Time is often experienced as an inescapable vehicle that carries us from birth to death; a relentless force that propels us from the present to the future. But what is ‘time’? We’ve become so familiar with our measure of time - seconds, hours, days, years - that it is easy to confuse our measures of time with time itself. Our experience of time and our measures of time might be far too narrow because they are limited by our specific point of view.
There are many interesting philosophies about time and even more interesting speculations about what the possibilities might be, if such philosophies were true. I won’t explore all these philosophies in depth in this writing - only enough to help us appreciate what the Word has to say about time. For that purpose I’ll adopt one of the most basic and helpful definitions of time, namely: a sequence of events.
How we relate to this sequence of events and how God relates to it is very different. Some of the statements in scripture seem at first to contain some grammatical errors, the tenses are all wrong! For instance: “Before Abraham was, I am”. In other instances the Word speaks about future events as if they had happened in the past. Hundreds of years before the birth and death of Jesus, Isaiah speaks of His suffering on the cross as a past event: “...but He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.” Is 53:5.
I was bemused by an article I read about Tachyons. This is a scientific name for a theoretical particle that travels faster or at the speed of light. The nature of such a particle is truly astounding. For instance, let’s imagine one could build a fax machine based on the laws covering tachyons and we call it our tachyons fax machine. If one was to send a fax at 3pm it would arrive at 2pm! The effect precedes the cause. I immediately thought of Mat 8:16-17 in which Jesus heals the sick who were brought to Him. Verse 17 states that this was in fulfilment of what was prophesied by Isaiah. It’s again the passage in Isaiah 53 that we looked at earlier. We know that this passage refers to the suffering and death of Christ, but here again the effect (healing) of what He accomplished on the cross is experienced by people long before the cause. Another example of this inversion of time is found in Isaiah 65:24 “Before they call I answer”.
These statements draw us into a dimension beyond our normal experience of time. A dimension in which time is a radically different entity from our normal experience of it. The use of the words: “before Abraham was, I am” seems to indicate two different dimensions. One in which there is a past, present and future, and one in which there is simply a present. However, it might say more about the nature of God than about the nature of time.
Let’s start by looking at the Hebrew understanding of time as found in the Old Testament. We don’t find philosophical or abstract debates about the nature of time, as we do in the Greek philosophies of that period. Time is not described as a separate force or an extra dimension, but in rather more concrete terms. Events occurred and these events stood in relation to other events and this was in effect, time. Time has no substance apart from these events. Whereas the Greeks saw time as a separate dimension in which events happened, the Hebrews simply saw events happening and these ‘happenings’ were time. As such, eternity is never described as timeless, for there could be no events, no experience, no life without time. To be timeless would be lifeless.
The quality of events are given greater significance than the order in which they happened or the duration it took. In some instances events and persons were arranged according to the impact of their occurrence, rather than their chronological sequence. The weightiness and significance of people and events were regarded more important than the exact date of the occurrence. People did things. God did things. Time is the story of these events and has no existence beyond these events.
One of the reasons why eternity is often thought of as timeless is because of our understanding of time. Time is seen as temporal, subject to change, whereas eternity is seen as changeless. However, it is the nature of change that is different in the eternal realm. There is ‘change’ that decays and there is ‘change’ that renews. 2 Cor 4:16: Therefore we do not become discouraged. Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. A blooming flower undergoes change, but every change just further establishes its beauty and essential reality. Proverbs speaks of the life of the righteous being like the rising sun, shining brighter and brighter. The eternal realm does have events and does have change, but every change further confirms the essential reality of this realm and consequently it is not temporal. Eternity is more about absolutes than duration. It’s only because of a narrow view of time that we reduced eternity to an endless duration of time - it’s so much more! The motion of time can be compared to the motion of a shadow ... eternity is the absolute substance.
Who better to define eternity than Jesus. He said: This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent - Jesus Christ. Eternal life has much more to do with God, our intimacy with Him, and the quality of life it produces, than it has to do with a long period of time.
There is an event that took place in eternity of such importance and magnitude that it overflowed into our time! This mystery was hidden for ages and generations ... but then it happened: Eternity arrived in time; the infinite filled the finite; the eternal filled the temporal, the unknowable God revealed Himself in a way we can all understand. God became man! His mind was made known; His character unveiled; His opinion of you made clear. Like an ocean emptied into a pond, it filled and changed all time - out of all proportion to the fall of man, is the redemption of man. The Lamb, who was slain from the foundation of the world, was born and walked amongst us.
It is this singular event that gives meaning to all other time. It is only within this one event that all other events can find purpose. This event is God’s reference within our time by which all other events are judged. Only within relationship to this event can the temporal, changing, time-bound events find eternal value. Although this single event was concentrated in one individual, Jesus, it included all men. And although it happened before you were born, it has a greater claim on you than your own personal past.
Whether you are aware of it or not, this event affects you ... in fact it is all about you. Paul refers to it as the ‘fullness of time’ (Eph 1:10). He describes it as a singular event that has consequences for all mankind in all ages; an achievement that occurred once and included all without exception. The fullness of time ... so much can be said about it, where does one begin. The fullness of time means:
No time to come can add to what was given in this event; our sense of satisfaction, completeness, fullness has everything to do with appreciating the event that filled all of time, and nothing to do with any future event; we can never exhaust the wealth of understanding and insight that was lavished upon us in this event.
Further on in this letter of Paul, he writes that all of eternity will be a further revelation of the exceeding greatness of God’s kindness toward us in this event - in Christ.
Jesus said on a number of occasions: “ ...the time is coming, and now is ...”. He tapped into eternity in such a way that the present contained everything that the future had to offer! After speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well about living water - water that not only satisfies but overflows, He ends off by saying: “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further”. (John 4:26 MSG). All that eternity has to offer is in Christ and He is present in this very moment.