The television show “Doctor Who” has existed, in some form or fashion, since 1963. The show is based around the character “The Doctor” and his time-travelling Tardis, a blue police box that is curiously much bigger on the inside. With 39 total seasons (and counting), 2 cinema films, and 1 television film, it is easily the longest running show about time-travel to ever-exist. 

You would think that a show based around time-travel and an essentially “eternal” figure that has existed as long as it has would understand the idea of time better than most, and perhaps it does, but here’s a quote straight from The Doctor’s mouth about how time works:

“People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it’s more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.”

Make sense? Not really? Then you understand, to some degree, the difficulty of the subject I have been asked to write about here. The concept of eternality is one that comes with its own challenges. As finite beings, the infinite is really beyond our comprehension, we just know that it is something different than what we are experiencing now. When we take the concept of eternality and then apply it to Jesus the situation gets even more difficult. For many of us, we don’t have Jesus on the seen until we get into the New Testament, but there’s reason to believe He actually shows up in some form in the Old Testament outside of Messianic prophecies. 

While the study of the eternality of Jesus is fun, to try and rush through all of that information in the span of this short writing would be, as they say, like drinking water from a firehose. In other words, we’d end up getting soaked, but never deal with our thirst. The goal of this particular lesson then, will be to examine the eternal presence, promise, and purpose of God in Jesus Christ throughout both the Old and New Testaments to the extent that your curiosity in Jesus’ eternality is peaked, and that you leave this reading understanding how you fit into God’s eternal plan. 

The Eternal Presence of Jesus

“In the beginning”. With these words we are thrust into the story of God’s creation of the world. The opening chapter of Genesis 1is used by us for a lot of reasons. Many daily Bible readers have started their yearly read through the Bible here over the years. Those that work in Apologetic studies turn to this chapter to show the design of God’s good world. This chapter is one we are familiar with and, in my experience, familiarity with a Bible passage often causes us to take study for granted. 

For example, have you noticed the poetic symmetry in God’s design of creation? Days 1-3 establish foundation. Light and darkness, separating of the waters, the appearance of dry land, and vegetation all form the foundation of what the rest of the creation on days 4-6 will need to thrive. 

Perhaps you, like me, think about the kids Vacation Bible School song while you’re reading through Genesis 1 (“Day 1, Day 1, God made light when there was none…”). Day 6 goes:

6^th Day, 6^th Day,

God made animals and man that day.

6^th Day, 6^th Day,

God made animals and man that day.

We’re just lumped right in with the animals without any additional thought! If we’re not careful, we can read the opening chapter of Genesis the same way: “God made, it was good, moving on.” When we do this we miss some incredible clues about who God is. 

When male and female are being made God says “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.” (1:26). This is our first indication, in English, that there’s something incredible going on here. Up to this point in our reading, God is one, and He is one, but He’s also “our”. He is plural. There’s more to God than we’ve, at least initially, been led to believe in the text…at least in English. 

If we were to look at the Hebrew text, we would end up with a similar thought in the very opening statement:

“In the beginning, Gods he created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). 

There’s a peculiar literary thing going on here in this opening line. The word “God” is the Hebrew word “Elohim”, and it’s plural. If it’s plural, why do our English translations render it singular? Because of the following action “created”. The word “created” is singular in nature. This plural “God” is given a singular action (“he created”). “God” is one, but He is also “our”. 

In the New Testament, John begins his gospel in the same way as Genesis with the words “in the beginning”, but then adds “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Later in the chapter, John will tell us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (1:14) identifying this Word as Jesus (1:15). John understands that, not only was Jesus there with God in the beginning, Jesus is God. He is the Son to the Father, but also one with Him. This isn’t all that John wants to communicate to us. 

John tells us that Jesus “came to His own, and His own people did not receive him” (1:11). The word for “people” is supplied here for us, and while that is a fine translation, the broader meaning of the word can include “things” or “belongings”. John’s communication to us in this passage is that Jesus came to His own creation, the things He made (1:10), and some of that creation rejected Him while others embraced Him. Think about that for a moment. Jesus came to His creation, to people made “in His image” (Genesis 1:26) in order to transform them fully into “children of God” (John 1:12-13). 

With this language, John makes clear to us the eternality of Jesus’ presence in His creation. Jesus was there in the beginning fashioning the world into perfect order and making us in His image. Physically He returned, to shape us, as He did in the beginning, by His Word, to make us “children of God”. 

The Eternal Promise of Jesus

As the narrative of Genesis progresses, we are eventually brought to a complete tonal shift in the writing. In Genesis 1-11 there is a clear focus on events (the creation, the fall, the flood, the tower of Babel) interspersed with genealogies spanning various degrees of time. In Genesis 12, God shifts the plan, at least from our perspective. Instead of working through all the nations of the earth, as He desired to, God focuses His attention on one individual, Abram. 

Abram is called to do what all God’s people were called to do before him, to “go” (Genesis 12:1; see also 1:28; 9:1). Abram does as he is told, and God blesses him as a result (12:2-3). This blessing made to Abram has to do with “offspring”, a word that shows up in the Genesis 15 restating (15:5-6). Abram will become a “great nation” and through him shall “all the families” or nations “of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). It is through this promise made to Abram that the eventual nation of Israel of come, and through this promise that the Deliverer of Israel, Jesus, would eventually arrive.  

In John chapter 8, John focuses his attention on the man Abraham, mentioning him an astounding 31 times in only 28 verses (8:31-59). The discussion in this part of the gospel is around those who identify as Abraham’s offspring (8:32). The Jews believed themselves to be Abraham’s offspring, and they were in a physical sense, but not a spiritual one (8:37). The true offspring of Abraham are those that listen to and obey the words of Jesus (8:39-47). It is at the end of this chapter that Jesus makes several incredible claims. 

First, Jesus tells the crowd that by keeping His word you “will never see death” (8:51). This first claim of Jesus connects Him to the promise of Abraham. Jesus is here to free us from the death penalty of sin and bring us new life in Him. He is the offspring of Abraham that will bless all the nations by freeing us from that which we cannot conquer, death (8:33-38). 

Second, Jesus tells us that Abraham rejoiced that he would see the day of Jesus, and that Abraham “saw it and was glad” (8:56). Did Abraham interact with Jesus during his time on earth? Some have suggested that maybe this occurred in Genesis 18, another place where the statement of Abraham being a blessing to the nations is mentioned. Perhaps this is a reference to Genesis 22 where “the angel of the Lord” stops him from sacrificing his son Isaac (there is reason to believe “the angel of the Lord” has reference to Jesus presence). Maybe this is something seen post Abraham’s death? At any rate, the phrasing “he saw it” is quite interesting and, any way you slice it, connects Jesus to being the promised “offspring” Abraham was waiting for. 

Third, Jesus, in response to being told He is way too young to have known Abraham in the flesh, says “before Abraham was, I am” (8:58). This is not merely a statement of age, but of divinity. The phrase “I Am” is an eternal phrase. It’s not “I Was” or “I Will Be” it’s “I Am”. That name means He always is. There was never a time of Jesus’ non-existence, because He has always existed. He is eternal. This is also a claim of divinity. The simple phrasing “I Am” connects Jesus to the discussion God had with Moses (Exodus 3:14). Jesus here is expressing both His eternality, and His divinity. In other words “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The eternality of Jesus is seen in the promise given to Abraham, the promise that will ultimately bring about the desire of God from before the beginning of creation, to be in relationship with His creation. Jesus is the offspring God would bring about, the offspring Abraham saw, the offspring Israel longed for, and the offspring that we hope in today. 

The Eternal Purpose of Jesus

This final point builds heavily off our previous look at “offspring” and mission. As soon as the creation begins, at least from a literary standpoint, there is conflict. Adam and his wife disobey God, and sin enters into the world (Genesis 3:1-7). The consequences of this sin are laid out for us in a series of curses (Genesis 3:14-19). One of the curses is directed to the serpent and the “enmity” that will be placed between the serpent and the woman, between the serpent’s “offspring” and the woman’s “offspring” (Genesis 3:15). One cannot help but think about the importance of “offspring” throughout the rest of Genesis in the promise to Abraham and in the New Testament to men like John, as we’ve seen, as well as Paul (Galatians 3:16, 19, 29). 

In chapter 11 of John’s gospel, we are told of the account of Jesus raising His friend Lazarus from the dead. It is here that we are given another expression of how following Jesus leads to us having true life (11:25; compare with 8:51). After Lazarus is raised, more and more people believe (11:45-48), leading the Jewish leaders to draw this conclusion:

“But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” (John 11:49-50)

Caiaphas is hoping to save Israel from the hands of the Romans, but John tells us that with these words the high priest has hit the nail on the head saying: 

“He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” (John 11:51-52)

Caiaphas summarized accidentally the eternal purpose of God, the same purpose seen in the promise made to Abraham, to free us from our sin so that we may have life.

The eternality of Jesus is seen in the purpose of God to redeem mankind from the debt to sin. It was planned from before the beginning that Jesus would come as the “offspring” to die on our behalf so that we may live. 

From the Beginning

Genesis and John are not the only places that speak to the eternality of Jesus, but through the examination of them both we see clearly the eternal presence of Jesus as Creator (Gen. 1:1, 26; John 1:1, 12-13), eternal promise of Jesus as the offspring (Genesis 15:5-6; John 8:37), and the eternal purpose of Jesus as Savior of all nations (Genesis 3:15; John 11:51-52). 

If you are already a follower of Jesus, you are a participant in His eternal plan to redeem the creation back to Him. Invite your neighbor to worship. Be mindful of your Christian example to your coworkers. Serve others with a smile. Proclaim the Savior any way you can. 

If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, know that He has been thinking of you since before you even existed. His desire is that you would become His. He died for you so that you could live with Him. Ask about what it takes to join yourself to Jesus and become His follower. Eternality has no beginning and no end. As long as this world continues, Jesus expects those that bear His name to carry out His purpose to save all nations by declaring Jesus as the fulfillment of the promise of God and by bringing the lost of the world into His presence so that they may become “children of God”.