What It Means That God Lives Outside of Time

Everything we experience in this world is temporary — and yet we serve a God who is eternal and outside of time. How do we even begin to wrap our minds around that? In this episode of Clearview Today, we continue our Getting to Know God series with one of His most staggering attributes: His timelessness.

We work through what it actually means that God is eternal — that He has no beginning, no end, and no succession of moments, and that He sees all of history equally vividly. He is just as present in George Washington's day as He is in this moment, and just as present in your future. We also take on the question every philosophy student thinks is a checkmate — "well then who created God?" — and walk through why God stepping into time for our sake, in the person of Jesus, changes everything.

The conversation lands where it matters most. Because you are bound by time, the present is all you truly have. Don't live trapped in the past, don't presume on a tomorrow that isn't promised, and don't put off the one decision that carries into eternity. It's a deep episode, but a deeply practical one.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Everything we experience or perceive in this world is temporary. And yet we serve a God who is eternal and outside of time. How do we handle that?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

That's today's conversation on the Clearview Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shaw, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the show. Welcome to our studio. We're so glad you're joining us on the Clearview Today Show. Especially if today's your first day, we want to hear from you. You can text today, T-O-D-A-Y to 252-429-6069. That's T-O-D-A-Y to 252-429-6069. We're here today with our host, Dr. Evadan Shah. Dr. Shaha finishing VBS Week Out Strong.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Absolutely, absolutely. You know what time it is? What time is it? The time for us to talk about God's timelessness. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

You know, we did a series not long ago about entering the Christ time. And I don't know if that's a that's a topic we'll cover today, but you definitely, definitely want to put that in the search bar of this podcast and listen to it because it opens so many people's eyes to how God and time work together.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Man, it was so good because we try to reduce this to a simplistic discussion about God and his relationship to time. God is simply outside of time. Well, it's not quite that simple. And that series talking about Christ time and how there's this whole other time experience that we talk about when we're when we're Christians, that was so incredible, so, so mind-stretching to think about.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

When we try to understand time, we're gonna turn to people like Doctor Strange. Yeah, we're gonna turn to Marty McFly, we're gonna turn to Stephen Hawking, we're gonna turn to pretty much everybody, even if they're fictional, before we turn to the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yeah. Yeah. And and the Bible teaches us that we are time-bound individuals, beings, and eternity is not where time shall be no more. No time shall still be there because we are finite being, albeit we're gonna live with God in eternity as saved, but those who are lost will also live forever in hell. But God has a whole different time scale, okay? And so it's much more than just he's outside of time. There's so much more to that.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

And it's not just that one day we're gonna see God outside of time, he's already outside of time, he's operating right now outside of time. That's right. And we need to uh step into that realm and see life from his perspective.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

That's right. That was it was so it was so wonderful. It was such an incredible way to think about time and way to think about God's relationship to us. And, you know, it's difficult for us to wrap our minds as time-bound beings around the concept of the eternal, around the concept of God's timelessness. But that's that's our discussion today.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

If you're listening, yeah, and if you're listening to this show for the very first time, you're dropping in in the middle of a series where we are getting to know God better. You know, there's lots of podcasts and lots of shows that will just teach you doctrine, but we want to teach you doctrine that's actually going to help you day to day in your Christian life. All of us want to get to know God. And so who is God? We've talked about his holiness, we've talked about his invisible nature, but also God is timeless.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

And we're gonna talk about what that means. Yes, God is eternal. Some people call it God's omnitemporality. I I'm okay with that, but because it has some issues there. But when we say that God is eternal, what we're saying is that God has no beginning, he has no end or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly. Yet God sees events in time and acts in time. So it's it's almost seems like it's contradictory, but it's not. So he is, in a sense, outside of time, and yet he acts in time. So we're gonna see what that means.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Yeah, I think about like God, like I always always see it like God is up there and he's got like the film strip of all of history, and like he's just as present in George Washington's day as he is with me right now. He doesn't see George Washington's day as like, all right, that's in the past, that's over. He's present in it right this moment.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

And yet also with us.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yeah, which makes sense when you think about things like God interacting with people and prophets and God giving them visions of what's to come. Think about the apostle John and the revelation that God gave him. You know, God, God is present here, he's present in the past, he's present in the future, and so he will temporarily give people a glimpse as to what he is already, where he already is.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

And that's the thing that like every single philosophy 101 student always brought wants to bring about. Okay, so like everything has a cause, everything has a beginning. So who created God? Where does where's his beginning? Like they think that's the biggest gotcha. Anybody, any 18, 19 year old who takes one philosophy class, they think they've disproved Christianity.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Yeah, but so much, so much more to that. When we discuss God's eternality, the place to begin is to understand that God is timeless in a sense that means no beginning or end. And all that is coming straight from Scripture. Here's one, Psalm 90, verse 2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. In a sense, from vanishing point to the vanishing point, you are God. What does that mean, the vanishing point to the point? It means a a point where beyond which you cannot see. Okay, both front and back. You cannot see beyond that point. It's like your your vision becomes blurry. Your mind cannot comprehend. You know, sometimes people have told me that it's like when I think about uh eternal life or everlasting and what that means, it's like my brain begins to hurt. Yeah. You know, I just cannot seem to comprehend like what is that and and personally I don't even try to think like that. Yeah. Because some of those things are just beyond our our human ability to comprehend. So I'm I'm not even gonna try to comprehend, let alone explain. Let alone explain.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

And why is that? Because study of physics tells us that matter, space, and time must all occur together. Before God created the heavens and the earth, there was no time. Moment by moment is what we're talking about. God does not have a moment by moment life. He is there, just there. That is a time on a whole different level.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, that's completely different from how you and I experience time. We we exist in a series of moments. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

And our existence is is dependent on time. Yeah. But but he he he is existence. Yeah. Does that make sense? I don't know if that's even the right way to think about it, but he's completely. Yeah, that's a good way to say that. Yeah, he he just is existence. He's not dependent on a clock.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah. Yeah. Like a series of click, click, click, no. Yeah. He he and in time to time, God's people were able to enter into that time and see things from his perspective. They were able to enter in and see how God called Abraham and how Abraham saw something way out there in the distance. And it was not like, oh, I hope that happens. No, it was like already accomplished. I mean, he you know, it talks about that. If you read the faith chapter in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, how is that? Because these people were able to enter into the Christ's time and were able to see things that were not as if they were.

SPEAKER_02 8:05

So when we hear something like the lamb slayed from the foundation of the world, it means like is that what it's saying? Like once the world was set, or even before the world was set, Christ was already crucified. He was already done.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

He was done. You know, the salvation has been accomplished. So entering into that, what does that do? This is just some kind of a theological gymnastics just to kind of dazzle your mind? No. It is to give us assurance that we are not just an accident of nature. We're not just, you know, happenstance or a chance. There's something very preordained in this. The God's sovereign plan has been has been there since beyond uh eternity. And and stepping into that time, we begin to see wow, God is amazing, God is all powerful. He's much, much, much bigger than I ever imagined. And and his if he was all this and is all this, then imagine what more is coming. Yeah. So in the moment if you think of your problems, whether they are financial problems, whether they are relationship struggles, whether they are just fear about the future or health problems, or whatever you're struggling with and wondering, is this going to ever get fixed? Is this ever going to resolve itself? What's going to happen next? When you enter into the Christ time, when you enter into that realm that belongs to God, from God's perspective, you are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Yeah. Ephesians chapter one. That's what Paul is talking about. That we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What how when?

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Yeah, not you will be sat in those places. You are there. You know, one of the one of the tricks that I learned a long time ago was like if something's ever bothering me, just add time to the equation and it won't bother you. Like, like, man, my wife said something to me that really hurt me, but I probably won't care much about that tomorrow. I definitely won't care about it next week. Absolutely not next year. You know, but that's a solution just by adding time. Imagine removing time completely, like you said, like in the light of heaven, in the light of who God is, all these things that bother me that I spend my time worrying about and thinking about, they really don't amount to much. Pale in comparison. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

And that's, you know, Ann Jarvis wrote that book called Paul and Time. And again, I don't agree with every single tenet of that book, but overall, it opened my eyes to how Paul saw time, how the other saints of God, men and women, saw time. And when they were able to step into that realm and see life from God's perspective, it was like all of a sudden they saw Moses right there, you know, at the burning bush, or Moses uh standing before Pharaoh, or they saw David standing before Goliath, or they saw Nehemiah coming to rebuild the walls with incredible opposition from every direction. Or they saw Paul and Silas in that Philippian jail. You know, I mean, it's just go down the list. And it's like, okay, I I see if he's faithful there and I see him being faithful here and here and here, he's gonna be faithful to us. Dr.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Shaw, what would your response be to someone who listens to all this and they say, well, God sees everything, God is already there, God's already in the future, and he's sovereign over all things. Then it doesn't really matter what I do because God's in control of everything, he's he's already worked it out anyway. So what's the point of living a life of obedience to God?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

We are at times God allows us to get a glimpse of that Christ's time to step into that realm and see that, but we're still finite beings. We still have to learn and grow. We don't stay there in that realm. We do come down and we do have to make that doctor's appointment. We do have to go and make that payment. Yeah, we do have to uh you know face that person. So all those things don't go away. So we are still time bound, we still have a past, we still have to learn and grow and mature. And so because of that we and that's a gift of God, by the way. Because if all God did was like allow us to get into the Christ time, we will never mature and grow. We will we will we we will we will live in someone else's world and never be part of it. So allowing us to live, and I know this may be a little too deep for some people, allowing us to live in time, God has it's by his grace, he's allowed us to learn and grow, fall, and stand up and trust God more, be humbled and rely upon his grace more. I mean, all these things are what we need. Yeah. So does all this matter? Yes, it matters.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Let's say that someone's listening to this and they're saying, Yeah, this is a little deep for me. I'm a good old country boy, I've got b I've got, you know, country boy problems and whatever else. I've got, you know, how does this help me, Dr. Shah? How can I be time-bound and still worship a timeless God? How do I reconcile who he is with who I am?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Oh, absolutely. So when you're going through difficult times, or when you are unsure about the future, or when you have uh regrets of over your past, ask God to open your eyes to what he is doing. And that in a sense is what Christ's time is. He will allow you to step into that realm and see others who have gone before you, who fell, but God lifted them up, who struggled and God met their needs. And then see what the word has said about what God has prepared for you. You know, Jesus did that with his disciples. He said, I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am, there you may be also. What was Jesus doing there? He said, Well, he was prophesying, or he was telling them about the future. No, he was telling someone like Thomas, Thomas, you're concerned about this life and you're afraid about what's happening. Step in with me to another place. I may be going away for a little while and you may not see me, because he says all that to me. But just know that there is a life beyond that. What's about to happen in this week where I will be taken, betrayed, beaten, and mocked, and then crucified. All that's gonna happen, it's gonna shake you.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

But don't lose heart because I am going to prepare a place for you. You see that? There's a there's a place coming, and we're gonna live there forever. So temporarily I'll be separated from you, but we're gonna come back together.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

And there are many people who are listening that wish they were on the receiving end of that conversation with Jesus. There are people who are struggling with doubt, people who are struggling with insecurity, or people who are struggling with, man, I have so many unanswered questions, or feel like my prayers are going unanswered. Dr. Shah, what encouragement would you give to that person who's sitting and listening, wishing they could step into that Christ time?

SPEAKER_00 15:13

I mean, just pray, look to God, daily trust him, and and he he will come through for you. Yeah. Understand more about him.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

I mean, that's what we're doing here. That's right. That's right. I think I think, you know, when you said that, Ryan, that kind of got me to thinking, and maybe Dr. Shah, you can expand on this, but I feel like if you're listening to the show, you're on the receiving end of that conversation right now.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Maybe the Holy Spirit has has brought you here to this show, this episode on today, a point in time to help you to take that next step if you haven't done so already. Or maybe you don't fully know what it means. Dr. Shah, how does Jesus change everything, right? Like how does Jesus come into our lives at a point in time and prepare us for eternity?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Well, Jesus talked a lot about this. You know, he talked about this to the disciples. He talked about his relationship with Abraham. Uh so again, read the scriptures, see what Jesus did. So one of the things that it tells us in John 8, verse 56, Jesus said to those who did not believe in him, he said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. Again, folks, so those who are listening or watching us, this is that Christ's time. This is God's time. Abraham saw his day. You say, Well, maybe he saw him in the future. Yes, that's what we're talking about. Abraham was able to step into God's time and see down the generation there was the Son of God. And how did his response, how did he respond? It said, and he saw it and was glad. Then the Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? And Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

Best mic drop in the whole Bible. I've always loved this, I've always loved this passage.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

And then they took up stones to throw at him, but and then Jesus sort of went away from there. So all that to say God is timeless, no beginning, no end. God sees all time equally vividly. So when we step into his world by faith, we're also able to see all time vividly. We will never be God. Even in heaven, we will never get to a place where a man, there's no time to me. I'm an eternal being. No, no, no. You will always be time-bound. The reason you're eternal is because God has allowed you to keep living. Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

So it's interesting that you say that. I think some people are confused on that, like the concept of time in heaven. Because if we're going to be in God's presence in heaven and God Himself is, we talk about him being outside of time, will we then not be outside of time in heaven? Will we just be floating ethereally on clouds and plucking harps and singing a chorus of holy, holy, holy? I don't know if this is 10 million times on repeat.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

I don't know if this is an accurate way to think about it, but even definitionally, like God is infinite because he is outside of time, but he also has no beginning. Even if I live forever with God, I still had a beginning. Like for something to be infinite, I think it has to go both ways infinitely, like on a line, on the number line.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

And even when we die and are in heaven, we won't be infinite. We can't be infinite.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Because that began. Right. Yeah. We are dependent beings. Yes. God is the only independent being. The angels are not independent. We are not independent. Only God is completely independent. We will always be dependent on God. The reason we will live forever in heaven or hell is because God is allowing us to live. Of course, heaven is where you want to be because that's life of joy, peace with our Savior. Hell is not where you want to be, but he will allow your life to continue in judgment in hell forever. But we will always be dependent. That's right. You know? So God sees events in time and he acts in time. Okay, these are some of the things we're learning about the eternality of God. So Galatians chapter 4, verse 4 and 5 says When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are who were under the law that we might receive the adoption of the Son. So even though God is eternal, he lives in a different time, that's his time, yet for our sakes he appeared in time. That's very unique.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah. How would you respond to someone? I want to go back to something you said just a second ago. God will allow, God allows our lives to continue in eternity, whether that's in heaven or in hell. He is he is the reason that our lives continue to move forward. How would you respond to the person who says that it it is unjust or unmerciful of God to allow a person to continue in eternal torment? Like why does why does the punishment need to be eternal?

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Well, we can come to that in in a different lesson where we talk about God's justice. But here I would say, you know, God is just and he has made every opportunity for you to receive him. Salvation is a free gift. Every person who has ever been born has been given the opportunity to receive God's free gift of salvation. Before Jesus came, it was given as a promise that one day his son was coming. He was going to come through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So as long as you are trusting in that coming one, you can have eternal life. Once Jesus came, now it's more looking back, trusting in what has already happened. Now, what has the world done? Sometimes individually, sometimes collectively, we have rejected the truth of God. That's what that's what Romans 1 is all about. So why doesn't the gospel come to this one person living in this small forgotten village in the mountains somewhere in India or in Africa or in because for generations they have so closed their eyes to the things of God that the gospel doesn't come. It's not God's fault, it is their rejection. So either way, whether you actively say no, I don't want to hear about Jesus, or because you're so blind because of generations of rejection, either way, you are rejecting every single moment God's hand of friendship. So to say that, oh, it's not fair for me to be in hell forever and ever. No, you have all your life rejected God's hand of friendship. Why shouldn't God send you to hell?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

You also said this at the very beginning of this series is that for us to go forward and really getting to know God, we have to do it on his terms. Right. We can't come to a place where we're trying to understand God and say, but that's not fair, though. That's not just. That doesn't sound right to me. Well, now we've completely missed the point of the exercise because we're getting to know God. You know what I'm saying? We're coming to him on his terms. And so, Dr. Shum, maybe as we're wrapping up the show, we got about maybe 10 minutes left. Talk to us a little bit about the reality of eternity. Because I think as time bound beings, you're right, we don't really understand eternity, which means we don't really understand the stakes of what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Yeah. Well, I would say two or three things here very quickly. First is you are limited by time. Do not progress. Procrastinate. If if you're listening to this broadcast and or this episode or this podcast and and you know that you need to give your heart to Jesus, do it today. Don't wait till tomorrow, don't wait till next month, next year, when things settle down, you may not have that opportunity. You say, What do you mean? Something bad can happen to you.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Or you may get to a point where you cannot hear the voice of God. That can also happen. You can so close yourself off, your thoughts are so overwhelmingly anti-God that you cannot hear the voice of God anymore. So Amos chapter 6, verse 3 says, Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, who caused the seat of violence to come near. That is the God's judgment to come near them. So if you're the kind who are putting far off the day of doom, the day of judgment, the day of reckoning, today's the day. That's right. Give your life to Christ. Secondly, you exist in only one time at a time. You exist in only one time at a time, which means don't try to change the past. Don't try to live in the past and do not presume about the future. I think we just talked about that in James. Yeah. Means this, the present is all you really have. That's right. And Jesus said the same thing. You know, he he's he talked about them. Sufficient for the day is his own trouble. Yeah. James talks about that in James 4. Come now, you who say today, tomorrow we shall go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy, sell, make profit, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. But what is your life? For if it's even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Why do why are you presuming on the future? Old Testament talks about it as well in Proverbs 27, verse 1. Do not do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Isaiah 56, verse 12. Come, one says, I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink. Tomorrow will be as today and much more abundant. No, you don't have tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

That's right. That's not a guarantee.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah. So don't presume on the future, but don't try to live in the past or try to change the past. That's another lesson for people who are, you know, just just just obsessing over something from the past. They almost feel like if I can only reset time, if I can only go back in time, I would you can't do that. That's right. The only thing that you have is the present. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

So talk to us a little bit about that. In the five minutes that we've got left, somebody is in desperate need of repentance. Maybe somebody is listening on the radio and they turned here by accident, but they're invested. This is the moment where they're like, okay, I think I need to give my life to Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Do it now. It's very simple. So Jesus, save me. You don't have to know all the theology about God. You don't have to fix your past. None of that. All you can do is right now ask Jesus to save you. And and just know that when He saves you, God forgives your past, present, and future. It is all done. So make that a choice right now. And start living for Him today. God has given you a gift of life. Use it for God's kingdom. What you do for Jesus Christ will last forever. So repent today. Psalm 90, verse 8 says, You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. Means God knows everything about you. Jeremiah 16, 17, for my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. Again, Hebrews 4 13, and no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. But if you pray and ask him to save you, what is the promise here? Isaiah 43 25. I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Jeremiah 31 34, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. Hebrews 8 12, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. Hebrews 10 17, then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Seems like God just wants to just forget your sins. Yeah. But he can't do that unless you come to Jesus. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

That's right. And this is where the timelessness of God, this is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. This is where it becomes, you know, a doctrine that God is timeless, and here's the manner in which he exists versus how it's going to benefit you and your Christian life. In fact, how it could save your eternal soul.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

That's right. It's so, so impactful for us to think about the God who is so powerful and so infinite and so timeless, and yet who loves us and has provided a means of forgiveness and a means of salvation for us. Man, more so than we could ever ask or deserve. God is so gracious to us and so loving and so kind.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

That's right. And for the person who is listening to this, if you even are that one person out of the millions of people listening to this broadcast right now, if you accepted Christ, you can text us and let us know. We're gonna get connected with you. It's not gonna go in some inbox, it's gonna come straight to us, the three of us sitting here on this couch. So make sure you text us today, T-O-D-A-Y to 252-429-6069. We're gonna reach out to you personally and we're gonna help you take those next steps. Again, that's T-O-D-A-Y. You're gonna text it at 252-429-6069. Or you can go right in the description of this podcast if you're listening on the podcast app and hit join the family.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

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SPEAKER_02 28:50

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clearview Today.