“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” ~ Heb. 13:8
Everything in our lives seems to be in a state of flux, and perhaps never more than during this past year with COVID. However, one thing never changes—God never changes.
Theologians call this the doctrine of ‘immutability’. Simply put, God does not and cannot change (see Malachi 3:6 for an explicit affirmation of this fact). If God were to change in response to any circumstance, He would cease to be God, because He would be changing either for the better or the worse. Either option means that God was not perfect in His attributes. Furthermore, were God to change, it would mean that He was not omniscient—change is always in response to some external unforeseen event.
The author of Hebrews understood this doctrine, and applied it to Jesus, thereby affirming His divinity. Jesus is the same, yesterday and today and forever. He has never changed, and never will change.
And yet, Jesus was born, lived and died. He changed in His physical body.
He changed in His position—He was enthroned above the cherubim, then humbled Himself to the obedience of death, and then was highly exalted.
He will change in His response to people—He came first to save the lost. He will come again to punish sinners.
So in what sense was the baby in the manger unchanging?
He is unchanging in His person. He was, is, and forever will be the Lord! There was never a time when Jesus was not God, and there will never be a time when Jesus is not God.
He is unchanging in His purpose. He has always been a Savior for His people, and He will save them ‘to the uttermost’ (Heb 7:25).
He is unchanging in His character. He has and always will be God, very God, the One whom the angels worship and adore.
Though we can identify the ways He is unchanging, and we can see the the glories of His incarnation, there is a profound mystery we cannot understand. That the Lord of heaven and earth would take on flesh and submit Himself to the creation is beyond our ability to understand.
Not unlike other doctrines, this mystery should not cause us to stumble, but to worship. We cannot understand it fully, but we can see its glory! The unchanging, immutable God…helplessly lying in a manger, come to save His people from their sins!
