CREATION IS REVEALING THE GLORY OF GOD

By Johnny Tatum

The Eternal Counsel Of God

 

Models Representing Reality, Or Not?

A review of the best models of the universe can help us see how quickly thinking has changed:

  • When I was in college, we learned that scientists concluded that all of the matter in the universe was compressed into something approximately the size of the sun, which was pretty small for everything in the universe.
  • About ten years later, with improvements in physics, in mathematics and in taking measurements, scientists came to the conclusion that all of the matter of the universe shrunk down to approximately the size of a period on a typewriter key.
  • About another ten years later, scientists concluded that the density of the universe at that time was infinite, meaning that all of the material in the universe — all of the weight of millions and maybe billions of galaxies — was compressed into an area that had zero dimensions. There was nothing, but all of the mass was there. When I say nothing it was NOT that there was just empty space outside it (not just emptiness), because that would have been something; there was nothing outside of that cosmic egg.

Does that represent reality? That is not knowable from science. At that time the simplest model that explained the way things were (which fit all of the data observed) was that there was nothing outside of the cosmic egg: no empty space, no light, no matter, and no time.

There is only ONE source that says Here is the way it really is: the Bible. And according to the Bible, we know the following:

  • There was a period when there was darkness, and then there was light.
  • There was a period when there was nothing, and then there was something.
  • There was a period when there was no time, and then there was time.

 

There Was A Time Before There Was Time!

Hmm… Is that not a contradiction?

I do not know how else to say it, but the period about which we will be studying is the time before time — the condition before time — before this world was created.

 

Einstein on Time

I tend to think of time as something that is fixed, as something that goes on and on and on at regular intervals, and as something that does not change. Actually, Albert Einstein (physicist who formulated a special and general theory of relativity) taught us:

 

The Bible does speak a lot about that condition before time. In fact, we know:

  • God exists before time.
  • Time is a function of this physical universe.
  • God exists apart from time.

While reading the biblical prophecies, I used to picture God looking down the corridors of time and at the future so He could predict things; however, that is not the way it is at all. God looks and sees things because He is there already. Right now, God is equally in the future as He is in the present and as He is in the past.

It is hard to imagine that God is equally in the beginning of [this world's] time as He is at the end of this age; and, that God is as much there as He is here. Essentially, there is neither a past nor a future for God; it is all a [big] present for Him. How do we know that?

Speaking of Himself, God says:

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from the ancient time the things that are not yet done. (Isaiah 46:10)

And:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 21:6)

There is no doubt: God stands outside of time in eternity.

 

The Eternal State

I struggled trying to diagram eternity and I failed because there is not a way to accurately do so. From our vantage point (from a physical dimension), this universe we know is a little blip in eternity with eternity [past] behind it and with eternity [future] ahead of it. So I drew eternity on both sides of the physical universe. But then I thought that was not right because eternity continues; eternity means "no time", therefore, a timeline is not accurate.

The eternal state has nothing to do with time. So what is Eternity?

  • Eternity is the absence of time, and it has no beginning and no end.
  • Eternity is the condition that exists before the universe began, and it will always exist.
  • Eternity is an existence that is not dependent upon this physical universe.
  • Eternity is the condition in which God lives.

Further, God calls Eternal Life the kind of life that is based on the eternal state apart from time — the kind of life that God has.

Note: The question How long did God exist? does not make any sense. Do you know why? God exists in eternity, which is unaffected by time; God is ageless.

 

A Closer Look:

Eternal Life

Eternal life does NOT mean that the redeemed will live forever; everyone is going to live forever in the sense of having consciousness forever, however, it will not be the case that individuals will watch the calendar pages flip off the wall. [Can you imagine how many calendars we would go through in a couple of billion years? -sic!] Time will stop — there will be no more time — because time is just a function of this physical universe.

So what is Eternal Life?

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Messiah Jesus whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence, with the glory which I had with you before the world was." (John 17:3-5)
  • Eternal life is a higher kind of life that does NOT have its roots in this physical universe, but it has its roots in the Lord God.
  • Eternal life is to know and be in the presence of the eternal glorified God forevermore.
  • Eternal life is not just in the future, God gives eternal life to those who believe in Him right now!

 

Do you want to accept God's free gift of eternal life? Then simply acknowledge in prayer to the Lord God:

I confess I am a sinner. No amount of time can ever help make things right between You — the Eternal God — and myself. I confess I deserve to go to hell because of my sins. But I believe that when Messiah Jesus died on the cross, He was paying the penalty for my sin. And that when He rose again, He rose to give me eternal life.

If you genuinely believe Messiah Jesus [died and rose again for you], then you have assurance of eternal life:

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

Notice: The unredeemed (those in their physical life who reject Messiah Jesus) will be judged by God at the Great White Throne and cast out from His presence to hell (a place of eternal torment). Again, time will stop; that is why they will have such an unbearably miserable existence. (See Revelation 20:11-15.)

 

Apparently, at one period in eternity there was nothing in the whole universe but the Godhead who exists as a triunity (one God in three Persons) — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Note: I do not like the use the word trinity (a word that is not in the Bible), because it only means three, and God is one. I believe triunity is a better word to use because it is descriptive of the one true God who exists as three Persons. [It was NEVER the case that He existed as one Person and later branched out to three Persons, nor is it the case that He exists as three Gods.]

The three Persons of the Godhead are [and always have been] equally present, and there is [and has always been] perfect harmony and love within the Godhead.

 

God Is Always Doing Something

The whole universe screams that God is doing something:

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. (Psalm 19:1)

Let us consider motion from the best model of our solar system — apparently:

  • The earth spins on its own axis, so the earth rotates around like a top.
  • The earth revolves around the sun.
  • The sun is rotating on its axis, so the sun rotates around like a top.
  • The sun is moving around within a broad arm of the spiral it is in.
  • That big arm of the spiral is moving around the whole galaxy and the whole galaxy is flying out into empty space.

Any way you look at the universe, you see motion and incredible energy, which tells us God is always doing something.

What is hard to understand is that even before the creation of the universe and in eternity [past] there were events — God is always doing something — but they did not have any duration. How does that occur? We do not know. However, the first activity by God in eternity [past] of which we are aware is of the spiritual dimension: the eternal decrees.

 

In that eternal state there were decisions that the God made called the Eternal Counsel. The reason they are called the Eternal Counsel is:

  1. God's decisions are made in the eternal state, so there is never a time when His decisions are not made.
  2. Things that happen in this physical universe, which is just temporary, do not effect God's decisions made in eternity.

 

Since this may be difficult to understand, let us examine a verse talking about the Eternal Counsel of God. In a Psalm of Moses, he says:

Before the mountains were brought forth,

Before You formed the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting,

You are God. (Psalm 90:2)

Notice the verb tenses:

Before the mountains were brought forth,

Before You formed the earth and the world.

He uses the past tense. Before God did all of those, he says Even from everlasting to everlasting. He acknowledges that God exists outside of this temporary creation — outside of this earth and world.

Notice that He does not say You were God. Would that not be the normal grammatical sequence? (Even before You brought forth the mountain and even before You formed the earth and the world, You were God.) Maybe that would be the normal grammatical sequence, but that is not the way God exists. He says:

You are God

Showing:

  • God does not exist in time, and
  • God is not bound by time, because
  • God is eternal.

 

In this eternal state there were some decisions that were made that had eternal consequences for us. For example, the following verses tell us that God knew us before we were born, because He ordains life:

I was cat upon You from the womb; You are my God from my mother's womb. (Psalm 22:10)

By You have I been sustained from birth. (Psalm 71;6)

You formed my inward parts; You weaved me in my mother's womb. (Psalm 139:13)

Thus says the LORD that made you, And formed you from the womb. (Isaiah 44:2)

Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things. (Isaiah 44:24)

The LORD called me from the womb; From my mother's body He named me. (Isaiah 49:1)

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, And called me by His grace. (Galatians 1:15)

 

God knew each one of us before we were born, before He made the universe, and before He made time. In that pre-time condition, the universe already existed in God's mind. And already, before the universe began, we existed in God's mind and He was already making provision for us.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; And before You were born I sanctified you. (Jeremiah 1:5)

In fact, before we were born, before anything existed, and before there was even time, God was storing up blessings (good things) for us in that eternal state before time:

Oh how great is Your goodness,

Which You have stored up for them that fear You;

Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,

Before the sons of men! (Psalm 31:19)

That decision was made in the Eternal Counsel, which means that there was never a time when that was not - not done. God prepared a package of blessings in eternity [past] for certain people who met certain conditions: for those who fear Him, for those who take refuge in Him. But since it was done in eternity, there was never a time when that was not done.

So in eternity:

  • God already had in His mind the universe,
  • God already had in His mind the creation,
  • God already had in His mind each of us as individuals, and
  • God already was preparing a package of goodies (blessings) for the ones who met certain conditions.

 

One of the most amazing decisions of the Eternal Counsel is:

God would allow rebellion and sin to come in!

Here is God, this awesome Being we cannot even fathom, doing all these things pre-time and before He creates spirit begins, before He creates the universe and everything in it, and before He creates human beings [including all of us].

In this eternal state, the Eternal Counsel of God, fully knowing what Lucifer would do and fully knowing what Adam would do, decrees to allow sin to come in and have its results. In fact, He not only says He will allow rebellion and sin to come in and disrupt the universe, but already, He had a provision to deal with it. Amazingly, all of this occurs pre-time and before creation!

A Profile of God:

In the Book of Romans, Paul tells us truths about God, including:

  • God is holy and perfect,
  • God cannot abide in the presence of sin, and
  • God has a holy response to sin: He must strike every sin committed in the world — the penalty for sin is death.

In the Eternal Counsel of God, meaning there was never a time that decision was not made, God decides that He was to take that penalty for sin upon Himself and He would die as a Substitute. However, there was a problem: God cannot die.

So what did God do? Since physical death was to only exist in the brief moment of this created universe, God was to leave the condition of eternity and come down to this blip of a universe to take upon Himself a human body so He could die.

The Eternal Counsel of God agreed that the second Person of the Godhead would be the One who would make that trip. And since it was the Eternal Counsel, there was never a time that decision was not made.

 

The Bible speaks a lot about the eternal decree that the second Person (the Lamb) would be the One who would come down to this blip of a universe, to become a man, and to die for our sins.

And all that dwelt upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)

From Our Perspective: It is true that the Lamb was slain [in the world of time] about 30-31 A.D. However, we need to remember that there is a difference in this universe, which is bound by time, and in the eternal state, which is not.

From God's Perspective: (remember, God is equally present in the past, present, and future) the second Person of the Triunity is [eternally] slain by His own choice.

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son. (Galatians 4:4)

The fulness of time means, "the second Person of the Triunity entered the world of time".

 

Next:

Creation Is Revealing The Glory Of God: ETERNAL LIFE

 

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We want to express our deepest appreciation to Mitchell and Dawn Kolodin for their excellent work in transcribing and editing this Creation series.

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