Time and God
Age of the Universe | Old Testament and Time | Hebrew Time Concepts | Time Interruptions in Bible | Subjective Time | God and Time Quality | Linear Time and Cyclical Time | Dynamical and Atomic Time | Time's Arrow | Time in New Testament | Time of Stress | The Last Days | Mysterious Time Flow | Time Disrupted by the Fall | Glimpse into Eternity | Time in Resurection | Who is in Heaven | Rewards Beyond Life | I AM | Quote from C.S. Lewis | On Time and Eternity | Spirituality and ReligionThe Hebrew view of time also includes the concept that time moves from event to event in a line---not a straight line, to be sure, but towards a goal. The goal is always the future, yet the goal intended by God is always to be fulfilled in history. Bible prophecies frequently have both an immediate and a long-term fulfillment, for example. In the Bible, sins are seen to have consequences that follow inevitably, moral choices lead to measurable results for good or for ill, and history proceeds towards the definite outworking purposes of God.
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:14, 15)
A consummation of the ages lies ahead, for which all else has been but a shadowy preparation. In both ancient Greek culture, (among the Pythagoreans, Stoics and Neoplatonists), and in Hindu culture (especially during the Vedic period, 1500-600 BC), one runs onto the concept of circular, or cyclical time. This is sometimes symbolized by the uroboros, the snake chasing his own tail. In this view of time, the beginning leads back around to the end, and the cycle starts all over again. The Babylonians, ancient Chinese, Aztecs, Mayans, and the Norse had cyclical calendars.
In pantheistic religious systems of thought the universe is often depicted as going through great long epochs of rebirth, growth, decay, and destruction. The Hindu cycles, for example, range from 360 human years, to 300 trillion years (which is the lifetime of the gods before their rebirth). Reincarnation---which has no basis in the Bible at all (see Hebrews 9:27)---springs from such an Eastern pantheistic point of view. Augustine was among the first to insist on linear time as opposed to cyclical, since he observed that many important events in the Bible clearly happened one time only. Since clocks were not well-developed until the 14th Century, it was perhaps easier for the ancients to imagine events in history as recurring since the four seasons and patterns of the stars in the heavens were cyclical.
The Bible depicts the human race as having a definite clear beginning, a history which has been accurately recorded by God, and an approaching day of judgment when all men will be evaluated justly by their Creator. The fact that "books are to be opened" on judgment day means God keeps track of detail (by means of his "recording angels")---even if we do not ourselves keep good record books. God even pays attention to the numbering of the hairs on our heads. He will see to it that truth and justice ultimately prevail no matter how grim things seem to us at the moment (1 Cor. 4:5). A good example of the work of a recording angel is to be found in Ezekiel 9:2ff.
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Time and God
Age of the Universe | Old Testament and Time | Hebrew Time Concepts | Time Interruptions in Bible | Subjective Time | God and Time Quality | Linear Time and Cyclical Time | Dynamical and Atomic Time | Time's Arrow | Time in New Testament | Time of Stress | The Last Days | Mysterious Time Flow | Time Disrupted by the Fall | Glimpse into Eternity | Time in Resurection | Who is in Heaven | Rewards Beyond Life | I AM | Quote from C.S. Lewis | On Time and Eternity | Spirituality and Religion
