SABBATH THOUGHT 2025-06-28—I CANNOT IMAGINE

May God bless you on His Sabbath day!

There are things about God that are just impossible to comprehend. It is particularly apparent for humans who cannot see, hear, or talk with God. The creation is a product of His brilliance. It is one that interests and challenges even the most exceptional minds. A South Korean man named Younghoon Kim has the highest recorded IQ of 276, much higher than Einstein, but even he will go to his grave without satisfying his thirst for knowledge. No one ever will. And that is why intellect and knowledge cannot bring peace to one’s soul—the mysteries of God never cease. Job and his four friends Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite were brilliant men but they, too, recognized the insuperable gulf between man and God:

JOB 11:7-9 “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? 8 They are higher than heaven– what can you do? Deeper than Sheol– what can you know? 9 Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

Then there is the fact that physical life ends in death, which raises the question, “Why bother?” This is exactly why Solomon said that knowledge is vanity[1]. But he was wrong about one thing: humans NEED God to be vastly greater than anything our minds can dream up or ever search out. Our limitations become motivation to seek God, worship Him, fear Him, and strive to be like Him because that is the only way our souls will ever be satisfied. Doing these things feeds the hope that this life leads to a more abundant one[2] that escapes the limitations of this physical life.

NO BEGINNING: Some things are just not possible for humans to grasp but what eludes our thinking above all is an ever-living Being; that is, One who had no beginning. EVERYTHING that we know has a beginning. It is utterly impossible to comprehend that God has no beginning.

ECCLESIASTES 3:11 He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Solomon wrote this subsequent to his soliloquy on “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecc. 3:1). The thoughts of the wisest man on earth were constrained by time. I doubt it is possible even for the angels to understand the eternity of God. The reason “no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end” is because God had no beginning. His works began before any other life existed. God has placed “eternity in their [humans] hearts” and living forever is quite easy to comprehend, but no one understands life that did not require a “time to be born.” (Eccl. 3:2). God is LIFE because He had no beginning.

SPACE: The universe exists in something we call ‘Space’, which is an apt name for a volume that no one can measure. The name is like the bread that God gave to the ancient Israelites. When it first appeared, they asked, “What is it?” or, in the Hebrew, “Manna?”[3] While the universe has billions or trillions of galaxies containing billions or trillions of stars and planets, Space is big … really big. In fact, all of the galaxies are estimated to make up only 4.2×10^-21% of its measurable volume. That is less than one wheelbarrow of dirt of the whole volume of the earth. What we call Space is a continuous area or expanse that is mostly unoccupied.

Like eternity, infinity is not something a human mind can comprehend except as a mathematical concept. Human minds rebel at anything without limitations or boundaries. Interestingly, cosmologists admit that they do not know if the universe has a boundary or edge while others say the universe might be flat, curved, or some other shape. If the universe has a shape it has to be limited by default. For example, the earth is a sphere but the only reason it has a shape is because it has a surface beyond which is Space. Everything with a limit or boundary MUST be contained within something else—like the earth floating in Space. If Space is limited, then by default it must be contained inside something else. Eventually, one must conclude that either Space is infinite or there is something that surrounds Space that itself is infinite. As Job observed:

[TS2009, FV] JOB 26:13-14 By His Spirit He [God] adorned the heavens. … 14 Lo, these are only the outer fringes of His ways; but what a trifling whisper we hear about Him! And who understands the thunder of His power?”

Astronomers have measured the “outer fringes” of the universe to be 93 billion light-years across, but that is a “trifling whisper” of the infinite ‘playground’ of God!

INFINITY: This leads to is the realization that nothing about God has limits. God not only has no beginning but His Kingdom must be INFINITE as well. Notice this rather cryptic way of describing His Kingdom:

DANIEL 7:27 Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High …

The word for kingdom includes concepts of both rulership and geography. In other words, rulership is authority established over a region. The phrase “kingdoms under the whole heaven” indicates there will be smaller kingdoms under one superior Kingdom that is of the Whole Heaven. As already discussed, the Whole Heaven must be infinite, so the Kingdom which is ABOVE them all is infinite. But read what Isaiah said about this Kingdom:

ISAIAH 9:7 Of the increase of His [the Son of God] government [empire] and peace there will be no end …

English treats government as the ruling authority over the citizens of a country. But it does not make sense that the authority of God will increase. His supremacy is not in question. However, in the Hebrew the word also means empire, which is a conglomeration of smaller kingdoms under a single, supreme Kingdom. Sound like Daniel 7:27? If there is no end to the increase of God’s EMPIRE, then The Kingdom of the Whole Heaven will forever grow in size—it has “no end.” Therefore, it has no limit or boundary, which means it is INIFINITE.

CREATOR: All beings have some ability to create things but only God has the power to create something from nothing:

JOHN 1:3 All things were made through Him [The Logos], and without Him nothing was made that was made.

This is curious wording. The TS2009 says, “All came to be through Him, and without Him not even one [thing] came to be that came to be.” It implies coming into existence from NOTHING. That is TRUE creative power. Mankind, on the other hand, creates things from the resources God put upon this earth. They can only form or change one thing into another. Angels, too, have the ability to create. I imagine they are building the dwelling places in the house of God[4] and Jesus is the Master Builder or Architect. However, the evidence is sketchy whether they can create from nothing.

What is mindboggling about the creative power of God is the complexity of it all. When an engineer makes something, it begins as a mental concept that is captured on design plans. Those are usually simulated and then made into a working prototype that is subjected to testing. Any failings or limitations become modifications of the original plans after which it becomes a production item. But it does not seem that God did anything like that. When He made the heavens and earth, He did so according to what was in His mind and it was perfect without plans, prototypes, or testing. Why do I say that? Mainly because there will be a New Creation[5] that replaces the old one and its appearance is sudden and without precedent—there is no evidence God ‘prototyped’ it first. God just knows it will be perfect. Assuming that the New Creation, likely more complex and beautiful than this existing one, did not require a development process, neither did this current physical creation.

The creative power and brilliance of God is unimaginable and unmeasurable. This is another reason why The Kingdom of the Whole Heaven is infinite. What else could contain the indescribable creative power of God? That means, then, that The Kingdom of the Whole Heaven is when the God’s works truly begin because they will expand into infinity. “Known to God from eternity are all His works.” (Acts 15:18). God has been working for all eternity-past so it is safe to assume He will continue for eternity to come.

What is truly astounding is that The Kingdom of the Whole Heaven—the infinity of the New Creation—is the inheritance of the saints of God[6]. Let that sink in—the saints will inherit both the ETERNITY and the INFINITY of The Kingdom of the Whole Heaven. That makes sense because one requires the other. Eternal beings require an infinite canvas for their works and infinite works require eternal beings.

AGAPE LOVE: The purpose of The Kingdom of the Whole Heaven is so “that God may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:28). Given the greatness of God—His eternity and the unending expanse of His Kingdom—how can ALL of God be in all of His people? It seems to imply that His fullness will be expressed in varying amounts and ways through His many children, but that is hard to grasp given that God is beyond measure in everything.

Including agape love. John says God IS love[7]. Love drives His thoughts, motives, and purposes including the reason for creating all life. No one can define what life is beyond some capacity for thoughts, feelings, memories, learning, and language. But God created life to share what He IS—agape love—with others. But how will He do that? How, exactly, does a created being come to know, understand, and have agape love? God gave people an understanding of spousal, familial, and brotherly love. However, the human forms of love fall short when it comes to those filled with hatred—enemies. Perfect agape love is incapable of anger, hatred, or malice[8].

So, agape love begins with God. Scripture says that “love is of [or from] God.” (1 John 4:8). That means God “first loved us” (1 John 4:19). That makes sense. But then we must learn what love is (can you define it?). How? From the One who IS love—God. He “will teach us of His ways” (Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2). But God is also practical. His ways (“straight paths”[9] in the NT) must be expressed in definitive terms, not in figurative or poetic biblical expressions. Hence, God made Laws, which are simply rules of behavior expressed as do’s and don’ts. What is interesting is that these rules are the same in the heaven as on the earth[10]:

JOB 38:33 Do you know the ordinances [Laws] of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?

Apparently, even the angels had to learn agape love; otherwise, why would there be Laws in the heavens? (Before anyone objects to this by mentioning that Lucifer was perfect when he was created[11], the word perfect means meaning without blemish, not necessarily with full knowledge. I would suggest that all infants are born that way, too. Perfect at creation or birth seems to be a case of not yet knowing how “to refuse the evil, and choose the good.”—Isa. 7:16.)

But even after teaching the Laws of Love, God also “demonstrates His own love toward us” (Rom. 5:8). Given the bad choices of all of mankind, He demonstrated His love by sacrificing His own Son. He showed people the meaning and depth of agape love because we were all enemies of Him. Those who learn agape love, abide by the rules of behavior, and follow the example of God will then be able “love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). And they will also “love one another” (1 John 4:8). Hopefully, this eventually includes our own enemies—those filled with anger, hatred, and malice toward us because the perfection of agape love is being willing to sacrifice even for an enemy.

And that is our hope—an ETERNAL life in an INFINITE Kingdom in which all its citizens not only love one another but are the sum and expression of all that God is living IN them! God said, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11). And that is something that I cannot imagine!

May God’s grace and peace be upon you!

Steven Greene

https://sabbathreflections.org

sabbathreflections@gmail.com