Devotion 6 - Eternal God
The word ‘eternal’ means everlasting, having no beginning and no end. In reference to God, therefore, to be eternal also means He is uncreated. He had no beginning, has always been, and will continue forever. The Bible clearly indicates that at the beginning of recorded time, God was already in existence.
Gen.1:1- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Ps.90:2 – “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.”
He was in the beginning of everything - of time, of space, of heaven, of earth, of the entire created order. He is also forever, without limit from eternal ages to eternal ages.
When Moses was commissioned by God to go to the Israelites with a message from Him, he was wondering what he would tell them if they asked what God’s name was. God reply was most revealing.
Ex.3:13-14 – “Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Before there was history, God existed. He is self-existent, and He is the Being of beings. He was and is and will be the eternal I AM. He is infinite as it relates to time, existing in every time zone equally - the past, present, and future simultaneously. He transcends time and encompasses time. God simultaneously exists at this very moment, at the time of Abraham, and in His future kingdom.
From our perspective, everything happens in a series of successions. Our days are strung together like pearls on a thread. One event trigger another, and we cannot foresee what is to come. But for God the end is the same as the beginning, later is the same as earlier, now is same as then. For those reasons, His qualities and attributes are infinite—His love will never end; His mercy will never cease; His truth will never expire; His holiness is as eternal as He Himself is.
Our Eternal Purpose
Eccl.3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
The eternal God has put eternity in our hearts. He has put into every human soul an awareness of there being “something more” than this transient world. We all have a divinely implanted sense of eternity in our lives; we possess an innate knowledge that there is an eternal purpose for our life.
The larger context of the chapter is very vital to aid our understanding of this verse. Eccl. 3:1 says, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven…” and it lists a series of contrasts: love and hate, scattering and gathering, breaking and mending, weeping and laughter, etc, etc. Life is full of ups and downs, however, God “has made everything beautiful in its time.” In other words, life is comprised of opposite experiences in balance and our sovereign God has appointed each to its season. The important thing to note is that each season is to be considered as part of a whole, they are part of the process where God will work out everything beautiful in its time. Hence, we must learn to view all our life experiences through the eternity lens. Every moment of every day of the life we live here… our times ARE in His hands. God decided things in eternity before He did anything in history.
God’s Eternal Purpose
Eph.3:8-11 –“To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.”
Mankind was created for the glory of God and for eternity. We are made by God, for God, with an eternal purpose; to enjoy fellowship and intimacy with Him, and to Glorify Him.
Satan’s desire is very simple – to defeat God’s eternal purpose. He does it by influencing our choices and the exercise of our free will. Every single believer has a vital role as we are living testimonies of His victory, the symbols of His eternal triumph. Remember, He leads us in His triumph. We are His triumphant procession, the living proof that He has accomplished His eternal purpose and that the victory is perfect and complete.
One day, God will create a new heaven and new earth and like Him, they will continue into eternity. We, who belong to Christ through faith, will continue through eternity as well, sharing the eternal nature of our God in whose image we are created. For this reason, we need to take hold of the full measure of salvation and learn to live each day of our lives purposefully.
When we are mindful of the eternal God we worship, it changes our perspective and pursuits in life. It changes our worldview and we will begin to do everything with eternity in mind. The things we do, the words we speak, and thoughts we have are the raw materials that are used to build our house in heaven. We must see how our lives count for eternity and live here on earth as if we were in heaven. May the Lord continue to teach us to live wisely while on earth, to redeem the time we have left and to use it to praise our eternal God.