Time is limited to created things that all have defined beginnings. The creator is the only truly independent variable and everythings stands or falls by Him, so all things that we made must be relative to Him and subject to Him. Thus the entire universe is a subset of His absolute constancy. Time and Space are also relative to Him and exist by and for Him. So far so good, but by that logic is there time in heaven? Whilst we about it, can did Jesus have a beginning?
Jesus, though also eternal, is a sub-set of His (Eternal) Father. He had a defined beginning (Eternity + n). He will also continue (reign) within the context of this universe, until He has restored all things and put God’s enemies under His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25-28). Beyond that, we understand Him to be the heir of all things, so by implication He stands to inherit His Father's estate and continue His dynasty. This is challenging theology, but Paul confirmed these ideas in that same scripture, when He said, "Then God shall be all in all".
Jesus was mandated from before the foundations of the earth, to restore order to a universe that had been corrupted by the rebellion of Satan. The process of restoration fulfils Newton’s laws, by which all things must revert to a rest state.
Project earth was God’s response to sin, but to explain that will take much more space than this article can afford – indeed there is not enough space in the universe to describe the depth and power of God’s eternal wisdom. Suffice to say, that God needed to set a precedent for the judgment of sin and so made His spotless Son subject to the law and its supreme penalty, so that He might subject Satan to the same laws.
So what we have is a time horizon involving Jesus and the earth, which has a discrete beginning and a defined conclusion: an end. Within that season are many bit-parts and sub-plots, each with seasons that involve specific people or peoples. The key plumb-line, for all that happens on the earth, was the cross, which coincidentally also defines time before and time after. The cross is the sundial of God that cast its shadow on the past and became the fulfilment of all that went before. But it also cast a shadow on the future, thereby defining its ultimate conclusion.
Human time has been set relative to Calvary. Recently we started speaking of BCE (Before the Current Era) and CE. But that merely removed references to Christ from the notations “BC” and “AD”. It did not alter the fact that the climax of history was when Christ hung on a cruel Roman cross for the atonement of sin and the judgment of Satan.
The outstretched arms of the saviour reached into all the past and all the future and embraced all space, as far west and east as space will go. The vertical of the cross took the cross beyond dimensions of time and space into the physical-spiritual dimension, for after he died, Paul declares in Ephesians 6: “He descended to the lowest parts of the earth and then ascended to the highest heaven, so that He might fill all things”.
Thus He stooped as low as humanity can stoop to take us to the greatest of all heights, but in doing so He reached all people of all time and in every culture and creed, for He is the King. He is the only true potentate, the saviour of the world and the light that shone in darkness to bring light and hope to those who live in the shadows.
(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net
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