Changes

“…one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6).

“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’, into the future.” This is a quote from a classic song sung by the Steve Miller Band that illustrates the world’s concept of time. It seems like it was just a few days ago that the calendar changed to 2011, and here we are again, already half-way through another year. But that is how time goes. It is always moving and changing. But Peter shows us that God’s concept of time is different: “…with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day” (2 Peter 3:8). Since God is Spirit and not bound by time’s rules, He is not subject to time’s change.

Although the world changes, we cannot accept change when it comes to our belief in the one true and living God (Ex 20:2-3). He will always be the one Father to all (Eph 4:6). The changing of time in this world must never affect our belief in this important doctrine of faith. God is the only One worthy of praise as Creator, Sustainer, Beginning and End of all things (Rev 4:11; Isaiah 43:1). The world and things in it may change with time, but since God is not influenced by time, He will never succumb to time’s power to alter.

Another part of unchanging doctrine is our faith in God’s Son. Many people have tried to change the story of Christ to fit into their realm of faith. But the true story of the risen Savior never changes. To grasp the true story, we must concede that Jesus “is called the Messiah” (Matt 1:16). He is the Christ, the anointed One of God. He is God’s Word in the flesh (John 1:1, 14). Even though the world’s understanding of the Savior has gone through changes with time, the facts about God’s Son, the Christ, will remain unchanged.

The Bible gives us many details of the unchanging facts about Jesus. One unchanging fact is that He came to destroy the works of Satan. “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Sin is a fact of life and a work of Satan and it is the cause of both physical death (Genesis 2:17) and spiritual death (Rom 6:23). It is the cause of separation between man and God (Isaiah 59:2). But because Christ is not subject to the power of time to change, the power of sin has been defused, and now the power of His truth has reconciled us to God (Romans 5:10). Time may change a lot of things, but nothing can change the doctrine of salvation found in Jesus.

Another unchanging fact about Jesus is that He did not come to change the Law, but to fulfill the Law. Many people, mainly ones of authority during the time that Jesus walked this earth, could not conceive His way and physically tried to destroy Him. They thought He came to abolish their Law, but in reality, He came to fulfill the very Law they felt had given them authority (Matt 5:17). But because Jesus is the Christ, He could not be swayed from His mission and conquered the rulers that feared His supremacy (Col 2:15).

People of the world must be able to adapt to the changes that occur through time, but Jesus said that we “are not of the world” (John 15:19). The world accepts changes in its laws of philosophy but as disciples of the Christ, we cannot accept any change when it comes to the God’s truth.

In His Love,
Cub