Dr. Jerald C. Joersz
My seven-year-old grandson asked me where God came from. I could not tell him. I hope you can.
Dear reader’s grandson,
I have a grandson about your age. His name is Joey. Like you, he is a very smart and curious person. He asks hard questions, some that even adults do not often ask. I hope that you will continue to ask questions like “Where did God come from?” because that shows you want to know more about what the Bible teaches about God.
I can guess why you asked this question. Most things that we know about have a beginning and an end, like recess at school, or like our own life. We had a beginning when our mother gave birth to us, and we will have an end when we die. All things we know about have beginnings and ends. So, why not God? Didn’t He start somewhere sometime? It is a perfectly natural question.
Well, the first thing we need to know about God is that He is not like us. He is totally unlike anything or anybody we know. He had no beginning, and He has no end. The coolest thing of all is that nothing or no one created Him! The Bible calls Him “eternal” or “everlasting.” Think about these Bible verses from a favorite Psalm of mine in the Old Testament: “From everlasting to everlasting You are God . . . For a thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past” (Ps. 90:2, 4). In other words, God doesn’t live by clocks or calendars in heaven to measure time. He has no beginning and no end.
This is what I would tell Joey if he asked me what you have asked. Think of a perfect circle, like a halo around the moon, or a ring, or a wave rippling out when you drop a stone into the water. A circle has no beginning or end. Or think of the number eight, the only number with no beginning or end when you look at it. That’s how God is.
The second thing to remember about God is that His love for us lasts forever and that those who believe in Jesus will live forever. Ask your grandpa if he knows this verse of the Bible: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Maybe you don’t use the word eternal very often, but it is really an awesome word. It means “forever and forever, with no end.” I’ll bet you know this verse too. This means that when Jesus comes, “We will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17).
I’ll bet you are like me. I like the idea of being with God forever and forever!
Sincerely,
Another grandpa
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About the Author: Until his retirement, Dr. Jerald C. Joersz was an associate executive director of the LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations.
December 2010
