Whenever the Bible speaks of God
as not having a beginning, we don’t expect the world to understand or embrace
such a very deep reality (1 Cor 2:14). To the unredeemed such an idea is
laughable that falls under the category of religion and therefore as
non-science. Faith from a secular view of life is considered gray matter while
science is believed and treated as black and white.
A prime example would be the teaching of evolution. It is presented as factual rather than theoretical in the classrooms and local, state, and federal governments. If you want to receive federal funding you best get behind what Uncle Sam is peddling as black and white. Besides, we have to maintain the separation of church and state, right? It has been my personal observation that when you take God out of everything you think or do, ethics and morality tend to head downhill very quickly, and everything goes compromisingly grayish.
A prime example would be the teaching of evolution. It is presented as factual rather than theoretical in the classrooms and local, state, and federal governments. If you want to receive federal funding you best get behind what Uncle Sam is peddling as black and white. Besides, we have to maintain the separation of church and state, right? It has been my personal observation that when you take God out of everything you think or do, ethics and morality tend to head downhill very quickly, and everything goes compromisingly grayish.
It is interesting (actually
downright hypocritical) for relativists to be so adamantly and stridently
opposed to any absolutes (“There are no absolutes,” say they!) and yet be absolutely
convinced that Darwin was spot on. I think deep down they know Darwin got it
all wrong, but they just don’t like the only alternative – creationism and
dealing with the Absolute! So such a quandary puts them in a pejorative mood, and they are agitated, defiant, and critical toward
creationists.
It is easier for them to believe and be inspired by a worldview where life came from non-life (Where did non-life come from?), chance, random chaos, mutation of the species, no accountability, and at the end of the day, annihilation into nothingness (You die like a dog.). Truthfully, it takes more faith to believe in evolution than creation, but I have a known bias toward the Creator, but does that make it any less truthful?
Evolution is a depressing and hopeless worldview; don’t you think? What is believable from a 4-D world point of view of length, width, height, and time is that everything is understood to have a beginning. This is natural and to be expected, but from a supernatural perspective, this is not precisely accurate. God had no beginning.
It is easier for them to believe and be inspired by a worldview where life came from non-life (Where did non-life come from?), chance, random chaos, mutation of the species, no accountability, and at the end of the day, annihilation into nothingness (You die like a dog.). Truthfully, it takes more faith to believe in evolution than creation, but I have a known bias toward the Creator, but does that make it any less truthful?
Evolution is a depressing and hopeless worldview; don’t you think? What is believable from a 4-D world point of view of length, width, height, and time is that everything is understood to have a beginning. This is natural and to be expected, but from a supernatural perspective, this is not precisely accurate. God had no beginning.
If we take the meaning of the
word “eternal” as everlasting, having no beginning or ending (some refer to
this as infinity, forever, everlasting, and so forth), then it can only apply
to God in the absolute sense of the word. It’s not my intention to argue for
the existence or eternality of God; the Bible doesn’t go into an apologetic
style concerning God’s existence, and perhaps, neither should we. It simply
declares it as if reasons are unnecessary.
If the great obvious eludes man due to his blatant denial of what creation declares (Psa 19:1-6), then it dodges him to his peril (Rom 1:18ff, God’s eternal nature and power are revealed in creation). Its scope, beauty, and complexity could only come from an intelligent Designer, not random chaos. Read what Moses stated in Psalm 90:2,
If the great obvious eludes man due to his blatant denial of what creation declares (Psa 19:1-6), then it dodges him to his peril (Rom 1:18ff, God’s eternal nature and power are revealed in creation). Its scope, beauty, and complexity could only come from an intelligent Designer, not random chaos. Read what Moses stated in Psalm 90:2,
“Before the mountains were
brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting, You are
God.”
Do you remember when Jesus made
this statement to some very disrespectful and blasphemous Jews in John chapter 8?
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to
see My day, and he saw it and was
glad” (v56).
The Jews questioned Jesus on His
age and scoffed at the ludicrous idea of Jesus seeing Abraham (ca. 2165-1900 B.C.) or vice versa. Jesus'
response was this.
“… before Abraham was, I AM”
(v58).
Jesus couldn’t be any plainer; He was asserting to be Yahweh, the
eternally pre-existent One (c. Jn 1:1). I like what one commentator said about Jesus
referring to Himself as “I AM.”
“The sense is, not only I am what
I am at present, but I am what I have been, and I am what I shall be, and shall
be what I am.”
This sounds very familiar to
immutability (eternally unchangeable in His essence) to me (Mal 3:6).
If we let the cat out of the
bag, we would have to admit that we wrestle with this aspect of God’s
eternality of having no beginning. It cuts against the grain of our 4-D way of
thinking. On the flip side of that aspect of eternality, consider this. When we
think downstream of someone living forever, for some odd reason, this is
mentally consumable, but going upstream and believing God had no beginning is
just way too much to ingest!
All kinds of alarms start going off inside our heads that something is outside the framework of conventional thinking. Our mind rejects the stress load; either that or we really don’t want to fool with the thought of it. I will confess; it does hurt to think sometimes! Do you recall that wall of frustration I was sharing with you in Part 6? I wasn’t speaking figuratively.
All kinds of alarms start going off inside our heads that something is outside the framework of conventional thinking. Our mind rejects the stress load; either that or we really don’t want to fool with the thought of it. I will confess; it does hurt to think sometimes! Do you recall that wall of frustration I was sharing with you in Part 6? I wasn’t speaking figuratively.
If we truly believe that the
Bible is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice
and are not guilty of cherry-picking the truth of Scripture like so many people
do, then we must take by faith that God is without genesis. This is huge in
light of mainstream science playing in the Darwinian pool, or the majority is
stuck on the “everything has a beginning” construct. The Bible teaches that God is
without beginning and ending in the absolute sense of what it means to be
eternal.
However, as creatures, we do not
share that characteristic of being eternal as God is eternal. There is
another sense of the meaning of eternal, a relative sense, which applies to all
human and angelic creatures. Inherent in the world “creature” is the idea of a
beginning. Unlike God, we have a point of origin, but like God, we share in a
never-ending conscious existence. That state of existence is further broken
down into a differential eternity: eternal life (union) and eternal death
(separation). Unfallen angels and regenerated man will experience eternal union
and bliss with God forever, but fallen angels and unregenerated man will be consigned to eternal separation and suffering for all eternity.
Now, when it comes time for us to
step out into eternity (Heb 9:27, barring the rapture), is this thing we call “eternity,”
where God is said to dwell (Isa 57:15), without beginning or did it have a
point of origin? And since heaven is considered to be in eternity, does heaven have a beginning, too? This conversation is about to run out of
understanding real quick and will require some explanation without the economy of words.
At this juncture is where I rely
heavily upon my understanding of the attributes of God and hints from Scripture
to make sense of how things are laid out now beyond creation and are going to be
patterned in the future eternal state, including the new earth, new heaven, the
New Jerusalem, and the dreadful lake of fire. Again, this is conjecture on my
part, and I will obviate being dogmatic.
Before we jump in way over our
heads, you may be wondering why to jump at all; surely there is enough truth
clearly revealed to occupy our minds and challenge us. Yes, but I will remind
the reader to read Part 6 which goes into all of that, but I believe by taking
the plunge we will enhance our view of the greatness of God in a way that pulls
in all of His attributes. His Majesty is without proportion and staggeringly impressive
beyond belief. It is like a “show Me your glory” without the residual glow
Moses had to deal with (Ex 33:18; 34:29, 30, 34, 35)!
Whenever we start to question God in a negative manner,
we are questioning not only the God of creation but the God beyond creation,
the God of no beginning or end, the One who dwells in eternity. Sin is usually at the root of such a line of questioning, but not always. I
believe that many accusative-like interrogatives directed at God on why this or that is a
result of self-imposed ignorance of Him. Things like doubting our salvation
which was so solidly secured by the Messiah as well as our present and future
sanctification. Or sometimes we accuse God of abandoning us in our most painful and needful hour when He has already emphatically promised to never leave us or forsake us (Heb 13:5). The
more we learn about God the greater the assurance we have in His promises. A
promise is only as good as the One making the promise (2 Cor 1:20).
I firmly believe that if we engage in the never-ending
hot pursuit of understanding and knowing Yahweh (Jer 9:23, 24; 29:13), we will
rid ourselves of doubt in God’s wisdom and ability and come to an understanding
and have peace on whatever God decides must be done in our lives. We may not
see the good in it, but the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans come to mind.
“And we know that all
things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the
called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8:28).
It takes an eternally all-wise, all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful God to pull that verse off! For us to solely rely on the sovereignty
of God we have to learn the Word, love the Word, and live the Word; we know
this! The just shall live by faith (Gal 2:20; 3:11). This is Sanctification 101
(Col 1:9; 2 Pet 3:18).
Doesn’t it make sense that in order to be like our Lord
we have to understand and know Him? How can we remain abysmally ignorant and
claim or attempt to be like Christ? With the growing threat of apostasy bearing
down upon the Church, I fear many of the saints are going horizontal in their
worldview, putting the Bible aside, and turning into selfies! If we abandon the
teaching of Scripture as a way of life, there is no understanding; there is no
knowing; there is no blessing, only trouble….
Think of this; in all your conversations with people you
run into here and there throughout the week, how many people do you know who
take Yahweh up on this.
“But let him who glories glory in this, that he
understands and knows Me” (Jer 9:24a)?
Most of our conversations are usually about everything
but Him! You know the various reasons why. Check out this command.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16).
Being heaven-bent is the cure to self-absorption and glorifying God in word and deed (1 Cor 10:31; Col 3:17). We will take the plunge into infinity in Part 8 and attempt to answer some of these questions posed. Sink or swim, right? If we drown I can’t think of a better place than in the fathomless depths of the I AM (Rom 11:33). <><
Being heaven-bent is the cure to self-absorption and glorifying God in word and deed (1 Cor 10:31; Col 3:17). We will take the plunge into infinity in Part 8 and attempt to answer some of these questions posed. Sink or swim, right? If we drown I can’t think of a better place than in the fathomless depths of the I AM (Rom 11:33). <><
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| To Part 8 |
