We already talked about the first verses of Malachi chapter 3 before,
and I really don’t have that much more to say about it. Just to summarize: The
Messiah was coming (and as we know from the N.T. perspective, there are two
comings, and we await his second one) and would come as the ultimate cleansing
agent. The first time he came to cleanse his people from their sin, and the
second time he’ll come to cleanse the earth of sinners and quarantine them
forever in a place called Hell. To put it bluntly, you’re going to be involved
in one cleansing or the other. The prophet asks “[Who] can endure the day of
his coming? Who can stand when he appears?” This is a rhetorical question. The
answer is “No one.”
But then we come to today’s verse,
and I submit that pound for pound, this is one of the most poignant and
meaningful verses in the entire Bible. In this one verse (fifteen words in the
NIV translation, ten words in the Hebrew), there is so much packed meaning.
Let’s unpack it.
In the first words here, the Lord
(speaking thru his prophet) tells us that he does not change. This is so
important. I really don’t think I can overemphasize this. The theological term
is immutability, and it’s a good word
to know.
As
always, we need to be careful in our thinking about him. This means he’s not
affected in his nature by anything
outside himself. However, he responds
to what’s outside himself. For example, his behavior towards us is determined
by our behavior towards him. When we sin, he responds. When we confess and
repent and believe, he responds to that as well. He’s not unaffected by what
goes on in his creation. Contrary to deism in all its permutations, he takes an
active role in the created universe. He didn’t create it and walk away. He’s
more than the “Unmoved Mover” that some philosophers picture him as.
But
in his nature, in what he is in and
of himself, he doesn’t change. What he was in himself in the moment before he
first said “Let there be. . .” he still is and forever will be. In order to
understand this, let’s contrast this with ourselves. A great illustration of
this which I’ve heard is a wave of the sea. A wave looks basically the same as
it rolls forward. But as it does so, it’s constantly changing in ways visible
and invisible. It gets bigger or smaller, which is visible to the naked eye.
But it’s also changing on the inside as well: The water of which it's made up has
changed. We’re like that. To the naked eye, I’m pretty much the same person I
was a year ago. But inside, I've really changed in ways you can’t even see.
And of course I’m always susceptible to changes which are immediately visible.
If I was in a serious car accident, for example, there would be immediately
visible changes.
But
in his nature, in who and what he is, he doesn’t change. He's completely true
to his word. He’s the three “O’s”: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He hated
sin before creation, and he hates it just as much now, and he always will.
And
here’s where it gets practical. Remember, I’m a practical theologian, because
the Bible isn’t there to satisfy our idle curiosity about God or anything else.
If it tells us a fact about the Lord or anything else, there’s a practical reason.
The
Lord tells us here that he doesn’t change, and therefore “you, the
descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” Again, there’s a lot of meaning in
just these few words. He doesn’t change, therefore he’s still patient with--and
forgives--sinners. Please notice how he addresses them. There’s a reason he
calls them “descendants of Jacob” (please see here
for more on the significance of his name). Jacob, the child of promise, was far
from a picture of godliness most—if not all—of his life. He was the consummate
con-man, meaning he was an expert in cheating people and lying to them. He was
a coward, liar, thief, and mostly self-absorbed most of his life. But God still
was patient with him and still forgave him his sins (which were multiple and
egregious).
This
is why this immutability stuff is so important. Let’s do a thought experiment.
Let’s say the Lord could change. Let’s say that one morning he announced “You
know, I think this ‘salvation by grace through faith in my Son’ paradigm isn’t
working out. Starting today, we’re going onto a ‘salvation by works’ model.
Let’s try the ‘Give them immediately what they deserve’ model for a while." How
would
that work out for you? To borrow the words of the prophet, if that happened, “Who could
stand?”
But
he doesn’t
change. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. He forgives the instant we
confess and repent. We are his children the moment we believe in Jesus, and as
such are co-heirs with Christ. Our Savior has gone away to prepare a home for
us, and he’s returning to take us to be with him so that we also may be where he
is. And because he doesn’t change, we can count on that and every one of his
promises (as well as the threats).
So
do you see why this is so important?
Father God, I certainly act sometimes like a spiritual descendant
of Jacob: sinful, deceitful, ungodly, totally undeserving of anything but
judgment but receiving grace upon grace upon grace. I thank you that you don’t
change, and you never will.
No comments:
Post a Comment