Our God is Eternal (Part 2)

The scripture describes both separately and together. And we saw how that from everlasting to everlasting, Psalm 90 verse 2, thou art God. And we also saw how that God lives forever and ever. And the idea that God’s life, if you want to put it like that, because that’s how the scripture describes it, God’s life is eternal. It never stops but it also never started as well. And so as you look at the different verses of scripture that describe God’s eternal nature you just have to pay attention to the context to know whether we’re looking backward or whether we’re looking forward or whether we’re looking both.

And we also saw how that God’s eternity, if we can call it like that, is often connected with the original creation. In other words you will see this phrase and we’re not going to probably spend a lot of talking about this and running the references because we will hit many of them on the way to other things. But when you see the reference, when you see phrases like this, from the foundation of the world or before the foundation of the world, anything related to the beginning of creation is a statement of God’s eternal nature, right?

Because why is that? It’s not that God started at the beginning of the world. It’s not that God had a beginning. It’s not that at all. It’s that from our perspective that’s the starting point. And so the only way to describe that to us in human terms is to describe the earliest point of existence as we understand it. And so that’s how the Lord speaks to us.

He says just a moment before that, because remember part of God’s eternal, part of God’s original creation was not only physical things like trees and clouds and rain and that kind of thing, but also time itself, space itself. And so that’s all part of God’s eternal creation. Lastly, in Psalm 90 verse 2, which was our text verse last week, says this, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

And so the idea of thou art God reminds us of I am that I am. In other words, God is, no matter what time period you put him in, how you view him, that his eternity is related to his self-existence based upon that verse. Thou art God. And so this is the last thing I’ll say as far as our review is this. Eternity is God’s incomprehensibility, which we already studied, in relation to what we call time.

It is the time, the temporal aspect of the incomprehensible nature of God. So we’ll see other aspects as we go forward. So let’s pray and then we’ll look at Isaiah chapter 57. Our Lord in heaven, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you that you are an incomprehensible God, Lord, as we grapple with these truths of your wonderful nature. Lord, we do stand in awe and I pray that you would help each one of us as we look at these truths to truly stand in awe in our hearts, in our minds.

That you would help us understand who you are and how you are, and not only those things as facts, but also those things as truths that touch every other part of our faith. Lord, because truly you are the center of our faith. Our faith is in the one true and living God. So Lord bless us in our study today and guide us, help us in our hearts to be open and take away, I pray, the dullness that comes from day to day and the weekend and holidays, Lord, even the weather.

Take the dullness away and make our heart, make our minds quick and attentive to what your word says. And we ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. All right. Isaiah 57 verse 15. We’re going to go through several verses because I want to nail down some of these verses and then we’re going to look at a few specifics, maybe you could say implications, about the eternity of God.

Isaiah 57 verse 15, this verse relates to the Lord’s view of time or the Lord’s, if I can say it like this, the Lord’s orientation as it relates to time. And I know we’re using human and frail and limited language to describe what is an illimitable part of God’s nature, but that’s the best we can do because that’s all we are as human. So Isaiah 57 verse 15, look at what it says.

It says this, for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, inhabiteth eternity. Inhabit is the idea of where he dwells. And so you have this idea, you remember last Sunday we were talking about eternity, if you had a line with arrows on both ends, one going to the past, one going to the future, and you could visualize that as temporal time, time in a linear way, the way we live it.

And we’re somewhere on that timeline. What this says is if you brought that example into, if you brought this verse into that what you have is you have the Lord sitting on that timeline. He inhabits eternity, not time, eternity. And so the idea is that the Lord is not subject to the limitations of time that we are subject to. It’s amazing that you’ve got to remember the book of Isaiah from a human perspective was written 700 years before Christ, right?

It was written 700 years before Christ. And yet this truth is clearly articulated in what I would consider to be fairly intelligible in simple terms, right? It’s not super hard to understand. God inhabits eternity. That is his dwelling place, not time, eternity. He goes on to say, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Look if you would at Genesis chapter 21, Genesis chapter 21. Again we’re just hitting these as we go. We won’t park very long at any of these. Genesis 21 verse 33. Now remember going back to Genesis is very, very early part when the Lord is revealing himself to Abraham. And up to this point there have not been, this point in history, there have not been very many revelations of God to mankind.

Really there haven’t been. There’s Adam and Eve. Then you had the flood and the Tower of Babel. The next thing on the calendar, I mean really you’re talking about three major revelations of God to mankind for the first 2000 years-ish of human history. Three. Three. And then you get Abraham. And of course the Lord, he loads Abraham up with all kinds of revelations, right? When he opens a relationship with Abraham the Patriarch.

Well look at one of these things that God relates to Abraham, verse 33. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord the everlasting God. Now that’s such an important, please put that in your mind. This is not the last time we’ll see it but I want you to put it in your mind. That is an important term. The everlasting God.

Okay? Let’s go to the next verse. Isaiah chapter 40. Look at Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. Verse 28 says this, Now we’ve seen this verse in relation to God’s incomprehensibility but notice the things that are connected. First you have the everlasting God which is God’s eternal nature. Then you have that connected with the name of God, the Lord. Then you have that connected to the creation.

Remember how I told you those are all related? They go together, right? The Lord, each time the Lord says something like this, you know what he’s doing? He’s identifying himself. He’s identifying himself. Who is the true and the living God? Now why does that matter? To us that is a foregone conclusion. In our society, in our world, the world in which we live, the question of who God is something that almost everyone in our country and in our society, whether they believe in him or not, whether they acknowledge him or not, whether they love him or not, almost everyone has acknowledged and recognizes the true and the living God.

But that has not always been the case. And so the Lord gives these identifying marks. Who is the true God? It is the Lord, the one whose name is revealed to Israel. He is the everlasting God. He is the creator. These are all names and titles of the true God by which we can identify him. Let’s go to the next one. In Romans, look at Romans 16.

Romans 16. Verse number 26. Romans 16 verse 26 says this, but now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of the faith. Again, everlasting God. Look at 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy 1 verse number 17 says this, Now unto the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen. King eternal. Last one. Hebrews 9 14. Hebrews chapter 9 verse number 14. Hebrews 9 verse number 14 says this, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit, offered himself without spot to God? Now this is something very important. Alright, this is something very important. When you start talking about the Trinity, here’s the way it always works. The cults, all cult sects throughout history have, they always deny that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.

They always deny that. And they always, and with that comes a denial of the Trinity and with that comes a denial of the personhood and Godhood of the Holy Spirit. And so it’s explained away as the Holy Spirit just refers to some sort of force of God or power of God, emanation of God or something like that. But here’s the thing. The characteristic of God that he gives himself that he uses to identify himself, his eternity is applied in this case to the spirit of God.

You see that? That’s one of the ways you know that the spirit of God is very God, the true and the living God. He’s called the eternal spirit. Now we’ve looked at the verses, all the different references that deal with God being, God called the eternal God, a good biblical definition. Now as I said before, the eternal nature of God is part of the way that the Lord reveals himself and identifies himself.

How do you know who is the true God versus those others that are called God but are false? One of the ways is by God’s eternity, his eternal nature. Look if you would back in Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah chapter 41. If you’re taking notes you could put this down. I put in my notes, eternity is a mark of the true God. Eternity is a mark of the true God.

Isaiah 41 verse number 21 says this. Now we have to, we’re going to look at 41, 44, 45, and 46. Not the whole chapter but just select verses because all of these sections in Isaiah in the 40s, especially in the mid 40s, are all dealing with, are all the Lord’s addressing Israel’s adherence to false gods. And so the Lord is constantly comparing himself to these false gods and he does it in a multitude of ways, one of which we’re going to see in just a minute.

But that’s kind of the overall context of these verses. Isaiah 41, look at verse number 21. The Lord’s speaking now to Israel. He says, produce your cause, saith the Lord. Bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen. Let them show the former things what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare us things for to come.

Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods. You following that? You hear what the Lord’s saying? That ye, that we, ah, let me find it. That we may know that ye are gods. Yea, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and behold it together. Behold ye are of nothing and your work of naught and abomination is he that chooseth you.

Here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying, you have worshiped that which is called God, but are you? If so, tell us the things that have happened before. Tell us the things that are yet to come to pass. What is he talking about? He’s talking about his view of eternity. God knows the things that have happened and God knows the things that are yet to happen because he is the one that inhabits eternity.

He sees all of that at once. That’s the idea. At whatever period on that timeline that you want to pick, God is. The Lord is. I am, he says, of himself. And what he says, he challenges the false gods and he says, you’re God? Then tell me about the things that have happened. Were you there? Remember Job? At the end of Job, the Lord says, were you there when I laid the foundations of the earth?

If you think you’re high and mighty and you have wisdom like God, were you there at that point? What about the things yet to come? Tell me about those things if you’re God. You know what he’s doing? He’s identifying himself based upon what he knows in his eternity. Look at chapter 44. Isaiah 44. Verse 6. Isaiah 44 verse 6 says this, Thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last.

You know what that is? A statement of his eternity. And beside me there is no God. You see that? The Lord is connecting his eternity with his uniqueness as the one true and living God in this verse. So that’s a key, if you want to star there underline that, this is an identifying mark of God. Alright, let’s continue. Verse 7. And who as I, God speaking, who as I shall call and shall declare it and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people, and the things that are coming and shall come, let them show unto them.

Fear not, fear ye not, neither be afraid. Have not I told thee from that time and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God, I know not any. Again, he’s saying, I have told you all the things that have come to pass and I have told you things yet to come to pass. Now take a minute, we can look back, let’s go back 3,000 years.

Go back on the timeline, 3,000 years. And you’re Abraham. Abraham is about four actually, but you’re David, okay? You know what you can see in David? If you lived in David’s time, you could see events that God had previously told them about that at that point were still future, and then you could see those, he could see those fulfilled altogether. What God said in the past and what God said in the future, David sees God articulating both.

We come forward in our time, so we’re 3,000 years after David, and we look and we can see many things that God has said will come to pass. We also see the things that those very things come to pass. But we also know there are things that God has not yet fulfilled, though he has said he will. So we’re seeing the same God as David saw in the same way that David saw him, just different factors.

This is a mark of the true God. Look at 45, chapter 45, verse number 1. Now Cyrus. Cyrus is, in this passage, Cyrus is a king of Persia, okay? At the time in which Isaiah is writing, Cyrus has not yet been born, okay? You got to get that little tidbit of context. Now what does Cyrus have to do with anything, alright? Remember the children of Israel, because of their sin, went into captivity to Babylon, right?

Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, 482 BC I think it was, 482, 486, something like that. And the Lord, before they ever went into captivity, before they destroyed Jerusalem, and several hundred years before the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and took Israel captive, before that Isaiah was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, if you remember, those of you that are kind of up on your history. And this is what we read here.

And he calls a name of a Persian king who is not going to be born for several hundred years. And he says something specific about a man whose name he gives specifically. Now fast forward in time. Jerusalem is destroyed, Nebuchadnezzar takes Israel captive and they go to Babylon. Well after several kings, Babylon is destroyed by Persia, the Medes and Persians. And now you’re in the era of Esther, right?

This is the period of Esther and Ezra and Nehemiah, okay? The king that gives the order for them to return to Jerusalem was Cyrus, okay? Whose name was mentioned by God several hundred years prior to his birth. And the Lord says specifically to Cyrus, I know you, well let’s just read it. This is God’s message several hundred years before Cyrus is born, okay? Imagine being Cyrus reading your name in the Hebrew Bible, right?

I don’t know if he did. I think he probably did though. I think at some point this that we’re about to read was made known to him. That’s my opinion. Isaiah 45 verse 1, Thus saith the Lord who is anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates and the gates shall not be shut.

I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut in sunder the bars of iron and I will give thee the riches of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which called thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name.

I have surname thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else. You see how he’s saying this over and over?

I am the Lord. There is none else. You know what he’s saying? I am God alone, unique. There’s none like me. The one, the true, the living God. And he’s speaking to Cyrus and he’s saying, Cyrus, this is how you’re going to know, because long before you were born, I am naming you. Cyrus reads this and says, how could he deny it, right, if he’s honest? Who knows?

Cyrus reads and says, how could he know my name? Lord says, this is how you know me. I am the God of Israel. I’m calling you by name. I have put you where you are. I have a job for you to do. And you’re going to do it. And Cyrus says, I should probably let them go back to Jerusalem. Right? That’s what I would say. My name is named in the scripture.

Honestly, my opinion, my theory is that somehow Cyrus was made aware of this scripture and that probably precipitated his command to let Israel return to Jerusalem. That’s what I think. The Bible doesn’t say that as far as I’m aware, but I think that probably is what happened. Because he does facilitate them going back in major ways, Ezra and Nehemiah. But notice that’s how the Lord identifies himself to Cyrus.

I am God and there is none else because I called you by name. Look at verse 21, same chapter, 45 verse 21. Tell ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? Now he’s talking about all the things that he spoke in the past. And there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior.

There is none beside me. Notice chapter 46. We’ll conclude here in chapter 46 with this part about the Lord’s identification. 46 verse 9. 46 verse 9 says this, Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me. How do you know who is God? How do we recognize him? Notice the next verse. Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.

Saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Declaring the end from the beginning. You know what that means? That means, alright, so if this is, to you guys, let’s see, that would be future, this is past. God stands in the past, the beginning. And he declares the end from the beginning. So he’s standing in the beginning. And he’s telling us all the things that will be in the end.

Declaring the end from the beginning. And he says, I am God. This is how you know me. I am eternal. Again, I know that I’m throwing that out there, but we will go somewhere with this, not today, probably next week. We will go somewhere with this truth. But this is one of the essential attributes of God. Now the next thing I want to show you is this.

So eternity is a mark of the true God. Eternity is also the basis of prophecy, which we’ve already touched on to some degree. Look if you would at Revelation chapter number one. Revelation chapter one. This is where some of this gets good. Revelation one, verse number eleven. Says this. This is Jesus speaking now. Revelation one, verse eleven. Saying I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.

Now notice, if Jesus is saying these words that we read in Isaiah 46, 45, then Jesus is taking the attribute of eternity onto himself. What does that make him? It makes him no less than very God. That’s quite a statement. That’s quite a statement. He says I am the first and the last, and notice this, and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

So what he’s saying is I am Alpha and Omega, first and last, and now I’m going to tell you a bunch of stuff that’s going to happen, right? Because he is the God that dwells in eternity. Alright, so the basis of prophecy, the reason why there is prophecy in scripture, this is huge, is because God dwells in eternity. All these things we’ve been reading kind of come down to land in a real way because in the Bible there are all sorts of prophecies, hundreds of them.

There’s prophecies where God gives very specific information that will come to pass, fulfilled prophecies and yet unfulfilled prophecies. God gives in the Bible, and you would expect that. God himself causes us to expect it because he is the God who inhabits eternity. He tells us I will tell you the end from the beginning. That’s how you will know me. So we can say these two things about prophecy.

The knowledge or omniscience of God, we haven’t gotten to that yet, but the knowledge or omniscience of God is based in his eternity. God knows everything because he is eternal. Everybody with me? Number two is this, his omniscience of future events is the basis of prophecy. God knows everything because he is eternal, and because God knows everything and he is eternal, that means everything in the future he knows because he is eternal.

He is not limited to time like we are. That’s why we have prophecy. So there’s two reasons, there’s two conclusions if you will that we can draw from this, not just two but there are at least two. The first one is this, fulfilled prophecy then is one of the sure signs of a true message from God. I’m going to say, hopefully say more about this, but Ben and I had a remarkable opportunity to witness two Hebrews from Israel yesterday.

And both of whom seemed to be of an orthodox background, and so they had an understanding of the Hebrew scriptures. And one of the things we talked about was the fulfillment of prophecy with Christ, right? How Christ fulfilled the prophecies. Fulfilled prophecy, that’s one of the ways we know that Jesus is the Messiah, is because he fulfilled the prophecies. And that is a mark of a sure message from God.

If you want to write down this reference, we won’t go there for time, Deuteronomy 18 22 mentions that. But the second conclusion we can draw from this is that we deduce that Satan cannot know the future. Now that’s always a question, does Satan know all things? Does Satan know the future? Of course we look at the devil and we’re like, we don’t want him to know anything, so we say no.

But no, no, no, from a biblical perspective does Satan know everything? Does Satan know your thoughts? Does Satan know the future? And the answer to that is unequivocally no. You know why? Because Satan is not eternal. He doesn’t know the future. Because he’s not eternal. The thing that makes God know the future is his eternal nature, right? And not only that, but in Job chapter 1 verse 11, Job chapter 2 verse 5, we won’t go there again.

In those verses you see that Satan thought that Job in the future would do a certain thing, curse God, remember? But he was wrong. You see God had no question that Job would never curse him because God’s eternal. But Satan thought it and he was wrong. He was mistaken because he is limited and finite. And that’s what you see on that. So you can see that there’s a big difference made between the devil’s knowledge and God’s knowledge and the difference with that is God’s nature is eternal and the devil’s is not.

Now let’s look at a few more verses as we finish up. Look at Acts 2, Acts chapter 2. Acts 2 verse 23. And also if you want to get ahead of the game, look at Luke 22, Acts 2 and Luke 22. Acts 2, 23 says this. Speaking of Jesus of Nazareth in verse 22, Acts 2, 23 says this, him, Jesus of Nazareth. Now I’m going to slow way down because I want us to really let this sink in.

We’ve been talking about God’s eternity, right? We’ve been talking about God’s eternity. And this is where it gets fun. So the Lord stood in time as it were in the first century when Jesus was nailed to the cross and the Lord said all of those events were done by my determinant counsel. What I have chosen to do beforehand and by my foreknowledge. So first question is did God know that Christ would be crucified?

Absolutely. Did God ordain it? Yes, unequivocally. Now, but yet in the same verse it says that wicked hands performed it. Did you see that? Wicked hands crucified and slew the Lord Jesus Christ. So fast forward a little bit further. So if God is dwelling in eternity and he, God is standing at, he’s the last, remember? So does the Lord know that every single individual that will be in heaven with him for all eternity?

Yeah, he does. So he can look at it and from his perspective it’s a done deal, right? Christ’s death on the cross, we view it in time, it’s a done deal to him before he even made the world because he’s eternal. His eternal nature demands that. Look at Luke 22. Luke 22, verse number 21, Luke 22 verse 21, listen to this verse. But Jesus speaking of Judas Iscariot, but behold the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table.

And truly the son of man goeth as it was determined. But woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. Talking about Judas. So did the Lord know and determine, that’s what it says, that Judas would betray Jesus? Yeah, he dwells in eternity. He wasn’t like, you know, wondering, I wonder if Judas is actually going to do it. He knew it. He knew it was going to happen.

And the verse says he determined it too. But yet Judas did it, it’s clearly in scripture that Judas did it of his own volition, his own free will. Judas betrayed Christ out of covetousness for money. That’s what he was the devil. The devil was in him. So you see the, what I’m trying to say is you see these two facts kind of pulling on each other. You have men doing what men do, making choices that they make, right?

Pulling on the reality that God is right now at the, what we would call the conclusion of all things in the omega part of his universe, and it’s all done. To him it’s done. Who’s going to heaven, who’s going to hell, who believed, who doesn’t believe. Does everybody understand what I’m saying? That’s a hard thing to wrap your brain around, but I want to tell you something.

I don’t know that I can explain that or, you know, wrap our brain around it. I don’t even expect to. You know why? Because God is incomprehensible. I don’t expect that, right? But yet I see these two things in intention, okay? Therefore it’s not surprising to me when we get to more difficult statements that are often used in the debate with Calvinism, it’s not surprising when you hear and you read difficult statements about the end of things from God’s perspective related to people believing the gospel, like they were chosen or ordained to eternal life.

Because again, from God’s perspective, Sister Lynn has always been in heaven already. Does that make sense? Before he made the world, he saw that as well as this. He saw the past as well as the future. So blow your mind. So blow your mind. And yet none of that somehow interferes with Sister Lynn coming to Christ by faith in his revealed will and his word. I guess we’ll just stop there and give us something to think about for the next week.

We’ll end our year with some of these deeper truths. Now I’m careful though, and I would encourage you, warn you even, to be careful not to go beyond the words of scripture with that. Say what the Bible says and just leave it at that. Because you’re not going to be able to reconcile everything, no matter how much you want to, or how logical you might be, or I might be.

Alright, let’s pray.