GOD'S TIME TABLE

1/19/16

8 But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8

We as people see the world from our own vantage point and time. From the early morning hours, to the afternoon, and continued into the late evening, man has always documented his various activities. Man is aware of the seasons, and this has helped him greatly, to know when to plant, and when to harvest. His farming and cultivation has been uniquely tied to the seasons, and the sun.

But we are always in a hurry to get to this concert or that activity. We stress and fume because of traffic, or obstacles, that might cause us to be late. And of course, our jobs start and end at a certain time each day. Weddings and funerals are set to begin at a specified time and place. Without having our schedules marked for certain times and places, would cause great chaos, and we wouldn’t know when something began, nor when it ended.

We turn our clocks back in the fall, and we spring forward every year. We mark our calendars for certain holidays, birthdays, and other days of remembrance. We also have definite days for specific biblical feasts that are to be remembered that have been set down for observance.

And yet our time that we live upon this earth is but a short measure to God. For while we have been living out our existence, even for eighty years or more, he was still watching our life pass before him. We are but a mist, a cloud, that passes before his eyes. And yet this is not to diminish his great love for us, but merely to illustrate how our finite existence compares with his everlasting character.

God’s time table is much different than ours. He dwells outside of time, and he sees the beginning and the end all at once. All throughout man’s history, and documented biblical accounts, God has seen how a man or a woman would deliver a nation, leave a country, or prophesy to many. He saw their potential before they had just begun. He saw their finished work, in spite of all the obstacles and weaknesses that they would face.

Our concept of time is limited to our finite minds. It is quite a quandary to consider that God has no beginning for he was here along with the Son and the Spirit, before all things. For he was here before anything ever was, and he will be here from everlasting unto everlasting. Time is not measured with him as it is with us. Man compartmentalizes his life’s moments and deeds. He uses a yardstick and the minutes and seconds on a clock---but the Father’s time table is other-dimensional. The hands on his dial move ever so slowly, as he would want all to come to him. And yet the “time” will come when the hourglass will finally empty, and we will have to make a decision.

Our earth and everything in it, will eventually be done away with. For at that time, the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. At that time, when new heavens and a new earth are created, then we will live forever in God’s other-dimensional period of time. And yet, it won’t be a period of time, but it will rather be for all eternity. And then perhaps we will begin to understand that time has no meaning. For he who was here before the beginning will continue unto everlasting.

Then we will know as we are known, for we will see him face-face.

The Lord would say,

'For…is not time in my hands, says the Lord? I have watched and I have seen Abraham and Isaac. I was here to see Moses deliver the children of Israel from Egypt.

I remember when each of my children were born. I know of all those who have come before you. I set kings into office, and yet many fell into corruption. I have watched empires come and go. I have seen the destruction of Nineveh. I was here when the great flood covered the earth; and I was here when the earth was repopulated again.

I watched as my Son was born of a virgin, and I watched as he cried in Gethsemane. I watched as he died on a cross and rose again.

And yet, all of these things that have transpired are but a droplet of the time that I have lived. And I know of everything that will transpire in your own lives. I know when you sleep and when you awaken. And I know when you will live your last days upon this earth. '

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. I Cor. 13:12

Stephen Hanson