The Eternal God
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” (Hebrews 13:8)
Many of our difficulties in the Christian life stem from the fact that we don’t really know God as we ought to know Him. We don’t see Him as He is, and we don’t understand Him as He has made himself known in His word. Our constant danger is that we will have a view of God that is too small – too domesticated – too much formed by personal or cultural opinion, and not nearly enough formed by the Scriptures.
Charles Spurgeon once wrote that “The highest science…which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work…of the great God whom he calls Father….I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.”1
One of the attributes of God that is vital to understand is His eternality–the vital truth that God in His being transcends time and is uniquely eternal. Psalm 90 opens with a resounding affirmation that the God of Israel is the eternal God. Verse 2 declares, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
God’s eternal being stands before and above the creation itself. This idea is affirmed throughout the Scriptures. Deuteronomy 22:27 declares, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Revelation 1:8 affirms, ‘“I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”’
At its very core, the claim that God is eternal means that He is unbound in relation to time. Humans are time-bound creatures who always live between an unchangeable past and an unknown future. But not so for God. Time is part of His creation. And as Maker of these things, God cannot be bound by them. His own existence stands above and before the creation.
God’s eternity is at the heart of His revelation of Himself. The Lord declares to Moses, “‘I AM WHO I AM’” (Exodus 3:14). God is the Great I AM. Full stop – nothing to add, nothing to take away. He is the absolute existence: no change, no growth, no reduction. He simply is. Jesus claimed this same identity for Himself. In John 8:58, Jesus declares, “I tell you the truth…before Abraham was I am!”
But what does the eternity of God mean for us? One implication is that it gives us confidence in God’s promises. As believers, there is no greater relationship of trust than our relationship with the Lord. We take Him at His word. We stake our future on His promises and we entrust our very selves to Him in this life and the life to come. At the core of our willingness to do that is the belief that God has power over the future and that His plans cannot be thwarted.
But our confidence goes even deeper. God’s eternity means that His acceptance of us is in no way dependent upon our future performance. He will not change His mind if, down the road, we fail Him miserably. When God sets His love upon us, He saves us despite all our future failings that He knows are yet to come. He is eternally merciful, faithful, holy, and true. Thanks be to God!