"Time, Eternity, & God's Appointments"
Is.46:3-13 (various) Jan.2/05
Time, Ltd.
[hold up datebooks] I hold in my hand life's most precious commodity - not the datebooks themselves, but the time they represent. One is a year past, never to be repeated. The other is a year newly started, waiting to be lived. It's been said you can tell a lot about the faith of a person or church by looking at their budget; you can also tell a lot about their priorities and commitments by looking at their datebook. Time is a precious gift from God, to be used for His purposes and glory; only He can bless our life and the work of our hands.
There's a saying in the business world, "time is money"; but more accurately, "time is life". Benjamin Franklin asked, "Dost Thou love life? Then do not squander time, For that's the stuff life is made of." Some of us are better time managers than others. Each person receives the same 168 hours each week; but how well those precious hours are utilized varies a great deal.
Robert Lee sums it up this way. "If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,400, that carried no balance from day to day, allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and finally every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent - of course! Well, you have such a bank and its name is 'Time'. Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off - as lost - whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries no balances. It allows no balances. It allows no overdrafts. Each day the bank named "Time" opens a new account with you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours."
Nor can we presume we'll always get a fresh quota. Some of us have less time left than we think. Odds are that half of us won't make it to the average life expectancy. Last Sunday, at 7:59 am, people sunbathing on the beaches of Indonesia and Thailand probably figured they had a good many years left to live. But the hour was later than they thought. At that moment off the coast of Sumatra, a gigantic earthquake heaved the ocean floor 10 metres, and a thousand-kilometre crack shifted, permanently altering the geography of islands in that area. A huge tidal wave or tsunami swept outwards 30 feet high, swamping coasts in southeast Asia, devastating villages in Sri Lanka, even upsetting a train with 800 people on board, causing the worst rail disaster in history. An entire church full of worshippers in Sri Lanka was swept into the sea. The previous eruption a century ago at Krakatoa killed 36,000 people; already the death toll from this tsunami is over 100,000. What an awful tragedy! Millions of people's lives will be affected for some time to come. Yet not one had an inkling their remaining time alive would be extinguished or so unalterably affected.
An anonymous poet wrote: "The clock of life is wound but once,
and no man has the power
to say just when the hands will stop;
at late, or early hour.
Now is the only time we own
to do His precious will.
Do not wait until tomorrow;
for the clock may then be still."
Time's Shape
Does time have a shape? We measure it by candles and sundials and pendulums and atomic pulses; it must have dimensions. It's as much a part of creation and measurable as length, width, and height. Time is a funny factor; in physics, it can be stretched. According to Einstein's relativity theory, time passes more slowly for an object in motion than at rest. Thus an astronaut travelling at extremely high speed - say to a distant star and back - would age less during their trip than a twin sibling who had remained on earth. Depending on the length of the mission, the astronaut could theoretically be years younger than their twin upon their return.
We may think time is round, because that's how we design our clocks; and our main time-keepers in the heavens, travel in an apparently circular fashion. The New Bible Dictionary notes that a cyclical view of time was common in the ancient world. This could lead to a sort of jaded or tedious view of life, as the philosopher in Ecclesiastes 1(5-6,9) describes it: "The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course...What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." If everything were circular, it could be difficult to see the point; as when Psalm 89(47) moans, "For what futility you have created all men!" Or as Ecclesiastes (1:2) exclaims, "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!"
But in contrast to this circular view of time that prevailed in the surrounding culture, the predominant view in the Bible is that time is linear. God's purpose moves to a consummation; things don't just go on or return to the point whence they began. Our reading from Isaiah 46 emphasizes that God is the God of all that happens; He brings about what He intends. Vv 9-11 say, "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please...What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do." It is God's purpose, what He pleases, that moves time forward to His goals. So time's shape is more linear than circular; we're not stuck in a meaningless rut, but unavoidably driven toward the accomplishment of God's righteous plans.
Jesus had a keen sense of timing, whether the time was "right" for God's purposes to come to fruition. In Jn.2(4) He said to His mother Mary, "Dear woman, why do you involve me?...My time has not yet come." Then in Jn.7(6,8) He told His brothers He was not going up to the Feast just then because, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right...I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come." But the night before He was crucified, He could pray in John 17(1), "Father, the time has come.Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." Notice how timing relates to God being glorified.
So the shape of time is more linear than circular; God's purposes carry events forward to a fulfilment of His purposes, promises, and intention.
God's Sovereignty Over Time
God's in control, otherwise He would hardly be God. The New Bible Dictionary says the Bible stresses "times", the points at which God Himself advances His purpose in the world (for example, the expression 'The Day of the Lord' referring to coming judgment). God is sovereign in appointing these times; not even Jesus the Son knew the day or hour of the final consummation. He admitted in Mk.13(32), "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
God's sovereignty extends also to the times of an individual life. Paul preached in Athens (Acts 17:26), "...[God] determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live."
God is over and outside time because it's His idea in the first place, He started time from out of eternity. I sometimes visualize our 4-dimensional length-width-height-time existence as a small goldfish bowl in God's eyes; He can see the front and the back, He can turn it to study it from any direction, fast-forwarding like a video to any moment He's interested in. He knows the end from the beginning - yet we still have freedom and responsibility.
Eternity and what we call "everlasting life" isn't just an extension of this time, but a whole 'nother dimension quite beyond our boundaries. God's being is unlimited by any bound of time; Psalm 90(2) says, "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." God was active before the ages; 1Cor.2(7) says God destined His special wisdom for our glory "before time began". According to Titus 1(2), God promised eternal life to us "before the beginning of time". He's not limited by time as we are; He is "the King of the ages" (1Tim.1:17). Peter wrote (2Pet.3:8), "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." That's beyond the grasp of my small mind.
God's sovereignty adds an aspect of time consisting of "appointments". So He can say to Abraham, "Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son." (Genesis 18:14) And as Paul wrote to Titus (1:3), "...At his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior..."
Each of us has an appointment with God sometime in the future, when at the day of judgment we will give account for everything, including every careless word we have spoken (Mt.12:36; Heb.4:13; 1Pet.4:5). To be prepared, with each new day (that trust of 86,400 seconds) I'd recommend we set aside time to make a personal appointment with the Lord - our individual Quiet Time for study and prayer to find out His direction for the day. What's on His agenda for you, His servant? It would be foolish to scurry through the day chasing our own priorities and completely miss His appointments.
Time is Short
Time is linear; it's under God's control; it's also SHORT. The Psalmist (89:47) describes life as "fleeting". Job (7:7) prays, "Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath..."
James (4:14) reminds us, "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." Some cold winter night, pause under a lamp-post or the yard-light and exhale sharply the air in your lungs. That "poof" of mist that vanishes so quickly represents our life - gone so soon. Psalm 90 (10,12), the Song of Moses, observes: "The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. [and concludes] Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." A speaker in his fifties once calculated that IF he were to reach 70 years of age, he'd have just over 5400 days left. Each day on the calendar he keeps track - 5399, 5398, and so on. He's "numbering" his days; it makes you appreciate how limited they are. Faith with the Psalmist says to God (31:15), "My times are in your hands..."
Besides the brevity of human life, there is speculation that we may be in the LAST times even now. Certainly people are becoming aware of the fragile nature of the ecosystem; global warming may cause rapid climate change if it reaches a crucial "tipping point". Another journalist on the radio was citing the North American water situation as the most under-reported environmental story of the year. From the point of view of sabbath responsibility, we are pushing our environment to its limits. When the Jewish people refused to give the land its rest, God exiled them for 70 years (Lev.26:34f). Jesus listed earthquakes, famines, and signs in the sun, moon, and stars as precursors to His return (Mk.13:8,24).
Yet even the writers of the New Testament said we are already living in "these last times" (1Pet.1:20). Jesus began His preaching by declaring, "The time is fulfilled." (Mk.1:15) Jesus' life and times mark the crisis of God's purposes. Our response to Jesus determines whether we HAVE eternal life already, according to John 3(36): "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him." Eternity starts TODAY when we entrust our life into God's keeping and control. We become more careful about how we conduct ourselves in the interim, in what Scripture calls "this present evil age" (Gal.1:4). Paul writes bluntly to the Corinthians, "What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who...are happy [should live] as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them.For this world in its present form is passing away." (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)
Yet we don't despair; like the woman who asked to be buried with her dessert fork in her hand, believers can be assured that "the best is yet to come". We anticipate even now the consummation yet to come because in Jesus, God's purpose has been decisively fulfilled. The gift of the Holy Spirit is a taste of the world to come -- "a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession" (Eph.1:14). Believers in Jesus "have tasted the heavenly gift, have shared in the Holy Spirit, have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age..." (Heb.6:4f)
Time is to be Seized as an Opportunity
"Carpe diem" is the ancient motto: "seize the day!" Because our present life is so fleeting, each moment counts. Each day is an opportunity to be about God's business, preparing for eternity, waking others to the significance of time's passing. Someone has said, "Yesterday is a canceled check.Tomorrow is a promissory note.Today is the only cash you have -- spend it wisely."
In the Bible, the times "appointed" by God represent opportunities given by Him. Some people responded astutely, others missed the opportunity. In Luke 19(44) Jesus warns Jerusalem, "They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you." Paul wrote passionately, "I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2) Don't wait to make a decision to serve the Lord - tomorrow may be too late, as the bathers found out a week ago. When you seek God's mindset about the moments, every encounter with another human becomes an opportunity to interact in a way that shares His goodness and glory. Paul wrote, "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." (Colossians 4:5) And that we should be "making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:16) The King James Version called this "redeeming the time" - buying back the moments, seizing them for God's purposes rather than letting them be wasted. Romans 13(11) counsels, "And do this, understanding the present time.The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." There's a note of urgency: not franticness, for everything will unfold in God's good time; but being watchful, ready to serve each moment as the Lord leads.
As we go about filling our date books, let's be praying for insight into opportunities we can seize to improve the relationships Jesus is seeking to touch through us. We've already talked about time set aside to focus on Him each day. If we're married, do we have a date night set aside each week that will draw us closer to our partner? What time can we budget to maintain our friendships? To mentor a younger Christian, or have contact with non-believers? To build up others in our church fellowship? Are there other ministries, such as working with youth, offering palliative care, being a volunteer driver, through which we can give back to our community and do good works?
Even our spare time can be examined to be more fruitful. Many great discoveries have been the result of a hobby or specific need outside the regular routine of living. The father of photography was an army officer; of the electrical motor, a bookbinder. The inventor of the typewriter as a farmer; the locomotive was invented by a coal miner. The telephone came from the after-school work of a schoolteacher, and a physician invented the pneumatic tire.
Elihu Burritt was a blacksmith by trade. In early life he began to study the ancient languages after his day's work was done. He spent his evenings in study as faithfully as his days in work. At the age of 50 he was familiar with almost as many languages as he was years old. He was a blacksmith by day and linguist by night. Burritt became a noted lecturer, philanthropist, and author. Who would have expected it of a blacksmith? But he redeemed the time.
I'd like to close today with a poem by Avis Christiansen. Let's close our eyes and make it a prayer, seeking the Lord's purposes to be made known in our days, our time.
Another year is dawning - A path unknown, untried.
'Twould fill me with foreboding, Had I no hand to guide;
But He who walked beside me All through the yesteryear,
Whatever may betide me, Has promised to be near.
---
Another year with Jesus! Ah, then, no dread I know.
His love is ever precious, Howe'er the winds may blow.
E'en when the storm is fiercest, In Him my soul may rest,
And find sweet peace and comfort Upon His loving breast.
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Another year to trust Him -- Yes, I can trust Him still,
Who never yet has failed me As I have sought His will.
His rod and staff He giveth To be my strength and stay.
And tenderly He leadeth Along the homeward way.
---
Another year to serve Him, To labour for Him here,
E'en while the shadows lengthen And night is drawing near.
I know not when He'll call me To lay my sickle by --
Oh, may I then be faithful While now the moments fly!
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Another year to love Him, Whom I have loved so long;
Another year to praise Him In glad triumphant song.
Whate'er the future holdeth Of sorrow, toil, or pain
His precious love endureth Forevermore the same.
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Another year with Jesus! I thank Thee, Lord, today
For Thine unfailing presence Along life's rugged way.
Guide me, O blest Redeemer, Teach me to do Thy will,
And Thine own perfect purpose In me each day fulfill.