God has no beginning, and He
will have no end. In other words, our God is eternal. The Scriptures declare
that “His dominion is an eternal dominion” (Dan 4:34). God is eternal, meaning that He existed prior to
everything else.
Before the mountains were born or you brought
forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God (Psalm 90:2).
Man is so cherished by God
that, even in eternity past, God’s affections were fixed upon him. The Bible
tells us that God “chose us… before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4). God is eternal, and so is His
love for man. The Psalmist marveled at this fountain of eternal love:
As for man, his days are like grass, he
flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the
Lord’s love is with those who fear him (Psalm
103:15-17).
God has designed man to live
and love Him forever. The Bible tells us that God has “set eternity in the
hearts of men” (Eccles 3:11). Thus,
our minds cannot imagine all of existence being swallowed up by nothingness. We
are going to live forever; it is simply a matter of where.
In modern debates over the
origins of the universe, there are three possible conclusions: (1) God must be
eternal, (2) matter must be eternal, or (3) everything must have emerged from
nothing. The third option can be dismissed. It would be utter absurdity to
claim that nothing overcame nothingness, fashioned its own dimension in which
to exist, and then evolved from nothing into everything. The basic laws of
physics and common sense absolutely forbid such a conclusion. This leaves us
with two possible options. Either an eternal God created all matter, or — as
the skeptic would say — eternal matter evolved and “created” god. Both cannot
be true.
If we conclude that matter is
eternal, then we are left with no explanation for the existence of order,
scientific laws, and the properties demonstrated by the material universe. Proponents
of eternal matter must assume that any such laws blindly evolved without any
design or guidance. This notion of eternal matter ignores one of the most basic
laws of physics — the second law of thermodynamics. Simply put, this law
explains that all matter exists in a constant state of decay. Dr. Isaac Asimov,
professor of biochemistry at Boston
University
Another way of stating
the second law then is: “The universe is constantly getting more disorderly!” …
How difficult to maintain houses, and machinery, and our bodies in perfect
working order: how easy to let them deteriorate. In fact, all we have to do is
nothing, and everything deteriorates, collapses, breaks down, wears out, all by
itself — and that is what the second law is all about.”
If matter is eternal then it
would have undergone an infinite degree of decay. There would be no remaining
order, and the entire universe would have fallen into total disarray and utter
ruins.
As astrophysicists learn more
about our universe, a majority of scientists have become convinced that the
universe had a beginning. Most scientists accept the theory that the universe
began with a single event that hurled the galaxy outward in various directions.
Upon studying the movement of the stars, scientists claim that they are expanding
outwardly from a central point of origin. Therefore, if one were to rewind the
progress of the universe’s outward expansion, it would eventually be condensed
to a point of singular origin. In other words, it would have a beginning!
Dr. Janna Levin, professor of
Physics and Astronomy at Columbia
University
If matter is not eternal,
then it seems that we are left with only one plausible explanation. There must
have been an intelligent Being who existed before all matter was created. It
was this all-powerful Being who brought all matter into existence with precise
design and everlasting purpose. Mankind will exist forever, yet our God existed
even before existence! This is the God presented to us in the Scriptures. This
is our “King eternal”!
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