Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Would you agree that one of the most valuable resources you and I have is: TIME? But what is TIME? How do you define or describe it? Where does TIME come from?
The first words of the Bible, the most valuable book in the world of all TIME, are these words: ‘in the beginning God created…’. (Genesis 1:1) In fact Psalm 90:2 declares: “Before the mountains were born or YOU brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting YOU are God.” Did you know God led Moses to write both those statements about 3500 years ago?
Yesterday we looked closely at the starting point question for our “Walking with Jesus” journey for the next few months. That question is “WHO or WHAT is GOD?” As we launch on this journey of discovering God’s “Grand Narrative” story that He has been writing through all TIME in history, it only seems logical that this next fundamental issue we consider is TIME.
God’s story begins in the TIME of eternity past, in what I call “GOD TIME”. Before there was anything, there was God! In fact, TIME didn’t even exist because nothing existed to measure time in eternity past. God simply and always IS! (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58) God has no beginning and no ending. God says so in Revelation 22:13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
John, the disciple and close friend of Jesus, opens his account of Jesus with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-5) What is John explaining to us? John is speaking of Jesus Christ, God the Son, calling Him “the Word”, [Logos]. ‘Logos’ means all wisdom, all truth, all knowledge. John wants us to know that before there was anything, there was God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and God, filled with all wisdom and knowledge, created whatever first existed, in eternity past! God is the author of life and truth.
Proverbs 8 says it this way speaking of God’s Wisdom: “The LORD brought me [wisdom] forth as the first of His works, before His deeds of old. I was formed long ages ago; at the very beginning, before the world came to be…I was there when God set the heavens in place, when God marked out the horizon on the face of the deep.” (Proverbs 8:22,23,27)
Ok, as we consider TIME we must begin with “GOD TIME” which is immeasurable eternity past & eternity future. “GOD TIME” has no beginning or ending. But at some point, God began creating things which had never existed. Proverbs 8 says the first thing God created was WISDOM, and Genesis 1 begins by saying “In the beginning God created the heavens…” (Gen. 1:1) The Hubble and other space telescopes have been capturing images of the vastness of what God calls ‘the heavens’ stretching billions of light years out into space. We call it ‘the universe’.
When God created ‘the physical universe’… TIME as we know it began, so I call that “Universe Time”. Exactly when that was, I cannot tell you. The Bible doesn’t give us a date for those first few words of Genesis 1. What I can tell you is this: whatever the telescopes will ever find ‘out there’, God in all HIS wisdom created it at a TIME known only to God! I can also tell you God created it because He wanted to, for His glory! Remember Psalm 19:1 declares: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands…” Do you find yourself worshipping God when you LOOK UP into the sky, day or night?
Genesis 1:1 continues with another TIME statement: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’, and the darkness God called ‘night’. And there was evening and there was morning – the first DAY.” (Genesis 1:1-5) Oh my, do you see it my friends? With this magnificent, creative act, God created “EARTH TIME” which is measured by 24-hour DAYS! This ‘Earth Time’ has continued, uninterrupted, exactly the same from that creative moment until TODAY.
And this “Earth Time” will continue, as it has, until God changes it as recorded in Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea.” Yes, my friends, there will be a cataclysmic event in the future when God will destroy this earth and atmosphere and create something entirely new, a new heaven and a new earth. (2 Peter 3:10-13) From there on it is likely “Earth Time” as we know it will no longer exist but rather immortality will reign into eternity future.
But there is another “TIME” my friends, did you know that? In Genesis 1:26,27 God said, “Let US make mankind in OUR image, in our likeness…So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” And with the creation of Adam, what I call “Mankind TIME” began by God’s design and desire. You and I, of course, are living in “Mankind Time” and humanity will continue to reproduce, live and depart, until God stops the human procreation process as described in Revelation 20:14 “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” After this event, all humanity who has ever been created by God will continue to live in eternity future, either with God in a new heaven and new earth, or apart from God in the ‘lake of fire’, forever future. We have no evidence mankind will continue to procreate nor will we ‘age’ as we understand time, after this event.
And finally, my friends, may I offer you one other TIME? “Grace TIME” is God’s window of time filled with God’s GRACE during which time God offers humanity His rescue, through Jesus Christ, from our sin bondage and sin condemnation. “Grace Time” began when Adam and Eve turned away from God and invited Satan’s dark kingdom influence into the perfect Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 3. “Grace Time” will end at the Judgment of the Great White Throne when every person will stand in personal accountability before God; (Heb. 4:13) and Satan, death and evil are thrown into the lake of fire forever! (Revelation 20:11-15)
So, as we begin this new several month journey in “Walking with Jesus”, seeking to understand God’s “Grand Narrative”, His story through all TIME, I hope you’ll join me every day, and find great hope in discovering new understanding of what God has been doing since the beginning of TIME, always for His glory.
And do you know that YOU are a special part of His great story? Here’s a great worship song to help us celebrate what Everlasting God has been doing through all TIME since eternity past…
Today’s Scripture: Gen. 1:1-5; Ps. 90:1,2.
Choose below to read or listen.
Gen. 1:1-5
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Ps. 90:1,2
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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