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NEWS & VIEWS: TIME |
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 THE
CONCEPT OF time has exercised the minds of brilliant scientists like
Einstein and it is still the subject of debate. Time is abstract - it
cannot be detected by our senses. However by observing movement like the
hands of a clock we can distinguish one point or moment from another and
use this as a form of measurement with which to regulate our lives and
record our actions.Time as we have defined it, is related to the rotation of the earth upon its axis to provide us with day and night. The rotation of the moon around the earth gives us months and the orbit of the earth around the sun records the years. Accurately measuring time has dominated mans thought for millennia and no more so than over the past 100yrs or so. Throughout history, as more stable and accurate clocks have been invented it has enhanced mans ability to communicate and brought many advances in navigation. The most accurate method of measuring time until recently was the atomic clock. But a clock has recently been invented that is 1000 times more accurate than any others and could even be used to create a more precise definition of how long a second is. This new clock is claimed to keep time within an accuracy of 1 part in 1018 Yet despite this ability to so precisely measure time, it makes no difference at all to how long we live, nor resolve the many difficulties that face mankind. All an accurate clock can do is measure what time we have lost, what has gone by that can never be regained! On the other hand the Bible can tell us what time is left. For example God’s promise tha t‘While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.’ Genesis 8:22 Due to of the regularity of these planetary movements, we are able to make watches and clocks which have been designed to track them and by precision in manufacture these time pieces can record the division of time with great accuracy. To believe that the man-made watch has all the hallmarks of design and precise planning, yet at the same time believe that the God-made movement it records is random chance, is absurd, as both must be viewed in identical standards of inquiry and observation. We cannot see time and yet we can experience it by observation – for time is an experience of movement, as Leonardo da Vinci said: ‘Movement gives shape to all forms. Structure gives form to all movement.’ This was his way of saying that a link exists between time and motion, for things only have dimension by some form of movement. If time is recognised by movement and observation we can understand that a person with loss of memory loses their perception of time because they have no comparison with the present. THE LIMITATIONS OF MAN COMPARED WITH GOD Our whole experience is one of limitations and our concept of time is one of these inhibiting factors which makes it very difficult for us to understand that God ‘lives forever’ Isaiah 57:15 (NIV). As Moses put it in his prayer recorded in Psalm 90 ‘from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God’ Psalm 90:2. Our minds find this as difficult to grasp as the vastness of space and the distances involved to those stars which are furthest away and indeed might even now be a spent force by the time their light reaches us. So straight away we see the great truth which lies behind the findings of scientists; that our time experiences are only a part of something greater and more far reaching, an extra dimension. To God time does not exist, yet in his dealings with mankind time has been introduced like a giant grid system. This encompasses the history of man from the beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve, to the establishment of God’s kingdom when, as we read in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, everything will be perfectly balanced and controlled and ‘God may be all in all.’ 1 Corinthians 15:28 Within these parameters the Almighty has seen fit to provide details of His plan and demonstrate that a way exists for individuals to participate in the long-term strategy. The Scriptures are therefore provided for this purpose and whilst they may not answer every question we may have, they nevertheless provide sufficient information for a person with faith to believe His Word. MILESTONES IN THE CREATION In God’s timetable definitive milestones have been provided so that the Bible student can detect the passage of man’s time by Divine intervention. This is achieved by prophecies concerning people, events and nations. Perhaps the greatest moment in history was the birth of Jesus. The Apostle Paul reminded his first century hearers:
This event and its consequences will be matched by only one other future notable happening, again spoken of by Paul as he addressed a gathering in Athens:
So the difference between God the Creator of all things and His creation is that during our lives everything we experience has its limitations, whereas God knows no bounds. A consequence of the limited way in which we see the progression of time is referred to as ‘The second law of Thermodynamics’. It says: ‘The entropy (or disorder) in the universe tends to a minimum’ or in other words, things left to themselves break down and disintegrate – they never build up or improve. The wonderful thing is that God Himself is not subject to the laws which He has created for mankind. He does not have limitations or constraint and therefore is not bound by time, for as Jesus said to his Father, with God all things are possible’ Mark 10:2]. In the Scriptures we learn not only of God’s immortality, but also that He is present everywhere and knows everything that is going on, which is what you would expect of a Creator who made and had the vision to create the intricacies of all life. As the Psalmist put it:
The Psalmist then asked the question:
In fact the whole of Psalm 139 is well worth reading for we are humbly reminded of our limitations and of the greatness of God in all senses of the word. WHERE ARE WE GOING? Our thoughts naturally lead us to conclude that our whole experience in life is bounded by constraint within a time zone, which is an artificial element introduced into the world both by and because of our human nature and mortality. This has been the curse of man since Eden and will be swept aside in the kingdom of God, as time will lose its meaning to a population of immortal people. Outside our sphere of activity, God looks upon His creation without the limitation of finite time and views it rather like the scientists’ illustration of the time train. If you were high enough to be far away above the earth, then you could observe both the start and the finish of a train journey at the same time, but the passengers see only a time sequence of events along the route. But how can we imagine eternity which is God’s time? The simple answer is that we cannot, any more than an insect whose life span is a day would be able to grasp the significance of day and night, or a butterfly understand the seasons to realize that they rotate. THE PAST AND THE FUTURE So we find in Scripture that the Almighty has tried to give us some indication of the vastness of eternity, when as Peter records ‘one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day’ [2 Peter 3.8]. James, the Lord’s brother also had an interesting way of reminding us of the relationship of time for us and time in its limitless form:
This principle of a day being represented by 1,000 years in God’s eyes is a concept which the Almighty has introduced from the very beginning. When we read of Creation in the early chapters of Genesis we note that the work of Creation took six days and on the seventh day He rested. So with God’s plan, we find that it is to unfold over 6,000 years with Jesus ruling for 1,000 years after his return to the earth. This seventh period is called the Millennium and is spoken of in Revelation: ‘they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years’ [Revelation 20.6], after which the earth will only have an immortal population. It is interesting for the Bible student to recognise that from Adam to Noah is approximately 1,000 years, with Abraham being born 1,000 years later around 2,000 BC. King David, another notable character in God’s plan, was born about 1,000 years after Abraham and the Lord Jesus Christ was born after another period of 1,000 years had elapsed. How exciting then to realise as we have now passed the year AD 2,000 that six periods of 1,000 years will have elapsed and if we relate this to the Creation, then we must be very close to witnessing the return to the earth of Jesus, with the establishment of the kingdom of God for him to rule for the seventh period of 1,000 years. Whilst we wait for Jesus we must recognize that time is infinite and our finite experiences do not in any way limit God who knows no bounds. Our whole thinking process is influenced by our environment and concept of time, but we must not be guilty of applying the same standards to our Creator. As the prophet Isaiah says:
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