Sometimes in this world, we all throw terms around that we would never use if we rightly understood our reasoning. "I will love you forever" is a beautiful sentiment. However, when a person with a beginning date uses the term forever regarding self, they speak beyond what they are.
When the eternal God says, "But of the Son [He says], "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever..." (Hebrews 1:8), it is true because He is eternal. He is eternal because He is God, without the beginning of days or the end of life. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God.
Eternal realities defy our ability to comprehend them. Therefore, let us understand how big God is by considering the universe He created. Light years measure distance by the time it takes light to travel at the speed of 186,282 miles per second by adding up all the seconds in an entire year. One common year = 365 days at 3600 seconds per hour, equalling 31 million 536 000 seconds. Remember every one of those seconds equals 186, 282 miles.
Alpha Centauri is the closest star to earth, and it takes 4.367 years to get there at the speed of 186, 282 miles per second. The galaxy GN-z11 seems to be the farthest detectable galaxy from us, at 13.4 billion light-years. Its distance translates into 186, 282 miles per second for 13.4 billion years.
Are you getting an idea of the size of the known universe? If you say yes, you are self-deceived. One of the reasons that God made the universe inconceivably large is so people could appreciate just how small we all are. The universe that God created by comparison to His infinite size is infinitely tiny to Him.
We cannot comprehend the size of God by distance, IQ, power, authority, or time. God is infinite in all His ways, including His ability to love and hate. God loves what is good and hates what is evil. God defines good and it is good. He defines evil, and it is evil. He does not exercise Himself to love and hate as we do. God loves and hates infinitely beyond us. God can and will bless those He has redeemed from eternal punishment forever because of what He is. God can and will punish those who will not repent forever because He is not bound by time. Time is His creation, and it is subject to His will.
Furthermore, God's magnitude is no less large regarding all His attributes, including His ability and willingness to speak only the truth. Should we question what God has said in the Bible? He said He paid the price for the sins of all for whom He died, appointed to eternal life, and believe. He would punish all men eternally, but instead, He placed the punishment of those chosen upon His beloved Son.
"...let's run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:1, 2).
Jesus' infinite joy was sitting at the right hand of the throne of God the Father, having pleased Him infinitely as the sacrificial lamb. The Shame that Jesus despised came from the infinitely loving and eternal God the Father when "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21) My dear readers, do you feel like crying yet?
The transaction of perfect and infinite righteousness for the shame of sin and wickedness is incomprehensible and only theoretical as we stand on the shore of its eternal impact. To God, the Father, and Son, it is experiential and comprehensible. It is more real than anything we have ever experienced with our finite minds, emotions, and wills. The true horror of the cross is not that a man died at the hands of other men; it is that God the Son was punished by God the Father. God hurls an infinitely more powerful punch.
We can no more measure the pain of an infinitely loving Father punishing His Perfectly holy Son for sin than we can traverse the infinity of space. Our sinful pride hides from us the infinity of God's loving sacrifice and suffering. How can it be that Thou should die for me?
Measure the character of the Son of God, His life, death, and resurrection against self-appointed prophets, priests, and human dictators, and you will begin to loathe this artificial aberration of kings who sit in the place of the eternal God-King.
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