Everlasting to Everlasting
“Lord, You have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting You are God.”
—Psalm 90:1-2
God is eternal, which means that He has no beginning and no end. He is, has been, and forever will be God. He is not bound by time, for He created it. We, on the contrary, experience time and are affected by time.
Imagine watching a parade. We can see a band going by, different floats, children walking in costumes, etc. We see the parade happening in time, watching each thing go by one at a time. But God, He sees everything at once, like being in the Goodyear blimp looking down at the parade. We see how it progresses, but He sees it all at once.
We exist in time, but God exists outside of time. C.S. Lewis might be able to help us here. He said to imagine a sheet of infinite paper and then take a pencil and mark a small line—that is time and the sheet is eternity. Within God, time is very small, or as Peter said when explaining time in reference to God, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”—2 Peter 3:8.
God goes on forever, while we are here for a very short while, as the Psalmist said: “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”—Psalm 90:9-10.
God has placed a desire within each one of us for eternity, to understand it, to know why we are here. Or as the Scripture says, “…He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end”—Ecclesiastes 3:11. Because we are here for such a short time, we ask of God to “…teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom”—Psalm 90:12.
God has made us to live for eternity. Though we are created, we will exist forever. Our bodies may die, but our spirits will live on for eternity in the presence of God or in eternal torment apart from Him. He has placed eternity in our hearts so that we might seek Him, know Him, and live our lives in the knowledge of Him.
God planned the death of His Son so that we might live with Him eternally. He was crucified, died, was buried, rose again, and then ascended into heaven. And for all who trust Him, we await the day when we die to go to be with Him or when He comes again. We are presently exiles, awaiting the day when we will go home to be with Christ. Or as Peter said,
“And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God”—1 Peter 1:17-21.
May God give us strength and wisdom to live our lives in the hope of eternity, knowing that God has given Himself for us, so that we might be forever with Him. Amen.
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting You are God.”
—Psalm 90:1-2
God is eternal, which means that He has no beginning and no end. He is, has been, and forever will be God. He is not bound by time, for He created it. We, on the contrary, experience time and are affected by time.
Imagine watching a parade. We can see a band going by, different floats, children walking in costumes, etc. We see the parade happening in time, watching each thing go by one at a time. But God, He sees everything at once, like being in the Goodyear blimp looking down at the parade. We see how it progresses, but He sees it all at once.
We exist in time, but God exists outside of time. C.S. Lewis might be able to help us here. He said to imagine a sheet of infinite paper and then take a pencil and mark a small line—that is time and the sheet is eternity. Within God, time is very small, or as Peter said when explaining time in reference to God, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”—2 Peter 3:8.
God goes on forever, while we are here for a very short while, as the Psalmist said: “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”—Psalm 90:9-10.
God has placed a desire within each one of us for eternity, to understand it, to know why we are here. Or as the Scripture says, “…He has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end”—Ecclesiastes 3:11. Because we are here for such a short time, we ask of God to “…teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom”—Psalm 90:12.
God has made us to live for eternity. Though we are created, we will exist forever. Our bodies may die, but our spirits will live on for eternity in the presence of God or in eternal torment apart from Him. He has placed eternity in our hearts so that we might seek Him, know Him, and live our lives in the knowledge of Him.
God planned the death of His Son so that we might live with Him eternally. He was crucified, died, was buried, rose again, and then ascended into heaven. And for all who trust Him, we await the day when we die to go to be with Him or when He comes again. We are presently exiles, awaiting the day when we will go home to be with Christ. Or as Peter said,
“And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God”—1 Peter 1:17-21.
May God give us strength and wisdom to live our lives in the hope of eternity, knowing that God has given Himself for us, so that we might be forever with Him. Amen.
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