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Understanding God's Time
For
us humans, it is difficult to think outside our physical realm or individual fields of the
five senses. This is a definite limitation when we discover signs that pose the
possibility of the existence of another dimension, other than the one we are all familiar
with. There are immediate examples of the ability to extend man's sensory perception,
i.e., extending the sense of sight by the use of a telescope, the extension of the sense
of hearing by the use of a radio, or telephone; etc. Because of this physical barrier on
our body's sense perception, man has difficulty when trying to understand events outside
the physical, such as the 'realm' of the Godhead. One question that many Christians are
asked is, "Who created God?" When the answer given is something like, "God
Is; He has always been; He has no beginning, nor an end", well, the questioner
usually goes away more confused. Why do you suppose that is?
One reason is because humans operate in a world based on
'time'. Trying to think of a state of existence without duration of time, just doesn't fit
our perception we use in our daily world, therefore, if we wish to consider the matter any
further, we must think differently. Here's a good example that most people have
experienced.
Have you ever been to a meeting or gathering where the
speaker or teacher's voice was so monotonous it kept you on the edge of sleep? You might
sit there waiting for the speaker to finish, and you don't want to get embarrassed by
falling asleep; you check your watch ever so often...and then by accident, you finally
doze off. You have a daydream that takes up a considerable amount of time for all the
events to happen. Then, you wake up, and remember all of a sudden where you are. Your
first instinct is to check your watch to see how long you fell asleep, since you might
have a feeling that you missed something important, similar to being late for an
appointment and the like. You look at your watch, and lo, hardly a minute has passed. Then
you begin recalling some of the things you dreamt about, and you just know that more time
than a minute should have passed for all those things in the dream to take place. You know
at least that if the dream had taken place in the physical, more time would be needed to
make the events happen.
That there is a 'time' error between the wake state and a
daydream state, is an experience that most people will admit. Since this is a normal event
for humans, everyone takes the experience for granted, and passes it off as, "well it
was just a dream", not giving it much thought. But what just happened? Why does there
seem to be an error between time during the dream, and time during the wake state?
Suppose we lived in a world of no clocks, no timekeeping
devices, not even a sundial. We would still know time, but in a much wider sense, like how
long it took for us to walk from one town to the next, the time to perform work, etc. The
rising and setting of the sun would still be our main sign also. Now, let's take away the
rising and setting of the sun. If you talk to those who have lived very long at the poles,
you'll hear about experiences such as six months of daylight, or six months of night. Most
of those will tell you about losing the 'sense of time'. Let's suppose again, living in
that environment, and you have no timepiece for six months. I'm sure it would be easy to
become very disoriented, between wake and sleep, and remembering whether the chores you
did the day before was fact, or possibly just a dream. So time is only relevant as long as
we are aware of it as a duration. (If this explanation isn't abstract enough for you, read
up on Einstein's theories dealing with time.) Another way of thinking about this state, is
to imagine what your sense of reality, that is, knowing that you exist, would be if you
had no physical senses at all, just being, or the intellect of the soul. It's difficult to
think in these terms for flesh man, and it should be, for our Father had a definite reason
for restricting our knowledge using the limitations of the flesh body.
Now back to the main subject, God's Time. If man can experience a
sense of 'lost time' under the specific circumstances named above, then what significance
would time be to our Holy Father? In II Peter 3:8, we are told that to God, a day is as a
thousand years to us. Could we suppose then that a 'year' to our Father could be as a
thousand centuries to us, and a thousand years as a thousand millenniums? It kind of makes
one feel small doesn't it? And it should.
To properly understand some Biblical Scriptures, it is
important to be aware of God's Time. Jude 1:6 mentions that the fallen angels left their
original habitation, i.e., they took flesh wives of 'eth Ha adham' (Adam, but
translated 'men' in the KJV). Their offspring of 'giants' were the legends of
mythology, 'men of renown' (Gen.6:4). In other words, they retained that sense of
time and knowledge of 'eternal existence' which is part of that angelic sensory state.
Since God did not intend for His flesh creation to have this knowledge, He brought a flood
of destruction against them. That event in Gen.6 was recorded and preserved for our good,
for it is a link to the secret of 'time', God's Time. If all flesh mankind was born with
this angelic sense of 'time' and knowledge of our previous existence, and especially a
remembrance of seeing our Lord and Saviour in the angelic or spiritual state outside the
physical, then what might that mean? There would no longer be a choice to believe on Christ, for we would
all 'know', such as in 'direct experience'. This is why our Father made it impossible to
prove or disprove His existence to another fellow human being in the flesh, if they decide
not to believe.
Paul the apostle had a direct experience that made a
believer out of him, therefore, he did not make a choice, for he was a 'chosen vessel'
as written in Acts 9:15. His experience on the road to Damascus is a lesson to those
with 'eyes to see, and ears to hear', because by Jesus intervening in Paul's life
directly, all doubt he may have had was taken away about God's existence. The next
question by many should be,"then why did Christ intervene in Paul's life
directly?" That word 'chosen' in Acts 9:15 is 'ekloge' in the Greek
(Strong's no. 1589), and I like Thayer's definition: "used of the act of God's
free will by which before the foundation of the world He decreed His blessings to certain
persons". Many times this idea of 'chosen' is taught to mean that since God is
all knowing, He can choose anyone He wishes, even before they are born in the flesh, in
the sense that the one 'chosen' never had any prior existence, period. But Paul tells us
more about a previous existence, before the 'foundations of this world' in Ephesians,
Thessalonians, and Romans. Also, since Paul had the 'privilege to believe' or not to
believe taken away from him, i.e., he didn't use his own will to come to Christ, this
would show inconsistencies with God's overall Plan. In other words, if God intervenes in
the lives of certain 'chosen' ones, then why not everyone? The answer is, it depended on
how we believed in that first earth age, a 'time' alluded to in Gen.1:2; Jer.4; and Isaiah
45:18, in the Hebrew. Once the time of the first earth age is grasped, then God's Word
genuinely begins to fall into place for the sincere believer. However, if one cannot leave
the sense of a limited physical 'time', in the flesh, for even a moment, all remains a
'mystery'. Abstract theoretical physics has been on top of this time link for many years,
so God has given us more signs of 'time', than just the rising and setting of the sun, and
the changing seasons. This earth age we are now in, is but a time for each to make a
choice, unless God has directly intervened in your life and you are 'chosen'. Now, I wish
to make it clear that all those who come to Christ, believing on Him as The Son of God,
that He died for our salvation and resurrected on the third day, using their free-will, we
then become 'adopted sons of God', and considered 'elect' along with the 'chosen' ones,
such as Paul (see Gal.4).
Another phenomenon I wish to cover briefly is those
who try to penetrate that eternal realm of 'time' while in this flesh, against God's will.
We all know, or should know of the warnings against divination, witchcraft, necromancy,
etc., covered in Deuteronomy 18 and Exodus 22:18. In Matthew 11:12, it is written
that the violent take the kingdom of heaven by force. Many believe that this means an
'eagerness' for the Kingdom of Heaven's establishing, but this last bit of verse in
Matthew means something else. Those who attempt to extend their physical senses, and thus
gain the direct experience of angelic knowledge and abilities as retained by the 'giant
race' , through the use of divination, sorcery, witchcraft, etc., attempt to 'force' their
way into that spiritual angelic state, while yet living on this earth in the flesh, and by
doing, are going against God's Will. Remember the act of the fallen angels taking flesh
wives we just talked about? This 'forcing' of that spirit realm is in the same category,
for these flesh diviners wish to become 'angelic' obtaining all the powers, timeless
knowledge, and extended 'senses' of that state, while in the flesh. This is what the
practice of 'craft' and 'magic' is all about. If you've read enough of our Father's Word,
then you know how He feels about this abomination. That is why you will also notice in His
Word that when the apostles performed miracles, it was God's power working through them,
they did not claim It of themselves.
Stay away from that type of knowledge that excludes our
Father, with man trying to become a 'god'. This is why our Father gave us those warnings
in Deuteronomy. When we 'all' reach that spiritual state, casting off this flesh body at
death or at Christ's coming, then we will understand the 'eternal' and 'everlasting'
mystery of God's Time, and how God could have no beginning or end.
I
hope you enjoyed this message on 'God's Time'. I'll continue this subject in my next
'Ideas" letter.
Peace be with you in Christ
Jesus,
Dave Ramey.
Footnotes:
All references to
"Strong's nos." are from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, PC Study Bible,
Biblesoft, 1993-1996.
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