In this three-part series we are going to explore the fabulous mysteries that surround how God views time and the wonderful lessons we can learn from Him, if we take the time to sit at His feet as we enter into this fascinating subject. So, sit back and relax as we explore the time clock of God!
It is truly amazing how much of our lives revolve around the concept of time. We basically live our lives by the clock and measure our existence in terms of time periods. Our clocks tell us when to eat our meals, when to leave and return from work each day, when to be at church, when to go to bed, and 100 other activities we engage in.
Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years are our inseparable frames of reference which help us to function in life. No matter how you view it, time is one dimension we can’t live without.
But what about God’s time clock? Does God also have a time schedule to keep? What I would now like to explore with you is the fascinating lessons we can learn by examining the very different time world our heavenly Father inhabits. My hope is that after we explore these time concepts and then journey back to our own portal in time, we can see that a proper understanding of how God views time will allow our walk with Him to truly deepen.
The first thing we notice about the world of time in God’s construction of the universe is that God doesn’t need time to function. In fact, I believe that God only established time for our necessity and use.
When the four living creatures, we read about in (Revelation 4:8), proclaim: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come,” we see that God simultaneously exists in all three dimensions of time – past, present, and future. This is confirmed again in (Hebrews 13:8): “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.”
What we see here is the mind-blowing realization that the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, exist in all three time dimensions. But you may ask how can this be? Well, this is our first lesson we can learn from examining God’s time zones. And that lesson is this: It’s only by faith that we can understand any of the deep things of the Lord, including time. God never intended for our finite minds to understand all of His infinite ways. He only wants us to trust Him and believe what He says.
To have the faith to believe that God exists in three persons and in three time dimensions is exactly what God expects us to believe about who He is. While God may transcend time, and transcend our ability to totally comprehend His awesome dimensions, He will never transcend our ability to take hold of Him through faith. This is a fundamental lesson that faith in God has a mysterious time element. Our faith in God must acknowledge that He always existed and that includes before time even began!
In part-two of our series on the time clock of God, tomorrow, we will explore more fascinating elements of this most mysterious dimension – time.
Today’s devotion states:
“Our faith in God must acknowledge that He always existed and that includes before time even began!”
Herein lies the challenging thought that God is Spirit, John 4:24, yet Jesus has a human body he will live in for eternity. The science of physics tells us that time is a property resulting from the existence of matter. As such, time exists when matter exists. Jesus came in the fullness of time and lived a life from embryo to adult whose sacrifice in time saved us for eternity.
As believers, we have a deep sense of comfort knowing that God, though timeless and eternal, is in time with us right now; He is not unreachably transcendent, but right here in this moment with us. And because He’s in this moment, He can respond to our needs and prayers.