Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
~ Psalms 136:1 (NKJV)
In the above passage, the original Hebrew of the last line is reverse order of the English—"everlasting [forever] is His chêsêd." The words are repeated 26 times in this psalm and at least 30 other times in the Old Testament.
The Hebrew word translated "forever" is ‛ôlâm, often rendered "everlasting." Its literal meaning is "out of sight." Infinity is not a Hebrew concept. Time and distance simply go on until they pass from sight, like the horizon on our planet's sphere.
My personal suspicion is that eternity is somewhat like a sphere, an eternal circle without end in all directions—4-D rather than 3-D. I can't prove that from Scripture or science or even the Holy Spirit. It's just the feeling I get when I read the Bible and think about God. I see eternity as the perfect union of end and beginning, rather than passage of time. I see Heaven as a place where we can go as far as we want and never put distance between ourselves and God.
(And then again, I could be totally nuts.)
What's important isn't how time and distance work in the realm of everlasting, but that El Olam—Everlasting God—is a name of God more than it is about either time or distance. Olam is His character, and it is the unchanging nature of His every attribute.
Everlasting God, You are unchanging and worthy of our full confidence. We are unstable children of clay. Without You, our Rock, we cannot stand for even a fleeting moment.
Your comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are most appreciated. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Amen, so very, very true sis.this is denise.
ReplyDeleteWe have to keep remembering who God is in relation to who we are. He doesn't want us to figure Him out, just love and obey Him. He is awesome in every respect.
ReplyDeleteout of sight....like are sin being removed as far as the east is from the west. i really like the Hebrew concept.
ReplyDeleteit's really easy for me to accept the idea of going as far as we can go in heaven and not be sepated from God too. since we can't be separated from His Love, how could we ever be separated from Him...especially in 4-D??? i think it's like the REAL Kingdom come living that you recently did a series on.
the sphere you talk about...i see myself as in it aready, in a manner of speaking. He sets eternity into our hearts, right? that's kingdom living as far as i'm concerned. on earth...as it is in heaven.
i love the word olam!
\o/
thank you for the encouragement and the boost of faith in Him this morning, Anne.
Denise ~
ReplyDeleteGood to see you, dear.
Odie ~
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to disagaree with you about "He doesn't want us to figure Him out." He DOES want us to know Him, understand Him. He continually woos us to search Him out, pursue Him. He reveals more and more of Himself as we do that.
Paul says a day will come when we know Him as He knows us. It will be a climatic day in our relationship, to be sustained for "olam."
Bud ~
ReplyDelete\o/ to Him. May God be glorified for how He might use my words.
Keep seeking, Bud. (See above reply to Odie.)
I like your thoughts on eternity (nuts or not).
ReplyDeleteA little off subject, the title of your post reminds me of the song "Everlasting" by Hillsong. Listen to it if you have never heard it before...I absolutely love it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-afZJ9_TIM
Mary ~
ReplyDeleteIt was good to listen to this again. You KNOW my heart joins in singing,
"My heart and my soul, I give You control
Consume me from the inside out, Lord
Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love You from the inside out ...
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord, my soul cries out ..."
Oh, the waiting ...