Isaiah 57:15 says that God inhabits eternity. When we say that God is eternal, we mean that He exists outside of time. This does not mean that time is evil; God created time and Adam and Eve existed in time before the curse. Time will continue to exist for us eternally.
We dwell in time, and everything we know is bound in the restriction of time. Reality is bound up in terms of past, present and future, beginning and ending. At the curse, time became our great limiter. The ticking of the clock squelches our capacity to accomplish what we want to accomplish. We have alarm clocks and schedules and appointments. This life is a constant battle with time, and time does not ever lose the battle. Time takes its toll on our physical frame day by day until this life comes to an end. In light of our being limited by time, Psalm 90:12 tells us that we must number our days in order to gain a heart of wisdom. In light of our limitation, we must realize that every day is the gift of God.
God never had a beginning, and He will never cease to be. Psalm 90:2 says, “from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” Whereas we dwell in the constant stream of the future rushing into the past, God does not dwell in the realm of the ticking of the clock. 2 Peter 3:8 quotes Psalm 90:4 when it says that with the Lord, a thousand years are as a day. This is not meant as a way for us to impose a timetable on God. It teaches us that God is not bound by time. Isaiah 46:10 says that He declares the end from the beginning. How? He is already there. The Scriptures repeat the truth that God’s works have been accomplished “from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 13:35, 25:34; Luke 11:50; John 17:24; Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 4:3, 9:26; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8, 17:8) The repetition emphasizes that this is not inconsequential.
The reality that God is eternal should fill our hearts with worship, wonder and ever deepening trust. God can never fail to achieve His sovereign purpose because of “unforeseen circumstances.” He is already in all our tomorrows because He is eternal.
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