Revelation 1:4 John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,
Sometimes our view of the world is too small. We lull ourselves into thinking, especially in the current age of the internet, that the world is a small and rather simple place. We imagine solving the world’s problems by giving them simple names and suggesting simple solutions, even when the problems are far more complex than even the best computers can calculate.
Take the issue of global warming, now called climate change. They simplify this problem down to human activity. But bacteria create far more CO2 than human activity. Solar activity has a much greater impact on climate than any burning of a forest. The Earth has been warmer and colder in the past. The sea level has been higher and lower, as whole continents rose and fell. This is very complex!
All this talk about the climate brings humans to the forefront. We are in charge of this place, and at the present moment, we have kicked God and His power out of our public lives, and for many, out of their private lives as well. We want to do this on our own! Sound like a toddler you know?
There is One who isn’t bound by time, who has perspective based on existence not controlled by time as we know it. He is, He was, and He will be. Present, past and future. He stands above time and has given us His perspective on the vital things in life. He has covered the important topics.
You see, God isn’t bound by time. He sees it all, all at the same time. This reality could be a great asset to our understanding of this life, if we bothered to pay attention to it. Our stewardship would greatly improve, not only the outcome, but the ongoing choices that we make. We would be stewards, and not just ac in that role.
This threefold past, present and future is used three times in this chapter of Revelation. (See vv 8 & 19.) The next two chapters speak about specific historic cities with church communities in them. In each message to these churches, there is a past, present and future element.
I hear the God of the Scriptures telling us that He has time under His control. He created time and gave us the most fundamental objects to help us keep track of time. He gave us the Sun, Moon and stars to mark out hours, days, months and years. He is involved in time.
Just as some of these churches seemed to focus on one aspect of time over the other, neglecting the other, so we tend to focus on one aspect of time more than the others. This is what humans do. But God is different.
God is able to stay focused on all of time at once, since He exists in all time at once. This has historically been called eternal. He has always existed, exists right now, and there will never be a time in the future when He doesn’t exist. We are different.
We have a start and a stop to this life. After the physical stop, our life will continue in a different mode, a mode more like God’s mode. Some of the limitations of this time bound life will be removed.
So remember today, that when you try to solve a problem, there are three components to the problem, and a good solution understands and incorporates all three elements of time into it. The best solutions consider the past, work in the present, and plan for the future.
The Arnold Journey 