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.
