Eternal

Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who biddest the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea! (Eternal Father, Strong to Save) See C H Spurgeon's comments God's attribute - Eternal As someone has said God is the great I Am, not the great I was! A W Tozer adds that... In God there is no was or will be, but a continuous and unbroken is. In Him history and prophecy are one and the same. Whatever God is He is infinitely. The great Puritan writer Stephen Charnock wrote that.. The eternity of God is nothing else but the duration of God, and the duration of God is nothing else but his existence enduring. It is indeed a high and holy mystery to contemplate that God existed before He created anything. Time dwells within God. He causes, affects, and controls it, and yet does so without time exerting any control or hold on Him. Everything about God is "always" and "I Am". No hour glass can be turned over for the Creator of time, for He is not subject to time! Ps 102:12 Thou, O Lord, dost abide forever and Thy name to all generations. (Spurgeon's Commentary) God’s nature is without beginning and without end, free from all succession of time. God dwells in eternity. Eternity is not just “extended time” but rather is existence above and apart from time. God contains in Himself the cause of time! Time has no control over God and He does not have to work within the strictures of time unless He so pleases. Being eternal, He is free to bestow eternality on His creation in His good pleasure. All of God’s attributes bask in His eternality. Since eternity neither wears out nor runs out, neither do His attributes. Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? (Listen to the Song - Do You Not Know?) The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. Man's life is short and the universe too is perishable but God is eternal. Be encouraged dear suffering saint. The night is almost over and your day is at hand. Take heart, for you will soon spend eternity with the Eternal God! God, being the Author of time, is in no way conditioned by it. He is free to act in relation to time and is equally free to act outside its limitations. Acting in time He said to Abraham, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son” (Ge 18:14). Thus, again But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son” (Gal 4:4). Anyone existing before time began at the creation is eternal. And only God is eternal. Norm Geisler describes God's eternality this way: The Bible declares that God is eternal. He was before time, and he created time. Hence, he cannot be a part of time, though he can relate to time as its Creator in the way a cause relates to its effect. Many verses of Scripture support God’s eternality: “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am’ ” (Ex 3:14)..."The theological grounds for God’s eternality are found in several other attributes. For example, immutability implies eternality, for an immutable being cannot change. But whatever is in time changes. Hence, God cannot be in time. God’s eternality can also be inferred from his infinity. An infinite being has no limits, whereas a temporal being has limits. Hence, God is not a temporal being. Pure actuality is also a ground for eternality. Pure actuality (Geisler explains elsewhere that "pure actuality means that God is actuality and has no potentiality whatsoever. Everything He could be, He is and always was and always will be. He exists but has no potential not to exist) has no potentiality, but whatever is temporal has potentiality. Hence, God is not temporal but eternal." (from Why I am a Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe) Ps 90:1-2 Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. (Spurgeon's Commentary on Ps 90:1, Ps 90:2) Spurgeon comments God was, when nothing else was. He was God when the earth was not a world but a chaos. If God himself were of yesterday, he would not be a suitable refuge for mortals. The eternal existence of God is here mentioned to set forth, by contrast, the brevity of human life." (from his Treasury of David) Warren Wiersbe writes that There is a difference between being immortal and being eternal. Man is immortal—that is, his soul will never die; but God is eternal—He has neither beginning nor ending. God existed before the mountains (the most durable thing known in Moses’ day); in fact, He gave birth to the mountains. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we become a part of eternity and possess eternal life." (Wiersbe, W. W. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books) Our God, Our Help In Ages Past by Isaac Watts Click to play Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home. Under the shadow of Thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defense is sure. Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same. Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be Thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home. Henry Morris in the Defender's Study Bible commenting on "from everlasting to everlasting" writes To the skeptical question as to who made God, the only answer that satisfies all the facts of both science and human reason is that God is "from everlasting." He is the Creator of time as well as space and all things that exist in time and space. This is beyond our mental comprehension, but there is no other rational explanation for our existence, and it is surely compatible with the intuitions of our spiritual comprehension. God satisfies the heart regardless of difficulties conjured in the mind. Adam Clarke in "Christian Theology" describes God's eternal existence this way -- All time is as nothing before Him, because in the presence as in the nature of God all is eternity; therefore nothing is long, nothing short, before Him; no lapse of ages impairs His purposes, nor need He wait to find convenience to execute those purposes. And when the longest period of time has passed by, it is but as a moment or indivisible point in comparison of eternity. Eternity is God’s signature—it is who He is Isaiah 63:16 Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Thy name His name “I Am,” expresses clearly His unconditional and independent existence and encompasses the idea of His continuous presence (Ex 3:14) because He simply “is.” Unlike His creatures who are bound by time with life that is brief and fleeting, the Creator is eternal. Everything in existence is dependent upon Him (Col 1:15, 16, 17 -see notes Col 1:15; 16; 17), always has been and always will be! For God to be God, He, of necessity, must have always existed. Because God is infinite and exists outside of time, the past, present, and future are all one—the now to Him. When man says that God is eternal he is saying something positive about the being of God even though, as far as his own conceptualization is concerned, he cannot think of this eternity otherwise than in terms of the passage of years. God is eternal and not transitory like the fleeting strength of armies and nations. Spurgeon wrote that Man’s thoughts are for a time, and his ways but for a season; God is eternal: when he thinks his thoughts abide for ever, and when he acts his ways are everlasting Spurgeon on the relationship between God's love and His eternality: Do you not know that God is an eternal, self-existent Being, that to say He loves now, is, in fact, to say He always did love, since with God there is no past, and can be no future? What we call past, present, and future, He wraps up in one eternal NOW. And if you say that He loves you now, you thereby say that He loved you yesterday, He loved you in the past eternity, and He will love you for ever; for now with God is past, present, and future. Those who talk of God’s beginning to love His people know not “what they say, nor whereof they affirm.” They might speak of man beginning to love; they might speak of angels beginning to love; but of God we never can, since He, without beginning, had a deathless love in His heart; He has an affection which has no source except in Himself, He could not begin, for He is without beginning of years, and without end of days. From everlasting to everlasting He is God; and from everlasting to everlasting His mercies extend to His people. (from his sermon "Christ's Prayer for Believers") Ge 21:33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. Here this Divine name, El Olam, assured Abraham of the unbreakable and everlasting nature of the covenant God had made with him, notwithstanding his being only a resident alien and a sojourner in the Land. Ps 102:7 Thou art the same and Thy years will not come to an end (See Spurgeon's Commentary on Ps 102:7) Isaiah 41:4 Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’ Revelation 1:8 (see note) I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty. Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever (dwells in eternity), Whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. Eternality is the attribute associated with God alone, because God has no beginning point and no ending point. Furthermore, eternality applies only to God for only God is "uncaused". LEAD ON, O KING ETERNAL by Ernest Shurtleff (Play hymn) Lead on, O King eternal, The day of march has come; Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy tents shall be our home. Through days of preparation Thy grace has made us strong; And now, O King eternal, We lift our battle song. Lead on, O King eternal, Till sin’s fierce war shall cease, And holiness shall whisper The sweet amen of peace. For not with swords’ loud clashing, Nor roll of stirring drums; With deeds of love and mercy The heavenly kingdom comes. Lead on, O King eternal, We follow, not with fears, For gladness breaks like morning Where’er Thy face appears. Thy cross is lifted over us, We journey in its light; The crown awaits the conquest; Lead on, O God of might.

Norm Geisler addresses a question skeptics often ask about God's eternality... IF GOD IS ETERNAL, WHEN DID HE CREATE THE WORLD? This asks a confused question. Being in time, we can imagine a moment before the beginning of time, yet there really was no such moment. God did not create the world in time; He is responsible for the creation of time. There was no time “before” time. There was only eternity. The word “when” assumes that there was a time before time. This is like asking, “Where was the man when he jumped off the bridge?” On the bridge? That was before he jumped. In the air? That was after. In this question, “when” assumes a definite point for a process action. Jumping is the process of going from the bridge to the air. In the question about Creation, it tries to put God into time rather than starting it. We can speak of a creation of time, but not in time. (Geisler, N. L., & Brooks, R. M. When Skeptics Ask Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books)

The Eternality of God: ETERNITY: Scriptures: Ge 21:33; Ps 90:1, 2; Is 40:28; 1Ti 1:17; Re 1:8. Eternity means much more than is commonly thought. It includes three ideas. It means that... (a) The nature of God is without beginning or end (b) God is free from all succession of time and (c) God contains within Himself the cause of time We should not consider time and space as antecedent to God. They are among the “all things” made by Him (Ps 90:1, 2; Jn 1:3; Heb 1:3 [literally, “through whom He made the ages”]). Thus we see that eternity means far more than endless time. We may speak of eternity without end, and of an eternity past without beginning, but this is not yet the eternity of God. To Him there is no past, present, or future. He does not live in time, but beyond it in eternity and, as the eternal God, He is not subject to time (Dt 33:27; Isa 40:28; 57:15). God sees all events from creation to the last judgment in one glimpse. God is the eternal “now”; He is the “I AM” (Ex 3:14). This does not mean, however, that to God there is no objective reality of time. He recognizes that time exists and that we live in it. To Him, past, present, and future are one eternal now, not in the sense in which there is no distinction between them, but only in the sense that God sees that past and future as vividly as the present. There are two ways to view a parade: one who stands at his door by the street as it passes, and sees first the those in the lead, then others, and finally the last. But one who is at the top of a high tower sees the whole parade with one glance. Nevertheless, that person sees that in the procession there is order and progress. Thus it is with God. This is evident from Isaiah 46:10 and Acts 15:18. Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; Acts 15:18. Says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old. The eternity of God, as the Eternal I AM, is a part of His self-existence. He is uncaused and must therefore be without beginning. As such, He transcends the whole chain of causes and effects and, as He is without beginning, so He can never cease to be. How does the eternity of God affect one’s life? For all of us as human beings, life is full of surprises. We never know exactly what lies around the corner, but while we do not know what the future holds, as believers in Christ, we do know Him who holds the future and for Whom nothing is a surprise. Since nothing ever surprises God, no problem I face slips up on the Lord who sees the future as clearly as the present. Lam 5:19 Thou, O LORD, dost rule forever; Thy throne is from generation to generation. Isaiah 26:3-4 The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in Thee. 4 Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. Psalm 90 is a psalm in which Moses reflects on man’s temporality and sinfulness (Ps 90:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) in the light of God’s eternality (Ps 90:1, 2 ). As the eternal One, regardless of the generation in which we may live with all its surprises, God is our Dwelling Place, our Place of Refuge and Fortress (cf. Ps 90:1 with Ps 91:1, 2). What then is our need? To know that regardless of the brevity of life (generally maybe seventy or even eighty years, vs. ten), we must know that God has a special purpose for each of us. As believers, we are a special part of the plan and purpose of God. In that regard, our need is to pray that we might number our days to bring in a full harvest of God’s wisdom (Ps 90:12) and seek God’s blessing on our lives to experience His joy and the confirmation of the work He has designed for us to do (Ps 90:13,14, 15, 16; Ep 2:10-note)." Trust the Eternal by William P McKenzie (Play Hymn). Trust the Eternal, when the shadows gather, When joys of daylight seem so like a dream; God the unchanging, pities like a father: Trust on and wait, the daystar yet shall gleam. Trust the Eternal, for the clouds that vanish No more can move the mountains from their base Than sin’s illusive wreaths of mist can banish Light from His throne or loving from His Face. Trust the Eternal, repent in meekness Of that heart’s pride which frowns and will not yield, Then to thy child-heart shall come strength in weakness, And thine immortal life shall be revealed.

NAVE'S TOPICAL BIBLE: For the greatest benefit from the following Scriptures, read the text, not passively but instead consciously and actively "interrogating" the text (interrogate with the 5W'S & H), making a list in your life journal of what the Spirit of Christ (Ro 8:9-note) teaches you (1Jn 2:27, Jn 14:26, 16:13) about God and about man. Obey any instructions or commands you encounter, as you allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind and to "cultivate faithfulness" (NAS, Ps 37:3-see note). Then offer prayers and praise to your Father for graciously teaching you these profitable, eternal truths (cp 2Ti 3:16, 17-notes). Genesis 21:33; Exodus 3:15; 15:18; Deuteronomy 32:40; 33:27; 1Chronicles 16:36; 29:10; Nehemiah 9:5; Job 36:26; Psalms 9:7; 33:11; 41:13; 55:19; 68:33; 90:1,2,4; 92:8; 93:2;102:12,24, 25, 26, 27; 104:31; 111:3; 135:13; 145:13; 146:10; Proverbs 8:23, 24, 25; Isaiah 26:4; 40:28; 41:4; 43:13; 44:6; 46:4; 48:12; 57:15; 63:16; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:12; Lamentations 5:19; Daniel 4:3,34; Micah 5:2; Habakkuk 1:12; 3:6; Romans 1:20; 16:26; Ephesians 3:21; 1Timothy 1:17; 6:15,16; Hebrews 1:8; 9:14; 2Peter 3:8; 1John 2:13; Revelation 1:4,6; 4:8, 9, 10;5:14; 10:6; 11:17; 15:7; 16:5

RELATED RESOURCES Attributes of God - The Eternity of God - by Dr S Lewis Johnson - Recommended Resource - includes Mp3, page Pdf or MS Word document. This is only one study out of over 100 in depth lectures by Dr Johnson on Systematic Theology including studies of the doctrines of God, Christ, the Spirit, Prayer, Salvation, etc. (click for this extensive list) What God Is Like by J. Hampton Keathley III From Everlasting to Everlasting by Richard L. Strauss Discourse On the Eternity of God by Stephen Charnock (from his classic work "The Attributes of God") The Eternity of God by Thomas Watson The Eternity of God by Eternal by C H Spurgeon The Eternal God Devotional - Richard De Haan (see multiple other resources ) Hymns related to Eternal