God Is -- Eternal
Many passages that declare that God is eternal – that He never had a beginning and will never have an end.
--- “everlasting God” (Genesis
--- “But You are the same, and Your years
will not come to an end” (Psalm 102:27)
--- God thru Isaiah calls Himself “the high and exalted One who lives forever” (Isaiah 57:15).
--- “The Lord shall endure forever” (Psalm 9:7); --- Even from eternity I am He” (Isaiah 43:13); “I am the first and I am the last” (Isaiah 44:6)
*** The same declaration God is Eternal is made of Jesus –Heb1:8-12. Paul
declares that Jesus is “before all things” (Colossians
Time and Eternity – hard to comprehend eternity
Have been
many attempts to define time and eternity but I like the following comparisons:
Eternity
and time differ as the sea and rivers; the sea never changes place, and is
always one water; but the rivers glide along, and are swallowed up in the sea;
so is time by eternity”. --- “The numbers of the drops of rain which have
fallen in all parts of the earth since the creation of the world, if subtracted
from the number of the years of God, would be found a small quantity, a mere
nothing, to the years of God.”
***“Behold God is exalted, and we do not know Him; the
number of His years is unsearchable” (Job
36:26).
Exodus
God is
eternal because God is self-existent.
We depend upon outward circumstances for our existence, but God depends
upon nothing for existence . He is uncaused, He
needs nothing for continued existence.
This is the essential idea behind the Hebrew word Yahweh (YHWH), which
is commonly translated “Jehovah” or LORD.
It carries the fundamental idea of the self-existence of God, and simply
means “I am the One who is”. “I Am that I Am” -- The statement basically emphasizes
the timelessness of God. He is the
self-existing one, the Eternal, the one without
beginning or end.
Practical Application
1) Means is that God is never lacking and thus does not need to learn, mature, or grow in knowledge and power and neither is God declining. God uses the present tense, “I am that I am” and not, I was or I will be. “I am,” speaks of absolute perfection of God at every single moment.
--- Of a creature, or mankind, it may be said he was, or he
is, or he shall be; of God it cannot be said but only He is. God is what He always was, and He is what He
always will be.
***NOTE*** God did not evolve, and God has not been
ignorantly creating or experimenting with the human race as He has grown in
knowledge. The Scripture says, “Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” (Hebrews 13:8); “But
Thou are the same” (Psalm 102:27).
2)
Another application of the nature of God is the fact that God has
not mellowed over the years. Some feel
that God has changed over time and is far more lenient today. Some feel and believe God was a harsh and
unloving God in Old Testament times. The
truth of the matter is that God has remained the same and has the same
expectations. God is unchanging in all matters of purity and holiness.
Acts
1)
Any attempt to tame or domesticate God, to reduce him to the level of a
household pet, dependent on us for food and shelter, -- to place God in a
position of dependence on mankind is foolish -- God is eternal. He is
completely self-sustaining and self-existent, God's existence is completely
independent, and He is not dependant upon anything or anyone for His
existence. In contrast, we are
completely dependent upon Him for our continued existence (Acts
2) Also means that God does not need any advice. If God is eternal then His experience and
wisdom are eternal as well, in view of these facts it would be very arrogant
and foolish for any temporary, infinite, and limited mortal to question God’s
moral standards or the instructions in His word. Eternal wisdom, looking both past and
forward, is behind every word and command in Scripture.
John
Reasonable thinking would lead us to understand that only the Being who has life in Himself can possess the ability to give life to others. The possession of life and the ability to give life is the foundation of our hope for eternity.
--- Called the “living
God”-- God has unlimited life, not a mere drop of it, but a continuous
stream or fountain. *** In Eternity --“The
enjoyment of God will be as fresh and glorious after many ages, as it was at
first. God is eternal, and eternity
knows no change; there will then be the fullest possession without any decay _ an
inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved for
you in Heaven (1 Peter 1:4). Time is fluid, but eternity is stable; and
after many ages, the joys will be as just as pleasant and rewarding as they
were when we first took hold of them. To
be in the presence and company of God will always be a time of peace, happiness
and joy with out a life of drudgery or boredom.
Practical Applications
(Romans 16:25-26) -- “Because
God is eternal, His decrees must be eternal. --- He can accomplish His decrees
because He is almighty, but He could not be almighty without being eternal” “According
to the commandment of the everlasting (eternal) God, for obedience to the faith.. The gospel is
not preached by the command of a new and temporary god, but of that God was and
is and will be – The message is from the wisdom of God ---
--- This
means that we need to follow God’s Word / God will always be there to enforce His
word and punish disobedience.
*** On a practical level this means that all things
in God are eternal; His power, mercy, wisdom, justice, knowledge, holiness, and
so on.
*** The eternity of God is the foundation of the stability of the covenant between God and man, and should be of great comfort of a Christian. If He (God) had a beginning, He might have an end, and so all our happiness, hope, and being would expire with Him.
*** As Christians, can have absolute confidence in God’s promises because He will be always present to fulfill and keep those promises throughout eternity. The hope of heaven and eternal life would be meaningless if God Himself were not eternal.
***NOTE*** In order to be almighty, God must be
eternal, because if God was otherwise there would have been a time in the
distant past when God was not and there will be time in the distant future when
God’s power would cease.
*** In order to be all-knowing and wise God must be eternal, because if God had a beginning, then He would be ignorant of all those things that happened prior to His existence, and if He has an end, then He can only see so far into the future. --- In times of distress, & weakness, the knowledge and assurance of the eternity of God provides assurance and comfort. The God who never was born cannot die.
The
prophets and apostles have come and gone yet the church is still in good hands
because God is eternal. The future of
the church is something that some might worry about from time to time, but let
us remember that Christ remains the eternal head and that is the key to the
survival of God’s people throughout the ages (Matthew 16:18 “The gates of
Hades shall not overpower it”). Apostasy
(departure from truth) will come and go; yet the true church and the incorruptible
seed of the Gospel will survive from generation to generation.
2 Peter 3:8-9 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”
God does not ignore time -- God does work within the frame of time to fulfill His purposes, “But when the fullness of time came’ (Galatians 4:4). Yet God is not bound, limited, or affected by the passing of time.
Has been
two thousand years since Jesus ascended and promised to return (Acts
--- There is some wonderful truth to be gained here
--- Time does not pass slowly or drag by for God. I think that some people have been convinced that eternity will grind on slowly and will, in effect, become a prison for Christians. God is eternal, yet time does not drag by.
--- In addition, time does not affect God’s will to do something, God can let thousands of years pass by and still be just as zealous in rewarding the faithful or punishing the wicked. Time does not affect God’s love for the faithful // or His wrath upon the wicked. What this means is that God will not let people out of hell after a million years because His wrath is spent, and neither will it mean that God will eventually grow tired of the faithful and that His love will wane.
“But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:17); “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).
Daniel 7:9 “Ancient
of Days” _ Description given of God in
Prophecy of Daniel
It is necessary to the above title because some might misunderstand and think that the term “ancient” somehow means that God is “old” in the sense having and showing (exhibiting age) -- being aged and tired.
--- God makes it
clear thru the words of Isaiah, just because He is eternal does not mean that
He is “old” and “tired”, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the
Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired”
(Isaiah 40:28).
Everyday and every moment God is fresh, awake, fully aware of our needs and full of life.
--- God never tires of desiring man’s salvation Not slack concerning His promise, but is
longsuffering toward us not willing that
any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)
--- God remains, to this day,
eager to hear our prayers –Cast your
cares on Him for He cares for you -- (1
Peter 5:7).
***A final thought --- if you are not a Christian, or if you have become unfaithful, you need to be deeply affected by your sins, even if they were committed long ago. They might be in the past with us, but they are always present to God. All things are before Him at once as in the present time to us. The only way to deal with your sins is to appeal for forgiveness that comes and only comes thru the blood of Christ If have not dealt with your sins, confessed them before God and ask for forgiveness – appeal to His lovingkindness and grace and mercy. Until you deal with your sins --- they still exist --- God is not affected by time, time will not make sin go away and they remain unforgiven , even those committed long ago, are presently before Him as if they were committed at this moment.
(1 Timothy 2:4,6)! The good news is that God wants you saved !!!