Lately I’ve been pondering a specific element of
God’s nature—His immutability, i.e. the fact that who He is does not change.
And as I was thinking about putting my ponderings into a blogpost, this past
Sunday we sang a song in church that touches on the same idea. (Funny how God
does that a lot.)
The song is called “Great I Am,” and, as I have
had to explain to those hearing it who are unfamiliar with the Bible, when we
sing it we are not exclaiming how great each of us is. Instead, we are singing
one of the names of God—I AM—and not just any name, but the name He used to
identify Himself to Moses and the people of Israel.
It’s best to look right at the verses themselves
in Exodus 3:13-14 (ESV). We find Moses at the burning bush, where God has just
told him to go back to Egypt (from where he has fled because he murdered an
Egyptian) and to confront Pharaoh and to lead the people out of slavery:
Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people
of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and
they ask me, “What is His name?” what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses,
“I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent
me to you.’”
This name, perhaps more than any other, best
communicates God’s immutable nature. Incidentally, it is also a great example
of why studying grammar is incredibly helpful in understanding Scripture, but
that’s a blogpost for another day. We will touch on grammar a little bit here,
though, because this name of God is in the form of a subject (I) and a verb
(am), and the type of verb is important.
‘Am’ is the first-person present tense of what’s
called a “be verb” (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been). This just means
that it is a verb someone uses to describe his current state of being. Often,
we follow ‘am’ with some sort of description (a predicate adjective), such as
“I am happy” or “I am tall.” But here, God just turns the subject and verb
combo into a name. “I AM WHO I AM,” period. And again, “I AM has sent me.” In
other words, God just is.
Unlike us humans who can say, “I was short, but
now I am tall” or “I was blind, but now I see,” God does not need the past
tense to describe His essence. There is
nothing God used to be that He is not now. This point is reiterated in the
same conversation with Moses when God says, “This is my name forever, and thus
I am to be remembered throughout all generations (Ex. 3:15b, ESV).” In other
words, He is still I AM. Forever extends forward and backward for eternity. God
is still the same being He has always been and always will be. He is always I
AM.
In the New Testament, we see that the same is
said of Jesus, giving us one of the many indications that Jesus is God. The
writer of Hebrews writes plainly, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today
and forever” (Heb. 13:8, ESV). And when Jesus was arrested leading up to His
crucifixion, His declaring “I am he” was powerful enough to make an entire
group of people fall to the ground (John 18:4-6). Jesus, being God, is also I
AM and always will be.
So why does all of this matter to us? As
believers in Jesus, it’s important at the most basic level because
understanding the unchanging nature of God helps us know Him better. And
knowing Him better helps us love Him better and enriches our relationship with
Him. But it’s also important because His immutability gives us complete
confidence in Him, His Word, His work, and His promises.
We don’t have to worry
that what we read of Him in Scripture may not be true anymore. We don’t have to
be concerned that God might no longer be able to finish the work that He has
begun in us of making us more like Christ. We don’t have to be afraid that God
might have ceased to be loving or just or gracious or kind or sovereign. He is
still all of those things because He is I AM, the God who never changes. In
short, we have a present-tense God, and there is perfect peace to be found in
that truth.
PC: Keri-Lynn Paulson. Used with permission.
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