“Eternal” 7-3-22

Overview

The God Who Cannot Be Measured

From birth, we make sense of the world by measuring—height, weight, time, chronology. We even try to measure God, fitting Him into a box so we can understand Him. But Scripture refuses to let us. Job asks, "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea" Job 11:7-9. As Luther put it, God cannot be subjected to any human judgment or measurement. He stands outside time and space, unconstrained by our limits.

In Revelation 1:8, the Lord declares, "I am the Alpha and the Omega…who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." At first this sounds like a measurement—a beginning and an end. But in rabbinic usage, pairing the first and last letters of the alphabet pictured totality, the entirety of a thing. God is not merely infinite (infinity is still a numerical concept); He is eternal. As Isaiah 44:6 declares, "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no God." There has never been a time when God was not.

This eternality belongs to the Son as well. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" John 1:1-3; "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" Hebrews 13:8. This means the cross was never Plan B. Before creation, before sin, the victory of God over death already is. The risen Christ proclaims, "I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades" Revelation 1:17-18. Because God is eternally just, sin must be answered—and we could never pay that debt. So in mercy, the eternal Son humbled Himself, accepted the constraints of time and flesh, and marched to Calvary to bear the weight of sin upon Himself.

This is why the promise of John 3:16 still stands: we are not eternal as God is eternal, yet in Christ we are given eternal life. When the Father looks at you, He does not see a condemned sinner; He sees the eternal righteousness of His Son. We will never fully grasp the depth of the sin debt that was paid, nor the cost it bore Him—but we also will never reach the end of His love, forgiveness, and mercy. It is higher than heaven, deeper than Sheol, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. It will not fit in any box we build. And it is, eternally, for you.

Transcript

If you would please open your Bible to the book of Revelation chapter 1, if you're using 3s

a Pew edition of the Bible, that can be found on page 217 in the New Testament. 10s

We're in Revelation chapter 1. 16s

From the moment we're born, from the moment we're born, we are trying to figure out this 21s

world. 28s

We are trying to figure out life. 28s

One of the ways that we do that is with measuring. 32s

I remember, and it may just be an Nebraska thing, but that game that you play with babies 35s

where they say, so big, so big, and as a baby grows and starts totalling, you might 41s

start marking measurements along the door post. 49s

You take a child and then as we get older, we still continue to go to the doctor and 53s

what happens, we get measured, we get weighed, and we know so much about life through measurement. 58s

There's a lot of ways that we measure. 68s

We measure height. 71s

We measure depth. 72s

We measure width. 73s

We measure weight, volume area. 74s

We have all these ways of understanding or figuring out life and existence through measurement. 76s

One of the ways that we measure is through a timeline through chronology. 87s

In the summer, or this summer, we have a small group going that is reading through the 92s

Bible in 90 days in chronological order, because we want to make sense of God's word, 98s

and we want to measure it in that linear chronology timeline so that we can understand 107s

it better so that we can understand and know God better. 116s

And as we engage with Scripture, as we read, we realize that God is so other than what we're 122s

expecting. 132s

We begin to try to figure out what or who or how God is. 134s

And so by doing so, we try to measure Him. 140s

We try to figure out how He works, what exactly is going on. 146s

And we want to understand God and so we try to fix Him and fit Him in sort of this box. 152s

So we can have a better understanding. 160s

But we can't fit God into a box. 164s

Not even a really, really big box. 167s

We can't fit God into a box. 170s

If we read from Job, it's written, can you find out the deep things of God? 175s

Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? 180s

It is higher than heaven. 184s

What can you do? 186s

Deeper than shale, what can you know? 187s

It's measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. 191s

When I first started really trying to figure out how God works or who God works 198s

or how life works in consideration with God, it was in physics class. 205s

There's nothing like a physics class to make you go, how does world work, how does creation work, 211s

what's happening here, and I would day dream and I would come to the same conclusion 219s

that I know nothing. 224s

That I am nothing. 227s

And it was this repeating cycle of I am nothing and God is so big. 230s

But even in knowing that God is so big, I'm trying to put him in a box. 236s

I'm just trying to put him in a really, really big box. 244s

How can we measure God? 250s

How can we measure God? 253s

Well, we can't. 256s

We can't measure God. 258s

This is where we come to Revelation chapter 1, verse 8. 260s

I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty. 264s

Okay, Alpha and Omega. 276s

There's a beginning, there's an end, it makes sense. 280s

But Luther says God cannot be subjected to any human judgment or measurement. 284s

And I appreciate that. 292s

I appreciate what he says that God cannot be judged by our reasoning. 294s

God cannot be judged according to our standards. 304s

Because God is outside of time and space. 311s

God is unconstrained by any of our limitations. 316s

I am the Alpha and the Omega says the Lord God who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty. 325s

Okay, but Alpha and Omega, it feels like it's a measurement. 338s

Right, it feels at least in a sense like we're measuring. 343s

I mean, Alpha, first letter of the Greek alphabet, first, Omega, last letter of the Greek alphabet. 348s

Last, we have a start, we have an end, there's some sort of chronology here, right? 354s

But Alpha and Omega are not just beginning and end. 361s

In rabbinical theology, they would use the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet that is 367s

Olaf and Tov and those used together gave a picture of totality, of something in its entirety. 377s

So the Lord here says he is the Alpha and the Omega, the entirety, the totality. 389s

So how can we understand God to be immeasurable without a measure? 403s

Let's turn to who he is from the get-go. 415s

In Isaiah, we read, I the Lord and first and will be the last. 419s

Before me, no God was formed nor shall there be any after me. 425s

I am the first and I am the last. 430s

Besides me, there is no God. 434s

So God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit is. 438s

Is there is no other God that came before? 444s

There is no other God that will come after. 447s

So we could say that he is infinite. 451s

But even infinity has numerical value. 457s

Even infinity has numerical value. 463s

We have a little symbol that means infinity. 465s

We can't use that because it is different than eternal. 471s

God cannot be measured in any sort of way and no other will ever be eternal as God is eternal. 476s

Well, this brings up another question then because we are promised as a Christian people eternal. 489s

Life, how does that still stand? 496s

Well, John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that all who believe in him 499s

would not perish but have eternal life. 506s

The promise stands. 511s

The promise stands. 514s

Let's consider this alpha and omega. 517s

The totality of first and last that's outside of time that's outside of linear chronology. 521s

Okay, so we're going to take another step back and this is where we go to that physics daydreaming. 534s

Right? We just keep having to take steps back, steps back, steps back. 538s

We're taking another step back. So in the Gospel of John chapter 1, the first verse we read 542s

in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. 549s

He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and without him, 557s

not one thing came into being. So the word of God before time, 563s

the word of God was with God and was God. Now we know that the word of God is Jesus the Christ. 570s

So Jesus, the Christ, second person of the Trinity was with God was God always has been before 582s

time and it's important to understand here that if the word of God is before time, 590s

then God's plan for sending His word was not plan B. When sin entered into creation, 600s

in humanity or before humanity's failure, the victory of God was known. 614s

From the beginning of creation, God's victory over death is. 623s

God knew from before creation that He would enter into humanity in order to save and draw 634s

lost humanity to His own glory. In the beginning was the word, the word was God, 644s

the word was with God and we jumped down and we read that the word was made flesh. 654s

Jesus Christ is the walking word of the Lord and we know that Jesus Christ was the word. 663s

Hebrews says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So the word of God 676s

is before the first. The word of God is before time began. It's just like we heard in the very 683s

first sermon of this entire series on the attributes of God. God is. God is. There is nothing that 692s

causes him to be. He is and He was and He always will be. There has never been a time 701s

in which God was not. There's never been a time in which God was not. And so in His eternalness 714s

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the totality, the entirety of everything, of all things. 726s

And in that, in His totality, as He proclaims Himself the Alpha and the Omega, He says, 740s

I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead and see I am alive forever and ever. 748s

And I have the keys of death and of Hades. Before time was the victory over death is. 756s

The victory over death was in and always has been in the hands of God eternally. 772s

Which then leads us to another question. Okay. If this was known eternally, 785s

then why didn't God just puke make things okay make things right. Why did why didn't He decide 791s

that there would just be no death? That was not His plan. Because that was not His plan. 803s

When we venture into wanting all the answers, when we venture into demanding 814s

God to answer for His plan, we're venturing into measuring, measuring God 823s

against our standards against our want against our will. We can't fit God into our box. 834s

And we're not called to fit Him into our box. So instead we're going to shift our thinking a little bit. 848s

We're going to approach this from a different way. Okay. God is eternal. 856s

Which means that He is. He was. He always be. We know He is unchanging. He is immutable. 864s

He does not change. He is who He is. He is the great I am. And as such, 871s

He is eternally just. eternally just. Sin is eternally wicked, unholy and other than God. 881s

There has to be an answer. There has to be a punishment for sin. As an eternal just God 898s

He cannot let sin stand. Sin must be punished. And you and I can never pay the sin debt. 910s

No amount of money, no amount of pleading, none of it. No amount of work. 930s

We'll not pay the sin debt ever. But in His mercy, 941s

outside of time, God's plan was to humble Himself. God's plan was to humble Himself and enter into humanity. 948s

To humble Himself and let Himself be constrained by space, by time. 965s

He subjected Himself to this constraints of humanity in order to answer to the eternal justice of God. 975s

Jesus, the Alpha, before time, outside of time, full divine, full glory, fully, 993s

other, entered into humanity. And as He did His ministry, He marched toward a place in Calvary, 1006s

where the fullness of sin of all time and all places would descend upon Him. 1022s

And He would take it all upon Himself in order to pay our sin debt. 1036s

We are not eternal in the same way that God is eternal. Yet we are promised eternal life. 1050s

And this is made possible in Christ alone. In His mercy, in His mercy, God has deemed it right. 1064s

That we would have eternal life. And in His great mercy, He deemed it right, 1077s

that we should not spend eternity in sin. So when the Father looks to us or looks at us, 1087s

He does not see a condemned sinner. Instead, He sees the eternal righteousness of His Son. 1099s

And that is where we have the promise of the eternal life. 1112s

So if there a measurement, is there any measurement that we hold, which could even begin to capture 1120s

what this great gift of eternal life is? Is there any measurement? Go back to Job. 1129s

It's higher than heaven. Deeper than shale. It's measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. 1140s

In His mercy, we will never know the fullness of the sin debt, which has been paid. 1155s

And in His mercy, we will never know the pain, the hurt, the sorrow, the depth that are sined, cost him. 1166s

But in His grace, we also know that His love, His forgiveness, and His mercy for His creation, 1190s

for you, His sons and daughters, it is immeasurable. It is a gift that we can never fit in a box. 1208s

Not even a really big box. But we know we know that His eternal gift 1224s

is for you. 1237s