God Loves… Himself

The fact of God’s omnipresence points to Scripture which says this: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). As omnipresent God can only be Spirit. As omnipresent, God is present with the inward parts of man. He does not just watch from a far distant planet or something, He is immediately present with all human beings. This should teach man that all that is done should be done in worship to the ever and all-present God. Worship of the omnipresent God must be from the heart as He is present there. Worship cannot be faked and guided by a hypocritical heart to be real worship of an omnipresent God. Our thoughts and desires are as spoken to Him who is present in our thoughts and desires. All of the inward motions and movements of the soul are in His presence and are as directed toward Him.

Since the whole inner and outward life of man is in the presence of God, this should bring a sense of reverence to man regarding life in general and the inner life of man in particular. All should be done with reverence toward God as all is in His presence. David teaches us this: “For the choir director. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day” (Psalm 139:1-12).

Each individual person must be aware that something is worshipped each moment of the day. God is either despised or He is loved with each movement of the soul. Each thought and desire is either for Him or against Him. My thoughts are before God and are known with intimacy in His presence. That means that I am to think like my thoughts are for Him and not for myself. Each thought that strays off toward some other love is the caress of another spiritual lover in His sight. Each desire for something that is not for God is an act of adultery in His presence. The teaching of God’s omnipresence should lead to a focus on worship in a very different way.

This should guide the corporate worship of a church as well. It is not that God is far away and we have to clamor and make loud noise to obtain His attention, but rather we are in His presence and we must understand the necessity reverence is for worship: “by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:28-29). While many in the modern day think that any kind of activities with God’s name can be called worship, the Word of God tells us that worship requires reverence and awe.” Knowing that we are in the presence of God should move us to reverence and awe. Knowing that not only is part of God present at our so-called worship services, but in fact all of God is present should move us to reverence and awe. If we could be grow past our present darkness to a growing awareness that God is present in His holiness, power, wrath, love, beauty, eternity, self-existence, and glorious sovereignty, our worship would be different. Not only are our thoughts scrutinized and intimately known about, our thoughts are in the presence of a blazing holiness each moment. Can our dull and insipid thoughts combined with listless and hard hearts really be acceptable worship to the living and holy God?

The worship of a corporate body should make us realize that we are in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God. But we should also carry that same understanding with us as we leave that the same God is everywhere we go. In one sense we must see that God is everywhere in all of His glorious being, but that He is also in our hearts every moment as well. It is not as if we have a private moment at any moment in our lives. Every thought, desire, and deed is in the presence of a holy and glorious God. Each thought and deed is as clear to Him as if we shouted to Him. Every thing that we do is seen with perfect clarity as being either for Him or against Him. This should teach us that our lives must be holy sacrifices given over to continual worship and not just on Sunday mornings or once or twice a day on other days. All that we think, desire, say and do are to be acts of worship before the God who not only exists forever, but exists in every place in the totality of His being. So the omnipresence of God should move us to worship since He is present in all places since we don’t have to go anywhere to worship the all-present glory.

As it is true that God is one and that all of His attributes are really one with the other, all of His attributes are seen in something of a different way by looking at other attributes. All shine forth to some degree a different shade of His beauty and glory.

God’s omnipresence shows us that God is self-existent in all places at once at all times. He does not just exist and bring other things into being and then move to another location to bring other things into being, but He is in all places at once to create as He pleased and now to hold things into being as He so pleases.

God’s omnipresence connects with His eternity by showing us that He is eternally omnipresent and not just at one point or another. There will be no time in eternity future where God will be anything less than fully present in all places at all times at the same time. For all eternity people will be in the presence of God. This means that hell is not a place that is apart from the presence of God as He is everywhere there is a where.

God’s omnipresence is most beautifully set out with His immensity. Some think of this in a slightly different way, but in this sense I am using it to try to set out that there is not just a little bit of God here and there, but all of the character of God is present in all places. God is not like a very tall man sleeping in a small house so that his feet are in one room but his head and torso are in another. No, all of the character of God is present in all locations. God is not just omnipotent in one place at a time while He is holy in another, but He is omnipotent and holy in all places and at all times.

God’s omnipresence is set out in accordance with His omniscience in that God knows all about where He is. Since God is everywhere, He knows all things. There is nothing beyond His presence so nothing is beyond His knowledge. God knows simply by knowing Himself and all within Him, that is, all that has come from Him and all that He sustains in being.

God’s omnipresence is linked with His incomprehensibility in that no finite being can even begin to comprehend what infinite presence really is. This is also why men deny this since it is beyond human reason to comprehend it.

God’s omnipresence is set out by His immutability in that God is omnipresent at all points and time without a change in His being. Since God is omnipresent and never changes, He is always the same everywhere.

God’s omnipresence, especially with His immensity in view, aligns very beautifully with His providence. Since He is everywhere at every moment, and at the same time all of His character is fully everywhere, there is no possibility that God is not working at every point apart from His providence and sovereignty. Whatever is happening at any location at any given time is most certainly under His providential care.

We see God’s omnipresence with His supremacy in that God is supreme in every place and not just at a given point in time. Instead God is utterly supreme over all things that happen in all places.

God’s omnipresence is also seen in His goodness in that each time it rains anywhere or anytime the sun shines anywhere we know that God’s goodness is the ultimate reason. It is God that sends rain and the sun on even His enemies. If God were not omnipresent, this would not be true.

God’s omnipresence is also tied in with His wrath. At each moment in time in all parts of the world God’s wrath is being displayed moment by moment each and every day in each and every place sin is occurring (Rom 1:18ff). Each sin committed by each person is punished immediately by God. He hardens the heart and turns people over to more sin and to more and more idolatrous notions of Himself. He punishes people by turning them over to more and more hideous sin and spiritual darkness. If eternal life is to know God, then it is increasing spiritual darkness to be hardened into ignorance of Him which is also idolatry. People go on and on in sin to the point that they deny the very being of God or they simply deny certain aspects about Him. In the very denial of the attribute of omnipresence people show that their hearts are hardened against God. In the denial of God people demonstrate the truth of the omnipresence of God in that He is shown to be there by the hardening of their hearts.

The biblical teaching of God’s omnipresence is really spread through the whole of Scripture. It is not always explicitly taught, thought it is at times, but it is a necessary teaching within the character of God and for biblical doctrine. In other words, despite the seemingly massive rejection of this attribute of God in today’s version of Christianity, this teaching is vital to the doctrine of God and basic Christian doctrine. If a person denies the omnipresence of God, then if one wants to be consistent that person must deny a lot of other things. Last time we looked at a few verses that show clearly that God is omnipresent. Next time we will meditate on how this attribute fits with other attributes. But now we will look at the meaning for a few of the many doctrines that depend on it.

The first doctrine to look at is the doctrine of Scripture. As we think of Scripture and its application to all of men, the authority of Scripture is over all. Wherever missionaries or ministers go with the Gospel, they take the Scriptures with them. Why is that? It is because God works through the Gospel wherever it is taken. We also know that God watches over His Word to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). We also know that the Word of God does what it is supposed to do: “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Unless God is omnipresent and there to perform His Word, preaching the Scriptures is without real purpose.

The doctrine of what Scripture is also rests on the omnipresence of God. We have 66 books written over 1500 years or so. We have all of these authors and all of these books and they are all said to be “God-breathed.” How could it be that all of these books have one Author? How could it be that all of these books are breathed forth by God? How could it be that all of the events of these books all happen under the sovereignty of God? How can God call the stars out and call them by name? How can He know the numbers of the hairs of all men if He is not omnipresent? How is it that He is the One that opens His hands and feeds the birds and the wild animals? How is it that not one bird can fall from the sky apart from His will? How is it that large fish are right where He wants them and vomit right where He wants them too? None of these things could be true unless God is omnipresent. This is simply to say that for all of these parts of Scripture to be true, His omnipresence must be true as well.

The doctrine of sin also leans on the omnipresence of God. All sin is said to be directly against God. One part of the so-called atheist is that he wants to claim that God does not exist and then that God will not see (Psalm 10:11-14). Here is the real issue with men wanting to deny the omnipresence of God. They want to do away with the fact that they sin in His presence and that He knows all of their sin. When men had idols in Scripture, they are said to have idols in His presence. So the teaching of Scripture that sin is in the presence of God and against God depends on God actually being present at all places at the same time.

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is utterly dependent on God being present at every place and at every moment. If God is not actually present in each place at each moment, then who gives each person and each animal their every breath? If God is not actually present, then who upholds finite and utterly dependant creatures in being? If God is not actually present in each location, then who determines what is to happen according to His divine plan in the places that He is not present?

Can the doctrine of the new birth be a work of the Spirit of God if God is not present in all places and at every moment? Can the Gospel be preached with confidence in God being able to perform the work in men’s hearts apart from the omnipresence of God? Wouldn’t the power of conversion and of preaching be all in our power if God is not present at all times and in all ways? Would we have confidence in the Gospel as being the power of God unto salvation for all who believe if God is not there to call sinners to Himself? How would sinners be reconciled to God if God is not actually there? How does God pour out His love in the hearts of people through the Spirit if He is not in all places? How is it that there is no love in the universe apart from the God who is love (I John 4:7-8) and yet believers are known to be believers by their love for one another if God is not omnipresent? Scripture teaches us that only those that are born of God and know God actually love. This means that if there is to be any love in any part of the universe God must be there if love is to be there. What keeps humanity from plunging into utter depravity? It is the restraining hand of God. The working of humanity as we know it depends on the omnipresence of God. The doctrines of Holy Scripture rest firmly in the hands of a God who is there even if it is in the grave or heaven above. Wherever there is anything at all, God is there because all things came into being through Him.

The definition of omnipresence is infinity in reference to place or location. This is to say with the children’s catechism question (where is God?) that “God is everywhere.” The word omnipresence is clear by simple definition. The word “omni” means “all,” and we know what “presence” means. Put the two words together and we have the meaning of all present or everywhere present.

If you run a search for the word “omnipresent” on a computer or a concordance to see if it is used in the Bible, you will not find it. That does not mean that the concept is not biblical, it is just that the word is not found. So we have to look at the Scriptures to see if the concept of God being everywhere is in fact taught.

Psalm 139:7-10 – “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me”

This text simply says that God cannot be fled from because He is in fact “there” wherever a person goes whether it is in heaven or in Sheol.

1 Kings 8:27 – “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!”

2 Chronicles 2:6 – “But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?”

These verses show that even the highest heaven cannot contain God. He is far beyond those heavens and fills all that we can know. It is He that calls all the stars out and calls them by name. “Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing” (Isaiah 40:26). The latest estimate of stars is beyond the imagination and the closest one is four million light years away. Yet it is because of the greatness of His might that not one of them is missing. He is the One who created them and He leads them forth by number. This surely requires an omnipresent God.

Jeremiah 23:23-24 – “‘Am I a God who is near,’ declares the LORD, ‘And not a God far off?’ ‘Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?’ declares the LORD”

However distant the heavens are, God fills them. Wherever the travels of man take him into space, he will never travel apart from the presence of God. The earth is a speck of dust in the universe and do we really think that the God who fills it is not completely everywhere on this planet? While men come up with theories and speculations of how to escape God, it simply can never happen. God is everywhere.

Acts 17:24-28 – “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children'”

This text shows us just how involved God is in the universe and in every person’s life. All of these things require that He is omnipresent. God gives to people life and breath and all things. One can understand that from a deist perspective if one stretched the issue, but imagine a God from whom we receive our every breath! He is present every moment and with every breath we should know that He is there and it is by His grace that we take a breath and are not in everlasting flames. It is in God that we live and move and exist. If for a moment it would be theoretically possible to step out of the presence of God, we would cease to exist. Our very existence is in Him.

Proverbs 15:3 – “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.”

One application of this is that the LORD knows all that we do. His omnipresence means that He knows all the sin that takes place and all the good that takes place. All of our lives are lived in His presence and before His holiness. Men try to deny the omnipresence of God to escape that holy and all-knowing eye, but it is in vain. The LORD sees our every thought, desire, and even the intent of our thoughts and desires. All of our motives are present with Him and He knows the depths of our hearts better than we do. Whatever it is that we need to know He must reveal it since He alone knows all things. We must pray that God would give us understanding hearts as all we do is in His presence.

The eternity of God and the teaching of Scripture about man and eternity have a deep influence in terms of the meaning of life for man. If man has evolved from some form of primordial slime and is nothing more than an adult germ headed for utter extinction in a universe that is headed for extinction, then man has no way of having meaning in life. All that we do is either for ourselves when we have nothing but a purposeless existence and future or for others who also have a purposeless existence and future. One thing is as meaningless as the next except we would like to keep our meaningless pain at a minimum and our meaningless pleasure at a maximum. But the end result would be the same in our vain and meaningless existence. As the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us, “vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” That, of course, is the philosophy under the sun.

But the fact that God is eternal gives us a different perspective on the other side of the sun (so to speak). There is more than just this life and there is more than just a meaningless existence after death. There is dealing with the eternal God. The philosophy or way of looking at life as if all is under the sun and all of life is based on the short duration under the sun and that is it logically and practically leads to a meaningless existence. But the fact that God is eternal and has created life and all human beings that He brings into existence now to exist in eternity in either torment or joy brings a fullness of meaning to the present life. The difference between a naturalistic form of evolution and a robust Christian theism is in reality virtually an infinite distance apart.

If God is eternal and has eternally existed in the infinite bliss of being in perfect fellowship and joy within the triune Godhead, then nothing that happens now happens by some form of accident. Within the Trinity there is perfect wisdom and knowledge of all that will ever happen. Either God planned to bring it to pass or He did not. But if He did, as Scripture sets out, then all that happens is according to Divine wisdom. This means that my life has been planned by God from eternity and it has meaning because it is carrying out His purposes and plans. My life is not limited to the appearances that the world looks at, but it is in accordance with the Divine and eternal plan to maximize His glory in the world. Ephesians 1:11 brings this ought in brilliant color: “also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.” The fact that God works all things after the counsel of His will should explode into our lives with power. If ever a human being could get a tight grip on that verse, the meaning of life would never be lost.

Isaiah 46:10-11 sets out the same principle but a little differently: “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.” To some this concept takes away meaning in life and makes man out to be a robot, but to others it brings a true zest to life. It shows the lives of human beings as having an eternal purpose and not just a meaningless existence under the sun. The eternal God works all things according to His purpose. Isaiah 40:14-15 sets out this basic truth for all who want to argue with God over this and want to determine their own meaning: “With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge And informed Him of the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.” God alone gives the meaning and He alone is able to determine that. Man’s wisdom is not enough to give anyone true meaning.

We can also imagine life in terms of architecture. A building without a plan is a pile of material that has no real purpose. Our lives are the same way. Without a plan that fits one life with other lives no lives have meaning. Unless there is an overall purpose, there is no real meaning. Unless there is an overall purpose, there is no true morality either. The glory of God is what gives purpose and morality. In light of Ephesians 1:11 and Isaiah 46, we can look at other verses as well. Romans 8:28-29 is used to give people comfort during hard times, but it should also be used to explain the purpose and meaning of life as well. God’s purpose for His people is for them to be conformed to Christ and He uses trials and hard times to do that. The good that comes from trials and hard times is that this is God’s method of displaying His glory in bringing people to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:10). So the eternal God has planned these things and is carrying them out in the lives of His people. It is in light of that eternal plan that the purposes of God give meaning to life. Unless God is eternal and has an eternal plan, our lives are hopelessly meaningless. But He is eternal and has an eternal plan, so our lives have eternal meaning.

The eternity of God has vital views for the truth of who Christ is and then of the Gospel. These things do not always appear at first glance, but the spiritual nature of the truth of Scripture is not always easy to discern. That is why the Holy Spirit must illuminate the text and our minds and hearts in order to teach the mind of God in these matters. We must learn to love God with our minds by training them to think beyond the natural realm and to be instruments to receive truth.

The connection between the eternity of God and Christ and the Gospel must begin with the fact that it is Christ that brings eternal life. In fact, Christ does not just bring something called eternal life, He is eternal life: “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; (John 5:26). In this it is clear that the Son has life in Himself and does not have to obtain it from other sources. In John 1:1-4 we see that the Word is God and that nothing has come into being that has come into being. That, of course, would include Christ. But then we are told (in v.4) that “in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” In John 14:6 we are told that Christ is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” In other words, as Christ is the outshining of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3) so one aspect of that glory is the very life of God.

We see in John 17:3 what the definition of eternal life is: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Eternal life is defined as knowing God the Father and Jesus Christ. But the only way to know God is through Christ. So what does this mean? Without delving deeply into the issue, we must see that to know God is not just to know about God. To know God is to be in union with Christ and so to receive the flow of life from the Father that comes through the Son by the Spirit. Eternal life is to know God because to know God means to be in intimate communion with God. 1 John 5:20 sets this out with such clarity that it is hard to deny: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” The Son of God has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true, yet we are in Him who is true, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life.

Other parts of the book of I John set this out as well. In 1:1 Christ is referred to as “the Word of life.” 3:15 has an interesting clue to this as well: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Here it is not said that one does not have eternal life, but does not have “eternal life abiding in him.” Eternal life is not just some power that one has; it is Christ Himself and is the life of Christ dwelling in a person. This is why a person must have Christ in order to have eternal life. As can be seen from 1 John 5:12: “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” One only has life if he or she has Christ Himself because Christ is eternal life Himself.

This view of the eternal nature of God and how it fits with the Gospel (the eternal gospel of Rev 14:6) is simply beautiful. It is that the eternal God sent His Son who was the outshining of His glory into the world so that His Son could lay down a temporary physical life in order to defeat death and give eternal life. The eternal God does not just give people an eternal existence as such, but He gives them Himself and shares His life with them in order that they may have eternal life. Not only that, but as we look closely at I John 4:7-10 we see that the Father sent the Son so that we might live through Him. What did the Son do so that we might have eternal life in us, that is, that we would be the temple of God and eternal life would be dwelling in us and sharing that life with us? He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. In other words, Christ who was life came in order to cleanse the temple of God so that eternal life could and would dwell in the people of God.

II Corinthians 4:4 sets out that the Gospel is all about the glory of God: “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The glory of the eternal God shines brightly in the message of the Gospel that brings eternal life, that is, the very life of God in Jesus Christ to humanity. Without the eternity of God, there is no eternity of Christ and no Gospel of eternal life. As the Gospel says in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The eternity of God reflects on the nature of sin in a way that shows sin to be far more hellish and heinous than man normally thinks of it as being. In the two verses below, while these verses were used in another connection, they give a picture of what sin really is. Sin is so awful that when God in His true and righteous judgment judges which results in the smoke of torment rising forever and forever, it is worthy to be praised. Man, in his blindness and darkness, cannot and will not look at sin as so awful that God would punish it for eternity. Man refuses to look at his sin as so detestable that other beings will worship God when He judges their sin. BUT MAN MUST WAKE UP TO THE HIDEOUSNESS OF HIS SIN.

Revelation 19:1-5 – “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; 2 BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.’ 3 And a second time they said, ‘Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.’ 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, ‘Amen. Hallelujah!’ 5 And a voice came from the throne, saying, ‘Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.’

Revelation 14:11 – “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Matthew 18:8 – “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.” In this verse it gives us the picture of sin as well with the end of sin (eternal fire) in view. It is better, all things considered, if your hand or foot causes you to sin to cut it off and throw it away with detestation. Notice the language of the text here, however. It says “if your hand or foot causes you to stumble.” It does not say that those things do cause people to sin, but says if they did. In other words, it is conditional. The text is pointing out that sin is so horrible in light of the eternal fire that one should be eager to cut off body parts in order not to go there. But of course with sin body parts are not the real problem, the heart is. But the point of the text is still the same. In light of the eternal fire (which shows the eternality of God) sin is far worse than a human being can imagine.

“But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (Mark 3:29). There is also a sin that will never be forgiven. It is to be guilty of an eternal sin and the person that commits that will never be forgiven for all eternity. But there could be no eternal sin unless there is a God that is eternal to sin against. When we know that all sin is against God who is eternal and so deserves eternal punishment, we can understand grace to some degree as well. But there is one sin that God will never forgive for all eternity. Sin is that serious and man must begin to see sin in light of eternity rather than his own selfish heart.

“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS” (Romans 2:5-6). When sin is looked at from the vantage point of eternity, it is seen to be that which the unrepentant person is storing up for him or herself wrath. If a person’s heart and treasure is in heaven, that person stores up treasure in heaven by his or her life on earth. If a person’s heart and treasure is on this earth, then that person’s sin is storing up wrath for the Day of Judgment and wrath. That is the view that the eternity of God brings to life. When that view is not thought of, the world appears far different than it really is.

How in the world, one might ask, can the eternity of God promote evangelism? That appears almost an impossible question to answer in one sense, but in reality this is an important question that people will realize very quickly when the pieces are put together.

Romans 1:20-23 – “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

The text above demonstrates that it is God that has created all things and that it is God that men answer to for their lives and sin. Let me quote another verse which is saying the same thing though a bit differently: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). The eternity of God declares that the universe and all men have a beginning. The eternity of God is declared throughout nature and is clearly seen. So believers are not out telling people things that are brand new and totally unknown, they are telling people things that are already known. But men try to suppress this and deny it because they hate God. So believers are tempted to water this down and go on to easier messages. But in reality evangelism should never get away from this truth because the Bible tells us that this is one truth that men try to suppress. If they never come to see this, they will never believe in the truth of the Gospel. After all, the Gospel is an eternal gospel (Rev 14:6) and the eternal God saves through the blood of an eternal covenant: “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord” (Heb 13:20).

In light of the eternal God who saves through an eternal Gospel and the blood of the eternal covenant, this brings us to see what a person is saved from and saved to. Evangelism is telling people about the glory of the eternal God in saving sinners from an eternal hell and giving them an eternal heaven. “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mat 25:41). Those who do not come to faith in Christ will be cast into the eternal fire. How is it that a fire can be eternal? Because God Himself is that fire and since He is eternal He is an eternal fire. “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). We also have the picture of the angels with bowls of wrath that are said to be the wrath of the God who lives forever (Rev 15:7).

Hell is always presented as an eternal punishment. It is the gnawing of a worm that will never die (Mark 9:48) which some view as the conscience that sees what it really did while on earth. It is pleading for one drop of water to cool the tongue as the torment is so great (Luke 16:24). Scripture also gives us a picture of hell and puts it in terms of the eternal fire: “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7). We also have the picture of hell as being a place where the smoke of people’s torment rises forever and forever (Rev 19:3) and of the lake of fire where the torment will be forever and ever (Rev 20:10, 14-15).

It is in light of these things that evangelism is seen. Evangelism is not just a light and glib thing where people want others to add Jesus to a little bit of their life to make it happy and have a card that gets them out of hell. Evangelism is dealing with people on the basis of eternal realities. Scripture tells us that we are to warn people that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31). Scripture also gives us a basis for evangelism that is not used much anymore. What if we made this a requirement in the church before people went out on evangelism trips or missions? “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor 5:11). The eternity of God is taught in Scripture in so many ways that there is no real evangelism apart from it.

When we come face to face with such a concept as the eternal nature of God, it is a logical thing to wonder how such finite beings with such vaporous lives should respond to God and the glory of His eternity. The most obvious thing in the world is that if a human being catches a glimpse of the eternity of God that should in and of itself drive him or her to his knees in utter humility and worship. If worship is the bowing before a superior being to give adoration and praise from the heart, then being before an eternal God should inspire worship in all but the hardest and most deceived hearts.

Isaiah 43:13 – “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

1 Timothy 1:17 – “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

It is an awe inspiring and perhaps fearful thing to be before a God that is from eternity and is the self-existent One. As such, all things come from Him and who is there to deliver out of His hand? He lives forever and He will not die at any point and so His actions cannot be reversed. As the eternal King He is the only God and to Him alone is to be honor and glory both now and forever. Yet the true fear of God, that is, a real and loving reverence and awe of Him is only given by grace. So we should spend much of our time in this life praying for grace in order that we may worship and adore Him from the heart in all of life. Whatever we do before such a God should be worship.

Romans 1:20 – “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

It is not that the eternal nature of God can really be denied. The Word of God tells us that His eternal power and divine nature (those two go together) are clearly seen and understood through what has been made. In light of that, all men are without excuse. People know this well enough that they are without excuse. While they do many things to suppress the truth of God, they do not get away from it. They hate this teaching and speak against it with utter hatred, but they never really escape it. All should worship God because of this.

Ephesians 3:8-19 – “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. 14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

The eternal nature of God is seen in that He has brought forth His manifold wisdom to be made known through the church in accordance with His eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. Jesus Christ and the plan God carried out through Him is a plan formulated from all eternity. It is in light of this that Paul bowed his knees before the Father in order to pray for others. It is in light of the eternal nature of God and His eternal plan that Paul prayed what he did in verses 15-19. It is because he desired the glory of God through Christ in the church that he could pray and worship as he prayed in this way. Believers do not come into existence by accident and they do not have duties before God that are to be done in such a way that they or others believe that their actions are because of any other reason than that they are fulfilling the eternal purpose of God. That should lead the believer to adoration and worship to mediate on the eternal God carrying out His eternal plan in and through them. Part of that plan is that they would know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge in order to be filled up to all the fullness of God. Knowing the love of Christ is eternal life and being filled up to all the fullness of God surely points to the life of God in the soul of man. These things are His eternal purpose and we have received grace to be instruments of His eternal glory as we are the dwelling place of His love forever.

The eternity of God fits with the other attributes of God in a seamless flow of beauty. Because God is self-existent He did not need to be brought into being and needs nothing and no one to keep Him into being apart from Himself.

God’s eternity is connected with His infinity as His infinity in relation to time.

God’s eternity is connected with His infinity in that He is present at all points of the universe at all times as well.

God’s eternity displays His omniscience (all knowledge) as being from all eternity past through eternity future.

His eternity demonstrates that God is omnipotent at all times and points of eternity.

His eternity shows that He is immutable (does not change) for all eternity and in fact one reason that He is eternal is because He never changes. A being must change in order to grow old and die. A being must change to go from being to non-being and from life to death.

God’s eternal nature is seen in His impassibility. While many deny this today, His eternal nature shows that He knew and planned everything from all eternity and so He is not moved by the same things that humans are.

God’s eternal nature connects with His love in that He is said to have loved Christ and His people from eternity (or from the foundations of the world). If God loved His people in Christ from eternity, then that love does not depend on them but on His character. If He loved them from eternity, what can separate them from that love for eternity?

God’s eternal nature is seen in His wisdom as well. He planned the eternal Gospel and sending the Son from before the foundations of the world. We can now see His eternal plan unfolding and putting His glory on display as divine and perfect wisdom planned it.

His eternity connects with His patience in that He planned all things from eternity and yet waited until the perfect time to bring His plan to fruition. God is not in a hurry and cannot be hurried because His plan has been planned by perfect wisdom from all eternity and so He patiently waits to bring it to pass.

His eternity connects with His faithfulness in that God will always do what He says. He declared things in the beginning and He brings them to pass. He declares that His people will have eternal life and so His faithfulness is required for eternity in order for this to come to pass.

His eternity connects with His perfection in the sense that God has not gotten better or worse for eternity. His eternal nature requires Him to be perfect and His perfection requires Him to be eternal. A non-perfect being might change and go out of existence.

God’s eternal nature connects with His joy and pleasure at all points of eternity because God would have had nothing to rejoice in other than Himself if not for joy and pleasure within Himself. He is also the only source of true joy and pleasure for His people for all eternity. An eternity without joy and pleasure cannot be conceived of. An eternity without an infinite joy to grow into cannot be conceived of.

As we reflect on the eternal nature of the always living God, it should move us to bow in utter reverence before Him as He displays His glory to us through this attribute. All the perfections of God have always been perfections and always will be perfections. For all eternity all those in His presence in heaven will delight themselves in Him and in Him alone with perfect comfort of God eternally being God.