A Doctrine Of Time

As we come to the close of the first month of a new year, we’ve had to adjust. We’ve had a month to write 2024 instead of 2023. Most have taken down their Christmas trees, put away all the decorations and have got used to any new presents that you got. We’ve received the bills for all the Christmas expenses, and we look ahead and wonder what this year will bring. We wonder about our health, finances, relationships and look ahead to plan.

The Bible has a lot to say about plans and it revolves around concepts of the sovereignty and will of God, the nature of evil, priorities, plans and the very consideration of time itself. The biblical concept of time is unmistakably the way it uniformly presents God at work in guiding the course of history according to His saving plan. The Hebrew ?et, mô?ed, ?iddan, zeman, yôm and Greek kairos, chronos, aion are the main biblical time words depicting this divine work.

This evening we will consider the nature of time in seven connected but distinct elements. We will consider: 1) God as Lord over Time, 2) Humanity as Subject to Time, 3) Time as Redemptive History, 4) Time is meaningfully forward-moving. 5) The Present as the Time of Salvation 6) The End-Times and finally: 7) Time and Eternity.

1) God as Lord over Time. Time is not fatalistic or capricious, but, according to Scripture, under God’s personal direction and control. Time began at creation and becomes the agency through which God continues to unveil his divine purpose for it. God imminently expresses concern for His creation. He reveals Himself in history according to the times and dates set by his own authority (Acts 1:7) and will bring about in His own time the consummation of world history in Jesus’ return (Eph. 1:9–10; 1 Tim. 6:15).

Please turn to Isaiah 41

God is transcendent over time. He established the cycle of days and seasons by which time is known and reckoned (Gen. 1:14) and moreover, he controls world history, determining in advance the times set for all nations and bringing them to pass (Dan. 2:21; Acts 17:26). But God is not limited by time (Ps. 90:4). It in no sense diminishes his person or work: the eternal God does not grow tired or weary (Isa. 40:28) and his purposes prevail (Prov. 16:4; Isa. 46:10).

The Book of Isaiah says a lot about the nature of God and His involvement in time. Notice in Isaiah 41

Isaiah 41:1-4. Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment. 2 Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. 3 He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod. 4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he. (ESV)

• In consideration of His person and interaction with time, God is “the First and Last” (Isa. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12), “the Beginning and End” (Rev. 21:6), “the one who is, was, and is to come” (Rev. 1:4, 8), “King of the Ages” (1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 15:3) His lordship is over time. He possesses the power to dissolve kingdoms according to his eternal purposes (Isa. 60:19–20). The Lord is the one and only God, the ruler of every last bit of history (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1312). Crossway Bibles.)

Since we know that the persons of the Godhead share the same divine attributes, the New Testament presents Jesus as Lord over time. With the Father, He existed prior to the beginning of time, created all things, and sustains all things (John 1:1–3; Col. 1:16–17; Heb. 1:2–3). He is neither limited by time, nor adversely affected by it: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Jesus the Messiah (Christ) is eternally trustworthy in His position as high priest and as Son of God—yesterday active in creation (e.g., 1:2–4), today offering salvation (e.g., 4:7–10), and forever reigning in heaven (e.g., 10:12) He too is properly called “the Alpha and Omega, the First and Last, the Beginning and End” (Rev. 22:13). (Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2385). Crossway Bibles.)

For us, consider:

2) Humanity as Subject to Time. In contrast to God and Jesus, humanity is limited by time in the cycle of birth, life, and death. Every person bears the marks of time in the aging process and ultimately dies (Job 14:5; Heb. 9:27). The span of life is brief and passing (Ps. 144:4; James 4:14). Even our time on earth—the events/circumstances and length of life—are in God’s hands (Ps. 31:15; 139:16).