'Elemental' Gospel: Time

Time

I have often wondered at what point did God create Time. The Bible doesn't explicitly say when it happend, but there is that phrase, "in the beginning," and after God created light, he called the light 'day' and the darkness, 'night.' "And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day."

Time is a very funky thing. It's a relative constant. The hours and seconds tick by on a constant basis, but our perception of that passage is relative. Also, our entire measurement of time is based on earth's position relative to the Sun. If we were on Mars, what we would consider to be a second, minute, hour, or day would be a different length of time than what it is now. The concept of Time is quite hard to study too. How can you study something that is constantly in motion? What exactly is time anyway?

In addition to not being able to study it very well and having a relatively poor understanding of it, mankind has never quite subdued Time. We have seminars, books, self-help guides, planners, calendars, watches, etc but always seem to fall short of subduing it. The Science Fiction genre tells stories of mastering Time - being able to travel light-years in a second and visit distant places, being able to travel through Time itself and visit the past or future. But the reality is we all run out of Time. We have a certain amount of Time 'allotted' to us, and at some point, we all die.

How Jesus related to Time really has my brain in a knot.

        Jesus said, "Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
        At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
        Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
        “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
        "Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

That last statement of Jesus is an astounding claim. Jesus basically said he was currently in existence before Abraham was born. Jesus existed in two different times.....at the same time! Chew on that for a while!

But his first statement there is quite astounding too. Whoever obeys my word will never see death. Jesus offers everlasting life with him to those who believe in him. We no longer have to fear for that time when we run out of Time.

Jesus truly has conquered Time. He exists with us now, and at the same time he exists at mankind's creation. And he has already paid the price for the everlasting life he offers us!

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Mankind has done some incredible things. They have to some degree or another subdued Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. But mankind has not subdued Time let alone understood. But there is a man, Jesus Christ, who has not only subdued those five elements, he has conquered them!