I suspect we’ve all had the feeling that there’s either no time to do something or that doing something is taking forever. When we are young we can’t wait to grow up. As we get older we wonder where the time has gone. Let’s take a moment just to think about Time and see what God has told us about it.
The reality of our existence today is that we are bound by time. Everything we do, when we speak, as we just live we are using up time. When our “time comes” we pass away, our time has gone. Mankind looks for an “afterlife” or “rebirth” to avoid this final ending.
What does God tell us about this in His message to us in the Bible? This may give you a new understanding as you take some time to think about the message.
However we understand the creation record in Genesis 1 and 2, the whole universe is immediately set in time – 7 days. We are time bound from the beginning. God knows that.
In the book of Psalms we are told that God's throne has stood from time immemorial and that God is from the everlasting past (Ps 93:2)
We are frequently told that God is forever and ever, outside time. We do not have the words or the understanding of what that means. In Ecclesiastes we read:
The reality of our existence today is that we are bound by time. Everything we do, when we speak, as we just live we are using up time. When our “time comes” we pass away, our time has gone. Mankind looks for an “afterlife” or “rebirth” to avoid this final ending.
What does God tell us about this in His message to us in the Bible? This may give you a new understanding as you take some time to think about the message.
However we understand the creation record in Genesis 1 and 2, the whole universe is immediately set in time – 7 days. We are time bound from the beginning. God knows that.
In the book of Psalms we are told that God's throne has stood from time immemorial and that God is from the everlasting past (Ps 93:2)
We are frequently told that God is forever and ever, outside time. We do not have the words or the understanding of what that means. In Ecclesiastes we read:
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“God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) |
God gives us some glimpses to help us – images we can understand a bit and that are relevant throughout time. In the Old Testament images are used that are relevant to those times. In the New Testament we have a more varied picture to think about.
Paul, who spread the message of Jesus as Saviour, gives us this picture:
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"I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don't know–only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell." (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) |
The point being we can’t understand what being outside time really is.
Finally at the end of the Bible we are given the clearest picture of all. John tells us:
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"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." (Revelation 21:1-2) |
This is only a glimpse. Exactly what it means is a mystery to mankind until the day comes when days end.
In the meantime, what did Jesus tell us to do TODAY? How should we use our time? He tells us NOT to spend our time worrying about tomorrow. To do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. To love the Lord our God, to follow Jesus, to love our neighbours as ourselves. To take up the invitation Jesus gives to all mankind to follow Him and know there is a Plan for each one of us in this Time and Beyond. (Matthew 5 and 6 and all the Gospels).
Time to think about these things? None of us knows when our time will run out. Spend time today looking at The Bible and its timeless message.
(All quotations are from the New Living Translation)
