This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather because the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.
Matthew 16:2 – 3
Bereshit – ברשית
“At First”
I have discussed matters pertaining to time and the calendar on a number of occasions in the past, but lately I have felt a strong pull in the spirit to return to this topic and delve deeper into the matter. You see, time is the creation of God and, not matter how we approach it, time will march to His cadence and serve His purposes.
On poignant example of the discrepancy between the reckoning of Man on time and God’s actual timing is the matter of current events. Many, present company included, believed that the prophecies regarding exposure, justice, turning and revival would have already transpired… and yet here we are. In the midst of this all, I see a form of “buyers remorse” manifesting among those who actually supported the current fraud in the White House – which only serves to highlight the elegance of God’s timing. Although it’s a good illustration, politics and current evens aren’t what I really want to talk about.
You see, our perceptions and reckoning with regards to time – and particularly where we’re at within it – are often flagrantly wrong. When one discovers such, something which wholly contradicts our current perceptions and/ or beliefs, a decision must be made; we must either pursue it in order to discern it’s validity, or we must reject and/ or disregard it in favor of what we already believe. If we choose wisely, then if such information proves to be valid and true, then we must change our mindset lest we brand ourselves hypocrites and liars.
The crux of what I’m saying is this; if we find something to be true, regardless of how contrary it may be to popular opinion, no matter how difficult the process might be, we must follow that truth to every logical conclusion to which it leads. In the realm of theology, very few matters are isolated. In fact, I find them to be like a chain of dominoes… what affects one matter, affects it all. Feel free to revisit my first post for an illustration of my point.
Now, what if I told you that scripture provides us a very specific timeline of events, from beginning to end? Some of the key precepts necessary to understanding this timeline however, have not been abundantly clear in modern theological though. Moreover, of those who are at least vaguely aware of them, many fail to take them seriously or to treat them with proper deference – almost as if there must be another explanation.
A prerequisite for understanding anything in scripture first requires us to divorce our thinking from that of man and embrace the Word of God on the matter as authoritative. I mean, this should be what I call a “duh” , but the fact is that our society largely venerates the theoretical musings of “scientists” who can really only guess at what once was or will be, while castigating what the scriptures have to say on such matters.
Think about that for a moment. Our culture would prefer to take the word of men who can only guess at our true history or future direction, while refusing to consider the record of the one and only architect and witness of time?! Folks, He doesn’t call Himself the “Ancient of Days” for no reason.
Sadly, this rejection of the Biblical view on time and history isn’t limited to the secular world… many who call themselves believers hold to a “scientific” view of the past, even attempting to reconcile them with the tenants of scripture while seeming to overlook the obvious fact that these mindsets stand in diametric opposition to one another. Put plainly – these world views are absolutely irreconcilable. There simply is no means through which they can be brought into agreement without first – implicitly or explicitly – calling God a liar.
Yeah, it’s that serious. Let me show you something:
The first recorded creation in scripture is that of light, and this was 3 days before the lights were created.
Scripture tells us that there was water and that YHVH called the dry land forth from it.
Scripture tells us that YHVH created the living beings, both flora and fauna from the earth and called them forth as fully formed, living beings.
Scripture tells us that YHVH formed man from the adamah, or earth (dirt) and breathed into his nostrils causing the man to become a living being; making man a unique being among all creation.
Scripture teaches us that prior to the fall, death did not exist and that it was through the fall of one man, that death entered into existence.
Scripture shows us that YHVH is the un-created creator, or the un-caused cause. It shows us that things came into being through His will and His word.
The scientific view requires that matter must have existed prior to anything else, light included.
The scientific view insists that there was land, or solid matter, and water sprang forth from this.
The scientific view holds that microorganisms magically formed and gradually evolved over untold ages, resulting in the life forms we see today.
The scientific view holds that man evolved from “lesser” life-forms. It holds that man is nothing all that special and in the worst cases, is perceived as a blight upon creation and should be culled.
The scientific view holds that death pre-existed man and further holds that the “fossil record” bears this out, as those creatures thought to be older than man clearly died.
The scientific view holds that the elements necessary for creation either “just always were”, or provides no explanation on how it came to be.
Honestly, we’re only scratching the surface as the above constitutes little more than a “drive-by” on the issue. We could go in-depth on just about any one point made above and probably extract an entire article from each, but that s not the focus here. I have always held that knowing what is, is immeasurably more valuable than knowing what isn’t… moreover, the fact is that we’re speaking to an issue that’s been debated throughout generations.
You may have noticed that throughout this introductory article, the term “scientific” has frequently been italicized. The reason for this isn’t that I hold all science and/ or scientists in derision, but that on this issue, use of the term is fairly absurd… consider that the discipline of science is that of observation. Feel free to show me a man who observed any of the events in either column. The thing is, I actually do know a guy, and He testifies to the first column, no “if’s”, “and’s” or “but’s” about it.
Additionally, there’s the issue of “calculation”. Many hold that it is through calculation and, like it or not, extrapolation that scientists arrive at their conclusions. The problem here is that this view further assumes universal constants and does not allow for significant changes in universal variables we perceived to be constant. Once again, scripture paints us a very, very different picture.
Then there’s the camp that attempts to reconcile the misguided musing of man, with what the scriptures actually teach. I cannot begin to address the folly here – from gap theory which once again places death in a pre-extant state contrary to scripture, to “millions of years for a day” which completely ignores the simple, yet clear statements of the creation narrative (“there was evening and there was morning, one day” Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). Know that these are but ham-fisted attempts to retain some semblance of theology while actually embracing the popular humanist view of the age.
What is, is and honestly, what we think is so dramatically irrelevant to the truth that it’s almost laughable – yet there are those who would come to fisticuffs over such issues. I return to a primary tenant of mine: “There’s exactly one opinion in the universe that actually matters – and suck it up buttercup, ’cause it ain’t yours.”
This article is just a primer of sorts. We’re going to get into some details ad take a look at some very specific facets of what scripture tells us about time, but I wanted to get started by encouraging you to think about the issue in the understanding that our view of this matters significantly to how our faith plays out. I’ve long held and taught others to question everything. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – it only becomes a problem when we submit the question, but refuse to seek out the answer.
Time is the creation and servant of the Most High God. It always has been and always will be. I firmly believe that fostering a proper understanding of time from a biblical perspective is of paramount importance. As we move forward in this series, I intend to share with you what insights I’ve been given. I hope you find them as meaningful and world-changing as I did and do.
Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. We know from this that it is the last hour.
1 John 2:18
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You