I. The Lord Is Unchangeable.

1. Christ is a Friend who never fails. The Son of man was called "a friend of publicans and sinners." "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born of adversity." "A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." (Matt. 11:19; Prov. 17:17; 18:24).

2. His own affirmations. "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." "For I am the Lord, I change not." (Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5; Mal. 3:6).

3. What others have testified. "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread... For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness." (Psa. 37:25; Rom. 11:29; Num. 23: 19; 2 Pet. 3:9).

II. The Word Of The Lord Is Unchangeable.

1. The promise of a new covenant that would be everlasting. "Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Ezek. 37:26-27; 2 Cor. 6:16).

2. This everlasting covenant is the gospel of Christ. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." "He that rejecteth me, and receivetb not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." (Matt. 24:35; John 12:48; 1 Pet. 1:24-25).

III. The Kingdom Of The Lord Is Unchangeable.

1. The kingdom in prophecy and promise. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." "His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation... And the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." "His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." "Of the increase of his house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Dan. 2:44; 4:3; Micah 4:7; Dan. 7:14; Isa. 9:7; Lk. 1:32-33).

2. The kingdom in preparation and perfection. "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." "Unto him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever... Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." (Matt. 16:18, Eph. 3:21; Heb. 2:28)

Conclusion: Directed by the unchanging word; governed and redeemed by the unchanging King; and as citizens of an indestructible kingdom; we have every reason to be optimistic in the midst of a world of turmoil, upheaval and confusion. We can truthfully say, with our beloved brother Paul: "None of these things move me."

TRUTH MAGAZINE XVII: 7, pp. 11-1
December 14, 1973