How does the concept of time relate to the Christian faith?
Probably the most important thing to realize is that human perspectives of time are thoroughly inadequate. We tend to measure everything in terms of our very limited experience. Consequently, we disbelieve God.
Psalm 90:2 says, Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
A few verses later, Moses tells us, For a thousand years in your sigh are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
Peter alludes to this truth in his discussion of the “delayed” second coming when he says, With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day (2 Pet. 3:8).
When confronted with such statements, many of us (whether we profess belief or not) continue to operate on the basis of our limited perspective. And that perspective is at odds with the teaching of the Bible. A little careful thought should reveal the problems with our perspective.
When I was a boy, our country celebrated the 100th anniversary of the close of the War Between the States. I remember seeing a photograph in the newspaper of a reunion of men who had fought in the Confederate forces. I could have gone to visit someone who had been in that war. He, in turn, when he was a boy, could have gone to see someone who had fought under George Washington in the Revolution. In other words, I could have spoken to a man who had talked with someone who had talked with George Washington. The point of courese is that it was not that long ago.
Two lifetimes of one hundred years take us back to the birth of our nation. Five such lifetimes take us to the discovery of America; twenty of such lifetimes take us back to the time of Christ.
We are like fruitflies, measuring everything in terms of our own lifespan. But since our lifespans are so short, our perspective is entirely wrong.
God, who inhabits eternity, sees things differently. He knows that our lives are just a mist. We should trust Him. It was not that long ago that Jesus came and it will not be that long before He returns.
Originally published in The Hammer in the summer of 1984 (Vol. 3, No. 2), a publication of Community Christian Ministries. Since then I have checked my memory on the Confederate veteran photo, and it must not have been a current photo. There were five or six men in it, and the last Confederate veteran, John Salling, died in 1958, age 112, when I was five years old. The centennial of the close of the Civil War was in 1965, when I was twelve. But the point remains — I just would have had to visit Mr. Salling a little earlier when I was five.