Timeless

The Mystery of Time

Time is fluid, not linear. It is no different from height, weight, or any other physical characteristics of the space we occupy. We know that 1 second on earth is 1 second to us… on the surface of earth. However, if you stood at the edge of a black hole the size of the sun, 1 second to you would be 3 seconds on the surface of earth. If time is ‘just another part of Creation’ than time is also subservient to our God who created all and is above all things.

Solomon pontificates on time in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, but then he starts discussing the implication of time being a mystery.

Ecclesiastes 3:9–15 CSB

9 What does the worker gain from his struggles? 10 I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied. 11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life. 13 It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts. 14 I know that everything God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of him. 15 Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. However, God seeks justice for the persecuted.

Major Observation 1: v.11 says that God has put eternity in our hearts, but that none of us can fully comprehend it.

What is ‘eternity’:

Time from ‘start to finish’? NO —> Constraints God to ‘experience time’ meaning He is limited by it.

Time all at once? YES! —> Explains how God could ‘act’, ‘know’, or ‘be’ outside of the beginning of time when time was a part of creation. (supported by verse 15)

As images of God, we desire to honor and glorify God’s work, which includes all time. Our inability to think beyond how we experience leads us to have questions about the world.

Major Observation 2: v. 14 says that God works for the purpose of inducing awe.

What does time do to situations? Induces anticipation.

God: Magic Overlord or Author?

God: Magic Overlord or Author?

Magic Overlord: The all-powerful who is actively working through un-realized events to make sure their devices are satisfied.

Author: A reader experiences the story sequentially, but the author has already created all the events which take place from cover-to-cover before the book is opened.

God built all creation outside of time, including time, so that we could demonstrate His awe and wonder. This create an obvious question: When we question the times or God’s judgment in the moment, are we trying to act as if God only exists “in the moment” and therefore His awe must be immediately visible through our trials, or are we just frustrated because eternity has been placed in our hearts, but is still obscured from our understanding?

Solomon has a famous discourse in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 on the mystery of time. We all know time is ‘complicated’ and events-in-time can be a mystery, but what do we DO with this mystery? Read Ecclesiastes 3:9-15. What are some of the conclusions Solomon seems to reach? Does he seem overly concerned with “figure out” events, or does he seem to take a more reckless perspective? God is bigger than time, and bigger than our understanding of time. When we question our trials, life’s tragedies, or perceived injustices, how do we sometimes limit our understand of God to “what we know and experience”? Is it possible that when we “question God” during our life events, we aren’t questioning God so much as we are really just wrestling with our lack of understanding over the “bigger picture”?

Calm Which Transcends Time

Shifting our perspective from one that is limited by “what is in front of our faces” to one that recognizes a large reality makes a huge difference in how we respond to the world. Instead of lashing out at God because we can’t see the ‘good’ in our circumstances, we start leaning more on faith that God has a bigger plan which was already written and realized. Our faith starts anchoring on the fact that the “author has already written the conclusion” and is not something we have to fear or doubt.

Psalms talks a lot about God providing relief; Psalm 102 talks specifically about eternity…

Psalm 102:12–22 CSB

12 But you, Lord, are enthroned forever; your fame endures to all generations. 13 You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her— the appointed time has come. 14 For your servants take delight in its stones and favor its dust. 15 Then the nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory, 16 for the Lord will rebuild Zion; he will appear in his glory. 17 He will pay attention to the prayer of the destitute and will not despise their prayer. 18 This will be written for a later generation, and a people who have not yet been created will praise the Lord: 19 He looked down from his holy heights— the Lord gazed out from heaven to earth— 20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to set free those condemned to die, 21 so that they might declare the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 when peoples and kingdoms are assembled to serve the Lord.

Major Observation 1: Cross-generation blessing… understanding that “Creation ain’t all about you.”

v.18 states “This will be written for a later generation, and a people who have not yet been created will praise the Lord.”

Sometimes the answer to “why is this happening to me” is “because of blessing for another”

Our hearts are geared to want blessing for ourselves; sometimes that’s not the plan

In “The Force Awakens”, the opening scene shows Finn wrestling with the inhumanity of how the Stormtroopers are treated. For 40 years we have cheered on the Jedi as tons of Stormtroopers were slaughtered because we were consuming “the big picture”. We weren’t bothered by things until we saw Finn’s limited perspective.

The same is true for world events. We look across history as dictators and corrupt nations who “got what they deserved” due to what they stood for, but we forget that the individuals caught up in those events were just people… and their situation is sad.

Major Observation 2: Redemption begins with acknowledge God’s DOMINION outside our understanding

V.12 starts “But you, Lord, are enthroned forever; your fame endures to all generations.”

Not only is it “not about us”, but it’s also not about anyone else’s circumstances… it’s about God’s glory on display.

YOUR OBJECTION: BUT THIS SOUNDS SO CRUEL! How could God just USE US like this?!?!

Remember the novel: no one sees the trials of the hero as unnecessary because they see how it amplifies the victorious conclusion!

Revelation 21:1–7 CSB

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. 5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

The conclusion of the story is glory. It is victory. It is grace, love, and compassion. When you look at this conclusion… one which has already been written… you don’t question all the pain that happened before because it PALES in comparison.

Romans 8:18 CSB

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:28–30 CSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

The conclusion is already written and is Glory. Would we rather the conclusion not be written, and remove our hope in God’s glorious purpose, or have our suffering and trials means only what we can conjure ourselves?

We see an example of someone moving from despair at their circumstances to acknowledgment of God’s glorious conclusion in Psalms 102:12-22. In here you see images of God’s eternal plan existing beyond our circumstances. How is faith in God’s plan outside our circumstances critical to our relationship with God? How can limiting God’s goodness to our experience of Creation hold-back our discipleship journey? An image of God’s glorious conclusion is found in Revelation 21:1-7. Read this and ask yourself this: could any event known to man occur which would reduce the glory of what God does? This is why we see Paul write about enduring great trials in Romans 8:18. When we fully embrace what God has done outside of the constraints of time, it becomes easier to see how even my worst situation can be a part of God’s glorious conclusion.

Conclusion

God’s immense scale is more than just difficult to comprehend… it’s impossible.

God places eternity in our hearts and we are envious of His knowledge of all things.

Faith is the bridge between what we experience within Creation and what we know outside of it.

As tempting as it is to focus only on our circumstances, we must remember that there is a glorious story which was written before the beginning of time. Our trials are a part of this masterpiece and the glory is a shared one for all those who are reconciled with the author.