Originally posted on 9/23/25
When I was planning my wedding, I decided I wanted to use silk flowers because they didn’t die and were cheaper. While I cannot tell you where my wedding bouquet is, I am assuming that it is somewhere in our attic. I have other silk from my wedding on top our an armoire in an extra bedroom. We used silk flowers for our daughter’s wedding. Some of the flowers from her wedding our in my dining room. I have always hated that beautiful cut flower will die and be gone.
When I think of “eternal” more broadly, my first thought goes to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” While I find the concept of receiving eternal life beyond comprehension, the topic of the eternality of God is so much more.
The word eternal means without beginning or end; existing outside of time and not subject to change. One should always start at the beginning of a story. In Genesis 1:1 is where we begin, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” You learn a great deal about the Lord with the first four words of the Bible. “In the beginning, God” is where we begin. God was not created, he always was. He has no beginning or end.
Gen 21:33 refers to God as an “Everlasting God”. “Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.” Everlasting is Olam in Hebrew. The prefix “El” is placed in front of it to refer to God. God has no beginning or end and exists outside the confines of time. Again, we are going to be limited by our limited understanding.
We see that same word used again in:
- Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
- Isaiah 40:28” 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.”
- Isaiah 57:15 “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.”
The concept of God’s eternality brings us comfort as confusion. The concept of existing outside of the confines of time is mind blowing. God has always existed and will always exist. Because I have complete trust in God, I can believe this even if I do not understand it.
In her book None Like Him, Jen Wilkin explores things that are true about God but not true about us. She describes it like this, “He is simultaneously the God of the past, present, and future, bending time to his perfect will, unfettered by its constraints. The past holds for him no missed opportunity. The present holds for him no anxiety. The future holds for him no uncertainty. He was, and is, and is to come.” P. 71 Scripture confirms her words:
- Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
- Psa 90:1-2, “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. 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.“
When we recognize that God is eternal and unchanging, it brings a great deal of security for us. We can rely on God and his unchanging nature. What I find most comforting is that he operates outside of the confines of time. God put us within the confines of time, but he is beyond them. Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 puts it beautifully: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil–this is God’s gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.”
“Put another way, God, who ultimately brings beauty from everything, has given time-bound humans a longing for timelessness, but in our limited understanding, we cannot grasp what he is doing between time’s beginning and its end. Wilkin P. 72
Why is this important? Jen Wilkin states, “The one who determines the beginning and the end does not operate according to our timelines. He will work all things according to his purposes.” P. 72
Revelation 1:8 states “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Prayer:
Father God,
You are our eternal God. You placed us within the confines of time for our good and your holy purposes. I am so thankful that you are not bound by the same limits that we are. That knowledge allows us to trust you completely.
We may never fully comprehend the depth of the concept of eternality. However, we trust you with our lives and we look forward to spending eternity with you in heaven.
Amen
Link to other Attributes of God articles:
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