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!
You could say, Time is my thing. Understanding it (and eternity) is part of my gift from God--"
like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old" (Matthew 13:52).
Time is indeed a creation of God, it has purpose that has a beginning and also an end.
To understand, perhaps you have read the passage of scripture, "
there was silence in heaven for about half an hour" (Revelation 8:1). Time is that half an hour. Which the scriptures also describe in the dividing of "
the light from the darkness." Time is the darkness...therefore it is written, "
For now we see through a glass, darkly."
In your post you gave thoughts on how "There was a time before we existed but we will never cease to exist!" What is actually occurring, is that with the gift of eternal life, comes both eternity pass and future (as we might consider it from our being in time, looking back and also forward). Which is so, because the gift of eternal life--
is God, giving of Himself. Being born of God a multitude is born (again)--but "
as one man", that man being Christ. Since the beginning (since Adam and Eve) from
that one man all are first born of the flesh, which is to say, of form, having "
shadow of turning." The apostle James wrote that "
the Father of lights", has "
no shadow of turning" (James1:17). Which, as Jesus said, because "
God is spirit", there is no form to create a shadow, that is, as we think of form.
At this juncture, many would roll their eyes and consider such an existence not even possible, let alone believable...and yet history shows just how foolish many were not to believe in many biblical things they simply had not yet known. It is true, we don't know what we don't know--and the common reaction is not to believe it. If anyone does not believe it, let them read of it in the scriptures--it is the worst kind of pattern, a human tenancy, apparently--causing the people of God to persecute and kill many sent to them with words from God they had never heard before, even the cause of the crucifixion of Christ.
But the scriptures also say that God is not only spirit, but "
is perfect" lacking nothing...not even form. And yet spiritual form made manifest, is only light, and righteous, having no darkness. As Paul said, "
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). So, just because we may not be able to even imagine or understand it all...doesn't mean it isn't so.
We have much to look forward to!
