The New Testament appeals to reason, to the conscience, and to the rational mind to
communicate the same truths that are found in the Old Testament in story form. Someone has
suggested that the Old Testament appeals to the right side of the brain and the New, to the left
side. Bible teacher and former corporate executive and scientist Chuck Missler often says,
“The New Testament is in the Old Concealed,
and The Old Testament is in the New Revealed.”
The basic message of God’s love and actions in history is really the same, but it is
presented in two differing formats in the two halves of Scripture. The New Testament message is
addressed not only to the Jews but to the pagans, the Goyim, the entire non-Jewish world. When
the New Testament was written down in the First Century AD, Greek and Roman culture and
government dominated much of the ancient world. The original language now changed between
the two Testaments without warning from Hebrew to Koine Greek.
The Greek language of the New Testament refers to time as measured in chronos and
kairos–times and seasons. The meanings of the Greek New Testament words for times and
seasons add more to an understanding of the complex nature of time in our universe. Chronos
(Strong’s Concordance Number 5550) means quantity of time, space of time, duration,
succession of moments, length of time, or a bounded period of time. To understand this word, it
is helpful to read the passages of the New Testament where chronos is used. These include
Matthew 2:7, Luke 4:5; 8:27; 20:9, Acts 20:18, Romans 16:25, and Mark 2:19. Kairos refers to
the quality of time or season, the epoch characterized by certain events, the decisive quality of
happening, an opportune time, or a fortuitous moment.
The renowned Bible scholar Archbishop Trench wrote,
“The ‘seasons’ are the critical epoch-making periods foreordained of God, when all that has been
slowly, and often without observation, ripening through long ages is mature and comes to birth in
grand decisive events, which constitute at once the close of one period and the commencement of
another. Such, for example, was the passing away of the old Jewish dispensation; such, again, the
recognition of Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire; such the conversion of those
outside; such the great revival which went along with the first institution of the Mendicant
Orders; such, by still better right, the Reformation; such, above all others, the second coming of
the Lord in glory.”
Kairos (Strong’s Concordance Number 2540) is used in such passages as Romans 5:6, Galatians
6:10, Matthew 13:34, 26:18, Revelation 12:12, I Peter 1:11, and Luke 4:13. In the New
Testament we have expressions like “times of refreshing” (Acts 3:19), “times of ignorance” (Acts
17:30), and “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24).
Greek also uses the word aion for age, usually referring to an indefinite period of time
marked by certain moral or spiritual characteristics. The plural aionios, denotes the eternal or
everlasting in the New Testament. For example “life eternal” (aionios zoe) in John 17:3 refers to
an ever-increasing knowledge of God. This word and its derivatives and compounds are very
common in the New Testament and can be searched by looking up Strong’s Concordance
Numbers 165 and 166.
Times of Stress
To illustrate the importance the Bible places on the content and quality of an interval of
time within history, the expression “times of stress” occurs in one of the most interesting
passages in the New Testament, Paul’s second letter to Timothy 3:1-5. Our understanding of the
message is enriched by looking up the individual Greek words in this passage in a lexicon. The
passage in question reads as follows:
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2
People will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
4
treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5
having a form of
godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. – 2 Timothy 3:1-5
The “Last Days”
The New Testament uses the term “last days” to refer to the entire 2000 year interval
between the first and second advents of Christ. Christ was born “late” in history as God measures
time—see Galatians 4:4. He will return after recurring cycles of stress have plagued mankind.
These cycles will come with repeated frequency and intensity as the age draws to a close-cycles
compared in Scripture to the birth pangs of a women about to give birth to a child. They will also
be less and less local and more and more global. For example, only in our century have we had
“World” Wars. The present world economy is another example. A recession in one nation these
days affects the world economy creating a crisis not easily corrected by any individual sovereign
nation.
It is not possible for us to anticipate where and when the next “time of stress” will befall
us, nor can we tell what form it will take. Thus, we cannot plan ahead very well, so we must take
one day at a time as Jesus advised us in the Sermon on the Mount, “…Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof” (Matthew 6:34 KJV). During these times of stress, the real character of human
beings surfaces, raw, ugly sores open in society, and the situation becomes dangerous and
violent. Astrologers explain that such times are at least partially caused by “unfortunate” aspects
and alignments of the planets.
For a detailed discussion of the use of the term “last days” in the New Testament see Are
These the Last Days? by Ray C. Stedman.138 The term “the Day of the Lord” appears frequently
in the Bible. The Day of the Lord is an extended period of time, not just a 24-hour day, and is to
be contrasted with the times in which we now live, which we might call “the Day of man,” or
“man’s day.” See Appendix G – The Day of the Lord.
For a chart of Bible prophecy and the end of the age see Appendix A – Chart of the End of
the Age.
The Mysterious Flow of Time
Although time is measured in history in terms of clocks and calendars, it is also
articulated into seasons. These periods of time bend, stretch, and unfold as God periodically
moves the course of history in a different direction. Often, at the last minute, God postpones the
final consummation of events, withdraws impending judgments, or even blesses us unexpectedly
just when it seems to us that we are at a point of no return in our personal lives or when we think
the sky is about to fall on our heads bringing an end to the world as we know it.
God is outside of time. He is an eternally self-existing, self-defining, living Being. Since
he created time as we know it, we can think past, present, and future are eternally present before
his eyes.
God’s actions in eternity can affect past, present, and future (as experienced by mankind),
simultaneously. A certain action of God completed in the past can have on-going and lasting
results. Other activities of God, such as his expressions and grace and mercy towards us all,
continue day after day. Certain events, such as the “appointed” hour we die or the Day of
Judgment, are fixed in the future, predetermined by God. Since God is more concerned with the
quality of time than the quantity or measure of time, we can all expect to experience time
differently in eternity depending on the quality of our lives during our present training on earth.
Since God is outside of time, past, present and future are always present before him.
Consider the case of a sudden airplane disaster where all the passengers and crew have but
moments to cry out to God in a hundred or more sudden, separate, desperate prayers. God has all
of eternity to hear even the shortest of these prayers, to review all the lives and facts and his own
timetables for history. He knows every heart, every motive, all the facts and he has all the time in
the world to take a myriad of data into consideration before answering or denying each one of
those prayers! He can take his time, all the time he needs, and yet not fail to answer every one of
these simultaneous prayers, each with justice, compassion, and certitude. He does not need to
make split-second decisions as we do, he is never caught off guard, and when he does act he can
accomplish the impossible in a flash. An example of this sudden and complete action by God
will be in the coming resurrection of the dead as described in First Corinthians,
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we will be changed. – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Some have attempted to estimate the time duration of a “twinkling of the eye.” It is surely
no more than milliseconds in our time frame.
There are many references in the Bible to “appointments” on God’s calendar indicating
that there is a divine plan for the ages in effect at all times. The age prior to the one in which we
now live carries the title “times of ignorance.” Speaking in Athens the Apostle Paul declared to
the crowd,
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to
repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by
the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the
dead.‖ – Acts 17:30-31 NKJV)
