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“Before the hills in order stood or Earth received her frame,
From everlasting you are God, to endless years the same.”[1]
The Significance of God’s Eternality
God’s eternality, says Dr. David Jeremiah, “is one of the most beautiful attributes of the God I worship.” He continues, “all our treasured biblical doctrines and truths would collapse without the reality of an everlasting God.”[2] As support of that statement, he offers the following verses:
- Romans 1:20: Speaks of God’s “eternal power and divine nature”
- Romans 9:5: Declares Him to be “God over all, forever praised!”
- Ephesians 3:11: Speaks of “his eternal purpose”
- 1 Timothy 1:17: Describes Him as “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God”
According to Theopedia.com, “The Eternity of God refers to his timeless nature. God had no beginning, and will have no end.”[3] The article further notes that “If God is not eternal, then eternal life is not His to give to anyone.”[4]
Reflecting on an Endless Nature
While researching this attribute, it became clear that theologians have often struggled to express the full meaning of God's timelessness. Here are a few notable perspectives:
- A.W. Tozer: “The Old Testament Hebrew has exhausted itself—wrung its language as you wring a towel, to get the last drop of meaning out of it—to say that God is forever and ever endlessly.”[5]
- John Frame: “God does not have a beginning or end. He exists before the beginning of the created world... God’s own existence is not only without beginning or end; it is beyond time itself.”[7]
- Augustine: “Thou, O Lord, who ever livest, and in whom nothing dies... with Thee fixedly abide the causes of all unstable things, the unchanging sources of all things changeable.”[9]
Biblical Foundations of God’s Eternal Nature
The Old Testament provides numerous testimonies to God’s nature as the everlasting Creator:
- Deuteronomy 33:27: The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
- Psalm 90:2: Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
- Isaiah 40:28: The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary.
- Habakkuk 1:12: Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
The Promise of Eternal Life in Christ
In the New Testament, John’s Gospel provides a profound revelation of the eternal Word:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3)
Because of who He is (1 Timothy 1:17) and His promise given “before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2), we can have utter confidence that the eternal God will keep His promise. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, those who believe in Him are granted the gift of eternal life: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Endnotes
- Isaac Watts, “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” public domain.↑
- David Jeremiah, “How Big is God?,” https://www.davidjeremiah.org/knowgod/god-is-eternal?srsltid=AfmBOopi9MetE9zfaKHznjTSip_NR4sBRM00kDSi2nIiyITKWCimh7T4↑
- Theopedia.com, “Eternality of God,” https://www.theopedia.com/eternality-of-god↑
- Ibid↑
- A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God Volume 2: Deeper into the Father’s Heart (Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition), p.40.↑
- Jeremiah, “How Big is God?”↑
- John M. Frame, “The Eternality and Aseity of God,” The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/eternality-aseity-god/↑
- Biblehub, “What is God’s eternal nature?” https://biblehub.com/q/what_is_god’s_eternal_nature.htm.↑
- Augustine, Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 6, Section 9, quoted in Tozer, Attribute Vol. 2, p. 41.↑
- Tozer, Attributes, Vol. 2, p. 41.↑
- Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God (Vol. 1&2): Complete Edition (e-artnow. Kindle Edition), p. 456.↑
- Theopedia.com, “Eternality of God.”↑
R.L. Wilson
R.L. Wilson has been on staff at the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute since 1982. Wilson’s articles draw from the perspective of someone who grew up in a multicultural environment, and who has been a follower of Christ for many decades.
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