ETERNITY AND TIME

ETERNITY AND TIME

Bible Text: Isaiah:57:15; 55:8,9; 2Peter 3:8; Revelation 1:14; John 4: 23 &24

Time and Man

Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. I also see time as the measurement of events that appear one after another. When God created the world He created time, there was no time before creation, but there was something! God exists before the first event of creation. Time came into existence with creation, it actually started counting from the day God made the first creation. Time is the measuring scale that God used to measure His creation.  Therefore God dwells outside of time. God is bigger than time! Time actually is measured between two blocks called—The Beginning and The End. But He was before the first block and lives after the second block.

Habitat

The arena or habitat as we were thought in biology is a type of natural environment in which a particular specie of organism lives. The habitat of God where He lives is eternity, while the habitat of man is time. That is why man was created within the space of time. God lives in eternity, man lives in time.

God however did not create man to live in time, for He created man in His image and after His likeness. Man was originally living in Eternity with God. He visited man in his apartment every evening while in the same environment called Eternal—Edencity. This neighborhood living continued until “when” God sensed an urge of loss, a sense of absence of a neighbor in the environment. Kai! Man has fallen from eternal environment and began a life of “when”, a life of “time”. Another habitat! No creation can live or perform well outside of its habitat without having problem. You operate well in your natural environment, and that is where God wants us to be. He says in John 4: 23& 24 “God is a Spirit and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth” Spirit don’t dwell in time space—God is taking us to the spirit realm with Him.

However, God knew this would happen to man. He intentionally created man within the space of time called the beginning but created man with the substance of eternity, not to be controlled by time. I believed that He wants man to proof himself worthy to acquire eternity status with Him and not to get it automatically. Just like the angels that kept their place in heaven. Mark the phrase—“that kept their place”. It was not automatic for the angels to live in eternity with God, they fought to be there. Some of them could not keep their place in heaven and consequently were thrown out of it.

God Is Not Limited By Time

The Bible says that God is not limited to time. Scripture says that He is the one who inhabits eternity.

In (Isaiah 57:15). “For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy”

While God inhabits eternity, He deals with His creation in time. That is why He puts time frame to everything He created. This is another example of an antinomy - two truths that seemingly conflict. Consequently we can only approximate the truth when we speak of God living outside of time, yet interacting with His people in time. Why does God interact with man in the space of time? It is because He understands the habitat of man—man lives in time, hence, can only understand the events of time. He deals with man using examples of common things that he can understand. Example of this is seen in Revelations 1:14.

“His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like burning fire.”  At least man is familiar with things like wool, snow and fire, hence God used it to appeal to his sense of understanding because all these things relate to time and season and that is what man can understand.

God deals with us on our limitations. You don’t bring a fish out of water and tries to keep it alive outside of water. No. you will still create at least an artificial water for it to survive. So, when man lost his eternal habitat with God in Eden, He provided an artificial and temporary habitat call time for him to survive. The Bible says. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8,9).

Time Is Relative To God

We find that time is merely relative to God. The Bible says. “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (2 Peter 3:8). The word “like” is a simile, it’s usage is comparative. It does not mean that a day is a thousand year with God. God is only relating, comparing or showing how far, how very long and how eternally stretched, the man’s time is with God’s timeframe or in His own time measurement. God is simply differentiating the human measuring scale of time from that of God. He was trying to use the terminology that man can understand.

Time and space were part of God's creation. He existed before there was such a thing as time. Consequently God dwells in eternity, not in time. Because he dwells in eternity, he sees both the beginning and the end. While God does not dwell in time, He interacts with His creation in time.

The Limitation of Time

We have talked at length about time. This time has an end. It is limited in existence. Everything about man is controlled by time. He has a time to be born and a time to die. Time does not exist forever, so is man. Man is controlled and judged by time but time is not controlled by man, but God, who controls them all. A period is actually coming when there shall be no more time because God shall bring it to an end and when you destroy an habitat, definitely its inhabitants also cannot exist anymore.

God will bring man out of the habitat of time one day, to give him a new habitat called eternity with of course a new befitting immortal body for the new home. As angels did not get this amazing opportunity to live in this realm of eternity with God on a platter of gold    ( bible said that they kept their place), that means that the angels paid a sacrifice to stay with God in this eternal habitat. So man is subjected to this ‘time experience’ on earth to prove his mantle before he can  reign with God in eternity. As the angels kept their place and are still keeping it, man must also keep his place in Christ to regain eternity with his Creator.

Then, it shall no more be in this body but in the celestial body. It shall no more be in time but in eternity, it shall no more be in this world but in heaven. Time is coming to an end friend, we are all about to enter into eternity, very soon shall time come to an end with all its components and man shall shift into the final habitat of eternity either in Heaven or in Hell depending on the way we have chosen to live our lives.

Run against time, for soon, Time shall be no more! Then, eternity shall begin either in Heaven or in Hell. Make a choice today!

Your Kingdom Associate,

Peter Oluwole

+2348036525171

For the audio version please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2NZVnguxA