The Eternal God
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[SLIDE 1] Introduction
Good morning, brothers and sisters!
I’m grateful to be opening up God’s word this morning.
This message is a review or reminder for the youth who attended the youth retreat.
But, this message is also important as you consider who God is.
It is important for you to know personally who God is.
Illustration
Context
Exposition
Now, the main focus for this morning’s teaching is in verse 8.
Jesus declares this truth about Himself...
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Who is speaking here?
Well, it says, “the Lord God.”
But, who exactly is this?
This proclaimation is mentioned two more times in Revelation.
And they are found at the end of Revelation.
[SLIDE 37] And here we will get an idea who exactly is speaking:
6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
[SLIDE 38]
12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
So Jesus Christ is the One speaking here.
He’s the One who is coming back soon.
He’s the One who offers you a living water to the spiritually thirsty.
If you ever question about the existence of God, look no further.
Jesus is God.
He is God the Son, the 2nd person of the Trinity.
Just in case you don’t know the doctrine of Jesus’ second coming...
Jesus promised that He will physically come back to judge the living and the dead.
He will come back to end human history and usher in the 1000-year millennial kingdom according to Revelation 20, and eventually bring in the New Heaven and the New Earth.
And His return is imminent, which means that it can happen any time.
Are you prepared for His return?
Now, returning to verse 8.
I’m pretty sure many of you who grew up in the church have heard that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega.
Jesus is the beginning and the end.
Jesus is the One who is, who was and who is to come.
But, if you’re a good student of the Bible, you should be asking yourself this question: What does it mean?
The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language.
In Greek, they have an alphabet system much like the English, right?
Let me ask you two questions:
What is the 1st letter in English?
What is the last letter?
[SLIDE 40] In Greek, the 1st letter is Alpha and the last letter is Omega.
Hence, Jesus says “ I am the Alpha and the Omega.”
It’s like him saying, “I am the A and the Zed.”
Now, what does Jesus mean by that?
When Jesus says I am the alpha and the omega, He is saying that He is the beginning of all things and the end of all things.
This is DIFFERENT from saying that God HAS a beginning and an end.
Plus, it would make absolutely no sense to say that God has an end to Himself.
Because God the Son HAS no beginning and has no end.
This emphasizes and expresses the eternal nature of God.
So, here’s the first point you should remember about the eternal God: God has no beginning.
Just think about that for a moment.
God has always existed.
God did not have a starting place.
Atheists who question the existence of God and don’t believe in the existence of God argue that it is humans or religions that created the idea of God.
They think that people from thousands of years ago, or religious systems, invented God to explain things they didn’t understand.
But let me be clear to you: That’s not just wrong. That’s blasphemy.
That is utter nonsense.
Nothing is further from the truth.
The Bible doesn’t say we created God; it says that God created us.
Nothing in this world brought Him into being.
He is the uncaused, uncreated, and independent being.
[SLIDE 44] Nothing caused God to exist, but God caused everything to exist.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
[SLIDE 46] Furthermore, here’s the second point you should remember about the eternal God: God has no ending.
There was a German philosopher by the name of Friedrich Nietzsche during the 19th century.
[SLIDE 47] He made this famous statement: “God Is Dead. And we have killed Him.”
During his time, he argued that God was no longer necessary or relevant for our modern society.
Hence, he argued that belief in God had died.
However, there is a funny irony.
Back in 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche: God is dead.
But, in 1900, Friedrich Nietzsche died.
[SLIDE 48] Therefore, this is more accurate: “God: Nietzsche is dead.”
The truth is that Nietzsche is dead whereas God continues to live on.
God has no ending.
Just as nothing in this world can cause God to exist, so nothing in this world can cause God NOT to exist.
We don’t give God life, but God gives us life.
No one can take His life away, but He can take our lives away.
No one can declare that God is dead, but God alone has the authority to declare us dead.
The Bible talks about God is the immortal and invisible God.
He is immortal, which means that He cannot die.
He is the unchanging God, which means He is not affected by time or decay.
[SLIDE 49] Furthermore, here’s the third point you should remember about the eternal God: God has no succession of moments.
For us, we are currently experiencing succession of moments.
Let’s say you want to go from the Study Loft to your Cabin, that’s a succession of moment.
You’re moving from one location to another location.
Or, if you go from here to the stairs, then not only are you moving from one location to another, but time is also involved because it takes a second or 10 seconds or a 1 minute.
As humans we are bound by time and space.
We live moment by moment - second by second, hour by hour, day by day.
We’re constantly moving.
We’re always changing.
[SLIDE 50] Imagine a river right now.
Think of the river like a time.
The river flows from the mountaintop to the ocean.
Time is like that river.
Time is a flow.
For us, we’re caught in that river. We are caught in that flow.
God, however, does not experience time the way we do.
In fact, it may be incorrect to say that God experiences time because He is not bound by time and space.
God “transcends” time, which means is He is beyond time.
He is not limited by time.
Because He is outside of time, He is not subjected to change like we do.
In fact, He is the One who created time when He made the universe in Genesis 1.
And because He is outside of time, He knows everything that is going to happen perfectly.
For us, we are experiencing the youth retreat unfolding every minute and every day that goes by.
We don’t know what the next hour will bring.
We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, even though we have a schedule.
However, God does not see the youth retreat the same way we do.
God sees day 1, 2, 3, 4 all at once.
[SLIDE 51] He sees the future as well as the past perfectly and without error.
8 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
[SLIDE 52] That explains who Jesus is:
He is the Alpha and Omega.
And that He is the One who is absolutely in control of all the other alphabets in between.
He sees and knows and controls all of human history from the beginning until the end.
That is why the text tells us that our Lord God is the “Almighty.”
What I find interesting is that the Apostle John tells us that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega at the beginning of Revelation and the end of Revelation.
I wonder if that tells you something important about everything that will happen throughout the book of Revelation.
Our eternal God, Jesus Christ, sees, knows, and controls all that is going to happen in Revelation.
That’s because this is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
It is about Him.
He knows and plans precisely His 2nd coming and settle human history.
Gospel
While God is a transcendant and eternal being, I want to share with you another profound truth: God is also imminent, which means He is near.
He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
Ultimately, our eternal God chose to step into human history, step into time and space in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Christ experienced the succession of moments just like us.
He grew up in time just like us.
He had to grow in stature and in wisdom just like us.
The beautiful thing about the eternal Son of God - who needed nothing, who knew all things, and possessed all things - entered into time so that He would be an atoning sacrifice on the cross for our sins and offer us the gift of eternal life.
If you place your faith in Christ alone as your Lord and Saviour, you will be saved from your sins, from eternal hell, and from the wrath of God to come.
Application/Conclusion
The eternality of God has many important implications for life.
Knowing God is not supposed to be abstract, but it is suppose to help us reflect on two things:
First, knowing God should help us think biblically about who our God is.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the message, you need to know God.
We must think highly of God, and think lowly of ourselves.
We must think rightly about God.
It is difficult (and even impossible) for us to fully comprehend the eternality of God because we have only experienced what’s here and now.
We are finite beings trying to comprehend the Infinite being.
We are temporal beings trying to grasp the Eternal being.
God is God.
He is in another category on His own.
Knowing and reflecting that God is eternal ought to cause us to marvel, be in profound awe, and worship God by singing, “How Great Is Our God.”
[SLIDE 54] He is the everlasting God.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
And when we know our God, it should transform our lives and how we view the world.
Therefore, this is a challenge for you to know and study our God who is eternal and everlasting.
[SLIDE 55] Second, knowing God should help us think biblically about the eternal destinies of all humans.
Here is the thing you need to realize.
If God is eternal, and if we have no end to our existence, then where we go after this life matters.
So, in the next two sessions, we’ll going to talk about the eternal punishment in hell and the eternal kingdom of the New Heaven, New earth, and New Jerusalem.
I won’t say too much here lest I start preaching Josiah’s sermon this evening about the Lake of Fire.
But allow me to be brief.
If you think about the experience of “time” or succession of moments in heaven and in hell, those two are in sharp contrast.
Those in hell will most likely feel as though time is going by very slowly.
You may even taste a little bit of that here on earth.
When we suffer, time seems to be standing still.
As I mentioned, this happens when you’re listening to a boring teacher at school.
However, those in heaven will experience something entirely different.
There is a saying, “Time flies when you’re having fun.”
You play video games like Valorant or League of Legends at 4 PM, and time just flew by and then your parents are calling you for dinner, and you would like to play one more game.
Of course, those in heaven will experience something greater than what we experience here on earth, which is being with our Lord Jesus Christ and experiencing the true joy of worshiping Him.
Let’s pray.
