The Absurdity of Eternity

Always, Everywhere, All at Once

God Is.  God Always has Been.  God Always will Be and there is no “shadow of turning”, no adjustments, no learning, no becoming, in God.   Even in the saying of that Truth, for many of us, there are ripples or waves or breakers or even tsunamis of questions and perceived exceptions – some we can even find in God’s word itself.  For we are told that He repented or turned back; that He asked questions that sound like a search for knowledge; that He feels emotions – and we reflect on the circumstances of our own lives that produce those attitudes and thoughts and actions in ourselves and we assume that somehow, He is our equal.  But out of the mouth of Balaam – the man who’s donkey spoke to him, “But God is not a man that He should lie, or the son of a man that He should repent…” (Numbers 23:19ff).

So, what about it? 

We, as Mankind, face a dilemma.  We either come to God with the confidence that He is (meaning that He is and always has been Himself) and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, who inquire after Him (Heb.11:6); or not at all.  In other words – we are allowed to ask questions and will actually be compensated for doing so, as long as we have confidence in His immutability; His unchanging Nature and Character.

God being eternal – taken alone, for the sole purpose of understanding our inherent limitations – is truly incomprehensible. 

I will try to give an example. 

Mathematicians, when considering real numbers (“real” meaning real people can understand them), use the term “approaching infinity” (just don’t ask a mathematician to explain what is meant by saying that unless you have plenty of time): real numbers are approaching infinity but are not infinite.  In a very practical way, that statement hits our brains very much like the idea of “eternity” does.  We cannot help ourselves but to try to add or subtract an integer from it – mentally extending the line that contains all the numbers before it “forever”.  The “line” in our visualization actually becomes the representation of the numbers.  But the numbers are not the line, the line is a construct that allows us to perceive the infinitely (or approaching infinity) extensive order of counting.  If I may expand the idea even deeper: in advanced mathematics the distance between any two integers – let’s say “1” and “2” – also approaches infinity.  The “distance” between “1” and “2” goes on “forever” by simply adding another “1” directly to the right of the decimal point (1.1, 1.11, 1.111, etc.) this prevents us from ever getting to “2”…and in fact prevents us from ever getting to “1.2”. 

I think you get my point. 

To our brains “eternity” is the absurdity of the approaching infinite numbers between something as easily perceived as “1” and “2” but extended three-dimensionally in all directions at once (as opposed to along the single, approaching infinite, straight line that our brains “visualize” when we are counting).  This dynamic regarding the eternal, results in our applying conventions that we tell ourselves are ‘simply for convenience and should not be granted too much substance’ as we ponder the wonderment of God. 

Let me try one more time to demonstrate: If we think about the crystal sea around the throne of God in heaven, we may visualize it as how the ocean might appear if we were standing on a buoy in the middle of it, so that all we saw in every direction was water.  The water would be spreading out in all compass points at some unknown depth, but at a relatively known surface level.  The description in the Bible, however, is that it extends in all directions – so, like space would extend from a satellite far from any planet or sun.  Having learned that and going back to the crystal sea, we can force our minds to hold that image for a bit – until we are told of the elders on their seats – who also are “around” the throne in the same way – truly three dimensionally, as opposed to concentric circles with the Throne of God on the floor, in the midst.  Despite what we are told, without extreme discipline, not just initially, but continuously, the scene in our minds shifts to a plane – still three dimensional, but more “normal” or conventional.

I belabor this because: we should not be so hard on ourselves when we run head long (or maybe just gently bump into) the idea of the eternal and infinite nature of God and find that we can hardly contain its implications.  God surely understands our challenge – of course He does.  Therefore, His understanding leads Him to use language that fits into our finite perceptions of space and existence and activity.  (By the way, I leave “time” out of this explanation on purpose – we are told that there is an end to time (Daniel 12:4) and, instead, we are told of life without day or night (Rev.21:23; 22:5-6).  But we are shown at the end of time, after the end of the week of Redemption, the continuation of space and activities and existence.)

In His kindness, God goes so far in His efforts to relate with us as to become a man – to interact with His creation so directly, within the confines of time, that He becomes, at least in part, subject to the passing of time.  I consider this particular miracle to be one of the greatest and I see it as a part of the Everlasting Covenant by which He makes Himself and His Ways known to us, who are His creation made in His Image and Likeness.