How old is God: Biblical Explanation

When you ask someone how old they are, they usually respond with the number of years they’ve spent on earth. So if you ask how old God is, you’re probably hoping to get an estimated number of years. But how is it possible to number the years God has spent in existence when God is existence itself? That’s like asking what color the wind is or trying to measure it. In our attempt to pin the years down, we cannot even accurately say that He has lived for eternity because instead, eternity has lived inside of Him.

Alpha And Omega In The Bible

The Bible in Revelation 21:6-8 calls God the Alpha and Omega, The One who was, Who is, and Is to come.

In Daniel 7:9, God is also referred to as the Ancient of Days.

The word ‘Alpha’ is the very first letter of the Greek alphabet and ‘Omega’ is the last one. This is a pointer to how God not only existed in the beginning, but He is the beginning of all things, the One from which everything we see or hear started. Omega means that He is also the very End. 

The word Ancient of Days means that God has lived for as many days as humans have existed. It tells us that God has lived through the course of every human life beginning from Adam, up till you today. He is as ancient as when the concept of days and nights started.

When was God born?

As a result of science’s inquisition and the familiarity of everything around us having an origin, it may be hard to wrap our heads around the fact that God never had a beginning and just always was, but it’s true. God was never born in the sense that no other being existed before He did to give Him life. God is life. He has always been around.

Revelation 1:8 makes it clearer when God Himself said,

“I am the Alpha and the Omega–the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come–the Almighty One.”

First of He says that He is. That’s present tense meaning He’s still living.

Then He says that He always was. That’s past tense to mean that there was never a time when God did not exist.

Then He says that He is still to come. That’s future tense meaning that there will never be a time in the future when God will not exist.

Another reason you can’t ask ‘how old is God now’ is that even the concept of time is relative to God. The Bible says in 2 Pet 3:8 that to God, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

God’s Age In The Bible

To paint a clear picture to answer the question “how old is God?”, have a look at these bible verses;

• God is the beginning of creation.

Genesis 1:1 makes us understand that God was the one who created heaven and earth. Heaven here is a general term to describe all celestial beings like angels and the kingdom of heaven as a place too. While earth here is a general term for the universe, especially earth and everything on it including humans, oceans, and all the celestial bodies. 

Traveling to some parts of the world will leave you in awe of God’s artistic prowess.

• God has always been King.

Psalm 93:2 says, “Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity.”

This simply means that God has always and will always be the ruler of the cosmos. You can see how His rulership over the world was displayed at creation when He only had to speak for the world we know now to come into existence.  It’s quite reassuring to know that our Father commands the whole of creation.

• God lives forever.

1 Timothy 1:17 says, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Forever includes the past, present, and future. God will never die because He is immortal. He doesn’t age as humans do. It’s no wonder that glory and honor will forever be given to Him, no other being can come close.

What Does This Mean For The Believer?

God’s immortality means that He will never die and He will never age. And according to 1 Corinthians 15:53- 54, God will also bestow on His people this gift of immortality so that they can experience life without sickness, ageing or death.

This will be at the Second coming of Jesus when His people will be separated from others and taken up into heaven. Our mortal bodies will be shed off and we will be left with our spirits which are undying. Even as we spend our time here on earth, we look forward to and prepare ourselves for Christ’s coming in glory. 

Apart from calming your fears, this knowledge should leave you in holy reverence of God. He holds the universe together, and without Him, nothing would exist according to John 1:3. 

It’s natural to show more respect to a person because of how old they are, how much experience they’ve had, or the amount of authority which they wield . In the same way, when you come before God in worship or prayer, remember His timelessness and power, never forget to treat Him with loving reverence.

Final Thoughts

Although God, through Jesus, came down to earth and was born through a woman to save us, He had existed long before then in heaven.

If the question “how old is God?” were to have an answer, it would mean He had actually begun at some point and there was a time when God didn’t exist. Or, there might be a point when He wouldn’t exist. But it doesn’t have an answer and that is the confidence we have.

We can trust that in God our hope is secured and He will always be watching over us because He who keeps Israel does not sleep nor slumber.