|
"By faith we understand that the ages have been prepared (adjusted) by a saying (utterance) of God" (Hebrews 11.3, my translation).
We understand, BY FAITH, and that faith is a gift of God, which always takes for granted, without proof, that a divine revelation has been received. That revelation becomes the foundation upon which belief or action is grounded. In Genesis 12.1, we read, "The LORD said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country", and by faith Abraham went, simply obeying God.
He went by FAITH -- a faith that resulted in obedient action based upon a revelation from the LORD: "THE LORD SAID.."! If God hadn't spoken Abraham would not have known the TIME to go, the PLACE, nor the reason to go. Had Abraham decided to "have faith", he would only have had what people think is faith: a blatant, self-gratifying presumption that they can force God's time-table by "naming it and claiming it" or some other ritualistic product of natural man's benighted mind.
While a regular attendant at Sunday School in my childhood and youth I recall often hearing my elders discuss certain ventures made into the missionary field by some of our young converts. It wasn't unusual for a young just-born-again man or woman to decide the time had come for him or her to "do something for God" and "step out on faith". Armed with only a Bible and exuding zeal from every pore -- away the errant one would go, sans money, sans plan, and sans support of any kind -- with just what he thought was faith. After a week or two, or perhaps a whole month, the returning "failure" would creep into church and tearfully witness that his faith wasn't good or deep or something enough; or that he failed to trust God for this, that or the other, and so on into the dreary testimonial night.
FAITH is a gift -- freely given, -- without cost, by God to whomever and whenever HE decides to give it. One can't HAVE faith unless it's given -- and that gift of faith is always given for a purpose -- not just to please the receiver, but to forward the purpose of God Almighty's plan of the ages.
When we read, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for" in Hebrews 11.1, we find that the English word "substance" is translated from a Greek word meaning, "a substructure, that which has foundation or is firm, hence that which has actual existence." (See "upostasis", page 644d, Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament). So, I say, faith is the reality of our hope, and in order for that faith to be reality, God takes action and reveals His will -- in HIS time, not according to our whim or whimper. Zeal for the Gospel, or love for God, and great desire to proclaim freedom to the captives of sin and churchdom often convince one that he's been "called" or "chosen", and this conviction is commonly mistaken for faith.
Faith can't be generated, prayed down, sung up, shouted in, or in any other way created by man. Probably the most common result of so much hyperactivity in search for faith is discouragement and doubt; "doers" often become "don'ters", not realizing that all they've really done is mistake the time -- GOD'S time -- and jumped the gun.
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven...for there is a time there for every purpose and work" (Ecclesiastes 3.1,17).
In the scripture cited in the beginning of this discourse we see that the ages have been framed, adjusted, and fully equipped by an utterance of God. By faith we understand that time has been made thoroughly fit and fully planned by God, planned even to the numbering of the hairs of our head -- adequately arranged by Him to work out a purpose. TIME IS A SERVANT TO THE PURPOSE OF OUR CREATOR-SAVIOR GOD!!
With apologies to Mr. Shakespeare and the Prince of Denmark, the times are NOT out of joint.
It is absolutely essential that we understand that God DOES have a purpose which is being worked out through TIME. I must impress on all who read this that TIME IS GOD'S TIME; ALL TIMES AND INSTANCES OF TIME ARE HIS WITH WHICH HE WORKS HIS WILL. So many people, even those who profess Christ, believe that the events of history are just a helter-skelter succession of unrelated events piling up in confusion and devilish disarray. A visiting witness for Jehovah once asked me, "Have you ever considered what a wonderful world this would be had Judas lost his way, missed the last supper, and Jesus not been crucified?" I told her a world in which God allowed His plans to go astray was too horrible to contemplate. She hasn't been back.
God's purpose is beautifully synchronized and He is executing His plan exactly on schedule; every age and smallest part of an age is exactly fitted for its part in the Master Plan. "Known from the ages to God are all His works" (Acts 15.18, Young's Literal Translation). He is the first and the last, Alpha and Omega and ALL THE DISTANCE IN BETWEEN. He is greater than time because He is the creator of time and always in perfect control of its progress.
God's plan of the ages was made in the anointed Jesus, (see Ephesians 3.11) and that plan contains the whole outworking and interplay of good and evil. The end is secure in Christ's overcoming victory redounding to God's praise and glory.
For now let us turn to our own participation in His plan, and realize that all the "times" of our life have been ordered by God with a definite and distinct purpose in view. The scriptures say of David, "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel...with all his reign and his might, AND THE TIMES THAT WENT OVER HIM..." (1 Chronicles 29.29-30). It's marvelous to consider that every fragment of the "times that go over us" is in His absolute control. The testings, of whatever intensity, the glory of each blessing, are all wonderfully entwined to fulfill His plan for us, and bring us into our predestined place in Him.
It is certain that man cannot, of himself, fit his life into God's time-table, nor can man through prayer, fasting, or any other act fit God into a time-table of man's making. "Lord, do this right now", man prays, and if this prayer is in harmony with God's plan what is prayed for takes place immediately. But if God's plan is otherwise man must possess his being in patience, and wait, saying the Son's prayer, "Not my will but thine be done". I repeat: although God's purpose is being wrought through the agency of time, His plan is not subject to time; time has been fitted for this outworking, because time is a servant to God's purpose.
GOD'S PURPOSE ANTEDATES TIME. His perfect plan was created in Christ Jesus before time began and then arranged for the ages of time to complete that plan. For that reason, if for no other, His sovereign purpose is not in bondage to any of man's time schedule, whether a day or a thousand, thousand years. but all time must serve God in bringing His mighty scheme to completion. Moreover, God's grace, whereby His purpose is being accomplished also antedates time: "Before time began He planned to give us in Christ the GRACE to achieve this purpose..." (2 Timothy 1.9, Phillips' Translation).
Since more than sufficient grace was freely given before time began, God's grace is not bound by time, either. Grace takes all the time it desires for its manifestation; it isn't subject to any limitation at all. It is not unusual in today's churchdom-cum-chaos to hear the mystic mavins of religious tradition speak of this "age of grace", as if all other ages are devoid of grace. Utterly absurd! No one can limit the grace of God to ANY age!
Grace is abundantly evident in all ages.
Isn't it obvious that God can administer grace to man whenever He chooses? Man is saved by grace, not self-works, and that grace is a gift of God. It is His grace; time, place or other circumstances have no control over this bestowing of grace by its creator. Time has no claim whatever on grace because time is a servant to that grace, revealing by degrees, here a little, there a little, the wondrous glory of God's everlasting love and mercy.
Should God so arrange this hour to be the time when He grants you consciousness of grace or faith, simply worship and praise Him. If you have loved ones who are not yet aware of these great gifts, don't despair but read this stupendous promise: "In Christ shall ALL be made alive. But every man in his own order" (1 Corinthians 15.22,23). Our Lord has adjusted the ages so that there is an appointed time for His grace to work in EVERY LIFE.
I don't know HIS times or seasons, so I warn every man to turn to God NOW. We shall reap what we sow, and to continue to sow to the flesh only brings a harvest of suffering and sorrow. I thank God for every heart that is open to receive His grace now, but for those who seemingly are hardened and resisting His love, I say grace is not lost. There is an acceptable time of the Lord when grace shall reach every hardened heart. Grace is already at work through the discipline, the trials, and purifying fires of living apart from Him, preparing the sufferers for that great day when they shall bow and worship Him as Lord and Saviour.
We have seen that God's purpose antedates time, and that grace is given time for its accomplishment. Now we find that there is a wisdom that also antedates time. "But we speak God's wisdom in the form of a mystery long hidden but now revealed and understandable, that wisdom which has been kept secret which God foreordained BEFORE THE AGES with a view to our glory" (1 Corinthians 2.7, Wuest's Expanded New Testament). The Amplified Bible says "...that wisdom which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification (that is, to lift us into the glory of His presence)".
By its very nature that divinely imparted wisdom is not a product of time. Such wisdom is not gained through the unfolding of time's experience, but is that wisdom which antedates time, and when received enables us to use time in relationship to purpose. I read somewhere that WISDOM is the KNOW-HOW which is joined to ability, GRACE, so that PURPOSE is accomplished. God can impart wisdom, in an instant, that transcends our years, our times, our experience and any knowledge gained through those disciplines.
How, then, shall we receive such a wonderful gift -- the wisdom of God? "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" (James 1.5-6, NIV).
The Holy Spirit writes through Paul that in Christ "...are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2.3, NIV).
So we ask in faith, recognizing that this wisdom is in Christ and that He lives in us by HIS SPIRIT, thereby imparting wisdom according to our need as we abide in harmony with the Spirit. The more He increases in us, causing us to decrease, the greater is our union with Him -- the ALMIGHTY. Then greater is the flow of His life through us in all its manifestations: "But of Him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1.30, parenthesis mine).
So God's purpose has grace for its outworking and wisdom to direct it -- and THEN WE FIND GOD HAS PROMISED LIFE which also antedates His servant TIME. Read the clarion proclamation in Titus 1.2-3, "...in hope of life age-abiding; which God, who cannot lie, promised before age-during (age abiding) times, but hath manifested in its fitting seasons..." (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible).
Age-abiding life (Greek: zoe aeonian ) is life that abides throughout all time, because it's not subject to time: it is the life of God which antedates time. The ringing revelation in 1 Corinthians 15.28 that God shall be all in all (not just a little bit in a few) is a precept denied by churlish churchanity and condemned in almost every pulpit by the world's holiness-hucksters. Most professing quasi-christians don't even understand what man really needs, which is A LIFE DESTINED TO ABIDE THE PASSING OF TIME, so that no one will miss the processes of the ages and ages to come. And that divine LIFE has been promised by the Creator before time began and is now made manifest through our Lord and Saviour "who hath abolished death, and hath brought life (Greek: zoe ) and immortality (Greek: aphtharsian = incorruptibility) to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1.10).
What people call "eternity" is secure in the hands of our Father -- so there is no need to concern ourselves with it. But, do we have life which can last as long as time lasts?
There is life which goes beyond "bios", the physical life of the flesh. There is life which goes beyond "psuche", the Greek word for soulish life. The Greek word for divine, age-abiding life is "zoe", and this life antedates time, abides all through time and will abound after the ages have run their course and the whole returned unto God, there to find its consummation -- IN HIM.
"He that hath the Son hath life (Greek = zoe )". (1 John 5.12) That's the life of which John wrote -- not "bios" or "psuche" -- but " ZOE " -- divine life.
Jesus Christ IS our life, living in our hearts by faith, and by His Spirit we are being passed through the realm of death into HIS FULL LIFE. "I am come that they might have life, ( zoe ) and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10.10). The NIV translation reads "...and have it to the full". Yes, full life, not limited by years, curtailed by illness, belabored by cares and weakness; a life not impeded by circumscribed limits of natural mind, soul and body -- but ABSOLUTE LIFE -- DIVINE LIFE OF GOD.
When we speak of something being before time, we acknowledge what should be plain to all, that is: that time has a beginning. Doubtless, the beginnings of time or times is concurrent with Genesis 1.1, "In the beginnings...". The Hebrew word for "beginning" is in its plural form, as is its counterpart in Hebrews 1.10, citing Psalm 102.25: "And: Thou, LORD, in the beginning(s) (Greek word " arkas ", plural, in both LXX and the Greek New Testament) hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands."
This was the "beginnings" of many things: sin's ingression into the universe and innumerable other projections of God's purpose. Time, at least as we have come to know it, certainly has a place in these beginnings, BUT, I say again, there are things which are and were before time; things which have an eternal quality, which abide through the passing of time and shall come forth victorious when time shall cease to be.
It's also obvious that there are many ages yet to come, for the Holy Spirit uses Paul to write: "...and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places , in Christ Jesus, in order that in the AGES TO COME He might show the unsurpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2.6-7,NASB, my capitals and emphasis). The word "ages" is a correctly translated plural noun.
An age has an end as revealed in the statements, "neither in this age nor in the [one] coming, (Matthew 12.32, Nestle's Greek New Testament); "The harvest is the completion of the age" (Matthew 13.39, Greek New Testament. Rotherham's Emphasized Bible says, "conclusion of an age"), and "...upon whom the end of the ages (plural!) have come" (1 Corinthians 10.11).
It's logical: If ages are plural, then one should end (or at least begin to end) before the next one starts. Further, if one age is equal to eternity, the plurality of ages is impossible. Yet we often hear from the most worshipful woe-weavers the senseless phrases, "the endless age of eternity", or "eternally, forever and ever time without end", et cetera ad nauseam. So, if one age is endless, there is no plurality of ages; and, if there is an end to an age, then that age doesn't last "forever", or for "eternity" -- (an extremely shaky contradiction in descriptive terms).
There is a common, school-boy, "law of opposites" which offers a good point for consideration about our often abused conception of "time" and "eternity": We need no proof of "under" when we give voice to our conception of "over", or "above"-"below". So, also, when we write or utter the word "TIME" we definitely imply that it has an opposite -- "ETERNITY". In "eternity" time exists not at all -- for those two are opposites.
There can't, in the nature of the case, be any word in Scripture that means "endless time". Time is always connected with its cognate thought of "temporal" and "temporary"; "TIME" is always a relative term whereas "eternity", in any accurate sense, is always absolute. Some of our translations of the Bible may have words which are written as "everlasting", or "eternal", in the sense of time, but there is no such conception in the Sacred Scriptures.
Briefly, eternity is the opposite of time. Eternity signifies a new state of things, a different condition, it denotes timelessness, i.e. the absolute absence of time.
Much confusion concerning God's plan of the ages will be eliminated when we understand that the words given in our beloved King James New Testament "forever", "eternal", "everlasting", are all translated from the Greek word " aeon ", meaning "age". We read in Hebrews 9.26, "But now once in the end of the world (age) hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" -- but we know that this wasn't the "end of the world" but the end of an "age" -- for our world has continued nearly 2000 years since that great sacrifice.
We do understand that the "end of the age" cited was the end of a particular time-period which encompassed a specific order of God's dealings with His creation, then a transition into a new age in which He dealt with that creation in a new way or order. In this way we pass from age to age, each successive age fulfilling God's purpose -- the purpose for which it was ordained, and then passing away so that a new age may begin.
God alone is the ETERNAL CENTER from which all time proceeds. God alone is the one unto whom ALL THINGS return to find their consummation.
God is the eternal I AM. There is no such thing as time succession with the I AM -- because HE IS -- and He deals with our past and future as equally as our present, because all are alike to Him. Our finite mind may say, "He was" or "He is" or "He will be" -- but, truly, only "HE IS " expresses Him in the context of His eternity. For us there is a past and a future, a point of beginning and an end because we are subject to the process of time; but HE who is greater and the creator of all time isn't subject to its limiting encumbrance; His sovereign operations aren't restricted to TIME. I think the following citation is well worth reading and meditation.
"...not in our fashion does He look forward to what is future, not at what is present, nor back upon what is past; but in a manner quite different and far and profoundly remote from our way of thinking. For He does not pass from this to that by transition of thought, but beholds all things with absolute unchangeableness; so that those things which emerge in time, the future, indeed are not yet, and the present are now, and the past no longer are: but all of these are by Him comprehended in His stable and eternal presence. Neither does He see in one fashion by the eye, in another by the mind, for He is not composed of mind and body; nor does His present knowledge differ from that which it ever shall be, for those variations of time, past, present, and future, though they alter our knowledge, do not affect His. "With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1.17). Neither is there any growth from thought to thought in the conceptions of Him in whose spiritual vision all things which
He knows are at once embraced". ("The City of God", chapter 21 of Book XI. Augustine of Hippo).
Every instant in our lives has been predestined by Him. The more we yield to the working of God's Holy Spirit, the more we harmonize with His purpose, and in so doing, the more grace we receive in order to perceive that purpose's accomplishment in our lives. By yielding to His will we are released from the turbulence of doubt and fear so prevalent in the soulish life of ignorance -- ignorance of our place in His perfect scheme -- and we receive even more increases in the gift of His life. Thus we abide the processing through the age unto the ages.
Though Scripture witnesses to us of many different ages, it also points to an age that is the climax of all ages. "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1.8, citing Psalm 45.6). The English words "forever and ever" are translations of the Greek " eis ton aeon aeonos " which means "to (or 'into') the age of the ages". The LXX and the best Greek texts so record them. This grammatical construction is quite common in the Old Testament: a noun is repeated in the genitive plural in order to express a superlative or culmination. Two examples of this use besides the one above cited are, "heaven of heavens", (Deuteronomy 10.14 and Psalm 115.16) and, "the song of songs", (Song of Solomon 1.1).
Further, in the Tabernacle structure of the Old Testament, we read of the court, the sanctuary, or holy place, then the holiest of all: the Holy of Holies. That was the most holy place where the presence of God abode, into which the high priest, and he only, went but once a year -- and always with sacrificial blood to hide the sins of the people.
Thus, all through our beloved Bible, though obscured by many translators, we have this phrase, "to the age of the ages". This points to that age which shall be the greatest of all ages -- just as the song of songs which is Solomon's names it the greatest of "thousand and five" attributed to him. (See Kings 4.32.) The "age of the ages" is that grand and glorious climax to His purpose and process of the ages, wherein He says, "Behold, I make ALL things new". It should be readily apparent that there is nothing in the universe that shall not be made new. (I know the word-winders of this present age of muddle-speak teach that "all" doesn't mean "all", but that's what one expects from a gaggle of gospeliers who believe God can't or won't do what He says He'll do, while they lead their flocks into greater fear and confusion. They have (present tense) their reward.)
1 Corinthians 15.25-26, NIV says, "For He (Christ) must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death!!" -- When the last enemy has been destroyed no more enemies remain. Verse 28 of the cited chapter says: "then God shall be all in all -- " or "all things in all".
That's marvelous! "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1.5) -- so when He is all in all in you and me -- there will be no darkness in us; we'll be wholly light. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" (John 1.4-5). He is that true light "which lights every man that comes into the world" (verse 9) -- and when every man has been fully illuminated, all darkness is gone. The whole is restored to God's design and desire.
"Him we preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing every one and instructing every one in all wisdom, (in comprehensive insights into the ways and purposes of God), that we may present EVERY PERSON mature -- full grown, fully initiated, complete and perfect -- in Christ, the Anointed One" (Colossians 1.28, Amplified).
Returning to our thesis -- Time is a servant, not a master, though in our state of imperfection we seem to be bound by time. Consider the promise of the statement in Exodus 2.23, "And it came to pass in the process of time...". Time is transitory; time doesn't last, so everything related to time's processing simply COMES TO PASS, -- as we might say with our finite mind -- out of the future, into the present, and on into the past. Such are the workings of time. God fitted the ages for their purpose, and each fragment of time must obey His command. Once that allotted time has been run and its process complete, it makes way for the next thing to come and be fulfilled.
We may feel our time of processing long and intense, but God sustains us in this way of learning obedience, and we can happily say with David, "My times are in Thy hand" (Psalm 31.15).
It is good to know that our "times" are where they are -- secure in the hands of He who planned it all. He begins and ends every situation and circumstance exactly on schedule, for all time is in His control, and every nano-second is at His disposal and disposed to our ultimate salvation.
"I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time (appointed) for every matter and purpose and for every work" (Ecclesiastes 3.17, Amplified Bible).
TIME IS BUT A SERVANT!! That which was given us in Christ before time began will abide time's passing, and bring us into the glorious consummation where we will be satisfied with the fullness of God and redound to His glory.
Read Ephesians 1.45, and rejoice: "For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted (Greek = placed as sons) as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with HIS pleasure and will" (NIV, emphasis and parenthesis mine).
Beloved -- our election preceded the creation of the world -- and thus preceded the interjection of sin.
Sin cannot mar our escutcheon -- the God who loves us and subjected us to vanity (see Romans 8.20) so that we may wax strong and wise enough in spirit to be placed as sons and receive our full inheritance -- HIMSELF , has our future as well as our present secure in His omnipotent hands.
Keep yourselves from idols.
| Home | Reading Room | About | Links | Legal |
|
 |
|
|
Copyright© 2006-2008 Keystone Christian |
Powered by Webnet 77 |