Where did God come from? When did He come into being? The answer is that the question does not even make sense. It is like asking, "What does thunder smell like?" Thunder is a noise and is not in the classification of things that have odor, so the query itself is defective. It is like asking, “Who made the Unmade?” or, “Who created the Uncreated?” One may as well ask, “Who are the parents of the unknown soldier?” If you could answer who his parents where he would no longer be the unknown solider. Likewise, you cannot answer how old God is or where He came from, because if you did He could not be the eternal God. This line of questioning assumes that everything is subject to the limitations of time and space, and there is nothing outside the limitations of time and space.
The reason we cannot answer these questions is that God is the unmade, Self-Existent One. The most read page of the Bible is probably the first page of Genesis. The first three words on that page are: “In the beginning ...” Belief in this self-existent God is the primary foundation of the Christian’s faith (Heb. 11:8). If you asked most people what the greatest single defining attribute of God is, they would probably answer, “His power.” Yet there is another attribute of God that is the characteristic that makes God most different from us - His Eternity.
God Is
He is the “Eternal God” (Dt. 33:27) and the “everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Is. 40:28). In fact, the very name of God “Yahweh” means "the Eternal" (Genesis 21:33). When Moses suggested that people would ask him who had sent him to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, God told him to say that “I AM THAT I AM” had sent him. (Ex. 3:14). In short, God just is.
God Is Spirit
Humans have flesh and blood and so do animals. Trees and plants are made up of material substance, however God is not like a man. "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19; cf. Matthew 16:17). God does not have a body, consisting of parts and material substance, as we do.
Jesus told the woman at the well, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth'' (John 4:24). Since God is a spiritual entity, He exists outside of the three-dimensional, physical world in which we live. The things which are seen are temporal; but some things which are not seen are eternal. Time exists when matter exists. Time has even been called the fourth dimension. But God is not matter. Therefore, to ask where God came from is to ask a question that cannot really be applied to God in the first place. He lives in a different dimension than us. Because that dimension has different laws by which it operates, He exists in timelessness.
God Is Infinite
When we say that God is infinite, the meaning is that he is unbounded and unlimited. God cannot be bound or limited anyway. He is not limited by the constraints of time. God is not bound by the confinements of space. No one existed before, after or above Him to limit Him (Isa. 43:10; 44:6). Thus, we cannot apply the limitations of our physical existence to God who is unlimited in His spiritual existence. Peter wrote, “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). This does not mean that God cannot tell time. Peter is showing us that God is not bound by or concerned with time as you and I are. He is a timeless being.
Everything, but God, is limited. No number can exist which is truly infinite. All numbers (no matter how many zeros you attach) will be less than eternity, because you can always add another number. Therefore, all numbers are finite or limited. No number can ever be written to encompass eternity. There is a concept called the “googol”. It is a one followed by one hundred zeros. That is one large number. However, you can increase the googol to the googol-th power making a “googalplexes.” This number, if written out on paper would, fill the Milky Way galaxy. And still, a googolplexes is not infinite. God is infinite. God is beyond googolplexes!
In contrast, man is finite. No creature is infinite. Infinity distinguishes God and sets Him apart from all His creatures. The Psalmist considers man as a cipher, a vapor, a brief moment and as nothing compared to eternity (Ps. 8:4-6; 144:3,4). Because we are so finite, we cannot comprehend the infinite.
God Is Without Beginning or End
Every man, including Adam, had a beginning and an end. We call our beginning our birthday. We have our wedding anniversary which proves we have not always been married. Making funeral arrangements is proof that we know we will not live forever on earth. Every child conceived in the womb and every corpse concealed in a tomb speaks to man’s inception and termination. Humans can only think in terms of beginning and ending.
Who made God? No one did. God had no beginning, so God did not need to be made. There never was a time when God began to be. In Isaiah 44:5, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 21:6, and Revelation 22:13, God is called the "first and the last" and the "Alpha and Omega" (this is like calling Him the "A” and the Z"). This doesn't mean He has a beginning and end, but that He is everything - He is A to Z. Daniel 7:13 calls God the "Ancient of Days," not the ancient in days. This means that God does not get any older even though He has been alive for all eternity. He is “From everlasting to everlasting” (Ps. 90:2). In the middle of a never ending line exists a small period of time in which we begin and end our lives. God being self-existent, the uncaused Being, has no beginning and will have no end.
Of God, the Psalmist wrote, “But You are the same, And Your years will have no end” (Ps. 102:27). God had no end just as He had no beginning. God does not depend upon any of His creatures for anything. He will not die if He is not fed. He does not need the earth to begin to exist like humans and when the earth ceases to exist He will not come to an end (2 Pet. 3:10,11).
God Is The Eternal Something
We know that from nothing, nothing comes. Also, we know that something does not come from nothing. If there was ever a time when nothing existed than nothing could ever exist. If there was ever a time when something was, than something must have always been. Since things do exist and could not have come from nothing than something must have existed from which came everything. That eternal something is God.
God is the uncaused first cause of everything. It is a natural reaction of time-bound creatures to assign a cause to every effect that we see. We live in the physical realm where every single effect has a cause. It is hard to imagine that first cause because we then must search for what caused the first cause.
If God caused all the effects (material universe), where did God come from? What caused Him to exist? If the universe needs a cause, why doesn't God need one too? The atheist Bertrand Russell wrote in his book "Why I am Not a Christian" that if it is true that all things need a cause then God must also need a cause. He concluded from this that if God needed a cause then God was not God (and if God is not God then of course there is no God). There is a God. Therefore, He has no cause.
We are told that an effect cannot be greater than its cause. The cause of the universe must pre-exist and go beyond the universe. This first cause must stand outside of time as we know it in this three dimensional realm. It must be awesomely powerful. God fits the job description. Nothing was made that was not made by Him ( Jn. 1:1-3). Consequently, we are compelled to believe either in a self-existing God sufficient to create the universe, or in the universe apparently existing of itself. God must be the first cause of everything in the universe.
Some atheists who deny the existence of God believe that the universe was not made; it was just “there” forever. As Carl Sagan has said, “If we say that God has always been, why not save a step and conclude that the universe has always been” (Cosmos, p. 257). However, it is easy to demonstrate that matter cannot be eternal in nature. The essential fuel of the universe is hydrogen. If the universe is eternal, why hasn’t all the fuel (hydrogen) been used up? Why is there plenty of fuel in the comos’ gas tank? This fact alone is incompatible with an eternal universe. The Bible makes it very clear that before anything else existed in the universe God was there (Gen. 1:1).
God Is Creator
Who created God? The problem is like asking a student to draw a five-sided circle. The question is self-contradictory. It assumes that everything has been created. God is the Creator of all things and therefore nothing could have created God. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3). This means that everything that was made was made by God. Therefore, no one could have made God (Psalm 90:2). God is the Creator who brought all into being and God is not a created Being.
When Genesis 1:1 states, “In the beginning,” time was born at that moment. So, there was a “time” when there was no time or timelessness. The Bible teaches that God created matter, space, and time (Genesis 1:1: "In the Beginning = time; "heavens" = space; "earth" = matter). Time is inseparable from matter and space. The reason my body (matter) cannot be in two different places (space) like Dallas and New York is because I am limited by time. If I could stop time I could go to New York while I was still in Dallas. However, I am limited by time, matter, and space. Since God is not made up of matter (John 4:24), and is not limited by space, He is not bound by time. Instead, He is the Creator of matter, space and time.
God is not restricted, limited, constrained, pushed or hindered by time. Time is His servant, not His master. Time moves by Him. God does not move by time. He never gets in a rush for time and is never pressed for time.
God Is Life
God is the source of all that lives (Ac. 17:24,25; Rom. 11:36). In his sermon on Mars Hill Paul said, "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, `For we are also His offspring’” (Ac. 17:28). He alone has life within Himself (Jn. 5:26). He is not like a plant, animal, or human being who needs to be born to have life. He always has had life. Since God is eternal and since all life comes from Him, it follows that He is the author of eternal life (Jn. 3:16; Heb. 5:8-9). God "lives forever" (Isaiah 57:15). The great terminator of life, Death, cannot claim Him. In time, all men will die. God is life and in Him is no death or ending.
God Is Omnipresent
Just as God is not limited by time, He is not limited to space. His presence is eternal. He is not local in the sense of being confined to any one particular place (1 Ki. 8:27; Ps. 139:7-10; Pr. 15:3). "’Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:23,24).
To be present some place you have to occupy space. Even air must occupy space. God is spirit and does not have to occupy space, thus His presence can be anywhere at anytime. There is no such thing as past and future; with him all is present. Paul speaks of God’s activities “before times eternal” (1 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2). This is how God can hear the prayers of someone in Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and America at the same time. He transcends time and space. “But who is able to build Him a temple, since heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? Who am I then, that I should build Him a temple, except to burn sacrifice before Him?” (2 Chronicles 2:6).
God Is Omnipotent
Is anything too hard for God? No! There is no end to God's infinite power. His power is eternal (Job 36:5; 42:2; Ps. 147:5; Jer. 32:17; Dan. 4:35). He is able to maintain His own existence for eternity. He is omnipotent and all-powerful. His power does not wear out in time. It surpasses time. If God were made whatever made Him would have power and thus He could not be all-powerful. Nothing and no one has ever been or ever will be more powerful than God.
God Is Omniscient
Did you ever meet a know-it-all? In fact, it is impossible to know it all. First, we already have so much information that no one can live long enough to amass all the knowledge that now exists. Secondly, we do not have all the information available to us at this time because we are gaining knowledge in every field of study every single day. God has no such limits. He is omniscient, that is, His knowledge is limitless. There has never been a period of time when God knew more or less. He never learns, and He never forgets. He is everywhere present with all His power of knowing at all time and in every place. He has eternal wisdom. (2 Chr. 16:9; Ps. 119:168; 139:1-2; Dan. 2;22).
Eternity Is Beyond our Comprehension
Humans cannot conceive of anything outside of time. You can strain you brain and still not conceive of the timelessness. Man has a time-bound mentality. Can you conceive of time always existing? No! One reason for this is because our minds are controlled and limited by time. Time influences us to set one thing before and another after. We live exclusively in the duration of time, with the past behind us, the present with us and the future ahead of us. So, we speak of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The idea of time is linear. Second follows second. Minute comes after minute. Hour upon hour. In time we grow older not younger. Once time has passed we cannot go back to it. We can only move forward in time. The concept of existence is chained to the idea of before and after on a time line. God is beyond both the beginning and end of any time line we can create. We have all seen the time lines on charts: early time is on the left and later time is on the right.
Wrapping our minds around the concept of an eternal existence is like an ant solving a murder mystery or a daisy grasping atomic fusion. If God is so great that the heavens cannot contain Him, how is it that our puny minds with limited experience can know all about Him? Our minds are not big enough to fully comprehend. An eternal God is just too big for our brains. If He wasn’t, He would not be worthy of our worship.
Let’s face it, mankind has a hard time comprehending the extensive universe God has created. Some astronomers speculate that there are about 100 billion galaxies each with billions of stars. It would take more than 300,000 billion years just to count and name them. God can count them all and even names them (Psalm 147:4). God is a lot smarter than all of us. We cannot begin to understand a limited universe much less its unlimited Creator.
God measures all things. Nothing can measure Him. He is too big to be measured by a ruler. He is too old to be measured by a calender. Could you imagine making a full -size map of the universe? Where would you put it? Where would you get it? Can you imagine tabulating God’s age or His birthday? It would be like looking for the beginning point and ending point of a gold ring.
Benefits of an Eternal God
So, what difference does it make to your life if God is eternal? 1) God's mercy is eternal (Psalms 103:17). He will never grow tired of you in Heaven. 2) God's love is eternal (Jeremiah 21:3; Jer. 31:3; I John 4:16; Eph. 3:18). He will never stop loving you. 3) His power is eternal (Rom. 1:20). He will never run out of strength to keep you and protect you. 4) His knowledge is eternal (Acts 15:18). He will never come to a point where He does know you or know what is best for you. 5) His goodness is infinite (Mic. 7:18-20). He will never run out of good things for you. 6) His holiness is infinite. (Job 4:17-18). He will always keep everything about you perfectly clean and pure in Heaven.
Because of God’s eternal attributes He has prepared things eternal for His saints:
– Daniel R. Vess