There are many indications in Scripture that God is eternal.
Some of these are direct statements. Isaiah referred to “the everlasting God” (Isa 40:28). Paul referred to “the king eternal” (1 Tim 1:17). In the only psalm he wrote, Moses said, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Ps 90:2). The Lord Jesus alluded to His eternality when He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58).
Some references to God’s eternality are figures of speech, such as the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last (Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13).
In English there is a subtle difference between eternal and everlasting. The former refers to having no beginning and no ending. The latter refers to having no ending. We who believe in Christ have everlasting life. But we have not had everlasting life forever. Our physical life and our everlasting life started at points in time. Not so with God. He always has been and always will be.
We experience the present, and we sometimes relive the past in a figurative sense. But we do not experience the future, except in the sense that we can meditate on the coming kingdom and rejoice in what is to come.
We experience days, months, seasons, and years. Our lives, this first time around, are like vapor (Ps 39:4-5; Jas 4:14). They pass quickly.
The Scriptures are clear that God knows the future. He made hundreds of prophecies about Christ’s first coming. All of them were fulfilled precisely. He knows everything that will happen in the future. Yet He does not force things to happen. He sees what will happen before it happens.
How can that be?
Theologians speculate that time must be like a river of water. If we stand at a point along the river, we might think of that as the present. Going to the left is going back in time and going to the right is going forward in time. God can move forward and backward in time.
Does God live in the present? While the Bible is not clear on this, I think it best to say that He experiences the present time most acutely. He lives in the present. But He is not limited in that way. He currently can, and probably does, experience all that already happened, all that is happening, and all that will happen.
Will we have a sense of time in the eternal state? It seems clear that we will know the date, the time of day, and the season that we will be experiencing at any given moment. But will we think, “I’ve been in the kingdom for 50,000 years, and this will go on forever”? Not like that! That sounds as if we might get bored or frustrated. I think it will be more like, “I’ve had an amazing 50,000 years in the kingdom, and I’m so thrilled to see how it keeps expanding and amazing me forever and ever.”
I recently read a remark by Zane Hodges. He said that John 10:10 is not only true in this life, but it will be true forever. He suggested that we will forever grow in the abundance of life we experience. If he is right, that is truly mind-boggling.
I find it thrilling to think about how amazing the kingdom will be. Paul probably gave a free rendering of Isa 64:4 when he wrote, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9). (This might have been a statement by a rabbi that was drawn from Isa 64:4 and other texts.)
The kingdom will be far more glorious and amazing than we can imagine. And it will likely keep on changing and expanding forever.
I wonder whether we will be able to travel backward and forward in time once we are glorified.
Don’t worry about being bored. We have been created in God’s image. Remember, “He has put eternity in [our] hearts” (Eccl 3:11).i We will enjoy being blessed forever. Don’t you agree?
Keep grace in focus and time will be your friend.
i What this means has been highly disputed by commentators. But it is a tantalizing statement.
