Eternity—the Way God Thinks

The Bible reveals:

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.”

Isaiah, the Prophet, reminds us of this truth when he wrote: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8-9) Mankind must be reminded that they don’t think as God thinks. If this is true, the question must be asked: “How does God think?” The answer is simple—God thinks with eternity in mind! Unlike us, God is not limited by time. God is the only one who can step outside of eternity into time. God is eternal! Everything that God does He does with eternity in mind. God knows the end of everything from its beginning. God is the source of everything. Everything God created represents an original.

In contrast, humanity does not think in the context of eternity first, because every human being is limited by time. “There is a time to be born and a time to die.” (Eccl. 3:2) Job reminds each one of us “that our days are numbered, the number of our months are with God, He has appointed our bounds, and none of us can bypass them.” (Job 14:5) Every one of us was born in time, and each one of us will leave this earth at the appointed time. Time is all we know. We do everything according to time. Unfortunately, many of us have grown accustomed to taking time for granted. Most people take things for granted—including opportunities, blessings, and even other people. We take our relationships for granted. Time is temporary for men and women because they are limited by it.

However, God is not limited by time. Time does not control God; God controls time. God is the source of time and abides outside the limitations of time. God is eternal. Isaiah simple reveals that “from everlasting to everlasting, God is.” If a man is to understand how God thinks, he must learn to think like God. Let me illustrate this point. If God is eternal, then His Kingdom is eternal. In other words, His Kingdom—the Kingdom of Heaven is where God resides. The Kingdom of Heaven existed before time because God is everlasting. The Kingdom of Heaven represents God’s original residence. It has always been His dwelling place. It is a fact that God is good! Everything in His Kingdom is good because it represents the character of its King. In short, nothing bad can reside in God’s Kingdom because it would be a misrepresentation of His character. Also, the presence of anything not good would be contrary to the culture of His Kingdom.

 Think about this—God sent His only begotten Son into the earth to reconcile humanity to Himself. Notice that the first message Jesus preached was “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17) The implication is clear: the culture of this world was contrary to the culture of heaven. God’s will was to see heaven’s culture realized in the earth. For this to be a reality, there must be an example of the Father’s character in the earth. Jesus was this example. He is the only person who could represent the character of the Father in the earth—in a way that was acceptable to Him. This is a very important point because before one can be a part of the culture of heaven, he or she must also be exposed to the character of the kingdom. Again, we must be reminded that God thinks from the perspective of eternity. What did God have in mind?

The Father did not intend to provide a temporary solution to an eternal challenge. Jesus proclaimed that the Father’s will was to see the Kingdom of Heaven manifest in the earth. The heart of God was to see the hearts of men and women changed by one man’s example of what kingdom character is like. Jesus went on to reveal the mind of the Father—“that His will be done on the earth.” (Matt. 6:10) The Father knew that this would not be accomplished without there being a culture change in the earth. This is the church’s purpose. This one reality validates the existence of the church in the earth today. God has never changed His mind, nor altered His will. He still wants heaven’s culture on the earth. The people of God must be challenged to think eternally. This simply means that the church must think beyond reaching the lost, and go further to change the culture of this world! There is no way the culture can be changed without the people being changed in the process.

​In His Service, 
Clarence V. Boyd, Jr. 
Senior Pastor