What Time Is It

“What Time is It”

By

Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

1st Chronicles 12:32 “And of the children of Issachar, [which were men] that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them [were] two hundred; and all their brethren [were] at their commandment.”

Today I want to talk to you on this subject: “What Time Is It?” This is probably one of the most asked questions in human history. People are always inquiring about what time it is for many different reasons. Some ask the question because they want to know when something starts or ends. They want to know what time it is so they will know how long they have before they have to do something or go some place else. There are many different reasons why someone will ask the question What Time is it.

Understand that we look at time as an appointed, fixed, or specific moment or hour for something to happen. For example some are already saying O.K. preacher you have 25 minutes to preach this message and get us out of here. What they have done is fixed an appointed moment for something to happen and in their mind if I go pass that appointed moment or if God doesn’t show up at that precise time, they become upset, impatient, and no doubt will even throw that finger up, crouch down, and try to tip out, WHY, because simply they are operating in the confining parameters of time.

Understand that time is a measure of finite subsistence, which means it is characterized by whatever is logically conceivable, but God is infinite in His existence, thus cannot be characterized by logical conceivability.

We as human are limited to time and thus we operate within time. Realize there are 3 phases to time that we operate in, they are the past, the present, the future and it takes us a lifetime to get from past, to our present, and finally into our future; however, God who transcends time is not limited to the parameters of time. God doesn’t operate within time, but time operates within God. So the lifetime it takes for us to go from our past, to present, and into the future, God is standing there in our past, in our present, and in our future. That’s why He said in His word declaring the end from the beginning because He is there and sees at just what point He needs to show up and works at that point in our situation and is not limited by our parameters of time.

However, God which is timeless deals with us not in the limiting parameters of time, but in T.I.M.E.S. This times is not a moment or hour, but is a period in which a process takes place. That’s why He can never be late because He knows just were in the process He needs to show up.

This times which God works or deals with man is called dispensations, ages, or seasons. Within this times the process is 3 fold, it consist of 1.) A command. 2.) The Test. 3.) The judgment/reward. Once we understand the process then we will be able to know what time it is. Understand that a process is something that brings about a change which leads to a particular result.

The Bible says in 1st Chronicles 12:32 “And of the children of Issachar, [which were men] that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them [were] two hundred; and all their brethren [were] at their commandment.”

Ù Had understanding of the times – they simply understood the process. God had imparted unto them godly wisdom and they knew what Israel ought to do in order to receive God’s reward.

The name Issachar means reward. The men of Issachar literally were prophets that knew what Israel ought to do in order to receive God’s reward. WATCH THIS: not only did they know what Israel ought to, but they told them what they needed to do. The problem with a lot of the church today is they will not tell people what they ought to do, but saying its o.k. just do what you want to do.

As stated already, God is dealing with man in what is called dispensations. In a dispensation as you shall recall there are 3 phases 1.) The command 2.) The Test 3.) The judgment/reward. There are 7 dispensation in which God deals with man. 5 of these have come and gone. The 6th, which is the dispensation of Grace, the one we are in now is just about over.

WATCH THIS: There are 7 dispensations which God deals with man, but within those dispensation there is times/ages and it is within those times, within the dispensation, that God deals with the church. Understand the word church comes from the Greek word “Ekklesia”, which literally means called out ones. In every dispensation God dealt with the ekklesia (called out ones). In the 5th dispensation, which is the dispensation of Law the ekklesia was the Children of Israel. That is why the Bible says in Acts 7:38 “This is he that was in the church in the wilderness…” It is referring to the ekklesia – the called out ones.