Does God Change?

I was asked this question by a dear friend. Here’s my lengthy answer:

“Good afternoon friend,

The answer to your opening question is "No." Malachi 3:6 is a reference to God’s nature, not His works within His creation.

He is eternal and thus has always been, is, and always will be omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, truthful, loving, gracious, merciful, etc. However, His works within creation have changed since the Creation. After Adam sinned, God changed the way He dealt with man (Gen. 3:21). The days of Noah were so wicked that God changed the world by a flood from having many humans to just eight (1 Pet. 3:20). He established government for Noah and mankind after the flood (Gen. 9:5-7). He made a unique and unbroken covenant- promise only to Abraham that would affect the whole world, either negatively or positively (Gen. 12:1-3). Those were changes. He also made a change when He made Israel a nation with the Mosaic Covenant

(Exodus - Deuteronomy).

Then, He also made a change when He promised the New Covenant that is mentioned in Jeremiah 31 and repeated in Hebrews 8. Thus, the New Covenant is the outworking of the promised Abrahamic Covenant, not the Mosaic Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant was given exclusively to the Israelites. The New Covenant was also given to them out of which the church was birthed on the Day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2). Jesus, the ‘Rock,’ built the church on the truth of who He is, God the Son (Matt. 16:16-18). Without the Mosaic Covenant, the church is a spiritual body of Jews and Gentiles. The Bible says, ‘For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man (the church) from the two (Jew and Gentile), thus making peace’

(Eph. 2:14-15). That’s what Jesus Christ accomplished when He died and rose again. Amazingly, it all goes back to the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant promise in Gen. 12:1-3. God implemented the Mosaic Covenant (a change) only for the Israelites-Jews in order to establish them as a nation. It was never intended to make anyone righteous. It’s written in Scripture, “if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Gal. 2:21). So, ‘Does God change?’ Absolutely not. But His work in His creation does. He’s even going to destroy this old world and make a new one (Rev. 21:1). That’s an external change, not an internal one.

🙏🏾❤️”

Blessings!