Eternity As Part Of God's Character Series

The character of God.

The sovereignty of God

The compassion of God

The justice of God

The eternity of God

EX 3:11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

EX 3:12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

EX 3:13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, `What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?"

EX 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.’ "

EX 3:15 God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

This week Riversdale’s oldest citizen died – His name was Paddy Stanton and he was born over 101 years ago.

Paddy for all his years was an astute man and a man who allowed me to pray with him.

He had a respect for eternal things.

World’s Oldest Person Turns 128

by Thomson Fontaine

Dominicans yesterday celebrated the birthday of the World’s oldest living person Elizabeth (Ma Pampo) Israel who turned 128 even as government vowed to increase pressure on Guinness World record officials to officially confer the title on the Dominican.

Unfortunately, the Guinness World record has not officially recognized Ma Pampo since they are still in the process of verifying the claim. A Baptismal certificate has been issued by the Roman Catholic Church with her birth date stated as January 27, 1875, but since it is not an official record, it cannot be used to authenticate the claim.

Ma pampo died in 2003 when Paddy Stanton was born Ma Pampo was already 31 years old – staggering –

But all of these ages pale into insignificance when we consider the time span of God.

EX 3:13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, `What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?"

EX 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.’ "

This seemed to be a strange answer to Moses’ simple question. God said his name was , “I am who I am.”

Is that even an answer?

What does it mean?

God is not evading Moses’ question.

He has revealed His name.

God’s name reveals something profound about Hmself, something we must grasp.

As the name Yahweh was uttered by God, there wa an explosion of knowledge about God on the Middianite desert.

What is so revealing in the words:-

I AM WHO I AM.

This morning I would like to introduce a word to you that RC Sproull quotes in his book The character of God.

Aseity.

Aseity means “self existence”

Aseity is the characteristic that separates God from all other things.

God is the only one who can say. “I am who I am.”

Sproull sets up a dialogue between a child and there Mother.

It goes like this.

“Mummy, who made me?”

“God made you darling.”

“Well, Mummy, who made the sky and the trees?”

“God made the sky and the trees, God made everything.”

“Mummy who made God.”

Aseity means God exists.

God does not provide us with a answer but by saying Iam that I am God is saying He is eternal.

When you think of eternity stretching out of the distance in time beyond our comprehension or philosophical ability to conceptualise you realize that the origons of God are not only beyond us but involve time space and creation concepts that are beyond us.

I AM WHO I AM. Says God alone has the power of being. He alone is eternal and He alone is supreme.

Apart from God I can not exist I need a supreme being to sustain my life.

But apart from me God is certainly able to exist because he is surpreme over all and certainly superior to me.

You might want to say to me what is the significance of that.

Are we just enjoying theological thought. Displaying knowledge or is there a point to the truths that we are discovering?