“From eternity to eternity I am God.” Isaiah 43:13
Eternity to eternity seems to pretty much cover everything. There’s no time that’s excluded. Which means there’s no time when the Lord was not God and there’s no time when He will not be God. This should be comforting, reassuring, but it’s also kind of mind-boggling for those of us who live bound to the rising and setting of the sun.
We see things unfold in succession over a period of time. A tiny scene that moves frame by frame. God sees the entire panorama, the whole picture, all at once, complete, from outside the bounds of time. He knows it all because He sees it all. The fancy word for this is omniscience – the state of knowing everything. Nothing is out of His sight or beyond His awareness; He cannot overlook something.
Hagar, Sarah’s mistreated servant, discovered this when she ran away. The angel of the Lord sought her out, instructed her, comforted her. Hagar’s desperate situation was the result of people’s sinful choices. Yet God didn’t overlook her, or abandon her, or write her off. “Thereafter, Hagar referred to the Lord, who had spoken to her, as ‘the God who sees me’” (Genesis 16:13). God saw more than just her hiding place in the desert; He saw her future and that of her son.
Sometimes the omniscience of God trips us up – if God saw this coming, how could He let it happen? Why didn’t He stop things before we got to this point? But God sees past this point. He sees the other side of this valley. He sees beyond the mountain blocking our view. And He would never have allowed us to go on this path if He didn’t also see something greater to come.
Because God is omniscient, nothing comes as a surprise to Him. Nothing catches Him off guard. He cannot be blindsided. His vision isn’t limited the way that ours is. His timetable is so much longer than ours because He sees from eternity. His ability to make good on His promises is unlimited. That’s why those who wait for God to reveal Himself will never be disappointed. He will always come through.
The omniscience of God should encourage us. We don’t know how things will turn out, but God does. He sees past our weakness, our denial, our betrayal, our running away, to the day we return home. He is not bound, constrained, or limited by the unfolding of time. He sees every moment at once – past, present, and future. If you’re a believer, God already sees you rejoicing in heaven with Him. The final outcome is as good as done for Him.
“I AM the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I AM the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One.” Revelation 1:8