People think in terms of time. There’s a beginning, a middle and an end. How does God view time? With God there is no time. There is only now. It’s hard for us to imagine that. After all, we are born, we live our lives and we die. However long that is no one knows.
God was and is and is to come. There is no beginning, no middle and no end. Heaven has no time, no death, no pain and suffering. It is perpetual joy and fulfillment.
So what? We have no control over the inevitable. We are all going to die, some sooner rather than later. God calls out to His creation, man, to enter into a relationship. That’s why we were created to begin with. God reaches out, but not everyone responds. His truth is revealed, but not all comprehend it or appreciate its significance. Some hear the message and say “I’ll wait till later.” There may not be a later. God says now.
Don’t be tormented by the past
Living in the moment means not being tormented by the past. So much of mental illness is based upon a misunderstanding of events of the past. It’s not that something did not happen, it’s that our interpretation of the facts of the event can lead to a misunderstanding of what happened.
Imagine a strand of thin, white rope. It extends forever to the right and to the left. At some point along the way you see a blotch of color, a tiny, but very obvious spot of whatever color you like. To the left is eternity past and to the right is eternity future. The color stands for all of human existence. That is the only indication of time, otherwise its just an endless succession of now.
God’s view of time: Just now, no past no future
No past, no future. Just now. That splotch of color, that illustration of now, includes all of creation, every man, woman of child that has ever lived. Our earthly lives, from Adam to us are all included. You and your great, great, great grandfather are in the “now” and, in a sense, are contemporaries. In God’s truth, there is no time and therefore you are both here right now. You are the same age, because there is no age. Get the picture?
In the great play and movie, “Harvey,” the character Elwood P. Dowd (Jimmy Stewart) invites a psychiatrist to imagine going anywhere you like, anytime you like, staying for as long as you like, but not a second has gone by. That’s another way of describing existence without time.
No time. No turmoil of the human condition. That’s hard to comprehend. But it is what the Lord Jesus Christ promises.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’” (Revelation 7:17)
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)
Heaven is a gift
Even harder for some of us to comprehend is that heaven is a gift. The Bible states that only perfect adherence of the Law is acceptable to God. But who has obeyed every commandment to the letter? No one! But it was Jesus who paid the price on the cross. He purchased our ticket to heaven. All we need do is accept the gift by simply confessing out sins and asking Jesus to come into our hearts.
We turn ourselves over to Jesus who died for us and we are forgiven. We are adopted into God’s family with full rights and privileges. There is happiness and never ending joy. We will pass from beginning and end into a never-ending eternity… Time will be no more.