Eternity

How long is ETERNITY? Pretty long, hah?!


In fact, it is a very common mistake when spiritual people claim: this life on earth is so short compared to eternity. The Truth is that life on earth is so long, who can say that 70 years are short? It is long. It is wrong to think of eternity as a very long time.

Another common mistake is when they, spiritual people, say that God is everywhere. It is the same mistake when some religions describe Heaven to be a place full of material leisure. Why is that wrong?

The answer is a very simple fact to say. However, it is one of the very hardest to grasp, if ever possible. So, allow me to try to explain what I don't understand and what is beyond my imagination.

Where is Heaven? It is wherever God is, correct? Yes.
OK then, where is God? Answer is: God everywhere, correct? No. Why?

Let us travel back in time. Before God created Universe, where did He exist? God is the One who created the three dimensions, and therefore he is ABOVE these three dimensions; i.e., He is not limited or located by these coordinates. Thus, there is no WHERE for Him, and thus He is not everywhere, so where is God? He is above WHERE, no dimensions for Him.
This might sound easy to accept, but if you think about it: what does it really mean that God exist where there are no coordinates? Where there is no width, length nor height? We don't know. This only proves the mighty of God. Then, it is our limited human language that expresses this mysterious truth in the simplest way for us to understand: God exists everywhere.

Similarly with the fourth dimension: time. God is the One who created Time and He is ABOVE time. God is not limited by time. Therefore, there are no before, now or after for God. Therefore God does not grow old, because there is NO TIME with God. Thus, Eternity is not forever, not endless, but it is NO TIME.
In Heaven we shall praise God. It is boring if we do the same thing all the time, but in eternity, there is no time, so what we do is with no beginning and no end, that is why we shall not get bored or tired… there shall be no before nor after, no days and nights...

That is why when God - who is above time - gave Himself on the cross a sacrifice, it is not something that happened on the past once. God is above time, with no time, so this sacrifice happened, or is happening, with no beginning and with no end. The Fullness of Time is according to our measure, but for God, there is no time. That is why our sacrifice on the altar when we celebrate a liturgy today, is that same sacrifice on the cross, not added to it, IT IS THE SAME. That is why His redemption is an eternal one, i.e., with no beginning and no end, that is why He saved the righteous who slept on hope before His incarnation, and those came after him, and that is why He was able to give His body and blood on the Last supper, before the cross.

OK to accept? Hard to say? But never feasible to understand. I can not understand it. It is one of the mighty adjectives of God that makes one humble himself in front of God and say with St. Paul:
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Rom 11:33)