The Infinite God breaks into our space and time in Jesus; God becomes a man and lives a life completely devoted to God, to the point that the command of God would lead our Saviour to a Cross and to die on it. Three days later he takes his life back, according to the will of God the Father and our Saviour lives now and for ever as Fully God and Fully man. The Trinitarian mystery that promises that at the resurrection real human life continuation in the fulfillment of the divine epochs known as the Eschaton (end times). This is really interesting stuff, but I want to start from our mundane understanding of time.
Time is a serious subject and it impacts our lives on a daily basis. When I think about time, I have come to the conclusion that 70 years is really a very short period to be alive. What can be achieved in 70 years. Not a lot but as a general rule of thumb which doesn’t fit everyone’s experience:
- We are born and grow up
- We get a job
- We may get married
- We raise children
- We become grandparents
- We die.
These movements are known as the stages of life and it doesn’t make much of a difference where we live. Although there are worldly sweet spots such as Japan in which you might even make it to a 100 years of age.
In human innovation great strides have been made in measuring what we call time. The world has its time zones and it is now possible to know what time it is anywhere in the world. We can even radio carbon objects to know when they were created. So then in human culture we can say that there is time. In human culture or science I suppose that time has to have a beginning and an end.
What do you think time is?
Do you agree with what I said?
Or have you got your own ideas about time?
Your point of view is also important as it may in someways differ to my ideas of time.
Whatever the case might be, I’m moving on this premise that time has a beginning and an end. Theological time takes this into account but we now need to think in terms of timelessness. To think about a time when there was no time and there will be time with no end. These are important questions and I know that theses have been written on this. I’m not going down that road, but I am going down a road. The road of faith.
The Time of Lent
The time of lent is a good time to remember that God loves you. God is your Creator and if you are from a Faith Tradition such as a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu Sikh, Zoroastrian et al, then you know that life is a gift. From this universal standpoint I can see the image of God in every human being and in John’s Gospel it says:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
This fact fits perfectly with the account of the creation of Man and Woman at the beginning of out time on earth. Although Man and Woman had a good start, we know that a little bit later into the story, evil, corruption, sin, pride, lust also enters into Man. God’s perfect world was not perfect anymore and we all find ourselves with the effects of selfish greed in which Man fell into temptation and wanted to be ‘like God’. Adam was already like God and without sin. The problem was that he wanted to be ‘The Man’. The Man in control of his own destiny without God. From reliance to independence.
This is why God had a plan. Man was his own worst enemy and he became a slave of his own incompetence. Many people value material things, fast cars, a nice partner or partners, money, wealth, power over others. They become worse than rats in the rat race and will walk over anyone to get their way. The truth is that such people are not independent, but they are slaves of sin. They are trapped in these 70 -100 years of life before death takes them. As billionaires they cannot take their billions with them, and I too will one day die and not blog anymore.
We now turn to Karl Barth. Karl Barth wrote his Church Dogmatics and I think there are over one and a half million words. When I looked at the Index of the Church Dogmatics, he had given the faithful preacher tools for preaching at Lent time and the following section will my reflection of what he said about time, so please continue reading and I hope you find it uplifting and challenging. The Bottom line is that God loves His Church. Whether you are in a church or not makes no difference to me as there many Christians who cannot go to a church because it cam be dangerous. Perhaps you are from a part of the world where you could lose your life, or that you could end up in prison for your faith in Jesus:
Karl Barth Chose to quote John 8. 46 – 59. This section is basically about Revelation and the Identity of Jesus. He was accused of being demon possessed and all sorts of things. There certainly is a dimension of theological time here:
46 Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.”
48 The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. 50 But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” 52 The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ 53 Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; 55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” 59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. John 8:46-59
“As Karl Barth says Irenaeus had no problem of seeing Christ in the Old Testament:
One of the most outspoken representatives of recognition of the identity of the Old Testament and the New Testament, i.e., of the revelation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament also, is Irenaeus, who especially in the fourth book of his chief work is never tired of speaking as follows . . . From the beginning there were those who recognised God and prophesied the coming of Christ, and if they did so, it was because they received revelation from the Son Himself (C.o.h. 7, 2) . . . Abraham’s rejoicing (v. 56), so to speak, descended to his posterity, who really saw Christ and believed in Him—but again the rejoicing ascended to Abraham, who once desired tosee the day of Christ (7, I). (I, 2, p. 74 f. The Time of Revelation.)” (Taken from CD, INDEX, page 363, (Irenaeus fragments of Payrus, All photos taken from wikipeadia)
All I am trying at this point is to show you that in the Christian tradition, prophecy in the Old Testament was taken very seriously. When it came to Christ; He is the Centre and the Reason of Revelation. Our Lord Jesus Christ is pre- temporal as Barth would say. Before the creation of the world there was no human time. We did not exist. A lot of decisions were made in God’s Trinitarian infinite timeless time.
Barth Continues to say:
“God is pre—temporal . . . It may sound trivial to say that God was before we were, and before all the presuppositions and conditions of our existence. Yet in its unqualified, literal sense it is profound and decisive. God was in the beginning which precedes all other beginnings. He was in the beginning in which we and all things did not yet exist. He was in the beginning which does not look back on any other beginning presupposed by this beginning itself . . . We are not from eternity, and neither is our world. There was a time when we and the world did not exist. This was the “ pre-time,” the eternity of God In this time God wrote His decrees and books, in which everything is marked down that is to be and occur, including every name and the great and small events of the bearer of every name . . . This pre-time is the pure time of the Father and the Son in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit . . . If we understand eternity as pre-time—and we must understand it in this way too—we have to recognise that eternity itself bears the name of Jesus Christ (v. 58; Eph. I“; I Pet. 11“). Note how in all these and similar passages the eternal presence of God over and in time is established by reference to a pre-time in which time, and with it the existence of man and its renewal, is foreseen and determined. What is to be said about time and its relation to eternity derives from the fact that eternity is also before time. (II, 1, pp. 621—623. The Eternity and Glory of God.) (Taken from CD, IBID, continued)
Reflection
So my friends ‘we have traveled a long way in time(no pun intended’ 😊). As I said at the beginning our Timeless God in the Person of Jesus Christ came into the world, into our space and time to set us free from sin and death. In this 5th Sunday of Lent let us meditate on God’s time that Jesus died on the cross to save you and me and to bring us into fellowship with himself. We do not become gods but we find the joys of heaven touch our circle of life.
If you are not a Christian, the door is always open for you. In prayer by faith ask Our lord to come into your life. It means putting the old life away and taking on the new life by the Holy Spirit and with the Holy Spirits guidance we can grow in the beautiful knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
If you are a Christian, I hope and pray that you reflect on the timelessness of our Trinitarian God and you are brought into a deeper knowledge of what it means to follow Christ.
If you are from another religion, then I can say God loves you as he created you in his own image. I hope and pray that at least even if you do not agree with Christianity that you could be more sympathetic to Christians. That even despite the times Christians do not show the love they ought to do. The golden rule is found in all religions in some form God has called the human race to love one another. War, murder in all its forms is a betrayal of this.
Tags: bible, christianity, faith, God, theology
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