Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 17 – The essence of God – Eternity. Deu 33:27; 2Pe 3:10; Matt 25:46; Job 41:1; Exo 3:14; Isa 45:17.

Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 17 - The essence of God - Eternity. DEU 33:27; 2PE 3:10; Matt 25:46; JOB 41:1; EXO 3:14; ISA 45:17.

 

5. The essence of God part 1: Attributes that constitute God and are not commuted to beings.

 

D. Eternity (Eternal life) - God has no beginning or end. He is the only self-existing being.

 

Ps 90:2

Before the mountains were born,

Or Thou didst give birth to the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.

 

The eternity of God is involved in his self-existence. He is uncaused. Therefore he must be without beginning. He transcends the whole chain of causes and effects. Therefore he can never cease to be.

 

Being eternal and therefore outside of time does not mean that God does not act in time, GEN 18:14.

 

Though eternal, outside of time, and time being a snapshot to Him, God’s timing when dealing with His people is always perfect, just, righteous, and indeed done in love.

 

God is intimate with every finite creature and with all finite matter, so that when He acts there is no one to reverse it, ISA 43:13.

 

ISA 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?"

 

Makes you wonder what the people who teach that you can lose your salvation do with verses like this.

 

The word eternity is employed in two ways:

 

(1) to describe that which is either from eternity past, or that which is unto eternity to come. Creation has no part in the eternity which is past, since it had a beginning. On the other hand, both men and angels have a relation to eternity to come, since they can never cease to exist.

 

(2) Eternity is more properly the designation of eternity as gathered into one conception. It is in this aspect of eternity that God is said to be “the eternal God.” He is from everlasting to everlasting. The problem as to how time is disposed of in eternity is beyond the penetration of finite minds. In like manner, it is of little profit to speculate as to how and by what means time began and what, if ever, will be the cause of its end.

 

Deut 33:26 "There is none like the God of Jeshurun [the beloved one], Who rides the heavens to your help,

And through the skies in His majesty.

 

Deut 33:27 "The eternal God is a dwelling place,

And underneath are the everlasting arms;

And He drove out the enemy from before you,

And said, 'Destroy!'

 

How is time different than eternity since eternity is not endless time or beginningless time but is wholly outside of time and has nothing to do with time?

 

Time is a tough enough concept in itself for the finite mind and eternity is impossible to penetrate with these feeble intellects.

 

This also means that it is impossible for the super intellect of satan, either before and definitely after his fall. He cannot know it, yet he desires to be like the Most High God.

 

I cannot say whether or not we will comprehend it in eternity since even though God has given us eternal life, we have had a beginning and I don’t see in what way that would change. I believe it is of little profit to speculate on such things unless you want a headache or you want to feel real stupid.

 

The pure idea of eternity is too vast for human thought. On this obvious truth, Dr. Samuel Harris has written —God the Creator and Lord of All, I, 123-24[summarized]:

 

The eternal Being exists without beginning or end, yet there is a beginning to all creation and no guarantee of what its end may be.

 

A dependent being has a beginning and is wholly dependent on the Creator for its existence and its future state. There is no guarantee of eternal existence unless the Creator deems it so. For example, the world will end:

 

2 Peter 3:8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

 

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

 

2 Peter 3:11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

 

2 Peter 3:12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

 

2 Peter 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness [only one will] dwells.

 

This destruction would include animals we assume, but for now the animals have a place ….

 

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Unbelieving mankind has everlasting life in condemnation while believing men are given eternal life in glory, Matt 25:34 - 46.

 

This example is a prophecy concerning the second coming and the judgment of those who have survived the Tribulation, yet it is true for all mankind from all dispensations. The important factor in all human history is, “What did you think of Christ?”

 

Matt 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

 

Matt 25:35 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

 

Matt 25:36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'

 

Matt 25:37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink?

 

Matt 25:38 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

 

Matt 25:39 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

 

Matt 25:40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine [Jews under severe persecution in the Tribulation], even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

 

Matt 25:41 "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;

 

Matt 25:42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

 

Matt 25:43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

 

Matt 25:44 "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'

 

Matt 25:45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

 

Matt 25:46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

Fallen angels have everlasting life in condemnation, Matt 25:41, while elect angels enjoy eternal victory in glory with all saved mankind, REV 4:9; 5:12.

 

REV 4:8 And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come."

 

REV 4:9 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever,

 

REV 4:10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

 

REV 4:11 "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."

 

REV 5:11 And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,

 

REV 5:12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."

 

God has no limitations of beginning or end and there is no question has to how He will enjoy His glory for all eternity in perfect spiritual self esteem along with His glorified angels and men, the closest of which are the winner CA believers.

 

God does not possess a transitional existence as if He is dependent on a succession of events. God is absolute Spirit and is eternally unchanging.

 

The application to the witness of God in the conflict is to adjust to His will. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Him to adjust His will to yours. If your lungs were the size of the universe, you’d suffocate.

 

Time, with the universe conditioned by it, is dependent on him. Acting in time God remains through all its succession and changes immutable and the same. He is not in the chain of causes and effects. He does not react to events, nor is He ever shocked or stymied.

 

He does not exist in transition through successive forms of being.

 

In his being and his essential attributes as personal Spirit, he is immutably the same, the eternal One from whom all succession of events originates and by those events He reveals Himself as yet unchanging and eternal.

 

Our faint analogies of immutable things are given by God in the form of His own physical laws that are bound to Him as Judge for all time, which are the conservation of matter, the conservation of energy, and the law of gravity. Mankind cannot change these laws and he is bound by them. And it is shown to us in the scripture that God can change these with but a word.

 

Ps 33:6

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

And by the breath of His mouth all their host.

 

Only He can create it and destroy it. Only He can hold back the sea and manipulate the laws of nature as easily as you and I breathe. Only He can ascend to heaven and hell as easily as you and take one step. To be in opposition to God by being in opposition to His plan of salvation or to His word or His Spirit is to take on Leviathan with nothing but your bare hands.

 

JOB 41:1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?

Or press down his tongue with a cord?

 

Leviathan - a twisted serpent, sea monster, crocodile greater and more powerful than any man, and so, most likely a type of satan or evil.

 

JOB 41:2 "Can you put a rope in his nose?

Or pierce his jaw with a hook?

 

JOB 41:3 "Will he make many supplications to you?

Or will he speak to you soft words?

 

JOB 41:4 "Will he make a covenant with you?

Will you take him for a servant forever?

 

JOB 41:5 "Will you play with him as with a bird?

Or will you bind him for your maidens?

 

JOB 41:6 "Will the traders bargain over him?

Will they divide him among the merchants?

 

JOB 41:7 "Can you fill his skin with harpoons,

Or his head with fishing spears?

 

JOB 41:8 "Lay your hand on him;

Remember the battle; you will not do it again!

 

JOB 41:9 "Behold, your expectation is false;

Will you be laid low even at the sight of him?

 

JOB 41:10 "No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him;

Who then is he that can stand before Me?

 

What is impossible for man is easy for God and that is the point. How can you oppose an eternal, sovereign, omnipresent, and unchanging God and hope to have any success?

 

God’s exemption from the limitation of time does not preclude His presence and acting in it, nor His distinctions of time as past, present, or future.

 

God’s purpose to realize His mission or good pleasure in the finite universe is revealed to man in the form of space and time and His eternal and unchanging plan.

 

And his love, which constitutes the motivation of His character, is an eternal and unchanging love which he is continuously and progressively expressing in all his action of creation, preservation, providence, and redemption.

 

The result which we have reached is, not eternity as immeasurable time which we leave aside as impossible to know, but the eternal and immutable God existing in all time and progressively revealing himself in the universe as it exists in time.