine.

Before God's Word was in written form the readout of the Divine Decree was revealed by promises that were given verbally and taken with a solemn oath.

God's promises to Abraham illustrate this through the various unconditional covenants that God made with Abraham and his descendants are irrevocably conveyed. Heb 6:13;

After God's Word was written in the scriptures this immutability takes the form of Bible doctrine that is written in the Scriptures as in Eph 1:3-6;

What God conveys to us during the course of human history in time is the second immutable thing. It is the revelation of the divine decrees along with the escrow-election rationale.

Immutability is based on the fact that God's integrity is never compromised and cannot be compromised under any circumstances.

God has absolute and eternal integrity. The Bible calls it Holiness. Holiness means absolute virtue and absolute integrity.

Passages the reveal God's holiness include Exod 15:11; and Isa 6:3; "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of the armies. The fullness of the entire earth is His glory."

God's holiness or integrity is maintained by His sovereign decree, and it is therefore a part of His unchangeable self.

God exists eternally, unsustained by Himself or any other source.

The Hebrew word "Elohim" is used for the essence of God and the word "JHWH" is used for the individual persons of the Godhead.

God's existence is unalterable because it is immutable. God is the cause of all existence outside of Himself. Since God is eternal, there never was a time and there never will be a time when He did not exist.

Since God is infinite, eternal, and invisible, it is necessary for God to reveal Himself to mankind. He has done in many different ways through the course of history and presently does it through His Word.

The integrity of God is composed of two divine attributes: divine justice and divine righteousness. After the fall divine justice became mankind's point of reference with God because God can do nothing for mankind that would compromise His divine attributes.

Prior to the fall of mankind in the garden, God's love was the point of reference. The created beings (Adam and the woman in the garden) functioned under God's love but the point of reference for all naturally born human beings after the fall is the justice of God.

There was no need for the function of divine justice until mankind disobeyed the only mandate in the garden.

Man did not choose between good and evil in the garden. Man could not even understand what good and evil were until after the fall and very few people actually understand it today.

In the garden man made the choice between obedience or disobedience. They chose to disobey the single mandate to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Obedience and obedience alone was the issue and the man and the woman chose to disobey.

Even today obedience is the only issue there are simply a few more mandates starting with the mandate for children honor their father and mother followed by the mandate to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ followed by the mandate to keep on being filled with the Spirit.

© Copyright 2024, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.