God is Immutable.

Note - If you go down to June in the blog archives you will find additional info on the Immutability of God from a blog I wrote this past summer.

(Remember this week: Students (and adults) desperately need to see who God is so that they can see themselves for who they are in relation to Christ)

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock" Psalm 18:2
Our God "The Rock" Deuteronomy 32:4

In the Bible God is often compared to a rock. He is called "the rock" in Deuteronomy 32. Why? Because God remains immovable though all else around him changes.

God is immutable. God never goes from better to worse or good to great or immature to mature. God cannot change for the better. He cannot become more holy because he has been perfectly holy from all eternity. God is not man. Man is in constant change.

Read what A.W. Tozer wrote concerning God's immutability:

The immutability of God appears in its most perfect beauty when viewed against the mutability of man. In God no change is possible; in men change is impossible to escape. Neither the man is fixed nor his world, but he and it are in constant flux. Each man appears for a little while to laugh and weep, to work and play, and then to go to make room for those who shall follow him in the never-ending cycle.

We find permanence with God.

Why is this important? Does it matter that God is immutable? What does this mean for my life?

It matters because when everything is changing around us (jobs, homes, friends, families, abilities, circumstances, finances, churches, attitudes) God remains the same.

God is not like man. If you mess up (sin) he does not give you the cold shoulder treatment for 2 weeks. We can go to him anytime. His promises are always true.

God's attributes always stay the same. He is always perfectly loving and perfectly just. He is the same in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament. We can find comfort in God because we can rely on Him.

The immutability of God is comfort and strength for believers and terror for non-believers. Those who love God find comfort in that his promises toward them will never change. Those in rebellion against God will find that God's promises of wrath for those who defy him and ignore him in their life on earth remain unchanged in the day of judgment.

The immutability of God "insures the executions of his threatenings, as well as the performance of his promises." Rejoice that you know our Great and Holy Immutable God.

God is Omnipresent.

You can run but you cant hide. This is literally true with God. We can run from God. Ignore God. Curse God. But you can never hide from God. Adam and Eve tried but were unsuccessful. How similar we are to the first male and female. If we sin we do our best to hide. Shame and Guilt always lead to the temptation to hide from God. But hiding from God is impossible for us to do because he is Omnipresent.

Omnipresent. Present means here, close to, next to. Omni means all, therefore giving the word universality.

God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone. (Tozer)

God is our environment. Think of it like a fish in the sea or a bird in the air. God is always present. He surrounds. He hems us in. There is no place beyond God.

THE BIG PICTURE
What this means then is that there are bigger things going on in our lives than the rent. The fact that God is and that God is here screams to us, "Hey, you are not alive for yourself, but for me. Everything you do and say is connected to what you believe about me." This means that all we do; our total existence is taking place in God's presence.

Setting your mind and heart on the Big Picture of things will change your life. (Col 3:1-3). For example, life is short and eternity is long, or all the temporal things we strive for on earth will not be with us in eternity (Matt 6) or that God is always near us. Actively directing our thoughts towards these truths will change the way we live our lives.

Are you there God?
A man named Canon Homes of India tells of Hindu worshipers tapping on trees and stones whispering, "Are you there? Are you there" to the god they hoped might reside within. The answer is "Yes God is there", but he is not refined to a tree or stone, but is everywhere all the time and through Jesus Christ immediately accessible to every loving heart. (Tozer)

Take heart, the all-powerful and all knowing God is here and you are never alone. Stand in awe of him.

God is Omniscient.

"He knew all men" (John 2:24). "You, Lord, . . . know the hearts of all men" (Acts 1:24). "And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, 'Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?'" (Matthew 9:4).

One way that we can see that God knows all things is by seeing in the New Testament that Jesus (God in the flesh) knows all things. He knows all things that will come to pass. "Jesus, [knew] all the things that were coming upon Him" (John 18:4). On the basis of this knowledge, he foretold numerous things that his friends and enemies would do. "[Jesus said] 'There are some of you who do not believe.' For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him" (John 6:64). "From now on," he said, "I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am" (John 13:19).

John Piper writes,

The greatest thing that can be said of Jesus' knowledge is that he knows God perfectly. We know God partially and imperfectly. Jesus knows him like no other being knows him. He knows him the way an omniscient Person knows himself. "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27). No one but Jesus knows the Father immediately, completely and perfectly. Our knowledge of the Father depends wholly on Jesus' gracious revelation; it is derivative and partial and imperfect.Nothing greater can be said about the knowledge of Jesus than that he knows God perfectly.

God is amazing. The Triune God knows all things past, present, and future. He doesn't just know events but he knows people. He knows things about you and me that we do not know and may never know.

Nothing can be concealed from God.

Nothing escapes his notice, nothing can be hidden from him, nothing is forgotten by him....His knowledge is perfect. He never errs, never changes, never overlooks anything. A.W. Pink

Here are some more passages of Scripture that talk about God's knowledge:

Hebrews 4:13 "And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

Ezekiel 11:5 "For I know the things that come into your mind"

Psalm 90:8 "You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence."

How Great and worthy of worship and honor our God is. Our knowledge of God's omniscience should fill us with amazement, awe, and adoration. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good."

This week think about what this means for our lives. What are the implications for your life?

God is Omnipotent

In Exodus 6, God calls himself God Almighty. This is another way of saying God All-Powerful or God Omnipotent or God with unlimited power. Listen to Stephen Charnock talk about God's omnipotence,

The Power of God is that ability or strength whereby He can bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever his infinite wisdom may direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of His will may resolve. . . . (God's) power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections of the Divine nature. How vain would be the eternal counsels, if power did not step in to execute them. Without power His mercy would be but feeble pity, His promises an empty sound, His threatenings a mere scarecrow. God's power is like Himself, infinite, eternal, incomprehensible; it can neither be checked, restrained, nor frustrated by the creature. (quoted by Pink in "The Attributes of God")

God has in himself the power to do all that he pleases. He has the power to fulfill all that he ordains to come about. He has the power to bring all his promises to fruition.

Omnipotence is not a name given to the sum of all power, but an attribute of a personal God whom we Christians believe to be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And since God has at his command all the power of the universe the Lord God can do anything as easily as anything else. All his acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside himself for a renewal of strength. All the power required to do all that He wills to do lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being. - Tozer

God cannot be stopped from accomplishing his purposes. He does whatever he pleases. His power is Superior to all other powers. He is the great "I AM". He spoke the world into existence. By the power of his word this world was created. He created from nothing.

What implications does God's omnipotence have for our lives? According to A.W. Pink it should do three things:
1. It should cause his to tremble. Think of the most awesome display of power you have ever seen; A mighty storm, thunder and lightening filled tornado, a terrible hurricane, devastating flood or earthquake. The power of a strong army or government. The power of the human body to withstand disease, cold, and heat. The power of the human mind to think and act and reason. It should cause us to tremble to know that God holds all these in the palms of his hands. We do well to walk carefully and live purposely in order that we might please such an all powerful God.
2. It should cause us to adore God. Think of all the things you adore and why. What do you worship? What do you want most in your life? If we took time to see God's attributes including his omnipotence we would find ourselves adoring our creator above all other things created.
3. It should cause us to trust God. Nothing is too hard for him. What great hope this brings for our lives, our problems, our relationships, our fears, our weaknesses. God can do all things. Nothing is impossible for him. His promises always stand true because he has the power to keep them.

Spend time this week thinking about and meditating on God's omnipotence. If we think of God as limited in what he can do we would lose hope. But hope remains. "No prayer is too hard for him to answer no need to great for him to supply, no passion too strong for him to subdue, no temptation too powerful for him to deliver from, no misery too deep for him to relieve (Pink)." And I would add no teenager or adult too immature, too stubborn, too distant for God to get a hold of and change by his grace for his glory.

We can trust him without hesitation because he is Omnipotent.