Who Made God?
Revelation 1:8
8 “I am the Alʹpha and the O·meʹga, says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”
Picture a father talking with his seven-year-old son. He says, “Long, long ago, God made the earth and everything in it, and he made the sun, the moon, and the stars.” The boy thinks about this for a few moments and then asks, “Daddy, who made God?”
“Nobody made God,” the father replies. “He has always existed.” That simple statement satisfies the child for now. As he grows older, however, the question continues to intrigue him. He finds it hard to comprehend how anyone could be without a beginning. Why, even the universe had a beginning. ‘Where did God come from?’ he wonders.
How does the Bible answer? Essentially, in much the same way as did the father in our example. Moses wrote: “O Jehovah,
. . . before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the productive land,
from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” (
Psalm 90:1, 2) Likewise, the prophet Isaiah exclaimed: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth,
is a God for all eternity”! (
Isaiah 40:28) Similarly, the letter of Jude refers to God as existing “for all past eternity.”—
Jude 25.
Those scriptures show us that God is “the King of eternity,” as the apostle Paul describes him. (
1 Timothy 1:17) This means that God has always existed, no matter how far back in time we cast our gaze. And he will always exist in the future. (
Revelation 1:8) Thus, his eternal existence is a fundamental attribute of the Almighty.
Why do we find this idea difficult to grasp? Because our limited life span gives us a completely different concept of time from that of Jehovah. Because God is eternal, to him a thousand years are like a day. (
2 Peter 3:8) To illustrate: Could a grasshopper, which lives as an adult for only about 50 days, fathom our life span of 70 or 80 years? Hardly! Yet, the Bible explains that we are like grasshoppers in comparison with our Grand Creator. Even our ability to reason is dwarfed by his. (
Isaiah 40:22; 55:8, 9) So it is not surprising that there are aspects of Jehovah’s nature that escape full human understanding.
Although the concept of an eternal God may be hard to grasp, we can see that it makes sense. If someone else had created God, that person would be the Creator. Yet, as the Bible explains, Jehovah is the one who “created all things.” (
Revelation 4:11) Furthermore, we know that the universe at one time did not exist. (
Genesis 1:1, 2) Where did it come from?
Its Creator had to exist first. He also existed before there were any other intelligent beings, such as his only-begotten Son and the angels. (
Job 38:4, 7; Colossians 1:15) Clearly, then, he existed alone first. He could not have been created; nothing was in existence that could have created him.
Our own existence and that of the entire universe testifies to the existence of an eternal God. The One who put our vast universe in motion, the One who established the laws to control it, must have always existed. Only he could have breathed life into everything else.—
Job 33:4.
Did God Have a Beginning?
▪ The Bible answers that God did not have a beginning. God has always existed. As difficult as the concept of God’s eternity is to grasp, we cannot dismiss the idea simply because we cannot fully comprehend it.
How reasonable is it that we should expect to understand
all of God’s ways? The apostle Paul declared: “O the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How unsearchable his judgments are and past tracing out his ways are!” (
Romans 11:33) Our minds cannot fully grasp the depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge any more than an infant can understand all the ways of a parent. These inspired words of Paul, although primarily about the uniqueness of God’s wisdom and mercy, suggest that there are aspects of Jehovah God and his workings that are too deep for our minds to fathom. The concept of God’s being without a beginning is apparently one of them. Yet, we can have absolute trust in what the Bible teaches about God. Jesus Christ said regarding the sacred writings: “Your word is truth.”—
John 17:17.
Moses said in prayer to Jehovah: “You have always been, and you will always be.” (
Psalm 90:2,
The Holy Bible, New Century Version) Here Moses describes God’s existence as stretching in two directions. One is toward the future. Jehovah is “the One that lives forever and ever.” (
Revelation 4:10) Thus, God’s existence stretches forward into the eternal future. The other is toward the past. In other words, God was neither created nor did he come into existence. Rather, God’s existence stretches back into the infinite past.
Abstract ideas are hard for most of us to comprehend. Yet, we sometimes deal with challenging concepts, such as positive and negative numbers. Counting numbers can go on endlessly, either up or down. Could we not apply this example to the years in the life of the Creator?
It is therefore fitting that only God bears the unique title “King of eternity.” (
1 Timothy 1:17) Just think: Jesus Christ, the myriads of angels in heaven, and mankind on earth all have a beginning because of being created. (
Colossians 1:15, 16) Not so with God. To insist that God must have been created introduces pointless and circular logic about who created the Creator. No, Jehovah alone exists “from eternity to eternity.” (
Psalm 90:2,
The New American Bible) In other words, Jehovah existed “before all time.”—
Jude 25, footnote.
Keep in mind, though, that the concept of God’s eternal existence is not just a cold fact. A closer look at Moses’ prayer reveals that God’s eternity guarantees a warm promise of everlasting life for us. In contrast with the fleeting nature of our present life, God is described as “a real dwelling for us during generation after generation.” As a loving Father, Jehovah has been, is, and always will be there for his people. May you take comfort in that wonderful truth!—
Psalm 90:1.
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