Knowing God - His Eternity
Knowing God • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Another one of the points of theology that is difficult for our minds to understand is the fact of the eternality of God.
Because we always think inside of the box of time and space.
The facts of God’s eternality are, again, not just doctrinal insights for Theologians.
Because I want you to understand that as believer’s that automatically makes you a theologian.
And the reality is that if God is not an eternal being, then all of his other attributes crumble.
For example, an attribute of which we have already looked would be God’s omniscience.
In fact, all of God’s perfections are consistent with the assertion that God is without a succession of moments in His experience of his being.
For example. God’s omniscience requires eternality because such knowledge would embrace all events as equally real.
I. The Meaning of God’s Eternality
I. The Meaning of God’s Eternality
God perfectly transcends all limitations of time, so that His is without beginning, and without ending.
In other words, in His experience of Himself and all reality outside of Himself, God is not limited by the moment of time.
The eternality of God is seen with the name that He gives Himself when speaking to Moses; “I AM WHO I AM.”
This name speaks of God’s everlastingness, perpetuity or eternity.
This quality of God is difficult for us to put into words, but this doctrine is simply this; God is, has always been and will always be, and that He is the same in His eternal being.
Now, understand that the word “eternal” is used in two senses in the Scripture: figuratively, and in this it speaks about that which may have had a beginning, but will have no end.
This would speak about the angels, human soul.
Or literally, denoting an existence which has neither beginning not ending.
Time has past, present, and future; eternity does not.
Eternity is an infinite duration without any beginning, end, or limit.
So literally, speaking when we speak about the fact that God is eternal, when are speaking about the fact that God has no beginning or ending and is therefore, not bound by time and space.
And we understand the fact that when God said “I AM THAT I AM” this speaks about His eternality.
Additionally, we also find that reference elsewhere as well.
And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
I am the bread of life.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Jesus borrows the language of Jehovah in the OT and equates Himself as eternal.
Not only does the Father claim to be eternal; which is an attribute of deity.
But the Son claims to be eternal; claiming to be deity.
God is eternal.
The Father is eternal.
The Son is Eternal.
The Holy Spirit is eternal.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
The word “God” is that passage is “אֱלֹהִים” and it is plural and is speaking about all the members of the Godhead are eternal.
God is eternal; no beginning or ending, and not limited by time or space.
II. The Manifestation of the Eternality of God
II. The Manifestation of the Eternality of God
From the very first verse of the very first book of the Bible, the Bible attributes to God’s eternality.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
I want to spend this point just showing you how the Bible manifests the fact that He is eternal.
Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
Chaldea had threatened to annihilate Israel.
The prophet Habakkuk could not believe that to be possible and reminded God of His eternal purposes for Israel.
And because God is eternal, His purposes have to be eternal.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Abraham called Jehovah:
And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
The book of Revelation says about Jesus Christ:
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.
For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
This is true of God because of his immediate experience of all time.
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
As you can see, there is an abundance of passages in the Scripture that point to the eternality of God.
III. The Material of God’s Eternality
III. The Material of God’s Eternality
This is why this doctrine is important to us.
Because God is eternal, this has two major consequences for us.
First, He can be trusted to remain as He revels Himself to be.
And because He is eternal, He is eternal is in attributes.
This is how that is important and beautiful for us.
We have full confidence in knowing that the God who loved us in Christ will never cease to love us.
At the same time, He is eternal in His attitude towards sin.
the same God that judged sin in the OT and that judged sin on Christ, is the eternal God.
God is eternal in his will or purposes.
He determined will in eternity past is His eternal purpose or will and it will never vary.
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
If God were like us, He could not be relied on.
But because He is not like us, He can be relied upon.
His attributes are eternal, His person is eternal, His purposes are eternal and His will is eternal.
“Here then is a rock on which we may fix our feet, while the mighty torrent is sweeping away everything around us. The permanence of God’s character guarantees the fulfillment of his promises.”
The second major consequence for is of God’s eternality is that He is inescapable.
Even if we ignore him now, we must reckon with him in the life to come. If we reject him now, we must eventually face the One we have rejected and experience his eternal rejection of us.
Since God is eternal, He attributes are eternal; His love, His comfort, and His salvation is eternal.
And because He is eternal, the unbeliever will never go out of His eternal presence until eternal judgment.