2. Well, I think that one argument will be enough, but another good argument
may be found in the fact of God’s perfection. I believe God to be a perfect
being. Now, if he is a perfect being, he cannot change. Do you not see this?
Suppose I am perfect tomorrow after the alteration? If I changed, I must
either change from a good state to a better-and then if I could get better, I
could not be perfect now-or else from a better state to a worse-and if I were
worse, I should not be perfect then. If I am perfect, I cannot be altered
without being imperfect. If I am perfect today, I must keep the same tomorrow
if I am to be perfect then. So, if God is perfect, he must be the same; for
change would imply imperfection now, or imperfection then.
3. Again, there is the fact of God’s infinity, which puts change out of the
question. God is an infinite being. What do you mean by that? There is no man
who can tell you what he means by an infinite being. But there cannot be two
infinities. If one thing is infinite, there is no room for anything else; for
infinite means all. It means not bounded, not finite, having no end. Well,
there cannot be two infinities. If God is infinite today, and then should
change and be infinite tomorrow, there would be two infinities. But that
cannot be. Suppose he is infinite and then changes, he must become finite,
and could not be God; either he is finite and then changes, he must become
finite, and could not be God; either he is finite today and finite tomorrow-
all of which suppositions are equally absurd. The fact of his being an
infinite being at once quashes the thought of his being a changeable being.
Infinity has written on its very brow the word “immutability.”
4. But then, dear friends, let us look at the past: and there we shall gather
some proofs of God’s immutable nature. “Hath he spoken, and hath he not done
it? Hath he sworn, and hath it not come to pass?” Can it not be said of
Jehovah, “He hath done all his will, and he hath accomplished all his
purpose?” Turn ye to Philistia; ask where she is. God said, “How Ashdod, and
ye gates of Gaza, for ye shall fall;” and where are they? Where is Edom? Ask
Petra and its ruined walls. Will they not echo back the truth that God hath
said, “Edom shall be a prey, and shall be destroyed?” Where is Babel, and
where Nineveh? Where Moab and where Ammon? Where are the nations God hath
said he destroy? Hath he not uprooted them and cast out the remembrance of
them from the earth? And hath God cast off his people? Hath he once been
unmindful of his promise? Hath he once broken his oath and covenant, or once
departed from his plan? Ah! no. Point to one instance in history where God
has changed! Ye cannot sirs; for throughout all history there stands the fact
that God has been immutable in his purposes. Methinks I hear some one say, “I
can remember one passage in Scripture where God changed!” And so did I think
once. The case I mean, is that of the death of Hezekiah. Isaiah came in and
said, ‘Hezekiah, you must die, your disease is incurable, set your house in
order.’ He turned his face to the wall and began to pray; and before Isaiah
was in the outer court, he was told to go back and say, “Thou shalt live
fifteen years more.” You may think that proves that God changes; but really I
cannot see in it the slightest proof in the world. How do you know that God
did not know that? Oh! but God did know it; he knew that Hezekiah would live.
Then he did not change, for if he knew that, how could he change? That is
what I want to know. But do you know one little thing?-that Hezekiah’s son
Manasseh, was not born at that time, and that had Hezekiah died, there would
have been no Manasseh, and no Josiah and no Christ, because Christ came from
that very line. You will find that Manasseh was twelve years old when his
father died; so that he must have been born three years after this. And do
you not believe that God decreed the birth of Manasseh, and foreknew it?
Certainly. Then he decreed that Isaiah should go and tell Hezekiah that his
disease was incurable, and then say also in the same breath, “But I will cure
it, and thou shalt live.” He said that to stir up Hezekiah to prayer. He
spoke, in the first place as a man. “According to all human probability your
disease is incurable, and you must die.” Then he waited till Hezekiah prayed;
then came a little “but” at the end of the sentence. Isaiah had not finished
the sentence. He said, “You must put your house in order for there is no
human cure; but” (and then he walked out. Hezekiah prayed a little, and then
he came in again, and said) “But I will heal thee.” Where is there any
contradiction there, except in the brain of those who fight against the Lord,
and wish to make him a changeable being.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
