What Does It Mean That God Is Eternal?

God is Eternal

Life is a short. We are here today and gone tomorrow. Like a breath or like a wave upon the ocean. Yet, eternity is everlasting. It is forever. We should be giving most of our time to eternal thoughts.

What does it mean that God is eternal? God has no beginning or end or succession of moments in His own being. He sees all time equally vividly. Yet, God sees events in time and acts in time. The Bible begins with, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis 1:1). This gives evidence that at the beginning of time, meaning the creation of the known world, God already existed. Not existence within time but outside of it. A never-ending existence, without beginning or end. God simply is. The Scriptures describe Him as the God who was, who is, and who is to come (Revelation 1:4, 8; 4:8). God is the ever-existing “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Unlike everything else in all of creation which began to exist at some point in time, there has never been a time when God did not exist in all His fullness.

Will you join me in pondering these truths more as we look to the Scriptures?

Who Made God? The Truth

Sometimes people ask, “Who made God?” This is a genuine question some of the time. Often it is asked by children. In other cases, it is simply a question asked by someone trying to stump Christians so they can win rhetorical points in an argument.

The simple answer is, “No one made God. God has always existed. God is eternal.”

This question naturally leads into a follow-up: How can God be eternal? This question is harder to answer definitively. Since God is holy and different than us, we struggle to define and articulate aspects of His character which are unlike our own nature and existence. The biblical answer to this question is simply that God just is. Such an answer is often not acceptable to the skeptic.

However, there is an aspect of God’s nature that provides a potential philosophical answer that may be more satisfactory. It at least opens the door to the genuine possibility of something that is truly eternal.

Jesus made a well-known statement that has important implications for the discussion at hand.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)

This statement is most often discussed with the implications for salvation being found in Christ alone. Rightly so. That’s the main point. For the present discussion, I simply want to direct our attention to this little phrase: “I am … the truth.”

Take a moment to perform a thought experiment with me. Imagine nothing. I mean absolutely nothing. Imagine that all that exists is nothingness. That is to say, imagine that nothing exists at all.

You with me?

In this scenario, with absolutely nothing existing, something would still necessarily exist. That something is the truth. If absolutely nothing existed, it would still be true that nothing exists. It is impossible to escape this fact. The truth necessarily exists, even if nothing exists at all. It may be true that no one knows the truth, that no one perceives the truth, that no one understands the truth. Yet, the truth exists necessarily. Even if there is nothing, then it remains true that nothing exists.

Therefore, philosophically and theologically we can see the implications of Jesus’s claim to be the truth. To some degree, this is a statement of Jesus’s necessary existence and independence.

Revelation in the Beginning

God is not on trial! He doesn’t have to prove His existence to man. Nor does He have to give a defense of His actions. He is the eternal God. God has chosen to reveal Himself to man. He has done this through:

Creation
Israel
The Fathers
The Prophets
His Son

All of the revelation of God can be seen in both creation and the Word of God which will never fade away. God reveals Himself as the Creator God through His word this way,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1, bold added)

Notice that God doesn’t say, “In the beginning, He (God) was created.” God is here at the very beginning of time. His Word declares His eternal nature. When this world was created, and time with it, God already was. The Bible begins with the assumption of God’s pre-existence. Throughout the entirety of Scripture, God’s eternality is affirmed.

Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. (Psalm 90:2)

We read the history of how God’s people, the nation of Israel, are held captive as slaves in Egypt. The Lord raised up Moses to deliver the people. God revealed Himself to Moses in this way:

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Genesis 3:14-15, bold added)

God declares that He is the great “I AM.” When He says “I AM WHO I AM,” He is saying “I am who I have always been.” The eternal Creator God has always been God. God has revealed of Himself that He is unchanging. This unchanging characteristic of God applies to His eternal nature. He will never change; He will always be the same unchangeable eternal I AM.

(For more on God’s unchanging character see our article: What Does It Mean That God Is Unchanging?)

The Only One

Some think that there are somehow several eternal beings who are all gods. This is false. There is only one God. He is the God of Israel, the God of the Bible.

“Remember this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
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.’” (Isaiah 46:8-10, bold added)

There is nothing and no one like the eternal God. Everything that has been made has been made by His hands. Don’t take my word for it. Believe in the God who has spoken. Every time the one true God has spoken His words have come to pass. This is unlike every other false god throughout all of history.

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels [messengers] proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. (Hebrews 2:1-3)

(For more on these truths see our article: Who Is The One True God?)

Observed By All

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20, bold added)

Every person has observed the eternal nature and power of the one true God by seeing God’s creation. The Apostle Paul affirms in the passage above that God has made Himself known (at least in part) within and to all people. The creation itself, in which we all dwell from the moment we began to exist, declares the eternal power and divine nature of the Creator.

Yet, what do sinful human beings do with this revelation from God about Himself? We suppress the truth in our unrighteousness.

Sin affects every person and it has caused us all to deny this testimony from God. To suppress this truth in our own unrighteousness. We do everything in our power to deny that God has made the world and that we are accountable to Him as parts of His creation. Some even resort to the profoundly absurd view that the creation somehow created itself, when “nothing” then expanded into “everything.”

We all will be held accountable for this suppression of the truth. We will be without excuse. Instead of worshiping God in spirit and in truth because of the testimony He has given us, we have worshiped the created things. We have exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1:21-23)

God has also spoken to us through the fathers, the prophets, and His Son: Jesus of Nazareth. God has been working to bring eternal life to all men. This is why God came into the world through the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus.

(For more on the Trinity, see our article: What Is The Trinity?)

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)

From the beginning to the end of time, God has been sending witnesses into the world to point the world back to Him, the eternal God. The testimony is this:

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:24-31, bold added for emphasis)

Time Vs. Eternity

We humans live, move, and exist in time. There are certain moments when time seems to drag on. Other moments, time seems to speed up. We are bound by the hands on the clock. It will not always be this way. One day, when our bodies pass or when Jesus comes in all His glory, time as we know it will be no more.

Those who are redeemed in Christ will enter into a never-ending day, eternity. Theologians refer to this as The Eschaton, or the final state. It is not more time but a timeless existence. Those outside of Christ will exist forever, too, in a place called hell for their crimes against the Lord. While all of us began to exist at some point in time, the implications of the gospel and the resurrection of Jesus Christ teach that each individual has an everlasting destination in one of two places. The only deciding factor on where we will spend our eternity is whether or not we are found in Christ on the great and terrible day when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.

In love, we urge you to cling to Christ and believe upon Him for your salvation. Repent and believe in the gospel of the kingdom of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, be born again. Throw away the old life and live for Christ. This is gain and true life.

For more on the Eternality of God, see our teachings: