The Everlasting God
Attributes of God Sermon Series • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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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.
PRAY
Do you ever wish you had more time?
more than 24 hours in a day
more than 7 days in a week
more than 365 days in a year
More time to rest, relax, spend time with friends and family, and do the things you enjoy?
Other than Daylight Saving time in the Fall which gives us a 25 hour day and Leap years which give us 366 days in a year, these are the time limits by which every one of us as humans is bound.
But God is not bound by time like we are.
Review Incommunicable Attributes
The Incommunicable Attributes of God: Eternity
Definition of the Eternity of God: God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time, and he acts in time.
God is not limited by time like we are.
1. God Is Timeless in His Own Being.
1. God Is Timeless in His Own Being.
· He has no beginning or end (Psalm 90:2; Job 36:26)
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.
26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.
In both of these passages, God’s eternity is contrasted with the brevity of human existence. At best, we have several decades or a century in this life. God’s existence extends in both directions forever.
· He is the one who always exists (Revelation 1:8, 4:8; 21:6; John 8:58; Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 57:15)
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
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.
58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
· He created time (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3)
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things [including time!] were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
2. God Sees All Time Equally Vividly.
2. God Sees All Time Equally Vividly.
· God sees and knows all events past, present, and future with equal vividness (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8)
4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
· God alone is the one who knows and can declare future events (Isaiah 46:9-10)
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,’
3. God Sees Events in Time, and He Acts in Time.
3. God Sees Events in Time, and He Acts in Time.
· God sent his Son to earth at just the right time (Galatians 4:4–5).
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
· God has determined a time for judgment (Acts 17:30-31)
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
4. We Will Always Exist in Time.
4. We Will Always Exist in Time.
· While Revelation says that there will be no more “night” in our eternal state with God (Rev. 21:25, 22:5), the book of Revelation does indicate activities taking place in the succession of moments of time (like casting crowns before his throne—see 4:10; a tree of life yielding different fruits each month in 22:2).
25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
· While we will always exist in time, we who have trusted in Christ will be in God’s presence forever (Revelation 22:5).
5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Practical Implications of God’s Eternity
Practical Implications of God’s Eternity
God's eternal nature is a refuge.
God's eternal nature is a refuge.
Deuteronomy 33:27: "The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Isaiah 40:28 connects God's everlasting nature to his inexhaustible strength — he "does not faint or grow weary."
27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’
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.
29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
God’s eternity is a reason to trust Him. He has always been and always will be. “As thou hast been thou forever shalt be.”
God's plans and purposes are eternal.
God's plans and purposes are eternal.
Ephesians 1:4; 3:11 speak of God's redemptive purpose formed "before the foundation of the world" — his eternity extends to the scope of his intentions, not just his existence.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
God’s purposes and promises regarding redemption are eternal and give us confidence that the God who began His good work in us will complete it. He’ll always be around to make sure it gets done.
