What do God’s revelations to mankind tell us about the concept of time? In this article I will consider how his Special Revelation (the Bible) and his General Revelation (the creation) help us to understand time. Dictionaries provide numerous definitions for time. In this article I will be using the definition: “time: a continuum in which events succeed one another from past through present to future.”
SPECIAL REVELATION: Genesis 1:1 reads: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That verse tells us exactly when time began because in John 1:3 we are told that God created all things. Time is a thing and so it was created in the beginning.
In numerous biblical verses we learn that God is eternal (for example see Genesis 21:33). How do we understand this idea of an Eternal God? I think one way is to understand this is that with God there is no beginning and no end. God is beyond or outside of time. God created time in the beginning for the benefit of those he created in his image and likeness. God does not need time except for the profit of those he created in his image that he greatly loves.
So, God does not need time but he knows that people do. He designed the solar system so people can enjoy a consistent one-year-long orbiting of the earth around the sun. Earth’s tilt gives people living in most locations a four season variety so they always can look forward to change. He designed the moon’s location and travels to allow for the months that also break up the years. The earth makes a complete rotation on its axis in one day, and God stretched out his recently created time continuum in a way that created the universe and everything in it so as to take exactly six days. This resulted in a system where mankind can have the most efficient possible work week. He could have made the universe in less time, but instead he used six days and then rested to provide people with a good model to follow in their working lives.
According to John 1:1 Jesus was there in the beginning, and all things were made by or through him. Nothing was made without Jesus. Therefore, time was made by or through Jesus.
Since the Creator is outside of time, he can see the past, the present, and the future all at once. This notion is difficult to comprehend for people who have lived their whole lives totally within the bounds of time. Knowing this does help somewhat for an understanding of biblical prophecy. God knows the future perfectly from his position outside of time.
I have devised an analogy that helps me somewhat to understand this. Assuming that it may help others, I will present my analogy in the following paragraph.
Imagine a number of paths upon which people are walking. They are walking on their life-paths. The paths are laid out on a series of hills and valleys. When a particular person on his life path approaches a hill he cannot see past the hill and does not know what is on the other side. But, the omniscient, omnipotent, ever-present Creator God hovers over the entire scene and can see what the future holds for each and every person on every path. This analogy is undoubtedly insufficient and perhaps totally wrong, but I think it may provide an idea of how God can see the future for every person and every event in every time.
GENERAL REVELATION: Now let’s consider what current scientific understanding contributes to our study. Is time a created thing according to science? The answer I think is “yes.” Modern physics and Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity say that time is connected with matter. Time is now known not to exist independently of matter and energy. Einstein’s general theory indicates that gravity distorts time. This has been confirmed by experiments that show that clocks at high elevations above the earth, where gravity is slightly less, run a smidgen faster than those at ground level.
So scientific experiments and observations have proven that time is not just a concept, but is a real thing actually connected to matter. We live in a space-time universe that was created in the beginning by our triune God and is currently being sustained by Christ (Colossians 1:17)!
Glory be to God in the highest!
J.D. Mitchell
