God’s Attributes (Part 2) He is Eternal
In the last lesson I told you of how I was reminded of a song which aired back in the 1960’s. In the song it asked the question, “What’s it all about?” In other words, what is this life, this existence all about?
And I was very frank by letting you know, that it isn’t all about you or me and what we want, rather I tried to make the point and let you know that, it’s all about God, and what He wants and expects because He is an awesome and majestic being with power way beyond our comprehension. He is our creator, the creator of all that exists, from the infinite number of galaxies and stars that span the universe to the smallest particles of matter; from that which seen, to that which is in other dimensions we cannot see. He is omnipotent. His power and ability is way beyond our comprehension.
I also mentioned the fact that it is rather sad when we fail to recognize or honor Him for who He is, or act with arrogance thinking we can demand or deserve what we want from such a powerful awesome being.
I did not have a chance to touch on any of His other awesome attributes. I would like to do that in this lesson hoping that you to will begin to understand where you and I stand in light of who He is.
There is no possible way that we can know everything about God. That’s simply impossible because of who and what He is and who and what we are with all our limitations. But we can learn some things about Him because He has partially revealed some things about Himself in scripture.
I say partially revealed because even though He has shared some things about Himself in the written word, even though some of those things are down in black and white, because of our limited ability we can only understand so much.
First of all I talked about how powerful God is, His omnipotence with the immeasurable ability to create. That power is one of those things that‘s way beyond our ability to understand. Man will never be able to understand how to create a galaxy that contain stars numbering in the hundreds of billions, not to mention making billions of those galaxies with hundreds of billions of stars in each. That’s what our Lord has done, but there is still so much more to Him. For example, His is an eternal being. But what does that mean?
Simply put it means He has always existed and will exist forever more.
The Jews referred to Him as El Olam, The Hebrew name Olam means “forever, perpetual, old, ancient” implying that there is an infinite future and past. Psalm 90:2 says “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God”.
Some explain God’s eternity may be explained as: “God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in His own being, and He sees all timeequally vividly, yet He sees all events in time, and acts in time.” Yet He has no movement of time or succession from one moment to the next in His own being.
This doctrine is frequently referred to as the doctrine of God’s infinity with respect to time. To be “infinite” means to be unlimited. This doctrine teaches that time does not limit God or change Him in any way because He stands outside of dimension of time. The Wikipedia says this:
‘The infinity of God includes both his eternity and his immensity. Isaiah 40:28says that “Yahweh is the everlasting God,” while Solomon acknowledges in 1 Kings 8:27 that “the heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you”. Infinity permeates all other attributes of God: his goodness, love, power, etc. are all considered to be infinite.
The relationship between the infinity of God and mathematical infinity has often been discussed Georg Cantor‘s work on infinity in mathematics was accused of undermining God’s infinity, but Cantor argued that God’s infinity is the Absolute Infinite, which transcends other forms of infinity.’ In Job 36:26, Elihu says of God, “How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of His years is past finding out.”
The study of physics tells us that matter, time, and space must all occur together. Without matter, there can be neither space nor time. Therefore, “time”—that is the succession of moments one after another—did not exist before God created the universe. But, before there was a universe or time, God always existed without being influenced by time.
There are places in the Bible that refer to God existing or acting “before” there was any creation or any time. For example in Ephesians 1:4 it says, “For He [God the Father] chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight…”.
In Jesus’ own words, He tells the Father that He wanted His disciples see His eternal splendor and He speaks of the Father loving Him before the creation of the world in John 17:26 by saying, “24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
More noteworthy, Jude closes his letter by proclaims glory, majesty, dominion, and authority to God by writing “to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
God does not exist in a realm that consist of a succession of moments. His glorious presence does not progress from one state of existence to another.
In the New Testament, Peter speaks of God viewing “a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). Because God lives outside of time and is not limited by time, He looks upon a thousand years and one day in the same way. His vision is not hampered by the limits of time.
Nor does our Eternal God forget things after one or two millenniums, each event is ever before Him. It is as if that day never ends, but is always being experienced by Him or there before Him. Remember time for Him does not pass! He is ever present (or Omnipresent).
This is hard for us to comprehend because we have always existed in a realm where time keeps passing, but not God. He is able to see the whole span of history as if it were a brief event that occurred in any one moment, and a brief event as if it continued forever! So He is ever present and all and ever knowing as well.
Humans measure nearly everything according to a specified time. Yet we want certain relationships to last forever. When we choose to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, God gives us an eternal promise that extends beyond the boundaries of time…an everlasting life (John 3:16).
We too will step out of a dimension of time. Peter tells us in his epistle that the heavens and earth will pass away. (Matter will pass away) But we will be with Him in a spiritual, eternal dimension without matter or material things as we know it, so time will be no more.
So If God is all powerful, and isn’t limited by time, and is ever present to see all things, or omni-present, you may be able to reason why He is also all knowing or Omniscient.
Jeremiah 23:23-24 the Lord states “Am I a God near at hand?” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.” Acts 17:27-28 states; “He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being.”
He knows everything past, present, and future because unlike us He doesn’t have to wait for it to happen. He sees all and knows all in an instant. Hard to fathom, isn’t it! God does not continually learn, but already knows everything.
God not only knows what’s going on everywhere around the universe, He also intimately knows you and what’s going on in your life. God knew us and had a plan for our lives before we were born.
He knows us better than we know ourselves. Matthew 10:30 tells us that even the hairs on our head are numbered. He know everything about us; from our makeup of the smallest genetic material, to what we think and how we feel.
No matter how carefully we keep secrets from others, we have no secrets from God. In Psalm 139:1-4 David wrote, “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.” And Proverbs 15:3 tells us: “The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.”
He sees our actions every minute of the day, and even though He knows everything about us—both good and bad—what amazes me is the fact that He still loves us.
In 1 Chronicles 28:9 it says, “For the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought” God understands how we feel when we are going through hard times because He knows our thoughts and feelings. He knows every sin you will ever commit. He knew millions of years before He created the world He would send His Son Jesus to save us from those sins. In Peters first epistle he writes that; “He (Jesus) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake” (1 Peter 1:20).
The birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus did not happen by chance. They were the result of a divine plan that God set in place in eternity to provide us with a way to have a personal relationship with Him. We can enter into that relationship only through Jesus. As believers our future is secure. Not because we know what lies ahead, but because God knows. It’s all about God and His plan, not ours.
I find it is a comfort when I realize that our God, the one who has always existed and always will, the most awesome and powerful being in all the universe, the One who knows every star by name also knows each of us personally, still loves us and wants to bless us in ways most of us can’t even imagine. I can understand why David wrote in PS 8, “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
Simply put, because we are part of His plan, we are His children. I hope that you are beginning to see just how truly awesome our God is. It’s not all about you or me, but nor does it exclude us because we are part of His plan. We are a not only part of this mighty awesome God’s creation and plan, we are His children and He want to have a lasting relationship with us, but He also give us the free will to choose to have that relationship with Him or not. I say choose God, choose to have that relationship and you will be blessed for all eternity!
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