Everlasting

Everlasting (Hebrew olam, Greek aiōnios) in Scripture denotes enduring permanence — from age to age, without defined end. It is used of God himself: the "everlasting God" (El Olam, Genesis 21:33; Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2), whose years are without end and who existed before creation. Divine covenant commitments are described as everlasting: the Noahic covenant (Genesis 9:16), the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 17:7–8), and the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 23:5). The gates of Jerusalem will be open everlastingly to receive the tribute of nations (Isaiah 60:11). The messianic kingdom is an everlasting dominion (Daniel 7:14). In the New Testament, aiōnios qualifies both the life of the redeemed and the punishment of the lost with identical force (Matthew 25:46), establishing the symmetrical eternality of both destinies.