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"The prophets who prophesied of the blessing that was destined
for you made the most careful investigation, trying to learn for
what possible time the spirit of Christ within them in
predicting the sufferings of Christ intended them and the
glories that were to follow them."
(1 Peter
1:10-11, Goodspeed translation) |
Time, Eternity and
God (plus)
Redemption's Glory
by Ray
Prinzing
"For
thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that
is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah
57:15)
As we
approach this subject we would appropriate those worlds of the
Samaritan woman when she said, "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep." But we trust that the Spirit of Truth
will guide us into a clearer understanding of this tremendous
subject. This is not by any means a complete coverage of this
truth, but we trust that that which is presented will be helpful.
This
is a day when TIME is an important factor in many things, and men
are trying day and night to shorten or hasten the time element in
various things. They chafe under the bondage of time, they
don't want it on their hands, they hate to think of the past or face
the near future. But God has ordained the realm of time for an
outworking of His purpose, and our understanding of it can be very
beneficial to us as we press on into God.
Time
has a beginning and ending, but eternity knows no bounds, it is
limitless. Time has fallen out of eternity after the same
manner as man. And when God's purpose for man in this
arrangement is completed, then we read that "time shall be no more."
There weren't any seasons, years, months, etc. before the heavens
were created, fort hey, too, are limited to time.
We
often speak of eternity past and eternity future - but the truth of
the matter is there is neither past nor future in eternity, it is
without succession of time. Time began with the entrance of
sin into God's universe and time will end when sin ends, and the
Godhead alone is all in all. We read in Genesis 1:1, "In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." In
the beginning of what? Not just the beginning of the earth and
heaven, but it must refer to the beginning of time, or the beginning
of the ages, when God gave the measurements of time, and the things
pertaining to time. When His specific plan and purpose began
its journey to slowly grind on towards its fulfillment. And
Paul refers to this as - "The purpose of the ages which He
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Ephesians 3:11).
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