An attribute is a quality or characteristic for which a person is known. We're going to explore several attributes of God over the next few weeks. I'm glad you're joining us!
God is eternal. What’s that really mean?
Merriam-Webster defines the word as, “having no beginning and no end in time: lasting forever · existing at all times: always true or valid.”
So it would seem that we’re saying that God has no beginning or end in time. He lasts forever, existing at all times, and is always true or valid.
Yep. Sounds good. Our work is done here. Except that’s such a huge thing for our finite minds to truly comprehend. Our work has just begun.
We can think back, way back, past your grandparents and their grandparents, before the manger, prior to Moses, back to the beginning of time. Once there, we have to realize that God was — He existed — before that, because He is the One who created time. Without God’s decision to give His creation divisions of work and rest, growth and ebb, light and dark, time would not exist. God was before time began.
Then, let’s look forward. Look beyond tomorrow, next month or next year. Gaze beyond your children, grandchildren and all your descendants for all ages to come. As we think of that, we realize that all of us have an end to our time here, but God exists beyond time. So, as far into the future as we can imagine, He’s there, and even further.
Does He seem like a big God yet? Let’s go on.
Not only does God exist outside of time, He exists outside of space. Nothing contains Him. His presence visited Israel in cloud and fire, but that wasn’t Him. He walked past Moses in thunder and storm, but that wasn’t Him. Not in His fullness. The earth itself could not contain our Mighty God, much less the tiny space of it we stand in.
What peace we can have when we realize that we won’t run out of time with God. He won’t end. Ever. As followers of Jesus, we don’t have to imagine a time without God. Fears are erased. Hope grows.
When the world seems as utter chaos around us, remember that God is not phased by it. His plans are not thwarted. He is not moved or challenged by it. And as His child, you don’t have to be either.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.