MARGIE LITTEL
The prophet Malachi wrote, “For I, Jehovah, change not” (Malachi 3:6). And in Hebrews 13:8, the inspired author writes, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea and forever.”
So it is clear that God doesn’t change. He is Deity. And those characteristics which establish His divinity will never change. Regarding whether the Lord works miraculously today or not, however, please think about these things.
While God doesn’t change, His activity in the affairs of people may change. In fact, His interaction with humanity, as determined by His sovereign will, has changed throughout history.
For example, the first woman was formed in a special way, by a miracle of creation (Genesis 2:18-23). Yahweh took a bone and some flesh from Adam and fashioned a beautiful helper, suitable for the man. In this way God established the intimate, one-flesh nature of marriage—the union of a man and a woman.
Today many men today have wives —yet they still have all their ribs!
Today many men today have wives —yet they still have all their ribs! God doesn’t create a wife out of a husband’s rib literally today, yet His purpose for marriage is still the same, as we see throughout Scripture. Nevertheless, His method of sanctifying human marriage is different now than when He made Adam and Eve.
God is still the same, is He not?
Of course—but He is Lord, and He operates in His universe as He pleases—consistent with His will.
The Lord could have accomplished His will any number of ways, but He chose to initiate the human family in the manner mentioned above. Following the original marriage, however, families were designed to develop according to natural law. Women and men would be produced by means of the laws of creative reproduction.
What we must understand is that there was purpose in what He did with Adam. There was a reason for the way He chose to provide Adam a wife. I am sure you would agree that it was for Adam’s good—for his instruction, and for ours.
Later, God communed directly with the human family in the garden. Today, however, He no longer speaks face-to-face. Mankind’s sins separated them from the Lord. Isn’t it true that He changed how he interacted with humanity?
Yes, He did change the nature of His interactions. and that change is because of His holiness and our sin (Genesis 3).
Yahweh once destroyed the world with water, but He promised Noah that never again would he do so.
Yahweh once destroyed the world with water, but He promised Noah that never again would he do so (Genesis 9:13-17). In fact, He promised humanity by making a covenant—a unilateral vow—that He would never destroy the world with a flood again.
Many of us learned that the law of God existed before creation and is the revelation of God’s character for eternity. Yet the law of God through Moses required Israelite men to be circumcised on the eighth day (Lev. 12:3). On this side of the cross, however, to impose this law on Christian men today would be sinful (Gal. 5).
Or consider when Abraham was commanded to kill Isaac. Did Isaac die? Did Abraham disobey God’s command? Did God change His mind? Or is there another explanation for the way this story develops?
We consider when Jonah was told to tell the people of Nineveh that their city would be destroyed. Was it destroyed? Did God change His mind? How do we explain this story—including the fact that the prophet Jonah pouted under a vine as God saved that wicked city?
The Lord inspired writers to record His will over a period of centuries, but the Bible is now complete. It completely furnishes you and me for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). God is no longer operating in the manner He once did, giving prophets living words to write that will reveal His will, but that fact doesn’t mean that God has changed in nature.
Do these accounts not demonstrate that God changes how He deals with us? He makes new covenants and promises to humanity and intervenes in different ways throughout history. The question, however, is this: can we trust Yahweh to keep his word? Do we believe God and trust that when He does something new among us, His new promises are certain while His former deeds are for our instruction?
Isn’t it clear that God can change how He labors among us, in order to carry out His divine will, without changing His fundamental character and divine attributes?
God can change the way He works among us because He is the sovereign God of the universe. We, as His children, must humbly submit to His wisdom and trust Him that He will always do what is right in differing circumstances. Therefore, we can TRUST Him. †
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