“From everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90:2b).

God is eternal. He had no beginning, and He will have no end. This truth is clearly revealed hundreds of times in the pages of the Bible. Yet it is a reality that is hard to fully grasp. That the perfect triune God had no beginning is mind-boggling. Before the mountains were formed, He was. Before He spoke all things into existence, He was. Before time was, He was. This is true because He is self-existing, requiring nothing outside of Himself to exist. Closely related to His eternality and self-existence is His immutability, that is, He is unchanging in His attributes, character, plan, and promises. He truly is a great God. Jeremiah wrote, “There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might” (Jer. 10:6).

The eternality of God should be a great comfort or a horrible terror to us, depending on our relationship to Him. If you have put your trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior, the eternality of God should be a great comfort. Think about it. If God is eternal and unchanging, and He is, the child of God will never, even in 100-billion millennia, be separated from the love of God in Christ (see Rom. 8:31-39). Nothing, not even the endless ages to come, can separate a believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus. His lovingkindnesses will indeed never cease because His compassions never fail (Lam. 3:22). What comfort!

On the other hand, if you have not turned to the Lord and received the free gift of eternal life in Christ, the eternality of God should not be a comfort but a terrifying reality. Not only is God’s love and grace to His children without end, but His righteousness and wrath is also never-ending. About the lost, God reveals that “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night” (Rev. 14:11a). This is a terrifying thought, but it is true for all those who do not flee to God for salvation.

There is one hope of escape. If you humble yourself, repent, and believe in God’s Savior, Jesus Christ, and His once for all death for your sin, you can, and in fact will, escape the eternal wrath of God and experience the glory of His goodness and grace throughout the endless ages (see Rev. 21-22). This salvation is free to all who believe; moreover, it is of urgent importance. Man, at his best is a mere breath (Ps. 39:5), and no one knows the day of his death (Ecc. 9:12). Take refuge and comfort in the eternal God and His everlasting arms today.