THE ETERNITY OF GOD

Human Knowledge

We are insignificant human beings. If we compare ourselves to God, we become infinitely insignificant. We had a beginning and exist within the context of time. The best we can do is try to comprehend eternity by comparing it with time. We do so by saying eternity is without a beginning and has no end. If we try to consider the eternity of God within the context of our conception of time, we dishonor Him and entertain erroneous thoughts of Him. God is beyond our comprehension.
Define

We can only refer to the eternity of God by defining Him as having no beginning and without end. All of this is expressed in His name Jehovah. His name means, Him who the past, present, and future are a simultaneous reality. This is the meaning of the Biblical phrase, “He is the One who is, who was, and who shall be.” God’s Being is eternal and eternity is His Being. In God there is nothing that even remotely resembles the progression of time. “…From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God” (Psalms 90:2). “For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past” (90:4). God and time have nothing in common.

Outside of Time

God unchangeably exists while time is in progress. However, God does not measure time as the creature measures time. He is external to the concept of time. He lives outside of time. If He has done something in the past, or will do it tomorrow, or is active at the present moment, this does not suggest that a change of time occurs in God. Such an apparent change merely relates to the object of His activity and the purposes , which He has accomplished.

Use

We must not elevate ourselves beyond the reach of our comprehension. We must not limit God by human conceptions. Acknowledge and believe God to be the One who dwells in incomprehensible eternity. Lose yourself in this eternity. Worship that which you cannot comprehend; and with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob call upon the name of the eternal God.