John Flavel
Let us consider the unchangeableness of God in its relation to His promises and to His providence.
1. The immutability of God lets down its comforts to believers through the promises.
There is no other way by which they can have a comforting admission into this attribute of God, and six sorts of promises in the Word make it of great use to their support and comfort in an evil day.
(1.) The unchangeable God has engaged Himself by promise to be with His people at all times and in all straits:
“I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” (Heb 13:5). The life, joy and comfort of a believer lies in the bosom of that promise; the conclusion of faith from thence is sweet and sure: if I
1An edited extract from Flavel’s The Righteous Man’s Refuge, in vol 3 of his Works.
shall never be forsaken of my God, let hell and earth do their worst, I can never be miserable.
(2.) The unchangeable God has promised to maintain their graces and thereby His interest in them for ever:
“I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good: but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not turn away from Me” (Jer 32:40). There the Lord undertakes for both parts in the covenant, His own and theirs: “I will not turn away from them”. O inexpressible mercy! Yea, but Lord, the poor believer may say, that is not so much my fear as that my treacherous heart will turn away from Thee. No, says God, I will take care for that also: I will put My fear into thy heart, and thou shalt never depart from Me.
(3.) The unchangeable God has promised to establish the covenant with them for ever;
so that those who are once taken into that gracious covenant shall never be turned out of it again: “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee” (Is 54:10).
(4.) The unchangeable God has secured His loving kindness to His people by promise, under all the trials and smarting rods of affliction with which He chastens them in this world,
He has reserved to Himself the liberty of afflicting them, but has bound Himself by promise never to remove His favour from them: “I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail” (Ps 89:32,33).
(5.) The promises of a joyful resurrection from the dead are grounded upon the immutability of God:
“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt 22:32). Death has made a great change upon them but none upon their God. Though they be not, He is still the same; therefore they are not lost in death but shall assuredly be found again in the resurrection.
(6.) The promises of the saints’ eternal happiness with God in heaven are founded on His immutability (1 Cor 1:8,9, Titus 1:2).
By all which you see what a pleasant lodging is prepared for the saints in the unchangeable promises of God, amidst all the changes and alterations here below.
2. Once more let us view the unchangeableness of God in His providence towards His people.
Whatever changes it makes upon us or whatever changes we seem to discern in it, nothing is more certain than this: it holds one and the same tenor, pursues one and the same design, in all that it does upon us or about us. Providences indeed are very variable, but the designs and ends of God in them all are invariable and the same for ever. It is noted in Ezekiel 1:12 that the wheels “went every one straight forward; whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went”. As it is in nature, so in providence; you have one day fair and bright, another dark and full of storms; one season hot, another cold. But all these serve to one and the same end and design: to make the earth fruitful; and the end of all providences is to make you holy and happy. That is a sweet promise, “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom 8:28). This is the compass by which all providences steer their course, as a ship at sea does by the chart. But, more particularly, let us note the unchangeableness of God in His providences of all kinds, effective and permissive, and see in them all His unchangeable righteousness and goodness.
(1.) It must needs be so, considering the unchangeableness of His decree:
“The foundation of God standeth sure” (2 Tim 2:19). Providences serve the decree, but never frustrate it; they execute it, but cannot make it void. So you may say of the most afflicting providences, as David does of the stormy winds: They all fulfil His word (Ps 148:8).
(2.) The wisdom of God proves it;
He will not suffer His works or permissions to clash with His designs and purposes. Divine wisdom shows itself in the steady direction of all things to their ultimate end. To open this in some particulars, consider:
[1] Does the Lord permit wicked men to rage and insult, persecute and vex His people?
Yet all this while providence is in its right way; it walks in as direct a line to your good as when it is in a more pleasant path of peace: “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good” (Jer 24:5). Israel was sent to Babylon for their good. This aids your faith and patience: “Here is the patience and faith of the saints” (Rev 13:10). So by Him “also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Rom 5:2,3). By this you are weaned from, and mortified to, this world.
[2] Does the Lord in His providence order many and frequent, close and smarting afflictions for you?
Why, here is the same design managing as effectually as if all the peace and prosperity in the world were ordered for you. The face of providence indeed is not the same, but the love of God is still the same; He loves you as much when He smites, as when He smiles on you: for what are His ends in afflicting you, and what the sanctified fruits of your afflictions? Is it not (1) To purge your iniquities? “By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin” (Is 27:9). (2) To bring your hearts back to God? “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy word” (Ps 119:67). (3) To enliven you in your duties? Let the best man be without afflictions, and he will quickly grow dull in the way of his duty.
[3] Does God let loose the chain of Satan to tempt and buffet you?
Yet He is still the same God to you as before. Only observe His ends in that permission and you will find that, by these things, the Lord is leading you towards that assurance of His love which your souls long after. Few Christians attain in any degree to a settled state of soul but by such shakings and combats; the end of these permissions is to put you to your knees and blow up a greater flame and fervour of spirit in prayer (2 Cor 12:8). Thus these permissions of providence eventually prove great advantages and blessings to you.