Thoughts on Infinity
Read: Psalm 147:5 Job 22:5 Revelation 1:8 Psalm 139:15-16 Ephesians 1:4-13 I Peter 1:2
Revelation 22:17 (KJV)
One of the meanings of the Hebrew word for infinity in Psalm 147:5 is "innumerable," or that which cannot be numbered. Infinity cannot be a number because any number, no matter how large, must always be finite. Infinity has to be something that transcends number.
The significance of the meaning of Psalm 147:5 is that it states that God's "understanding is infinite." This means that God's knowledge, intelligence and wisdom are beyond measure. This means that God possesses an Infinity of Ideas which He can combine in an Infinity of creative ways. Each Idea is in-itself Infinite, the set of Ideas is Infinite, and the set of creative ways in which they can be combined is also Infinite. These infinities cannot limit each other because they are completely interdependent on each other. This Infinity can only be God.
The Word of God in Job 22;5 has Eliphaz accuse Job of having infinite iniquities. It is quite significant that one of the meanings of "infinite" in this verse is "non-existent." In this case, the Bible equates non-existence with infinity. Iniquity may be infinite, but it is a non-existent infinity. This means that when God found iniquity in Lucifer, he discovered that it was equal to an infinite non-existence. Lucifer became able to misuse God's Ideas in that he began to invent false combinations of His Ideas that resulted in nothingness, that in turn, indicated an infinite non-existence which could also be called absolute nothingness or chaos. This chaos, being a non-existent infinity, cannot limit God's Infinity in the least. The set of possible false combinations may be infinite, but Lucifer, being finite, was not intelligent enough to invent them all. One may object that a non-existent infinity is no infinity at all. However, an absolute nothingness must non-exist absolutely nowhere and at no time. This description indicates a negative infinity which cannot affect a real infinity except through false combinations of real Ideas. The Bible simply teaches that while false combinations may be infinite they always result in a nothingness which indicates non-existence which cannot be real, and therefore, cannot limit the real Infinity which is God.
God's Infinite Wisdom means that not only does God know each person's future and possible future; He knows every possible future for the entire human race. This means that every decision that each individual makes alters the history of mankind. The history of mankind consists of an extremely complex intermixture of decisions and systems of decisions in a constant flux, but which nevertheless, stabilizes into an invariant past history. Even though humans, singly or in groups, can make decisions which violate the will of God, nevertheless, God holds the Infinite Power to direct human history toward His own perfect ends. God's Word often demonstrates that God holds the power to turn even man's worst sins toward something good.
God's foreknowledge of every possible future of every individual, even though they possess free will, has deep implications for both predestination and each person's free will. As regarding each person's eternal being, God can simply wait for each person whom He brings under conviction for their sins to decide to repent and believe or not, knowing their eternal being no matter what they decide. This brings God's foreknowledge of each person's eternal being into complete harmony with each person's free will. This also makes predestination mean that when any person decides to repent and believe, then God never allows that person to revoke his or her decision. Once a person chooses to accept Christ as his or her Savior, then that person belongs, and has belonged, to God for all eternity. God allows each person's free will to determine not only their eternal future, but their eternal past as well. In a sense, every person's decision to believe or not actually occurs in every moment of eternity.
Some may object that no human has an eternal past since God created each one of us at a definite time in the past. While it is true that God assembled each one of us in our mother's womb, Psalm 139:15-16 clearly teaches that every one of us has always existed as an eternal plan in God's Mind. God's Infinite Mind and Wisdom makes this fact a necessary truth.
Because of our finite minds we humans see the past as behind us, the future as before us, and the present moment as a consciousness of decisiveness. But God sees eternity, and every possible eternity, in every moment of time. Thus God has no problem waiting for any particular person to believe in Christ or not because He knows their eternal future and past no matter what they decide. For these reasons, there exists no contradiction between that which Jesus taught us in John 10:9 where He asserts free will, and John 10:14 where he asserts predestination. However, once a believer has decided to accept Christ as Savior, then God never allows that believer to reverse his or her decision. That saved believer becomes a child of God, and God deals with that believer as His child forever. God never disowns His children. When one of His children goes astray, God will correct them as many times as it takes to get them to be finally right with Him.
Because of our finite minds, we humans can never come close to understanding infinity much less the Infinite Mind of God. However, by paying careful attention to scripture and by applying a little logic to it, we may possibly be able to glean a few ideas about the nature of infinity. In the first place, it seems logical to assume that infinity cannot be anything linear. Infinity cannot be an infinite line or an infinite number. Any line must always have two ends with a finite distance between them no matter how long it may be. Any number, no matter how large, must also be finite. Any point on the circumference of a circle could be considered as both a beginning and an end of that circle. If such a circle has a finite number of points, then circles cannot be infinite. If the passage of time is similar to a line, a number, or a circle, then time cannot be infinite. Indeed, in our world time is finite.
However, if God is like a circle, then this circle would posses an infinity of points within its circumference, and this would be a true infinity in time because it would be an infinity of pasts and futures. These points would not be like a number because each point would always start a new beginning with a new ending, or be an ending with a new beginning. But an infinity of pasts and futures can only be real if each point, within an infinity of points, becomes a new beginning with a new ending, which in turn, becomes a new beginning with a new ending and so forth to infinity. Such an infinity would make both free will and predestination necessary and interrelated parts of such an infinite circle. In this way, infinity could be described as a circle with an infinity of points with an infinity of beginnings and endings, with each particular beginning and ending being finite. Jesus described Himself in similar terms in Revelation 1:8. Since God is Infinite, He must possess an infinity of Ideas, creative Plans and Histories. Jesus seemed to be speaking of Himself as being like a circle possessing an Infinity of beginnings and endings within its circumference.
Every decision that each human makes causes a new beginning and ending in that person's life. Every decision causes a jump from one of the infinite points to another. This means that every humans future history is in constant flux, but leaves behind a past that never changes. This condition is also true of the human race as a whole. The fact that God knows every possible infinite history eliminates any contradiction whatsoever between predestination and free will.
Sin was invented as Satan's plan to destroy God and His infinite histories. Satan invented sin as false combinations of God's Infinite Ideas. Sin constitutes a destructive attempt to reduce God's Infinity to finitude and absolute nothingness.
To counter Satan's attempt, God has intervened in man's history to turn each person from destructive sin to salvation and everlasting life. God came to earth in the form of His Son Jesus to take the sin of every person on Himself on a cross, suffering the penalty of sin which is death, so that each person who decides to believe in His sacrifice and power over sin will receive God's grace and His everlasting life. God transfers every person who accepts Christ by faith from a point with a finite history to a point with an everlasting history, and God never reverses this transfer. Jesus took the destructive effects of sin and finitude on Himself knowing that it can never destroy the Infinite and Eternal Love that is God. For this reason, Jesus rose from the dead to prove that He has all power over sin and death.
All this means that by far the most important decision that any person can ever make is to accept Christ as their Savior. To do so is to be rescued by God from sin and death to a new beginning with everlasting life and an eternal freedom from sin and death. A saved person enters into an eternal relationship with the Jesus of Revelation 1:8 who possesses an infinity of new beginnings and endings.
But the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ raises a seemingly insurmountable contradiction which Kierkegaard called "the paradox." How could an Infinite God ever condescend to become a finite person? Logic would seem to indicate that if God ever became finite, then this condition would cause a destruction of His Infinity, and thus of God Himself. Satan must have counted on this logical conclusion as his means for destroying God.
Satan's plan was foiled because he did not count on the fact that God's Infinite Logic and Mathematics are quite different from finite logic and mathematics. In God's Infinite Mathematics, He can subtract from it and still not diminish it in the least. The Infinite God can, as a mortal man, be nailed to a cross and die, spend three days in a borrowed grave, and yet be raised again to eternal life by an Infinite Father who can never come to an end or be diminished in any way. The finite mind can never even begin to understand the Infinite Logic and Mathematics of God, but each human can accept "the paradox" through the passion of faith and thereby receive the Eternal Life of Christ for themselves. Jesus achieved the greatest victory ever, a victory over Satan, sin and the finitude of death.
No comments:
Post a Comment