Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”- John 17:3-5
Insight- Yesterday we looked at how it seems time is accelerating as we move closer to the return of Jesus to rapture His bride, the church, the body of believer who presently exist on the earth as well as those who have already passed away before us as 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 tells us “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. “ But we also discussed yesterday how God ( Father, Son and Holy Spirit ) operates outside of our ability to understand time and space, and therefore time as we understand it doesn’t pertain to Him at all. In other words, there is no time stress in Heaven! The Scripture from John 17:3-5 above is truly fascinating, and Jesus brings eternity past and future into the realm of the work He did on earth in His short 33 years here. In Verse 17:5 He says “ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” This means that Jesus has always existed as part of the Triune God where time is of no essence, but when He came to earth as fully man He got to experience for a short while what time pressure feels like. I bet He couldn’t wait to get back into Eternal Heaven after experiencing that! In fact, John 17:4 alludes to that very point “ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” If we could finish that sentence for Jesus through our own time compressed lens, we might end it with “now get me out of here.”
Many people who aren’t believers in whom Jesus said He is, The Son of God, have often used time arguments to prove their point, saying as in 2 Peter 3:4 “They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” They might even feel good about their point after saying these words, like they have been justified in their beliefs after all. But as always, God has the final word and His truth is immutable and His word has eternal truth that cannot be challenged. As we read the rebuke of the question, almost mocking Jesus’s claim, and challenging why nothing has changed and goes on before, let’s remember again that God’s Kingdom and purposes are eternal and truly operate outside our ability to fully comprehend them from a time and space perspective. This thought is something I pray on often, and it has helped me to lessen anxiety and stress around many areas of my life when I feel time compression heavy upon me. It is good to remember there will be no traffic jams in Heaven, no work deadlines, no school assignments due on a Monday morning, no 24/7 news channels trying to enrage us with their triggering techniques. It will be then that these words written in 2 Peter 3:5-9 will truly make sense: “But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Prayer: Father God, help us to learn to see time through your eternal perspective by reading and meditating on your Word in the Bible. You are in control always, even when it feels like the world is careening out of control and we feel the weight of time induced anxiety coursing through our veins. Amen!
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