Eternal God
One amazing thing about God is that His existence extended beyond the big bang and the formation of all time and matter. God is not only everywhere present at the moment, He is also eternal with neither beginning nor end. There was never a time He did not exist, neither will there ever be a time He shall cease to exist. The psalmist declares, “Before the mountains were born, or Your gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 9:2, NASB). Christ is “before all things, and in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:17). As finite people we are bound in time. We live in the present, remember the past, and look forward to the future. We arrive either on time, early, or late. We even try to define our lives in relation to time—what we have done, where we are at, and what we hope to accomplish. Yet, God transcends all these things. He is not bound to live moment by moment. The everlasting God is the source of our understanding of the universe and the one constant in a topsy-turvy world stained by sin.
The very universe that we live and breathe can only be explained as the result of an eternal self-existent first cause. What are we to make of the world around us? We might say the universe is an illusion, or it has always existed, or it created itself, or it came about as the result of a self-existent uncaused first cause.
The idea of the universe being but an illusion is untenable. Are we really to conclude that all things, from the smallest subatomic particles to the myriads of galaxies in the universe, our friends and family, both good and evil, are all these things but illusions? Yet, suppose we doubt our own existence, does not doubt constitute thinking? If one is thinking, then one must exist—cognito ergo sum.
A universe that has always existed is also unlikely. The idea of an eternal universe has been challenged of recent with the advent of the big bang theory, and as we continue to explore this universe, we are constantly finding new evidence to support the big bang hypothesis. Not only is an eternal universe unlikely from a scientific perspective, it is also philosophically untenable. It is impossible to traverse an infinite line, since there would be neither a place to start nor to end.
Those who believe the universe has a beginning are left with the possibilities of either self-creation or creation by a self-existent uncaused first cause. The one who believes the universe is self-created must at some point concede out of nothing came everything. Can one really get something from nothing? No. Nothing comes from nothing. The best explanation for the existence of our universe is the reality of an eternal uncaused first cause. God created the universe ex nihilo. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
In a turbulent, unstable, and unpredictable world, the everlasting God becomes the one constant that a person can trust. The prophet Isaiah experienced the rise and fall of kings both godly and corrupt, fellow countrymen abandoning the worship of Yahweh for paganism, wars in the homeland from pagan invaders, and the stark reality of a coming exile; yet, the prophet called people to rekindle their faith in the everlasting God. He recognized that his world all things are slowly coming undone; yet, it was the everlasting God who is the one constant that could be trusted. Isaiah declared, “Trust in the LORD forever, for in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock,” (Isa. 26:4) and then, “For you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases in power. Though youths grow weary and tired, a vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and net get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isa. 40:28-31).
God is the everlasting Lord. He has neither a beginning nor an end. He is an eternal self-existent God. He is the uncaused first cause of all things. In Him we can understand the origins of all things, and in Him we can find the one constant to place our trust when everything else is falling apart
The very universe that we live and breathe can only be explained as the result of an eternal self-existent first cause. What are we to make of the world around us? We might say the universe is an illusion, or it has always existed, or it created itself, or it came about as the result of a self-existent uncaused first cause.
The idea of the universe being but an illusion is untenable. Are we really to conclude that all things, from the smallest subatomic particles to the myriads of galaxies in the universe, our friends and family, both good and evil, are all these things but illusions? Yet, suppose we doubt our own existence, does not doubt constitute thinking? If one is thinking, then one must exist—cognito ergo sum.
A universe that has always existed is also unlikely. The idea of an eternal universe has been challenged of recent with the advent of the big bang theory, and as we continue to explore this universe, we are constantly finding new evidence to support the big bang hypothesis. Not only is an eternal universe unlikely from a scientific perspective, it is also philosophically untenable. It is impossible to traverse an infinite line, since there would be neither a place to start nor to end.
Those who believe the universe has a beginning are left with the possibilities of either self-creation or creation by a self-existent uncaused first cause. The one who believes the universe is self-created must at some point concede out of nothing came everything. Can one really get something from nothing? No. Nothing comes from nothing. The best explanation for the existence of our universe is the reality of an eternal uncaused first cause. God created the universe ex nihilo. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
In a turbulent, unstable, and unpredictable world, the everlasting God becomes the one constant that a person can trust. The prophet Isaiah experienced the rise and fall of kings both godly and corrupt, fellow countrymen abandoning the worship of Yahweh for paganism, wars in the homeland from pagan invaders, and the stark reality of a coming exile; yet, the prophet called people to rekindle their faith in the everlasting God. He recognized that his world all things are slowly coming undone; yet, it was the everlasting God who is the one constant that could be trusted. Isaiah declared, “Trust in the LORD forever, for in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock,” (Isa. 26:4) and then, “For you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases in power. Though youths grow weary and tired, a vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and net get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isa. 40:28-31).
God is the everlasting Lord. He has neither a beginning nor an end. He is an eternal self-existent God. He is the uncaused first cause of all things. In Him we can understand the origins of all things, and in Him we can find the one constant to place our trust when everything else is falling apart
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