CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES What We Believe and Why

Eternality (God and Time) Definition: “God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time.” Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 168 Two aspects  Outside time (i.e., timelessness)  Within time  God exists and operates in both aspects

God Outside Time In his own being, God is timeless God transcends time  He is without beginning of end Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

God Outside Time Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”  God always exists without change Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

God Outside Time John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”  God preceded all creation, including time John 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

God Outside Time Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him.

God Outside Time God, as timeless, exists in an “eternal present”  He doesn’t see all moments as if they are in the present  Means he transcends time  The concept is beyond man  God sees all moments of time with equal vividness

God Outside Time Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. 2 Peter 3:8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

God Outside Time  Wherein we don’t clearly remember the past, God perfectly sees all moments with equal clarity  God sees every detail of every moment with greater vividness than we see the present moment

God Within Time God transcends time, but he also exists and acts within time He sees events and moments as they occur and acts within each moment

God Within Time Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

God Within Time God’s actions may be different at different moments  Does not reveal now / reveals later  Punishes now / does not punish later  Permits activities now / does not permit them later

God Within Time Exodus 6:2-3 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.

God Within Time Romans 3:24-26 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say,

God Within Time Romans 3:24-26 of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

God Within Time Revelation 6:9-10 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

God Within Time Hebrews 10:8-9 After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

God Within Time God’s knowledge of moments and events is always perfect God’s actions and timing are always perfect

Man and Eternity We will always exist within time (i.e., succession of moments) As finite beings, infinite timelessness is beyond us, limited only to God We may experience it differently than we do now, but we will exist within time

Man and Eternity Revelation 22:2, 5 [He showed me a river] in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.... And there will no longer be any night;

Man and Eternity Revelation 22:2, 5 and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.