Our Eternal GodSample

If the eternity of God gives us perspective, confidence, and a warning, then it also, finally and briefly, gives us hope. C. S. Lewis writes of the “surprise” of the passing of time, “Notice how we are perpetually surprised at Time. (‘How time flies! Fancy John being grown-up and married? I can hardly believe it!’) In heaven’s name, why? Unless, indeed, there is something in us which is not temporal.”

Most of us have experienced surprise at the passing of time. Something within us even mourns it. It means getting older, it means change, and it often means loss. The Scriptures tell us why we feel this way. We find the passing of time hard because “he has put eternity into man’s heart” (Eccl. 3:11). We feel we were not made to die and we long for eternity. We long for life that lasts and for a reality that will endure beyond this passing world and its variation, loss, and decay. We all know that longing. And the answer to it is not found in the sports car or plastic surgery of the midlife crisis. It is not found in success or wealth or fame. It is not found anywhere in this world. It is found only in the eternal God who holds time in His hand. You and I had a beginning and we are bound by time. But here is what we can do in the face of our temporality: we can know and relate to the eternal God who has the power to give us life that will not end. Jesus tells us that eternal life is tied to knowing the eternal God. “And this is eternal life,” he says, “that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

The eternal God came into the world in the person of His Son, who gave His life to pay the debt of our sin that we might be set free from the judgment of sin and the terror of hell and be released for an endless future of joy with Him. The promises of God are great; the warnings of God are terrible. But for us who know Him, He is our dwelling place, our refuge, and our eternal hope.

This study was taken from the book GOD ALONE: HIS UNIQUE ATTRIBUTES AND HOW KNOWING THEM CHANGES US by Jonathan Griffiths. Click here to purchase the book and download the complementary small group guide.