How Heaven’s time interacts with ours

        I’ve enjoyed C.S.Lewis’ stories of Narnia, partly because Earth-time and Narnia-time run differently. Children slip into Narnia, spend hours, or even years there, then return to the same moment they left Earth. For example, Prince Caspian was only twenty when the children last saw him in Narnia; the next time the same boy sees him, Caspian is an old man. A few weeks here can mean decades have passed in Narnia, and a generation here covers thousands of years there. 

       Fantasy, of course, but what a fun concept! Did C.S.Lewis dream this idea up for himself? Probably not. He was deeply immersed in the Bible—and what did he find there? For starters, think of the angel Gabriel, whom we first meet as he explains prophecy to Daniel (Dan.8:16, 9:21), in Babylon. 

     Surprisingly, the next time Gabriel shows up is in the temple in Jerusalem, there to announce the birth of a son, John, to Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:19). Six months later he appears to Mary in Nazareth (Luke 1:26). This represents a gap in appearances by Gabriel, of over 500 years—with no change in Gabriel but great changes in Israel. 

        There are also “theophanies” or “Christophanies” that are similar. A few examples:—a “man” appears to Abraham just before the destruction of Sodom (Gen.18:17); the same man, we believe, appears to Joshua, just before Jericho falls (Josh.5:13); and later still, Isaiah sees the same Man, even Jesus Himself (Isa.6:1, John 12:41). 

      We bless C.S.Lewis for illustrating salvation in his child-friendly pictures. It’s gratifying to see how this aspect of his stories comes straight out of Scripture. In the extreme case, three generations back on Earth paralleled the entire existence of Narnia, from its creation (The Magician’s Nephew) to its ultimate end (The Last Battle). In a similar way, our time is really running at break-neck speed, compared to Heaven’s time. If a thousand years are as one day to the Lord (2 Peter 3:8), then it’s only two days of Heaven’s time since He was here. We are only in the third day now.