Introduction to Time
This essay touches briefly on various aspects and dimensions of time. To a scientist, time
is a relatively simple matter, but when one gets into the Bible time has qualitative and subjective
aspects. There is much more to consider. The Bible contrasts time and eternity as well. God is
outside of time. He is, “…the high and lofty one, who inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15).
Time as we know it was created by God–it is part of the creation. However the created
universe consists of a physical, material world and a spiritual realm. The latter is called in the
New Testament “the heavenly places.” In the heavenlies time has quite different properties than
we usually think about in regard to the physical, material world. Man was created to live in both
worlds (the material and the spiritual) at the same “time” and a study of time and eternity (a
much neglected subject) carries a number of surprises. The physical universe has been drastically
affected by the fall of Lucifer and his angels, and by the fall of man. This means we now live in a
damaged, deteriorating “old creation.” Time itself has been altered by the fall.
Is The Age of the Universe Indeterminate?
Virtually all modern geology and astronomy textbooks today take it for granted that the
solar system is at least four or five billion years old, and it is now assumed such great ages are
gospel truth. Anthropologists take it for granted that man is at least several millions of years old.
But only in the past 200 years or so has Western science come to believe in a very old universe
as opposed to a recent creation. The assumption of a very old universe has become such an
ingrained paradigm that jokes are routinely made in classrooms and textbooks about Archbishop
Usher‘s alleged assignment of the date, day, and hour of creation in 4004 BC.
The Bible actually opens with the statement “In the beginning God…” without making
any reference to date and time. In both Hebrew and Greek, the idea of “the beginning” means the
“indefinite distant past.” This is not to suggest that man’s early history fades into obscure mists of
mythology as we go backwards in time, but that God has not revealed all that we would like to
know about the exact “time” of the creation of all things.
Like Genesis, the Gospel of John opens with the words, “In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It is declared in Scripture that God always
was, always will be, and is unchanging—“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”
(Hebrews 12:8). The “beginning” referred to in John’s gospel is actually an earlier point in time
than the “beginning” of Genesis One. John says “the Word was with God” prior to the creation of
the universe, and in fact all things were brought into being through the Word.
As far as archaeology and recorded history are concerned human civilizations appear to
be only of the order of thousands, not millions, of years old. The Bible is an exceptionally
accurate document, and there is no ancient document for which we have better manuscript
authority (or evidence), or into which more man-years of intense scholarship have been invested
in recovering the original text. The Old Testament genealogies have very few gaps in them (if
any at all!) and are actually quite complete so that one can estimate the time of Adam, the first
man, as occurring only a few thousand years before Christ.
The internal structure of the Bible makes it difficult to place the creation of Adam more
than a few thousands of years in the past. Sadly, for many secular scientists this fact is
considered sufficient reason for them to ignore the Bible altogether as a relevant source of
reliable information on any subject. However, a biblical world-view must in the long run be
consistent with scientific data—properly interpreted. The God of the Bible is the God of truth
and in the end truth from all possible sources must harmonize.
It may be, however, that the actual age of the universe is indeterminate. I believe this to
be the case because God has apparently hidden from us the key evidence we need to unravel the
past back to the time of creation. Twice the Bible makes important statements (consistent with
each other) that suggest the fundamental nature of time, and many aspects of the actual course of
history, presently escape our understanding to a large degree. Solomon says,
I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He
has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from
beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good
while they live.- Ecclesiastes 3:10-11
Just as we cannot figure out God’s ways and understand precisely how he works,
(Romans 11:33), so also we may not notice events that are actually crucial to his plans and
programs. And we may mislabel other events in history as important when actually they turn out
to be unimportant in the long run. Most of Israel totally missed the many prophetic fulfillments
that took place during the First Advent of their Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), for instance. Only
afterwards did his followers figure out what actually had been happening in God’s plan as
revealed in the Old Testament.
Our knowledge of what actually happened in the past is inadequate; the details of what
was important and what was not are obscured in the mists of time. It is most difficult for
historians to reconstruct what actually happened in the past. (History books are always being
rewritten). Likewise, we cannot predict what events will unfold tomorrow with any real
certainty, nor set a date for the return of Christ. Yet we are restlessly preoccupied with time and
frustrated when we cannot unravel its secrets with all the precision a modern atomic clock can
give us.
When Jesus left his disciples forty days after his resurrection, ascending into the cloud,
(that is, through the space-time gateway of the Shekinah glory cloud into the heavenly places)
from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, his disciples were anxious for word of his return. Jesus
told them,
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own
authority. (Acts 1:7– compare with Matthew 24:36).
This scripture clearly implies that all attempts to set dates for the next World War and the
second coming of Jesus are wasted effort. The ages past are also difficult for us to unravel and
must remain full of mystery. The tapestry of the past has many folds, and we easily lose track of
most of them in our feeble attempts to trace history backwards.
Modern secular science is built on the assumption that the laws of physics have never
changed. Therefore we can make measurements say for 50 or 100 years and derive theories,
which can then be extrapolated backwards in time to the beginning of all things. This approach
to science is known as “uniformitarianism” about which we are specifically warned in the New
Testament in the Apostle Peter’s remark about the world-wide flood in the days of Noah (2 Peter
3:3-12).
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years are like a day. – 2 Peter 3:8
Whether we like it that way or not, arguments about the age of the universe may be
irreconcilable. There is evidence both for a recent creation, and there is also evidence for an
ancient universe. It is our stereotypical thinking about the nature of time that causes us the
problem. We view time as an absolute, and as a single dimension measured by a fixed master
clock. In reality time is multidimensional and we are trapped in one-dimensional linear time
(because of the fall). We are unable to see the broader perspective of eternity. Our vision is too
narrow and needs some stretching.
