Casting Crowns

Revelation 4: 1-11 (NLT)

Then as I looked, I saw a door standing open in heaven, and the same voice I had heard before spoke to me like a trumpet blast. The voice said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” And instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven and someone sitting on it. The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones—like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow. Twenty-four thrones surrounded him, and twenty-four elders sat on them. They were all clothed in white and had gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold Spirit of God. In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal.

In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion; the second was like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty
the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”

Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say,

“You are worthy, O Lord our God,
to receive glory and honor and power
For you created all things,
and they exist because you created what you pleased.”

I can’t remember her name.

I can’t remember the context.

But as we were in a group of people discussing the above passage in Revelation, she suddenly blurted out, “Oh! That’s where Casting Crowns [the band] gets its name! I thought it was just a random band name.”

The phrase itself is not found in our Bibles but appears as “…cast their crowns before the throne…” in the NKJV, NASB, ESV, etc. though other translations have “place their crowns;” “lay their crowns;” and even “throw their crowns.”

I would expect that in the splendor of heaven, being at last in the presence of God is the reward, and whatever else was part of the journey that gets us there, those acts of service pale in comparison to the time we confessed our sin and asked God to place us under the covering provided by Jesus on the cross.

…The line “casting crowns” however is not original to the band by the same name, but was taken — appropriately enough, if you look back to the text above — from the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy.

Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Some hymnbooks may have,

casting crowns before thy throne around the glassy sea

[Rabbit trail #1 – Note that this verse is omitted entirely in the initial Google results you see. Never trust Google as an information source. It’s a search engine, and a terrible one at that.]

[Rabbit trail #2 – Sometimes the phrase Holy, Holy, Holy is mentioned in discussions of the role that time has in eternity; the idea that we will live without time; to which the phrase, with its repetition and rhythm is used to counter that concept. I would dismiss that argument entirely, because in scripture when something is repeated three times it’s done for emphasis. I would argue that in John’s vision, he perhaps heard a continuous other-worldly singing of “Holy” and expressed that in the manner available to him in his day, and a form that is consistent with all the other word repetitions in scripture.]

We now return to our regular program.

So how did get here today?

I was posting something this morning on Facebook. I’ve included it below, removing the local references…

Last night our town held its annual civic awards ceremony and some well-deserving people were recognized for their contribution to local non-profit organizations.

Each year however, I can’t help but think of the people who serve faithfully through the churches and parachurch organizations which make up what we call our local Christian Network. I wrote about them originally in our April 9th newsletter, not by name of course, because these people serve quietly and in humility. I wrote

Think of this in terms of some of the individual organizations that make a difference in our corner of the world… But you can also think of it in terms of the volunteer community as a whole, because some of the same people who you see in one context are often back at it the very next day, helping out another organization.”

Their work is largely unrecognized by our municipal governments and perhaps even misunderstood. Ruth told me early this morning that during the winter, our Mayor said that the people who were serving the people in the homeless community encampment are “part of the problem.” (She’s thinking of getting a t-shirt that proclaims that!)

There is however an awards ceremony coming up to recognize those people. It will happen in a time and space beyond the present. And knowing what I know about them and about the foretelling of this event, those people will then take their awards and lay them at the feet of Him for whom they willingly served.

Matthew 6:1-4 NIV

[Jesus:] “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

 

 

The Window of Time We’re Given

We’re back for a third time with Ben Foley who is the International President of Serve Now. (Motto, “Serve Now, Procrastinate Later.”) He is the author of several editions of their “The Basics” series (discipleship guides), and writes at Ben Foley: Whispers of God, Echoes of Eternity (aka BenFoley.com). This is a very comprehensive article on the subject of time and its various nuances of meaning in scripture. I encourage you to click the link in the title which follows and share it with your friends.

Our Relationship with Time

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens –Ecclesiastes 3:1

I don’t know about you, but one of the things I wrestle with is the reality and limitation of time. I never feel like I have “enough time” to do all that needs to be done or that I would like to do. I often feel “behind” in the things that need to be accomplished. Often, I am stressed about the seeming lack of time. I even feel guilty and restless when I take a time “off” or have “down time” as it seems like a “waste of time.” Don’t even get me started on how restless I am at social gatherings!

I also find myself depressed sometimes with how short life seems and how quickly it goes by at this stage of life. Ever since my closest friend at the time died at 18 years old, I have lived with an awareness that none of us know how much time we have left on earth, and I have a constant sense of time running out and eternity bearing down. Admittedly, this is not always healthy. It has led to high productivity, but sometimes at the expense of being able to slow down, rest, and enjoy life.

One of the things I got to see recently was an actual ancient sundial while I was in Madagascar. The sundial is how people knew what “time” it was before watches, clocks, or phones. But the most interesting thing about how people used to view time under this method is that it wasn’t about telling exact time but what time it was for specific activities. All around the sundial tower were key activities appropriate to engage in at that particular hour. When the sun would hit those “hours,” then you knew not simply what time it was but what you were supposed to do at that time.

In the Greek language, there are two different words for time. The first is “Chronos,” which is how we think or use time in today’s modern world. For example, “Chronos” is in the word chronological. Chronological is about the order and sequence of time. The emphasis is on the amount of time in a quantity and measured sense. We talk about “being on time,” “keeping time,” or “how much time we have.”

But the other Greek word for time is “Kairos.” Kairo’s time places the emphasis more on the suitable activity being done within that window of time. It’s not so focused on keeping time as engaging in the proper activity within that window of time.

Both kinds of time have their place. We should be mindful of our time and not waste it (Chronos), but we should also be careful to engage in the proper activity within the right time (Kairos). But at least for me, coming from living in the Western world, I need a better relationship with Kairos time and not get so depressed or stressed about Chronos time.

Instead of focusing on the “lack of time,” the focus can be on taking advantage of the window of time, however long or short, given the opportunity at hand. This shifts the focus from quantity to quality and doing the right things at the right time. After all, it’s not the amount of work we do or the time it takes that always makes the most significant difference. Think of a farmer. They can work twice as hard and much, but if they do the wrong thing in the wrong season, it will be in vain. What matters more is doing the right thing in the right season.

Here are some versus on time to reflect on further as we think about our relationship with time as leaders:

• Ecclesiastes 3:1: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

We could also say this negatively: there is an improper time and season for things.

• Colossians 4:5: Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

In Latin, there is an expression “Carpe Diem,” which means “seize the day” or window of opportunity while it is open and before it is lost.

• Psalm 90:12: Teach us to number our days—that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Number could also be “order.” We need to organize our lives appropriately and wisely realizing our lives on earth are numbered.

• 1 Chronicles 12:32: …from Issachar; men who understood the times—and knew what Israel should do.

Wisdom is directly tied to discerning “the times” or the seasons. Wisdom is knowing what to do, how, and when to do it.

• Ephesians 5:15-17: Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Another way of saying “making the most of your time” is “redeeming the time.” The idea here is more on using time well for its proper purpose at that particular time, situation, or season.

The point is, Scripture seems to speak of time more in a sundial approach versus our modern way of thinking of time. I often think of Enoch in Genesis chapter five. In that chapter, we are informed that Enoch lived about one-third the length of others (365 years), who lived 800-900 years. He didn’t have as much “time” as the others, but he experienced something the others didn’t with the time he did have. It is said that he “walked with God and was no more because God took him” (Genesis 5:24). 365 is also the complete number of days in a year, meaning that Enoch lived a whole life, even if a less years than the others.

Perhaps our relationship with time should be less about stressing over never having enough time and more about making good use of the window of time we do have by engaging in the proper activity for each situation, season, and moment. That window of time and appropriate focus will continually change. However, it’s less about “time running out” as it is about what adjustments are needed to make the most of each window of time while that opportunity exists.

Setting Clocks in Heaven

“They are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.” (Revelation 7:15)

Overnight heading into this morning, most of us here in North America changed our clocks from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. In your part of the world you might do something similar and call it changing from Summer Time to Standard Time. And in the southern hemisphere you’re doing the opposite as summer is just beginning.

Rewinding time back an hour is a rather powerful thing. Have you ever wished you could have a “re-do” on something that took place and you could turn the clock back an hour, a day, a week or even a year? That’s a subject for a different devotional.

Today we want to consider the idea that time — linear time — exists for us but probably does not exist in eternity, rght?

Not so fast. In his landmark book Heaven, writer Randy Alcorn suggests that much of what we anticipate concerning our afterlife should be thought of in terms of new earth, not an “up there in the sky” type of heaven we were taught as children. In a 2010 article reflecting on issues of both time and space, he writes:

Scripture says, “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). Does this mean there will be no time in Heaven?

The natural understanding of a New Earth is that it would exist in space and time, with a future unfolding progressively, just as it does now. Yet people repeatedly say there will be “no time in Heaven.” One theologian argues, “What a relief and what joy to know that in heaven there will be no more time.”  Another writer says, “Heaven will be a place where time will stand still.”

Where do such ideas come from? A misleading translation in the King James Version of the Bible says that “there should be time no longer” (Revelation 10:6). This was the basis for theologians such as Abraham Kuyper to conclude there will be no time in Heaven. But other versions correctly translate this phrase “There will be no more delay!” (NIV, RSV), which means not that time itself will cease but that there is no time left before God’s judgment is executed.

Other people are confused because they remember the phrase “Time shall be no more” and think it’s from the Bible. It’s actually from a hymn. Ironically, the same hymn speaks of “When the morning breaks . . .” Both the words morning and when are references to time.

John Newton’s hymn “Amazing Grace” describes a better grasp of time:

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,
Than when we’d first begun.

He then goes on to list ten examples of some type of measurable time occurring in the life to come. You’re encouraged to read that part of the article.

I think this is a subject we need to approach with a great deal of humility, which is exactly what the website Compelling Truth does.

The Bible is not clear about how time will work in heaven. Referring to the New Jerusalem, which is where those who have faith in Jesus Christ as Savior will dwell with God forever, Revelation 21:23 says “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” Some take this to mean that without the sun or moon, by which we base our time measurements, there will be no time in heaven, at least not as we know it now.

Additionally, 2 Peter 3:8 indicates that God is not bound by time: “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Since heaven is God’s dwelling place, perhaps those who dwell with Him will also not be bound by time.

Yet, the Bible does make reference to time in heaven, as in Revelation 8:1: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” We don’t know if John, who was alive but experiencing a special revelation, counted the half an hour as he would have on earth, or whether those in heaven also realized this measurement of time as well.

Compelling Truth tends to keep their answers concise, but the short article also notes that, “Though we don’t know if time as we know it exists in heaven, we have an indication that people in heaven are aware of time passing on earth.”

Also it points out that the tree of life in Revelation 22 bears fruit “each month.” Again, an article you’re encouraged to read.

The website Got Questions adds another scripture to Alcorn’s list:

However, others point to what seem to be clear references to experiencing time in heaven. For instance, Revelation 8:1 says, “There was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” Was the “half an hour” simply John’s measurement of the period of silence from an earth-bound perspective, or did the residents of heaven also realize the passage of time?

As an aside, I thought it was interesting that all the above citations, taken from the top three results in the #1 search engine, quoted the ESV. In the past, some neo-Calvinist or neo-Reformed groups paid for search engine optimization and that is possibly what I was seeing in the results.

So I decided to give Pentecostals a voice here, only to discover that at Charisma Magazine, author Bill Weise looked at another side of the question, as to whether there would be time in hell.

Did you know that time will also exist for those in hell? Revelation 14 states, “The smoke of their torment will ascend forever and ever. They have no rest day or night” (Rev. 14:11a). This is a reference to the awareness of days and nights. There are additional verses that say the same.

So we decided to go for broke here and check out Catholic.com where we read,

Related to the problem of space in heaven is the problem of time. We often hear of heaven being described as “eternal” or “timeless.” God himself, in his divine essence, is completely outside of time. For him, all of history exists in an “eternal now” without past or future. But it is not clear that created beings in union with God are completely drawn outside of time.

But at this point the article takes a sharp turn into a doctrine not held at all by non-Catholics, the idea of purgatory. While I do not endorse this, I want readers here to see a particular concept presented:

Medieval thinkers proposed that departed souls, such as those being purified in purgatory, exist in a state that shares some properties in common with time and some with eternity. They called this state “aeviternity.” Whether this speculation is correct, or what properties such a middle state might have, are open to question. We ultimately don’t know how time—or whatever might replace time—works in the afterlife.

In a 2018 article here, we quoted an excerpt from Ron Rhodes which is dealing with the pre-existent Christ, but also contains this:

The book of Hebrews contains some hints regarding the relationship between time and eternity. Hebrews 1:2 tells us that the Father “has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (italics added). The last part of this verse is rendered more literally from the Greek, “through whom he made the ages.” Likewise, Hebrews 11:3 tells us that “by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command” (italics added). This is more literally from the Greek, “By faith we understand that the ages were formed at God’s command.”

Scholars have grappled with what may be meant here by the term “ages.” Lutheran scholar R. C. H. Lenski says the term means “not merely vast periods of time as mere time, but ‘eons’ with all that exists as well as all that transpires in them.” New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce says that “the whole created universe of space and time is meant.” …The writer of Hebrews does not restrict Christ’s creation to this earth; he shows us that Christ is the Creator of the entire universe and of existence itself. And Christ made it all without effort.”

Church father and philosopher Augustine (A.D. 354-430) held that the universe was not created in time, but that time itself was created along with the universe. Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof agrees, and concludes: “It would not be correct to assume that time was already in existence when God created the world, and that He at some point in that existing time, called ‘the beginning,’ brought forth the universe. The world was created with time rather than in time. Back of the beginning mentioned in Genesis 1:1 lay a beginningless eternity.”

Finally, in 2012 we briefly (articles here were shorter then) mentioned something Bible scholar John Walton said on a podcast:

…One of his comments was about this verse:

^{Gen 1:3} And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

John then asked, “Why didn’t God call the light, “light?”  He said that what we’re seeing in this verse is not the creation of light, but the creation of the separators or periods of separation between light and its absence, that what we’re witnessing in this book is the creation of time.  You could say, “And God said, “Let there be time.”

I later corresponded with Professor Walton about this, and suggested that if the verse is saying “And God created time,” there is a verse in Revelation that might be equally read, “And God ended time.” (But maybe simply time as we know it, not all time.)

I’ll leave the verse in question as homework, for you to find.

What’s In Your Hand?

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob–has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers–the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob–appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt…

“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed…

Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”  Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it…

“This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers–the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob–has appeared to you.” Exodus 3: 15-17a, 18-21, 4:1-3, 5

Earlier this week, I was thinking about the people whose Christian identity is defined by the things they do in terms of Christian service, and how much of this service revolved around church activities which ceased after the lockdown. Preparing the Communion table. Handing out bulletins. Singing on a worship team. Greeting visitors. Serving coffee.

If your entire realm of Christian service consisted of areas of ministry activity at a weekend church gathering, and you didn’t find anything to replace it, then you clearly haven’t been serving God much lately, have you? No wonder you’re anxious to return to live, in-person worship.

My wife, on the other hand, has been busier now than ever. She stepped up from her worship-leading focus to create a media-focus in a smaller church where none had existed previously.

For me, I’ve gone from feeling immobilized for the first six weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, to a return to greater activity, including preparing these devotionals on a daily basis at a time we had previously announced we would be cutting back the frequency from its current 24/7 schedule.

As I thought about wanting to do more earlier this morning, I was reminded of God’s word to Moses.

Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

If you’ve found yourself wanting to find new ways to offer service — assuming that your personal spiritual development through prayer and scripture hasn’t waned during this period — you might want to ask yourself the same question, “What is that in your hand?”

In other words, what do you already possess that God can use, if you will allow it to be used.

[At risk of going off on a tangent — which I’m about to do anyway — I should say that when this verse was impressed on me, I was actually holding my toothbrush in my hand. There are people who take things like this quite literally, but I’m sorry to say I don’t have a wonderful toothbrush analogy to share, or a vision of how the toothbrush represented something significant. You can feel free to leave a comment. Or maybe not.]

The thing in your hand might be:

• an email address you can use to get in contact with someone you haven’t heard from in a long time
• a conversation you can start with the person(s) walking their dog by your house each night after supper
• a bank balance that’s been untouched by restaurants and recreation that can be used to make a donation to a needy individual or a smaller, underfunded charity
• a talent for sewing, woodworking, baking, automotive-tinkering, etc., that can be used to bless someone with a physical gift or the gift of your time
• a Christian book, novel, study resource, sermon audio, DVD, etc., that can be passed on to someone who might enjoy it

and so many other things I could list here.

The writer of Ecclesiastes offers this (9:10)

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

BibleHub.com notes that Paul echoes this in two passages,

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters – Colossians 3:23

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. – Romans 12:1

Again, what have you got at your immediate disposal?

We’ll continue this thought tomorrow with a re-broadcast of an article which looks at this verse:

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
– Eph 5:16 KJV, NLT

all other scriptures NIV

Did Jesus’ First Miracle Echo God’s First Miracle?

^{Gen 1:3} And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

^{John 2:10} “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

Today’s thoughts are adapted from a 2008 newsletter I sent out; a newsletter which became the inspiration for Thinking Out Loud, which begat Christianity 201…

One of the most difficult aspects of the various debates in creationism has to do with the young/earth old earth issue. Some believe that God took his time to make the earth, that the “days” of Genesis 1 are really “ages” and that’s why we can have compatibility between the idea of a creator God and the scientists who say the earth is millions of years old.

Using this reasoning, “theistic evolution” is possible; the more recent blending of an evolutionary creation view with the concept of a God who was overseeing it all; the idea that God used evolution. But today we’ll stick to a simple young/old dichotomy.

If we arrive at the garden of Eden after that first creation week — let’s pretend we arrive on day ten — we see a tree and the tree is mature. It looks like it might be at least 20 years old. (Though counting the rings would be interesting!) Underneath the tree is a rock. The rock appears to be 20,000 years old. Adam himself becomes more problematic. He’s clearly a man, not an infant. Today, Jewish boys become a man at 13; in North America we use 18, though it once was 21; Jesus began his ministry at 30. Any one of those ages denotes the idea of “man” and not “boy.” From the earliest times, our earth seems to have either aged considerably or has some age built into it.

And really, what we see on day ten works with either a young earth or old earth perspective. One person sees the tree and the rock and says, “These items are 20 years and 20,000 years old respectively.” Another says, “This tree and that rock are only a week old.” But the tree is not a sapling, it’s taller than the man, so there would need to be some allowance for apparent age…

…I started thinking about Jesus’ first miracle, turning water into wine. Wine needs fermentation and fermentation takes time. About a year ago, out of curiosity, we drove to one of those places that lets you make up a batch of wine to enjoy or give away to your friends. A batch of homemade brew would need at least six months as I remember it; and further aging only improves the quality, and they did say at the time that the host of the wedding had “saved the best wine until last.” Did Jesus press a “pause” button, and everyone froze in place for a year while the batch brewed, or did he simply do a creative miracle in an instant?

The former suggestion is something I just made up; I’ve never heard it suggested. If you believe in this miracle at all; it’s the latter you believe in; that the ceremonial washing water was water one moment and wine the next. If that’s the case, it’s interesting that Jesus’ first recorded creative act in the New Testament; and God’s first recorded creative act in the Old Testament should involve things that have apparent age; things that seem to have been created outside the constraints of time as we know it.

And if the earth is as young as some believe, then we are still witnessing the miracle of something created with apparent age, for each time the light of a star is seen at night, we know that scientifically, the light of stars that Adam, and Abraham, and Moses saw left those distant suns thousands of years before the earth was created. Which I know doesn’t make sense to many people.

The thing is, you can have a theistic view of creation and say that God did it, but it in terms of our chronological sense, it took decades and millennia to do so. That would make you an old earth creationist.

But you can’t say that Jesus took six months waiting for the wine to ferment.

Next time you’re wrestling with this issue, either personally or in discussion or with someone else, step outside Genesis for a minute and consider the water-into-wine miracle of the New Testament. Fermentation takes time. The wine definitely had an apparent age. Could this principle extend back into Genesis?

There’s definitely some similarities between what Jesus did at the start of his ministry and God did at the start of human history.

---

Much of the creation aspect of this depends on linear time being the same that first week as it is now. But there are other ways of seeing this. For example, check out this post from April, 2018: When Did Time Begin? (Which in turn is based on a 2012 post, Why Didn’t He Call the Light, “Light?”)

For more on the miracle at Canada, check out this post from September, 2019, Water to Wine: Miracle and Symbol.

When Did Time Begin?

^{NIV John 17:5} And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

^{NIV Col 1:15} The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

This topic came into greater focus for me back in 2012, when Wheaton College professor John Walton, author of The Lost World of Genesis One (and now a number of other “Lost World” books in a series) was a guest on the Phil Vischer Podcast. I wrote about that here at this article.

Another topic, which is of course quite related is studies into what theologians refer to as “the pre-incarnate Christ.” A book I always wanted to read on this topic is Ron Rhodes’ Christ Before the Manger: The Life and Times of the Preincarnate Christ (Baker, 1992). I recently got my hands on a copy and this short introduction turns up in chapter two.

Related to the issue of the preexistence and eternality of Christ is this question: When did time begin? Scripture is not clear about the relationship between time and eternity. Some prefer to think of eternity as time – a succession of moments – without beginning or ending. However, there are indications in Scripture that time itself may be a created reality, a reality that began when God created the universe.

The book of Hebrews contains some hints regarding the relationship between time and eternity. Hebrews 1:2 tells us that the Father “has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (italics added). The last part of this verse is rendered more literally from the Greek, “through whom he made the ages.” Likewise, Hebrews 11:3 tells us that “by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command” (italics added). This is more literally from the Greek, “By faith we understand that the ages were formed at God’s command.”

Scholars have grappled with what may be meant here by the term “ages.” Lutheran scholar R. C. H. Lenski says the term means “not merely vast periods of time as mere time, but ‘eons’ with all that exists as well as all that transpires in them.” New Testament scholar F. F. Bruce says that “the whole created universe of space and time is meant.” From this verse, theologian John MacArthur concludes that “Jesus Christ is responsible for creating not only the physical earth but also time, space, force, action and matter. The writer of Hebrews does not restrict Christ’s creation to this earth; he shows us that Christ is the Creator of the entire universe and of existence itself. And Christ made it all without effort.”

Church father and philosopher Augustine (A.D. 354-430) held that the universe was not created in time, but that time itself was created along with the universe. Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof agrees, and concludes: “It would not be correct to assume that time was already in existence when God created the world, and that He at some point in that existing time, called ‘the beginning,’ brought forth the universe. The world was created with time rather than in time. Back of the beginning mentioned in Genesis 1:1 lied a beginningless eternity.”

In view of the above, we may conclude that when the apostle John said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1), the phrase in the beginning has specific reference to the beginning of time when the universe was created. When the time-space universe came into being, Christ the divine Word was already existing in a loving, intimate relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

(pp 36-37)

Introducing the Ministry of Ann Voskamp

We’re going to take a break today from the regular format to introduce daily devotional and Bible study readers to the ministry of Ann Voskamp, author of the just-published One Thousand Gifts.

First, you might want to get to know Ann’s website, A Holy Experience.  Make sure your speakers are turned on, as music plays underneath.  Or not.  I read one reviewer who valued Ann’s words so much, readers were advised to make sure their speakers were turned off!  I guess we each process things differently.

Second, read Ann’s story.  Some of you have blogs of your own and you’ve had that experience of creating an “about” page where you try to sum up your life journey in a few words for people who you’ve never met.  If not, open a word processing program or open a blank e-mail and take about fifteen minutes to craft your own personal “about” page.  (If you like the result, you can post it here as a comment!)

Finally, watch and listen to an excerpt from the book in this video.  Usually on days like this I embed a Christian worship video, but this time we’re going for a different kind of video that is so suited to Ann’s ministry. I realize not all of you are into poetry, but consider the following:

1. The Bible devotes five books to wisdom literature, much of which is poetic in form.
2. In many places that we don’t think of as poetry, the simple repetition of words (i.e. “Holy, Holy, Holy”) is following Hebrew poetic forms familiar to the audience.  There is a beauty to the language of scripture that our language, English, causes us to overlook.
3. The Bible is filled with Psalms in places other than the book that bears that name.  Mary greets the angel’s news that she is the one chosen to bear the Messiah with the song we know as The Magnificat.  While it is largely a reiteration of various scripture; combined it becomes poetic.  The passage in Philippians about Christ’s humility (“Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus…”) is indented in most modern Bibles because it’s recognized as an early Church hymn.

So watch, listen and enjoy…