RUSHWAVE: Establishing Believers in the Christian Faith

Chapter 8: God is Eternal

God has no beginning and no end, and there is no cause for His existence — He always has been.

Man understands the world around him with a time orientation — departing here at that time, arriving there at that hour, and so on. There is the past, present and future, and these three never overlap. With man and with all created things there also is a point of origin; a time prior to which we did not exist.

What does God say of Himself in relation to time? As respects His origin, the answer is clear.

God has no beginning and no end. There never was a time when He did not exist, nor will there ever be a time where He ceases to exist. Scripture is replete with references affirming this fact.

Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. Psalm 93:2
Thus says the Lord … “I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me.” Isaiah 44:6
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8
Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end. Psalm 102:25–27
For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever. Isaiah 57:15
He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality. 1 Timothy 6:15–16

With these scriptures we are once again faced with an incomprehensible truth completely outside human experience. Everything we observe in life can be traced to some cause — such and such happened because of this, which is the result of that, which is a consequence of this, and on and on its goes. But with God it is not possible to trace an origin. He always has been, and always will be.

Some questions posed about God have no relevance because we are asking the question from our own finite, cause and effect, time-oriented framework. Questions such as “Where did God come from?” “How did God come into existence?” or “When did God come to be” all fall into this category. There is no one like God; no one. His mode of existence is completely outside human experience. Because we cannot conceive of a Being having no origin does not mean such a Being cannot exist. It just means we are not like Him.

God being eternal is related to His name “I Am.” To truly process the significance of this name, it must be considered in light of Hebrew culture.

In Hebrew proper names were often ascribed based on some characteristic or surrounding circumstance of the object in view. Thus Hagar named the place where God had observed her distress and provided comfort “You are a God who sees” (Genesis 16:14). When the patriarch Abraham laughed at God’s message that his barren wife would have a son, God had him name his son “He laughs” (Genesis 17:19). And Isaac and Rebekah named their son Esau’s twin brother “heel catcher” because at birth he came forth with his hand holding onto Esau’s heel (Genesis 17:25-26).

God revealed His name in the midst of calling Moses to divine service, and that name must be understood in this Hebrew context. Moses asked God “What is your name?” This was tantamount to asking “What word or words are descriptive of who You are?” God replied His name was “I Am,” something that can viewed as meaning “He who exist” (Exodus 3:13-14). To us this seems like a very odd name, but it perfectly reflects the eternality of God. God “is.”

There is no cause for why God is, and no reason for who He is. He is who He is, and He always has been and always will be.

from The Nature and Character of God

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