God is not bound by time, restricted to the present moment. He is not walled off from the past or the future. The past, present, and future are equally present to him. We as creatures relate to time in a much different way. We are embedded in time: coming into existence at conception, entering the world at birth, and leaving it for eternity at the hour appointed by God. King David affirmed an indisputable truth for himself and for every human being: “In your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Ps. 139:16).
Time Created by God
Our meditations must include the simple truth that God created time: “By faith we understand that the ages were framed by the word of God” (Heb. 11:3a). The Greek word aiones, translated “ages,” refers to the universe, both in terms of time and space. Faith assents to the biblical truth that the universe is not eternal. God made age after age. Furthermore, everything that fills age upon age is traced back to the divine creative power: “The things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Heb. 11:3b). God made physical reality, everything material, that exists within the framework of time. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (Jn. 1:3).
Everything about creation is mysterious. The human mind cannot fully grasp the complexity of the handiwork of God reflected in the smallest realm of atoms and in the vast reaches of the universe. Material reality perplexes the human understanding, but so does the nature of time. The church father Augustine of Hippo admitted that this was the case. He addressed the Lord in these terms: “You are the originator and creator of all ages.” “You have made time itself” (Confessions, 11.13.15). Augustine, like
many of us, acknowledged some difficulty in trying to define what time is. He asked, “What then is time?” He then answered, “Provided that no one asks me, I know. If I want to explain it to an inquirer, I do not know” (Confessions 11.14.17).
What Time Actually Is
Although Augustine confessed his inability to explain time, he did articulate the view that time has to do with measurement, specifically the measuring of movement in the world’s objects. The assumption here is that we have the ability to make such measurements. “Human soul,” Augustine mused, “to you the power is granted to be aware of intervals of time, and to measure them” (Confessions, 11.15.19) We are not only aware of “intervals of time,” but we can also “compare them with each other, and call some longer, others shorter” (Confessions, 11.15.20). Augustine referred to such units as the century, the year, the month, the day, and the moment (Confessions, 11.15.19–20). Scripture does precisely the same thing with its many references to intervals of time. Ecclesiastes 3:1 states that there is “a time for every purpose under heaven.” The Lord made a determination following the Noahic flood that history would consist of regular cycles of time intervals: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). There is also the vast epoch of “a thousand years”––from the perspective of God nothing more than “a watch in the night” (Ps. 90:4). Jesus spoke about the day and the hour in connection with his return and the necessity of being prepared for it: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:44).
The Shortest Span of Time
The Bible also refers to the shortest range of time conceivable. The culmination of human redemption, when our bodies are raised in glory and power, occurs in a moment: “We shall be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:51–52). Think about what a moment is in our human experience! In a real sense, it is a point without duration: “The past is not, the future is not, and the present must be understood as no time at all, a durationless instant, a mere point at which the past is continuous with the future.” Scripture asserts that the resurrection of our bodies will be instantaneous, “in a moment of time so short as to be incapable of further division.” Death will be forever removed, swallowed up in victory at a point without duration (1 Cor. 15:54).
The Movement of Time
The characteristic of every interval or unit of time is that it inevitably moves from the future into the past. Augustine put it this way: “When the present emerges from the future, time comes out of some secret store and then recedes into some secret place when the past comes out of the present” (Confessions 11.17.22). From another perspective, we humans are the ones who move through time. Solomon affirmed, “One generation passes away, and another generation comes” (Ecc. 1:4). Early in the sixth century, the Christian philosopher Boethius affirmed, “In this life of today your life is no more than a changing, passing moment” (The Consolation of Philosophy, 5). Such statements are likewise found in James 4:14 in the context of his warning against boasting regarding our plans regarding the future: “You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
We need to remember that “the days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10). The nature of reality in a fallen world should lead us to follow the example of Moses in bringing a specific petition to God: “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12).
Our great comfort in the midst of the changing scenes of life is God himself who is our sanctuary of protection: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations” (Ps. 90:1). Let us affirm with David of old: “I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand” (Ps. 31:14–15). We may look to the future, resting upon the sure realization of Jesus’ prayer on behalf of his people: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am” (Jn. 17:24). Christ himself provides assurance to us: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn. 14:3).
Dr. Mark J. Larson
Warrenville, SC