Time and Eternity
By George Stroh
October 22, 2013
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (Genesis 1:3-5)
Maybe because I'm getting older and closer to the end of my life on earth, I have been thinking more about time and eternity. We know (at least we think we know) that time empirically advances at a consistent pace. But as we get older, it sure feels like time is moving much faster. When I was just 15 and had to wait for my 16th birthday to get my driver's license, it felt like 3 years. Now that I'm 68, the past year feels like 3 months! And by the way, these so called "golden years" are not necessarily all so "golden"; Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come (i.e., old age) and the years draw near when you say, "I have no delight in them". (Ecclesiastes 12:1)
In addition to creating the material things that we can see, God also created space, time and energy which we can't see and which we really still don't fully understand. What is time anyway? We measure it with clocks and calendars and changes resulting from the circular rotation of earth and moon. Time is therefore closely connected with and related to space, matter and energy. The writer of Ecclesiastes characterizes time as the way we measure the sequence of events on earth; There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) What will it be like to exist outside of time?
Eternity by definition has no beginning or ending and is therefore the absence of time. I sometimes wonder what those saints who have proceeded us into eternity are doing today? Maybe because they exist outside of time, like God, there is no relativity in time between what happens on earth and what happens in the eternal state. If Albert Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" is true, somewhere beyond the speed of light, time stands still. Maybe when we die physically and are spiritually free from the tyranny of time, we all enter into eternity at the same time! Okay, now I really am speculating way beyond my intellect, education and understanding, but it is kind of fun to think about our eternal life!
There are some things that we know for sure, even though we don't fully understand them; For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18) For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life! (John 3:16) Maranatha!
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