Not long ago I heard a comment from someone about the Bible. This individual said that people have changed, the world has changed, methods have changed, and so the church must change too. But he wasn’t finished there… He continued by saying: we read in the Bible that the Bible is the “living word of God.” Because the Bible is a living document, it changes and adopts, to the times. The Bible “evolves” (his exact word) with the times, and so that it will remain relevant to the times.
The fact is, though this individual uses some of the words of the Bible, he is not correct. What he says, totally contradicts what Jesus said. Jesus says: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31). God Himself says: “ I am the Lord, I do not change”
God never changes, and because God never changes, so His Word will also never change. As God remains constant, so His Word, the Bible, remains constant. It is for this reason that we can depend on, count on, and build our lives upon The Bible.
If the Bible would change and “adopt with the times” it would become irrelevant and undependable (which is precisely what many people are saying these days about the Bible.) It would be like a piece of drift wood on the ocean, tossed around by the waves and not getting anywhere. Yet as God’s Word, based on God’s constant, unchanging and eternal character and essence, it will not, and cannot change.
We can look up into the night sky and see the big dipper, which points to the little dipper in which we can find the North Star, (I know these all have more precise names within their constellations, but allow me to use these that we may understand). The North Star remains constant in the night sky, so that sailors, aviators and hikers, have used it for centuries to guide them. What kind of direction would these individuals have, if the North Star moved around the night sky, once here, once there, and then way over there?
In the same way, what kind of direction could we take from the Bible if it was constantly changing? As Christians we are told to believe in, trust in, and depend on the Bible. It is our light, our guide, our help and source of strength. But if it is constantly changing, it couldn’t be any of this for us. Thankfully the Bible does not change. It remains constant, just as God remains constant, and the stars remain constant.
Yes, maybe we need to change our methods and some of the things we do within a church. But one thing we will not, we cannot, change is the message that we bring, that is: the message of the Bible, the message of Jesus and his offer of salvation and life found in Him.
The next time you look up into the night sky, take note of the fact, that the constellations are always there, in their place. They don’t change. They don’t move about as they please. They are constant, because God, the Creator, who put them there, is constant. That is our reminder, and our hope, that the Bible, God’s word is also constant. Therefore we can depend on it and build our lives upon it.
