What does Immutable mean?
Are you familiar with the word immutable?
If you have ever read a systematic theology book, you have probably read about how God is immutable. To mutate is to change, whereas immutable means unchanging.
The title of this week's sermon is: God is unchanging. Since immutable is commonly used anymore, I am going to go with the word "unchanging."
Have you ever thought about how God is unchanging? Does the fact that God does not change bring you comfort, or do you sometimes wish God did change?
In Exodus 34:1-10 God has a fascinating conversation with Moses. In verses six and seven, God describes who He is for the first time in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament).
Verses six and seven are the Old Testament's most quoted/repeated verses. These verses became foundational for people as they sought God in prayer. They lay a foundation for how ancient people understood this mysterious, all-powerful God. Throughout the rest of the Old Testament, these verses are often repeated when people know they have angered God and seek His forgiveness. The Israelites were comforted by this description of God because, for centuries, people turned to God's self-description to give them confidence about who they were praying to.
There is a tension in these verses. They begin with a beautiful, comforting description of God's loving, compassionate, gracious character. But they end by drawing our attention to the fact that God will judge and that His judgement may last for a few generations. What are your thoughts as you read this? Do you think there is a contradiction here? Does it comfort you to know that this is what God is like and He will never change?
I want to encourage you to ponder and pray through this passage. For those of you who want to do a deep dive, I've included a link to a one-hour-long podcast by the Bible Project where they discuss, at length, the meaning of this beautiful passage of Scripture.
