According to the dictionary, eternity refers to a state to which time has no application. It is a state of timelessness. The word eternal means "everlasting, having no beginning and no end." Psalm 90:2 tells us about God’s eternality: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Since humans measure everything in time, it is very hard for us to conceive of something that had no beginning, but has always been, and will continue forever. God is above space and time.
No attribute of God is perhaps more frequently declared, more variously recited, or more universally diffused, throughout the Scriptures, than His eternity. In the very first verse of Genesis, it is said, "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth." He existed, therefore, before the beginning of created things; or, in other words, from everlasting.
In the last chapter of the Apocalypse, Christ solemnly declares this character of himself: "I am Alpha and Omega," says he, "the beginning and the ending, the first and the last." From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible proclaims the mystery of God's eternal existence - the constant in an ever-changing universe, the one sure foundation when all else fades. "From everlasting to everlasting, you are God" You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men." For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning— though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.”
Deuteronomy 32:39-40 “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god besides me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.” Since God has created time, time is subject to Him. It is therefore His pleasure to be where He wants to be. In our understanding, He can be in the past, present, or for that matter in the future. It is for this reason He says in Isaiah 46:10 “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” Given the above statement, we may say that God’s eternity as his aseity is about time. We have seen that God has no needs and is therefore independent of anything in creation. But time is itself a creation of God. That means that his relation to time is very different from ours. But God does not depend on time in the ways we do. So, for God, time is never a limit. He is sovereign over it, the lord of time. Since time is His creation, time is subject to Him and bows down to His commands and wishes.
There is no doubt that God existed before all things. The Universe was derived from him, the first or original Cause. Consequently, He is uncreated, uncaused, underived, and, of course, from Eternity, or without beginning. Since time is created by God, it is subject to Him and submits to His Creator. Thus, God is above time and exists from everlasting to everlasting. That God will forever exist is also a plain fact. Job 36:26 “Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
laddertoheaven.co.in