In The Margins

By Andy Sharples

Quick, what are some attributes of God?

Without even thinking too hard, you can probably think of “holy” and the “omni’s”: omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (everywhere).

If I were to tell you that God is eternal, you would say “of course”. And you would be saying a mouthful. When I discovered what it means to say God is eternal, that literally unlocked so many things about God to me.

Here’s some tough theological language from a theology book that describes what we mean by God being eternal: 

God “is elevated above all temporal limits and all succession of moments, and possesses the whole of His existence in one indivisible present.” (Berkhof, Systematic Theology)

Translating that into English: To God, all of time is now.

First, it’s baked into God’s name. He told Moses His name is “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Period. There’s no “was” or “will be”. It’s all now.

Several verses in the Bible describe God as eternal (check out Gen 21:33; De 32:40; Ps 102:27; Rom 1:20; 1Ti 1:17; Isa 43:10b). My favorite is Psalm 90:2b – “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity, you are God.”

In this Psalm, Moses is NOT saying, “You were God forever ago, and you will be God into the future.” Instead, Moses understands that God is currently present at all moments of time from eternity past to eternity future.

That kind of makes sense when you think of the fact that before there was anything there was God. And then God spoke and suddenly he created this tiny thing (compared to Him) called the Universe (or maybe the Multiverse?). And time is an amazing dimension inside that universe.

When God created the heaven and the earth (Ge 1:1), He didn’t simply set it into motion and left. He created the entire space-time continuum, from beginning to end. There is nothing contingent about it, it was created by God from the beginning. All of space-time is before Him.

So He created the whole expanse of the universe, stretching to infinity in every direction. And, this universe stretches to infinity in time as well.

For us, we travel along a timeline from the moment we’re conceived to the moment we die. In between, we occupy this tiny moment of time we call now. And we have no control over that. Our now is constantly sliding down the timeline, converting our future into our past.

God, on the other hand, is not sliding down the timeline. Rather, He is present at all moments on the timeline. We experience a single moment and its gone. He is present at all times at once. God is everywhen!

Do you believe that God is present in your right now?

Can you wrap your mind around the idea that at this exact same moment, God is strolling in the garden with Adam and Eve?

At this exact same moment, God is hearing the newborn cries from the manger where Jesus was born.

At this exact same moment, God is present at the bombing of Pearl Harbor, hearing the roar of the airplane engines, the concussions of the bombs.

God is right now present in the delivery room where you were born.

God is right now present at your death.

God is right now present at the fantastic explosion at the end of the life of the sun.

God is right now present at every moment in history, whether significant to us or not, and to God, all of those moments, which span the ages are eternally NOW! God is everywhen.

So of course, God is OMNISICIENT. He knows everything, not in the abstract, but because He is present. He is intimately acquainted with the truth by direct experience. 

Since God is at all locations and all times, He never learns anything. He is never surprised by anything. He is never disappointed.

His promises are never uncertain, but guaranteed. His love and presence are unwavering. 

He is not just everywhen as an observer, He is PARTICIPATING and active in the universe He made (Matthew 28:20).

God, who is everywhen, is not increased by the way we spend our time on earth. He isn’t diminished if the creation did not exist. If the whole rest of the world were to turn their back on God and perish, it wouldn’t hurt God’s Godness.

Reflection Questions

1. As you read this question, do you know you are reading it in the presence of God?
2. Do you ever worry that you might do something that surprises God and messes up His plan for you? Does knowing God is eternal ease your worry, knowing that God has taken care of everything He needed to to make His Universe great.
3. Are you able to trust God more deeply, knowing you’ll never surprise or disappoint Him, and that Jesus’ death on the cross was done knowing you perfectly?