The Eternity of God

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, 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." (Isaiah 57:15)

If I thought that the word "eternal" as referring to God meant only "lasting until the end of the age," I'd just fold my Bible up and go home and wait for the end. If I had a God that only lasted so long, that didn't have eternity in His heart, I couldn't possibly find it worthwhile to preach.

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, unto perpetuity, world without end. The New Testament Greek has done the same. There aren't any other words in the Greek language that can be used to mean "unto perpetuity, having no end, going on and on and on and on endlessly and forever.

Eternal, everlasting, forever, unto perpetuity, world without end - all of those words mean just what they say. When God talks about Himself, that's what He means - the High and Lofty One who exists eternally, forever, unto perpetuity, world without end.

Lord, I bow today before the high and lofty One who far surpasses my comprehension. Holy is the Lord! Amen

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There You Have God

"Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." (Psalm 90:1-2)

Shake your head to get all the wheels going and try to stretch your mind all you can, then think, if you can, about the past. Think your hometown, our of existence. Think back to when there wasn't anything here but some Indians. Then go back and think all those Indians away, back to before the Indians got here. Go back before that and think away the North American continent. And then think away all this earth of ours. And then let's go back and think that there are no planets and no stars dotting the clear night sky; they have all vanished away and there is no Milky Way, no anything.

Go to the throne of God and think away the angels, the archangels, the seraphim and the cherubim that sing and worship before the throne of God. Think them all away until there is no creation: not an angel waves its wing, not a bird flies in the sky - there's no sky to fly in. Not a tree grows on a  mountain, there is no mountain for a tree to grow on. But God lives and loves alone. The Ancient of Days, world without end, to the vanishing point back as far as the human mind can go - there you have God.

Lord, before the foundation of the world You knew me and chose me to be Your child. I praise You today. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~