How old is God?

"From eternity, from the beginning, or ever the earth was" — long before "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" at the laying of its foundations; before the morning stars themselves, or the sons of God, had begun to exist; before ages had started to run, or time to be counted, God was; and He was "the living God."

The dread and sacred Name Jehovah means underived existence, the Self-Existing One. To Israel the Name was explained as "I AM WHO I AM" (Ex. 3:14); to the nations as "him who is and who was and who is to come" (Rev. 1:4; 4:8). "Which is" implies independent, unchangeable existence. "Which was" points to Jehovah's relation to the past. "Which is to come" shows His connection with the future.

Creative power involves eternal power, for everything begins by creation, and all creation begins. But what creatures must be is to exist absolutely without a beginning. "I am," therefore, or absolute existence, is the one true revelation of God as such.

God is called the Father of eternity, and the eternal God. He is also said to inhabit eternity. The word must be taken in its full, unlimited sense, showing the infinity of Deity in regard to what we call time. We are lost when we try to think of eternity. Time, to us, is what comes in between events our minds can take account of, just as space is what we think of as the distance between bodies. There is no time with Him who is the First and the Last, who is, was, and is to come, nor are there measurements of space with Him who fills heaven and earth.

Things do not begin with God. Things do not happen to Him the way they happen to us. His life is one eternal present, one eternal NOW. Time does not enter into His life. One day is with Him as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. When sin entered He did not have to turn round and ask what should be done. He did not have to work out plans.

Generation after generation would come and go; but there is One who has been Israel's dwelling place and their refuge in all generations… From all eternity He is the everlasting God. In His hands are all men… Time to Him is nothing. A thousand years — and no man has ever yet lived so long — are in His eyes only as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Such is God — everlasting. Such are men, fleeting mortal creatures.

Words two hundred and fifty years old, but as fresh and rich and young as ever. Years, centuries, ages make no change in God. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations," said Moses in Psalm 90, for that dwelling place was never closed to the generations of God's people. He was, always and ever, their home… He is a wise and happy man who makes God his dwelling place.

God introduces Himself as the high and lofty One, whose Name is Holy. And when He says that He dwells in the high and holy place, inhabiting eternity, we can easily understand this. He is the Holy One, "who dwells in unapproachable light" (1 Tim. 6:16). Solomon rightly asked, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you" (1 Kings 8:27).

He who is seen here as from everlasting is also traced on to everlasting… When the created heavens and earth have done their work, He who made them will fold them up and lay them aside, as men do a worn-out garment; for when the stream of time has fully run its course according to the divine counsels, eternity goes on… "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain."