God is Eternal
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Today we continue our series on “Who is God?”
Thinking correctly about God is of utmost importance because a false idea about God is idolatry.
God is nothing like us.
In Psalm 50:21, God reproves the wicked man with this accusation: “You thought I was altogether like you.”
21 These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes.
We all have our opinions about who God is and what He is like? Our opinions can be misleading.
Through this series we are comparing our idea of who god is to the one true God of the Bible.
So far we have just been looking at God’s communicable attributes.
Personal
Holy
Just
Truthful
Merciful
Today’s focus is on the fact that God is eternal
Let us start by looking at the definition of eternal.
The word eternal means "everlasting, having no beginning and no end."
The word eternal means "everlasting, having no beginning and no end."
Psalm 90:2 tells us about God’s eternality:
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
Since we as human beings measure everything in time, it is very hard for us to conceive of something that had no beginning, but has always been, and will continue forever.
The age old question “Who created God?” Answer no one, YHWH is not a created being He has always been. There has never been a moment where God did not exist.
No where in the Bible does it try to prove God’s existence or His eternal state, but simply begins with the statement “In the beginning God...” (Gen. 1:1) indicating that at the beginning of recorded time, God was already in existence.
From duration stretching backward without limit to duration stretching forward without limit, from eternal ages to eternal ages, God was and is forever.
The Denial of God’s Existence
The Denial of God’s Existence
It is this thought that has caused many to deny God’s existence. The idea of an eternal being over all, stretches the imagination to the point of fairy tale and wishful thinking. There is no doubt about the existence of practical atheists, since both Scripture and experience testify to it.
4 The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.
I AM WHO I AM
I AM WHO I AM
When Moses was commissioned by God to go to the Israelites with a message from Him, Moses wondered what he would tell them if they asked him what God’s name was. God’s reply is most revealing: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14).
This signifies the real being of God, His self-existence, and that He is the Being of beings. It also describes His eternality and immutability, as well as His constancy and faithfulness in fulfilling His promises, because it includes all time, past, present, and future. The sense is, not only I am what I am at present, but I am what I have been, and I am what I shall be, and shall be what I am.
God fills time; is in every part of it. Our existence is marked off by days and weeks and months and years; not so the existence of God.
Our life is divided into a past, present and future, but there is no such division in the life of God. He is the eternal “I am.” His eternity may be defined as that perfection of God whereby He is elevated above all temporal limits and all succession of moments, and possesses the whole of His existence in one indivisible present.
What is man that You are mindful of him?
I believe it is this truth about who God is that leads the psalmist to say,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
And that is exactly what Eternal God has done.
He is mindful of us and He has visited us.
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Jesus Christ, God incarnate, also verified His deity and His eternality to the people of His day by declaring to them, “Before Abraham was born, I AM” (John 8:58).
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
It is clear that Jesus was claiming to be God in flesh because the Jews, upon hearing this statement, tried to stone Him to death. To the Jews, declaring oneself to be the eternal God was blasphemy and worthy of death (Leviticus 24:16).
Jesus was claiming to be eternal, just as His Father is eternal. The apostle John also declared this truth regarding the nature of Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus and His Father are one in essence, they share equally in the attribute of eternality.
And it is this Jesus who saves us. Question?
Why do I need to be saved?
Why do I need to be saved?
We are all infected with sin (Romans 3:23).
We are born with sin (Psalm 51:5), and we all personally choose to sin (Ecclesiastes 7:20; 1 John 1:8).
Sin is what makes us unsaved.
Sin is what separates us from God.
Sin is what has us on the path to eternal destruction.
Saved from what?
Saved from what?
Because of our sin, we all deserve death (Romans 6:23).
While the physical consequence of sin is physical death, that is not the only kind of death that results from sin.
All sin is ultimately committed against an eternal and infinite God (Psalm 51:4).
Because of that, the just penalty for our sin is also eternal and infinite.
What we need to be saved from is eternal destruction (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 20:15).
How did God provide salvation?
How did God provide salvation?
Because the just penalty for sin is infinite and eternal, only God could pay the penalty, because only He is infinite and eternal.
But God, in His divine nature, could not die. So God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ.
God took on human flesh, lived among us, and taught us.
When the people rejected Him and His message, and sought to kill Him, He willingly sacrificed Himself for us, allowing Himself to be crucified (John 10:15).
Because Jesus Christ was human, He could die; and because Jesus Christ was God, His death had an eternal and infinite value.
Jesus’ death on the cross was the perfect and complete payment for our sin (1 John 2:2).
He took the consequences we deserved.
Jesus’ resurrection from the dead demonstrated that His death was indeed the perfectly sufficient sacrifice for sin.
How can I be saved? What do I need to do?
How can I be saved? What do I need to do?
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
God has already done all of the work. All you must do is receive, in faith, the salvation God offers (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sins.
Believe in Him, and you will not perish (John 3:16).
God is offering you salvation as a gift.
All you have to do is accept it.
Jesus is the way of salvation (John 14:6).