The Mystery of Time - Part 1
I have heard it said that the Lord provided Time for us to have something to hang onto. When we deal with the Lord we understand that He is someone who has always been here. That is a concept that is hard to wrap your mind around. Infinite, Omniscient, and yet at the same time He cares about us. When Moses asked God to give him a name to give to the Israelites when they asked, the Lord said tell them I AM. I exist, or better I AM WHO I AM:
[Ex 3:13] Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” [14] God said to Moses, “*I AM WHO *I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘*I AM has sent me to you.’ ” [15] God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name *to all generations.
From my NASB notes, The I AM here is "Related to the name of God, YHWH, rendered LORD, which is derived from the verb HAYAH, to be." This is a declaration to Moses that the Lord is eternal, something that Moses did not really understand until much later. How do you describe yourself if you have always been here? Probably much the same way as the Lord did with Moses. The name YHWH in Hebrew apparently is God's personal name given to His people that He later referred to as "my inheritance."
This brings us back to our original query, what is time? The Lord doesn't need it. In fact, He knows the End from the Beginning. He in fact knows what will happen and when because He sees everything.
[Is 46:9] “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
[10] Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
[Dan 2:20] Daniel said,
“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
For wisdom and power belong to Him.
[21] “It is He who changes the times and the epochs;
He removes kings and *establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to *men of understanding.
[22] “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And the light dwells with Him.
[Rev 1:8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who *is to come, the Almighty.”
Time is not puzzling to the Lord, but it is to me. We have but a finite amount of time on this earth to do the Lord's bidding before we part. I would think that of all things we would be focused on doing His work before we die. However, as we can all testify, that is easier said than done. The cares of this world, our jobs, family, and friends all take us away from doing precisely that. More on this later.
- LW
[Ex 3:13] Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” [14] God said to Moses, “*I AM WHO *I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘*I AM has sent me to you.’ ” [15] God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name *to all generations.
From my NASB notes, The I AM here is "Related to the name of God, YHWH, rendered LORD, which is derived from the verb HAYAH, to be." This is a declaration to Moses that the Lord is eternal, something that Moses did not really understand until much later. How do you describe yourself if you have always been here? Probably much the same way as the Lord did with Moses. The name YHWH in Hebrew apparently is God's personal name given to His people that He later referred to as "my inheritance."
This brings us back to our original query, what is time? The Lord doesn't need it. In fact, He knows the End from the Beginning. He in fact knows what will happen and when because He sees everything.
[Is 46:9] “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
[10] Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
[Dan 2:20] Daniel said,
“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,
For wisdom and power belong to Him.
[21] “It is He who changes the times and the epochs;
He removes kings and *establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to *men of understanding.
[22] “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And the light dwells with Him.
[Rev 1:8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who *is to come, the Almighty.”
Time is not puzzling to the Lord, but it is to me. We have but a finite amount of time on this earth to do the Lord's bidding before we part. I would think that of all things we would be focused on doing His work before we die. However, as we can all testify, that is easier said than done. The cares of this world, our jobs, family, and friends all take us away from doing precisely that. More on this later.
- LW