Malachi 3:6 *For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed*.
*DOES GOD CHANGE VS DOES GOD CHANGE HIS MIND*?
From the first part of this series, we saw how God reversed the fulfilment of promises made, reversed his decision when the people met certain conditions. We emphasized that the nature of certain predictive prophecies are conditional and not cast in stone.
A careful reader of these series who has seen occasion where God reversed or changed His mind may question Malachi 3:6 where God declared that He doesn't change. Those examples seem to contradict this scripture.
If you have entertained that thought or idea, let me make it clear to you that God's action of changing His mind is not contradictory to what He said in Malachi 3:6. We need to understand what Malachi 3:6 truly mean in context.
When God declared that He doesn't change in Malachi 3:6, the context is about His unchanging nature. The nature of God remains the same from eternity past till present until after when time will be no more. His nature remains the same. The question now is, what is the unchanging nature of God?
Some bible scholars agree that the essential unchanging nature of God are:
°Holiness- God is holy. Rev 15:4, 4:8
°He is an eternal spirit- John 4:24
°He is sovereign- He is judged by no one and has absolute authority- Psl 145:17
°He is immutable- He does not change. Heb13:8, Mal 3:6
°He is love- I John 4:8.
°He is triune- One God in three persons.
°He is omnipotent- Gen 1:1
°He is omniscient- Psl147:5
All these stated above are regarded as the unchanging nature of God. Whatever God does is captured within any of the attributes listed above. He deals with man through His nature. His Holiness can be expressed through justice while His love can be expressed through grace and mercy.
*For instance, when God decided to pardon the people of Nineveh after they repented of their sins, the part of His nature that He expressed to them was LOVE. Mercy flows from love. Jonah understood this very well that was why he got angry when God reversed his decision to destroy Nineveh*.
As a prophet, he wanted his prediction to be accurate so they can call him "prophetic accurate papa" but God saw something deeper than his selfish desires. God knew that If the people repented and he refuses to pardon them, His love nature will be questioned.
When he reversed the priesthood of Eli's lineage, that was justice at work which points to His holiness. The wrath of God against sinners flows from His holiness that is why He is called "consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29).
So, when God changes His mind/ decision, it is within the precinct of His unchanging nature. God is not arbitrary.
Father, I thank you for who you are.