Various dimensions of time (which we usually don’t stop and think about) are known to
us in our daily experience. First, there is subjective time, which is the appearance of time to our
sense of consciousness. Subjective time cannot be measured by a stop watch, but this type of
time varies over wide limits. Sometimes we perceive a sequence of events around us as
happening in a flash. Sometimes time seems to drag on “forever”—while the clock on the wall
may tick off only minutes. Many of us remember how time appeared to move very slowly during
childhood. A single summer day seemed to last forever, and the interval between Christmases
and school vacations was an “eternity.” Later in life, some of us look back and see that decades
have passed almost as if they were but months. Carl Jung noted that in the second half of life it
seemed as if all the events in the past are equidistant from the present. An event that took place
40 years ago may flash back into our consciousness as if it had happened yesterday. In sudden
accidents some have reported that their whole lives flashed before their eyes in great detail, in
what was really only a few seconds or less on the clock. When we dream at night what seems to
be many hours of time is shown by REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep patterns to be only
minutes of elapsed time. When we are bored not only does time drag on with seemingly endless
monotony, the “quality” of our conscious experience is low. On the other hand when life is
exciting and fulfilling, the forward movement of time is more obvious and the “quality” of the
moment is greatly magnified. I have come to believe that subjective time has been greatly
affected (negatively) by the fall of man. Therefore for God’s people heaven will not only be life
that lasts forever, it will also be life of immensely restored quality and enjoyment.
God’s final judgment of all of us will no doubt reveal that what we considered important
and precious was often rubbish in the eyes of God. Conversely, small forgotten moments we
thought nothing of may be elevated and rewarded when God’s records showed we uttered a
helpful word of comfort to someone in need, or gave aid from a right motive.
Biological time has to do with wildlife migratory patterns, animal hibernation,
biorhythms, jet lag, circadian (24-hour) patterns and menstrual cycles—numerous phenomena in
nature that are loosely coupled to dynamical time (that is, to months and seasons). Although such
biological time clocks are mysterious and still not well understood, they are probably closer to
the way God keeps time, if we remember that the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar month,
the cycle of harvest, and the motion of the earth, moon, planets, and stars. Seen in this light,
the scientist’s way of keeping time—with precision quartz clocks and atomic resonators is actually somewhat arbitrary and less “absolute” than God’s heavenly clocks and calendars.
Linear Time and Cyclical Time
The Hebrew view of time also includes the concept that time moves from event to event
in a line—not a straight line, to be sure, but towards a goal. The goal is always the future, yet the
goal intended by God is always to be fulfilled in history. Bible prophecies frequently have both
an immediate and a long-term fulfillment, for example. In the Bible, sins are seen to have
consequences that follow inevitably, moral choices lead to measurable results for good or for ill,
and history proceeds towards the definite outworking purposes of God.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
15″Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are
ferocious wolves.” – Matthew 7:14-15
A consummation of the ages lies ahead, for which all else has been but a shadowy
preparation. In both ancient Greek culture, (among the Pythagoreans, Stoics and Neoplatonists),
and in Hindu culture (especially during the Vedic period, 1500-600 BC), one runs onto the
concept of circular, or cyclical time. This is sometimes symbolized by the Ouroboros, the snake
chasing his own tail. In this view of time, the beginning leads back around to the end, and the
cycle starts all over again. The Babylonians, ancient Chinese, Aztecs, Mayans, and the Norse had
cyclical calendars.
In pantheistic religious systems of thought the universe is often depicted as going through
great long epochs of rebirth, growth, decay, and destruction. The Hindu cycles, for example,
range from 360 human years, to 300 trillion years (which is the lifetime of the gods before their
rebirth). Reincarnation, which has no basis in the Bible at all (see Hebrews 9:27), springs from
such an Eastern pantheistic point of view. Augustine was among the first to insist on linear time
as opposed to cyclical, since he observed that many important events in the Bible clearly
happened one time only. Since clocks were not well-developed until the 14th Century, it was
perhaps easier for the ancients to imagine events in history as recurring since the four seasons
and patterns of the stars in the heavens were cyclical.
The Bible depicts the human race as having a definite clear beginning, a history that has
been accurately recorded by God, and an approaching day of judgment when all men will be
evaluated justly by their Creator. The fact that “books are to be opened” on judgment day means
God keeps track of detail (by means of his “recording angels”)—even if we do not ourselves
keep good record books. God even pays attention to the numbering of the hairs on our heads. He
will see to it that truth and justice ultimately prevail no matter how grim things seem to us at the
moment (1 Corinthians. 4:5). A good example of the work of a recording angel is to be found in
Ezekiel 9:2ff.
