If there ever was a time when nothing at all existed, then there would be absolutely nothing today. It is an axiomatic truth that if nothing exists, then "nothing" will be the case forever! Nothing plus nothing equals nothing. If there is absolutely nothing but nothing, there cannot ever be something. "Nothing" and "something" are mutually exclusive terms.
Since it is the case that something does now exist, one must logically conclude that something has existed always. Because If nothing cannot produce something, and yet something exists, then it follows necessarily that something has existed always. The question then becomes this. What is the "something" that has been in existence always?
In logic, the "law of the excluded middle" states that a thing either is, or it is not. A line either is straight, or it is not straight.
Obviously then, Something has existed forever. That "something" must be either material in nature, or non-material. If it can be demonstrated that the eternal "something" is not material in nature, then it must follow that the eternal "something" is non-material in nature.
Another term for the "non-material" would be "spirit." The question now becomes — what does the available evidence reveal? Is it the case that "matter" has existed forever, or does the evidence argue that the eternal "something" is non-matter, i.e., spirit?
The Second Law of Thermodynamics is an expression of the tendency over time for differences in temperature, pressure and chemical reactions to equilibrate in an isolated physical system over time. If you have the assumption that our universe is all that there is, it is an isolated physical system. If matter has existed forever, we would see an equilibrium of everything in the universe. In other words, energy would be evenly distributed and reactions of heat, energy and chemical processes would have already ceased. We would not see the energy and movement we see in our Solar System today. This is undeniable proof that the universe can not be all there is and eternal.
The most reputable scientists in the world concede that "matter" is not eternal. In his book, Until the Sun Dies (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977), Dr. Robert Jastrow, founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and himself a professed agnostic, describes his perception of the initial creation of the universe. He speaks of that moment when "the first particles of matter appear" (21), thus, prior to that moment, matter did not exist.
Subsequently, he declares emphatically that "modern science denies an eternal existence to the Universe?" (30). There is not a particle of evidence that the universe has existed forever. The very fact that scientists attempt to assign an "age" to the universe is revealing within itself.
In view of the foregoing, namely that something has always existed, and yet that "something" is not of a material nature, the student of logic is irresistibly forced to the conclusion that the "something" that is eternal is non-material — which means it must be "spirit" in its essence. The Scriptures identify that spirit Being as God. "God is spirit?" (Jn. 4:24) — an uncreated, eternal Spirit Being.
Both Scripture and logic, then, in marvelous concert, testify to the fact that God is eternal. He had no origin. He is the everlasting I AM. No one "made" him. He simply IS.
