The topic of eternity

[dmdarapt]

I have been pondering something- it is regarding eternity. God is eternal, and inhabits eternity. When thinking about the topic of eternity alot of people think of something that has no end, but being eternal also means that it also had no beginning! Indeed there was never a "time" when God was not or before He existed, and there will also never be a "time" after He existed! Thinking of eternity this way helps us to understand it, it is very hard to get our minds around eternity as everyone has been born inside time and all things in the universe are presently passing away! God created time, He is not bound by it! I believe that heaven is also eternal, it cannot be both eternal and inside time at the same time, so this is evidence that heaven is outside time! If anything more to this comes to you let me know, I am trying to get some more of this down!

Something that is interesting- there was a time when each of us were created and thus was a time when we were not, but our spirit never dies so there will never cease to exist after we are created! There was a time before we existed but we will never cease to exist! This means we were created inside time but will transition from time to eternity when we die! We are not quite like God, who is completely eternal and was never created!

Let me know if this all witnesses with you, I need confirmation that this is from God!

 

[AdHoc]

21 minutes ago, dmdarapt said:

I have been pondering something- it is regarding eternity. God is eternal, and inhabits eternity. When thinking about the topic of eternity alot of people think of something that has no end, but being eternal also means that it also had no beginning! Indeed there was never a "time" when God was not or before He existed, and there will also never be a "time" after He existed! Thinking of eternity this way helps us to understand it, it is very hard to get our minds around eternity as everyone has been born inside time and all things in the universe are presently passing away! God created time, He is not bound by it! I believe that heaven is also eternal, it cannot be both eternal and inside time at the same time, so this is evidence that heaven is outside time! If anything more to this comes to you let me know, I am trying to get some more of this down!

Something that is interesting- there was a time when each of us were created and thus was a time when we were not, but our spirit never dies so there will never cease to exist after we are created! There was a time before we existed but we will never cease to exist! This means we were created inside time but will transition from time to eternity when we die! We are not quite like God, who is completely eternal and was never created!

Let me know if this all witnesses with you, I need confirmation that this is from God!

 

I would say that you've about nailed it. Perhaps you would agree that heaven is not eternal. It had a beginning (Gen.1:1). It is "created".

I am the first to agree with you that we humans do not have the intellect to fathom eternity, so it's an exercise in futility to squabble about it. But we must BELIEVE it. And much hangs on this matter. Because our Lord possessed humanity, He could die for men. But because He possessed eternal life, the things that He achieved became ETERNAL. For instance, in Hebrews 5:9 ...

9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him

or 2nd Timothy 2:10 ....

10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory

 

[Not me]

18 hours ago, dmdarapt said:

I have been pondering something- it is regarding eternity. God is eternal, and inhabits eternity. When thinking about the topic of eternity alot of people think of something that has no end, but being eternal also means that it also had no beginning! Indeed there was never a "time" when God was not or before He existed, and there will also never be a "time" after He existed! Thinking of eternity this way helps us to understand it, it is very hard to get our minds around eternity as everyone has been born inside time and all things in the universe are presently passing away! God created time, He is not bound by it! I believe that heaven is also eternal, it cannot be both eternal and inside time at the same time, so this is evidence that heaven is outside time! If anything more to this comes to you let me know, I am trying to get some more of this down!

Something that is interesting- there was a time when each of us were created and thus was a time when we were not, but our spirit never dies so there will never cease to exist after we are created! There was a time before we existed but we will never cease to exist! This means we were created inside time but will transition from time to eternity when we die! We are not quite like God, who is completely eternal and was never created!

Let me know if this all witnesses with you, I need confirmation that this is from God!

 

Hi, very interesting pondering, eternity is definitely worth peering into, it can, how can I say this, ‘bend the mind’…. 

Another thought I once read is, as you brought forth, we were created in time, I have read a writer that brings forth, though this is true, that which we were made out of, the material, the substance, whatever we were made out of, itself, had to be eternal for us to be eternal…. Thought it was quite an interesting thought…

Be blessed in your searching into…

 

A fellow believer, Not me 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Not me

[TreeFivew]

If the Creator and heaven have no beginning and end, do you think it’s safe to say that everything is predestined....written in advance?  I think time is just a temporary way of measuring this current life. Do you believe everything has already happened, since the Creator is outside of time?

[Michael37]

On 6/13/2022 at 9:07 AM, dmdarapt said:

I have been pondering something- it is regarding eternity. God is eternal, and inhabits eternity. When thinking about the topic of eternity alot of people think of something that has no end, but being eternal also means that it also had no beginning!

Safe to say that with things infinite and eternal the application of beginnings and endings is irrelevant.

Eternal life is the reward promised to those who are in Christ so being absorbed into eternity erases that which was temporal.

Isa 65:17  “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.

[Omegaman 3.0]

On 6/12/2022 at 2:07 PM, dmdarapt said:

I believe that heaven is also eternal, it cannot be both eternal and inside time at the same time, so this is evidence that heaven is outside time! If anything more to this comes to you let me know, I am trying to get some more of this down!

Re: the above quoted part, I don't think that this is probably quite right. Heaven is not physical, not matter, energy, time and space, etc. However, it was created in the beginning, so it is not eternal.

Otherwise I think most of what you expressed is parallel to what I have been thinking since about 1990. I see eternity as yes, something God inhabited, but I never say He did so BEFORE the creation. Why, because I believe the time itself is a creation, so the was no "before" the creation, only outside of or apart from creation. I believe that all the things of creation, are withing the "boundaries" (there are no boundaries in eternity), never the less eternity is the container in which creation exists. God inhabits eternity, yes, but, He also inhabits His creation, coinhabits it with us, and in some thing I do not claim to understand, He is in believers, and we in Him.

In case it was not clear from the above, I would hold that eternity is not a lot of time, it is not made of time, time is made in it, but eternity is something else entirely. Time, like us, has no end, so moving forward it is eternal, looking backward, not so.

I think my biggest question about this would be - does it matter that I know or understand any of this? I cannot think of how it changes anything for me now or ever. I do admit to being a little intrigued by the idea that:

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 

Maybe I need to rethink my comment, that "before" has not relevance, since the passaged about might indicated that I was chosen in eternity. However, perhaps the "before" just means that God chose as sort of a first thing, before He actually made anything. All speculation!

[Dennis1209]

Time and divisions are fascinating subjects. Since Einstein and atomic clocks, it has been proven that everyone does not experience time equally. Unless my perception of time is different, the older I get, the faster time goes by. The late Dr. Charles Missler had some fascinating insights and comments about time. Below are only my musings.

My thoughts are in alignment with the OP. The sun, moon, and stars were created for us to know the times and seasons, or said another way, to measure time. Notwithstanding, they were made for God’s glory.

There are many thought-provoking things to contemplate concerning time, of which we have more questions than answers.

My finite thinking goes, how can a cardiovascular system, the blood, and its complex components and works develop over time (evolution) to give life as one example? It cannot; it has to be instantly created simultaneously.

I suspect our physical 3D universe was created the same way. You cannot station matter in a place if there is no space or time to place it? I reason all three had to be created at the exact moment. Which leads me to other interesting ponderings?

Angels and the heavenly host are created beings, yes? They witnessed the creation and shouted with joy. If they saw and experienced the creation of time, they were-are outside of time also? Could time be a dimension?

As we know and believe, God had no beginning nor has an end; He is the “I am” eternal and everlasting. It is arguable about the age of the earth and universe, but for the sake of argument, let’s say it is about six thousand years old. In time, God was, is, and will always be active doing something and never idle (to my understanding).

Here’s a mind-blower we cannot even speculate on. What was God active in and doing before creation and eternity past with no time or creation?

I know I have too much “time” on my hands.  😊

[Mike Mclees]

It was said that you believe we were created in time. Since time having no beginning and no end these thoughts are not new to me. the great science theory claims the big bang was the beginning of time. I have never believed that for one minute. I believe both God and time has always existed and when creation began was simply a point in time and all things that became a part of our reality and living universe by Him were also points in time. You and I became living beings by God at a point in time designed I believe science has its place but dead wrong when time began. When before the universe came into being whether a big bang or not and material things did not exist both God and time existed. That is what I believe.

Edited June 26, 2022 by Mike Mclees

[Omegaman 3.0]

1 hour ago, Dennis1209 said:

What was God active in and doing before creation and eternity past with no time or creation?

I have heard something said to the effect of:

Q. What was God doing before the creation of the heavens and the earth?

A. Inventing Hell for people who ask such questions!

A more serious answer might be sort of hidden in the tetragrammaton, something along the lines of "existing". He did not need anything, I suppose not even needing anything to "do". "I was what I have always been, am what I continue to be, and will be what I prove to be."

Who knows, maybe He was making other creations / planes of existence that have nothing to do with us, so why bother us with details that do not relate to us and we would not understand anyway, we don't even understand much about the one we find ourselves in!

"Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." John 21:25

 

[Alive]

A hint?

“By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”

(Hebrews 11:3 NAS95)