Names of God
The everlasting God…fainteth not, neither is weary– Isaiah 40:28
There never has been a time when God did not exist. There never will be a time when he is not present. He is the one and only everlasting.
Over 400 times in the Old Testament the concepts of everlasting, always, or never are referenced. Which of these uses are specifically connected with God? Every one of them. Because only God is everlasting, and so only God can accurately use words like always and never.
We humans flippantly make promises with the word always, or never, but we cannot actually know or guarantee or promise anything for certain outside of our short lifespan of experience and limited abilities.
But when Jesus, for instance, says He will be with you “always, even to the end of the world”, he is able to fulfill that promise. It is this everlasting quality of Jesus’ character which gives rise to his self description as the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” of everything else (Revelation 1:8).
He is the Alpha, in that every part of our existence finds its origin in him. Nothing, and no one, besides God has existed forever. He is the Omega, or ending, of our existence, though, as well; every one of us will eventually find ourselves at the feet of Jesus to receive either our just or merciful sentence. Our lives will all end in God.
For those who are embraced in the everlasting covenant of salvation (Hebrews13:20), the everlasting God is a source of never-failing, ever-present comfort and strength and salvation. Even our salvation, which is eternal, is everlasting only because God is eternal and he has promised to sustain us throughout the unfolding chapters of eternity.