30. Time & Eternity

‘Living History’ Meditations No.30: Time & Eternity 

Eccles 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heaven”

Time? Time, space, infinity. Words whose meanings we grasp at, never quite understanding them. We laughingly say (especially the older you get) time seems to be rushing by, it seems it is getting faster and faster – but it isn’t, just our perception of it, either because of the busyness of our modern lives or because we are constantly looking forwards to events on our diary or calendar – appointments, holidays, exams, interviews, new films coming out, new programmes coming out on TV, all things that will soon pass into history.

Space: We gaze out of the window at space, at a blue sky and rarely think that if we had eyes capable of seeing such things, even in the single straight line of our sight, it would go on and on and on, for billions of light years, and then we turn away quickly because that feels scary.

Eternity: And then we skim over words of the Bible and a couple of times see that word eternity and we wonder at the words of the Lord, “you are from all eternity,” (Psa 93:2) and His works, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Eccles 3:11)  Ah, that explains why we have wonderings about life, who we are, and so much more.

The predictable bits: But then at the beginning of that chapter comes our starter verse which we might translate, “everything that happens fits into God’s design of time and space.” We can cope with that in general terms, but specifics get a bit tricky. Consider. Turn to a calendar or diary and you find dates, days, months, years stretching into the distant future. We can tell when Christmas Day or New Year’s Day will fall in, say, ten years’ time. We can even plot full moons, new moons and so on; we are that sure of ‘the future’

Not quite so clear: Seasons get a little more tricky for if you look them up on the Internet you will find that different people and different nations map them differently and even for us we may say, “Oh, Spring seems to be coming early this year”, not just because the famous Groundhog says so, but because the weather and the blossom tells us so. Even Jesus said, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.” (Mt 16:2) Presumably that is where we get that old saying from, “Red sky at night, shepherds delight, red sky in the morning, shepherds warning.” Oh yes, we’re all minor meteorologists at heart.

History taken for granted: But when we look at history, we don’t tend to consider any of these things – we take them for granted – we look at the affairs of mankind, of kings and queens, emperors, presidents, despots, changes of reigns, revolutions, inventions, scientific breakthroughs, new discoveries, explorations – first man in space, first men on the moon, and so on.

The Biblical model: Yes, even all this we tend to take for granted but when we start reading the Bible and really taking in what we find there, we see two things that most people simply accept. First, there is a flow to history, one person follows another, one event follows another, and the ‘end product’ (the latest thing in history) has happened because of all the other things that occurred earlier on in the flow. We have the world of science and technology that we have today because of the unnumbered things that happened first, the discoveries, inventions and applications that came first.

The Presence within history: But then, second, there is there in the Bible something, Someone, you can’t really learn about safely anywhere else – God. And He’s there in the warp and woof of all of that history, in fact none of what you read there would ever have happened if He didn’t exist. Seriously. Other things maybe, mundane things, chances, coincidences maybe, but none of the God-directed-because-God-intervened stuff.

Its purpose – to teach us: Now I’ve commented on this before, but it is vital to understand and many in the Church today have lost sight of this, THIS book, the Bible isn’t ‘just’ history (although it is history, ‘historical accounts’ rather than just ‘stories’) it is history that is supposed to TEACH us about God, about His activities in respect of the human race, how He’s designed us to live, and how we can live like that. When we don’t read it, we are left with our own ideas that are so often tainted or even directed by the godless world around us, and we are living without God, ignoring His design, taking for granted His salvation, and thus falling short of what He has on His heart for us, and so rush towards self-destruction.

The Challenge: So here’s the challenge. One day you will die and have to face what follows, but before that happens you may have days, months, years, maybe even decades ahead of you, to live out on this earth. You have this constantly changing, often chaotic, often hurtful, often confusing, world to live in. Unless you go and live in a cave somewhere you are going to have to cope with it. Without this book, the Bible, without this history that is designed to teach and guide you, you will be all at sea and increasingly vulnerable to the threats that this world brings. So, the sooner we determine to get close to God, let Him fill us with His word and His Spirit, and provide the foundation, the anchor we desperately need today, the sooner we will know peace, and the sooner we will know purpose that brings love, goodness and life, and the sooner we will find our feet on that unmovable rock. Determine that today.    “The Lord is my solid rock, my fortress, my rescuer. My God is my rock— I take refuge in him!— he’s my shield, my salvation’s strength, my place of safety.” (Psa 18:2) Amen? Amen!