How Could It Ever Be That

God has always existed. He does not dwell in time, instead he abides unceasingly in eternity past, present and future. To think of one living eternally into the future but who had a beginning is a big thought --- however, to try to grab hold of the truth that the Holy One has alway existed is somewhere out there beyond awesome and overwhelming.

The Bible tells us that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1). This verse is not referring to the beginning of God's existence but the starting of the creative process that established the heavens (note the plural) and earth. At some distant point in eternity past God started the process of creation described in the book of Genesis. It is not without possibility that he had already been involved in some earlier creative processes of which we are not aware.

When Moses was being commissioned to lead the children of Israel out of the Egyptian captivity he wanted to know how to identify the God of their ancestors by name. The Lord's eternal nature is evident in his response of "I AM WHO I AM, Say this to the people of Israel I AM has sent me to you" (Ex 4:14) . Notice, God's name was not "I WAS" or "I WILL BE" but "I AM" the eternal present tense.

The Lord then states, also tell them "Yahweh (often translated Jehovah)...has sent me to you...This is my eternal name, my name to remember for all generations." (Ex 4:15). The meaning of Yahweh or Jehovah is "the existing one" which reemphasizes the eternal nature of God.

The enduring nature of God is also evident in the gospels. The Apostle John states "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God" (John 1:1-2). This verse teaches that the Word, (Jesus: see John 1:14) existed before the beginning of creation. One could say that for God he had a beginning that had no beginning.

At the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation Jesus describes himself in this fashion. "I am the Alpha and the Omega -- the beginning and the end,...I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come -- the Almighty One" (Rev 1:8 see also Rev 22:13).

Both the Old and New Testaments testify to the eternal nature of God. This may be a challenge for our finite minds to comprehend. However, it is much easier to believe in an eternally preexistent God who has put everything perfectly in place than to get our mind around the evolutionists position that millions of random accidents have occurred to give us the creation we have today.

Copyright. Bruce February 2006

Note: All quotes taken from the New Living Translation Second Edition.