God Loves… Himself

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.

As set out earlier, eternity is the infinity of God in relation to time. It is an attempt to set out that God does not have a beginning and will never have an end. The meaning of eternity and its being a necessary teaching for certain doctrines should bring thinking and loving human beings to worship.

The meaning for the doctrine of God is clear. Unless God is eternal, then He is not self-existent and some set of circumstances brought Him into being or some powerful being created Him. This teaching is utterly necessary for the biblical teaching of the character of God. This teaching is also necessary when we think of the true meaning of creation within the universe. God had to exist before the universe came into being or He would not be the One that created all that we know. So eternity is a necessary attribute of God for Him to be the Creator of all things.

Eternity is also a necessary teaching concerning the doctrine of Christ. In the Gospel of John 1:1-5 we see the clear declaration that Christ was the Word and that He was the Word from before the beginning. We also see that all things came into being through Him and nothing has come into being that did not come into being through Christ (1:3). The obvious implication of this is that Christ is an eternal being that never came into being. The eternal nature of God is necessary to the eternal nature of Christ and of His eternal kingdom.

Is Christ just a created being? If so, how could He satisfy the wrath of God for all those that will be saved? If Christ came into being at some point, then there is no way He could have satisfied the infinite wrath of God in the place of so many sinners. If Christ came into being at some point, then He is a created being and could not have had the infinite worth of an eternal and infinite being needed to suffer and satisfy the wrath of God. It is the eternal Son of God alone that can do what the blood of bulls and goats could not do (Heb 10:4) and “perfect for all time those who are sanctified” (Heb 10:14).

The eternal nature of God is necessary for the teaching of the plans of God. God planned salvation before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4) and even prepared a kingdom for the saved from the foundation of the world (Mt 25:34). Christ was loved by the Father before the foundation of the world (John 17:24) and was foreknown before the foundation of the world but has appeared in these last times (I Peter 1:20). It is Christ who is called “eternal father” in Isaiah 9:6. There is no understanding of Christ and the Gospel (the eternal Gospel of Rev 14:6) without the biblical teaching of the eternal nature of God.

There is also the direct meaning for the doctrines of the next life. We are told over and over that those who believe in Christ have eternal life. We are told that those who die without Christ go into the eternal fire. We are told, in a different way, that those who enter heaven enter into eternal life. So what is clear from all the texts of Scripture that speak of these things is that the Gospel and heaven and hell depend on the nature of God being eternal. If God is not eternal, then hell will end some day. If heaven is not for eternity, then heaven will end someday. If the Gospel is all about eternal life, then the salvation wrought by Christ either brings eternal life or it does not. Christ Himself claimed to be the life (John 14:6) and John wrote that He came to bring understanding and know Him who is true and that Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life (I John 5:20).

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.”

John 5:24 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

With these verses in mind, it is hard to grasp these teachings of Scripture without coming to the realization that God is eternal and is life itself. Man whose life is but a vapor must bow before the God who has planned man’s existence and the boundaries of his life. Man must bow before this eternal God who alone can grant eternal life and who alone holds all things in His eternal hands.