“God is dead” as the famous German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche once said. But, in all reality, why doesn’t God die?
The eternal existence of God has been challenged by so many since the beginning of time.
The idea of an eternal God is hard to comprehend especially for us whose lives are very limited.
The average expected lifespan for a healthy human being is around the ages 70-75, and is expected to continually decline in the coming years.
Being so familiar with the concept of death, we are plagued with worries of when we will die or how it will happen because death can come at an unexpected time.
We’ve become accustomed to the idea that there is a limit to everything and to try and comprehend an eternal being, One that goes beyond the boundaries of time and mortality, makes it more difficult to understand.
The Bible assures us that God is the everlasting One.
His eternal and immutability secures us that we do not have to live in fear of death but as overcomers with Christ.
The Alpha and Omega
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13 ESV)
The Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet but when God declared this it signified something deeper.
Being the alpha means He is before all things. He created everything we see and know. When the whole universe was just a void, God already existed.
Nothing precedes Him, and because no one has gone ahead of Him, no one knows more than He does.
He is our standard of goodness, holiness, love, justice, excellence, hope and beauty. All of creation is a reflection of His goodness and glory.
As the Omega, it means He knows how things will end. That when Jesus declared “It is finished” (John 19:30), it is a declaration that He is victorious and no one can go against it.
He knows what will happen to the enemy and how He will defeat and seal up death once and for all, and lead those who believe in Him to eternal life.
The Lifegiver Himself
The Bible tells us that death is not God’s idea for humankind.
In the beginning, when God created all that we see and know now, God created everything with life and love. Every detail of creation was His masterpiece.
Creation was not rushed, the Bible tells us that God worked on creation for six days and rested on the seventh day.
Creation gives us a glimpse of who God is – a personal God who involves Himself with His creation.
Death was not in the picture until Adam and Eve sinned and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The first mention of death in the bible was when God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21).
Not only were they fooled by the serpent into sinning, death would later be seen when Abel killed his brother (Genesis 4:8).
But in the midst of the garden, there were two trees – one was the knowledge of good and evil and the other one was the tree of life.
The tree of life is a reflection of God’s eternal life and He is life itself.
God is the lifegiver of all of creation, breathing even into our flesh so that life may enter into it.
The Overcomer of Death
When Jesus came on earth, He became fully man but remained fully God.
In His humanity, He walked with us and preached the message of the kingdom of God.
An eternal kingdom that no moth or rust can destroy (Matthew 6:19-21).
This urged the people, in their limited understanding, to believe that Jesus is starting a new kingdom like in the days of David, the golden years of Israel.
Jesus revealed that He is inviting them into a different kingdom that no one in this world has ever seen but only the One who came from heaven can describe it.
Jesus would later be crucified for our sins, despite not sinning Himself.
His death on the cross became the payment for the penalty for our sins while appropriating to us the rewards of His obedience, making us righteous even when we do not deserve it.
Jesus’ victory over death has now become our personal invitation from God to enter into eternal life and no longer be held back by sin.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26 ESV)
Jesus tells us that those who believe in Him and follow Him will receive eternal life.
Jesus said this because He defeated death, and sealed its mouth.
We are no longer doomed to an eternity of suffering as long as we believe and follow Him.
The Faithful God
Now that we know that God is the eternal One, it is now our assurance and hope in this life, the life to come and to the generations that will follow us.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. (Psalm 119:90 ESV)
Just like how God had made a covenant starting with Abraham, He will continue to be faithful in the generations to come.
The Abrahamic covenant is a reminder for us that even when Abraham has long passed, God remained faithful even up to a thousand generations because He is the eternal God who is faithful and true to His promise.
His eternal quality is an assurance for us that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that even when we pass, He will continue to care for those whom we leave behind.
It also tells us that the suffering that we face now are temporary. Revelation 21:4 says “…and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Our present suffering is nothing in comparison to the eternal glory, comfort and peace that He has in-stored for us.
Our sufferings will end but our rejoicing and worship will never end in Him.
He will faithfully deliver us through every circumstance we face, and we can be confident that we will be victorious with Him.
Death has kept us in fear but God, the eternal One, has assured us of the beauty of the life that is to come.
As Christians, we are no longer defeated by the fear that has hindered us but we are set free to stand up for God, to live for Him and honor Him.
Because we know that we are no longer limited by the life that we have here, but we are living out the life that we are looking forward to.
In C. S. Lewis words: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
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