 |
| Fountain at Castle of Chillon, Switzerland |
Stephen Hawking (“widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein”) in his book A Brief History of Time mentions that philosophers like Immanuel Kant made the “unspoken assumption that time continues back forever.” When St. Augustine was asked, “What did God do before He created the universe?” he replied that “time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe.”
Not to belabour the subject of scientific views of “time”, the September issue of Scientific American had for its cover the words “the end.” And the period at the end was important! Most articles dealt with some aspect of time from its assumed beginning at the “Big Bang”. Then a lead article in this highly scientific and sophisticated (not to say atheistic) magazine posed the question, “Could time end?”
What is this pre-eminent factor that God has created in our lives? It’s almost like a sixth sense, isn’t it? If we lost all sense of touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste, we would still be aware of the passage of time. The world, and we Christian believers too, would often like to slow down or stop the passage of time. C.S.Lewis expresses some of our longings about time:
“This year time’s nature will no more defeat you,
Nor all the promised moments in their passing cheat you.
“This time they will not lead you round and back
To Autumn, one year older, by the well-worn track.
“This year, this year, as all these flowers foretell,
We shall escape the circle and undo the spell.”
But enough of man’s thoughts. Let’s get down to Scripture. In my daily reading, I’ve just come through John 17, with our Lord’s references to the glory He had with the Father “before the world began” and to the love the Father had for Him “before the creation of the world.” (vv.5,24) Expanding on this, the Apostle Paul refers to the glory God has destined for us since “before time began” 1 Cor.2:7; to the grace “given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time”; and to the hope of eternal life which God promised “before the beginning of time.” 2 Tim.1:9 and Titus 1:2. So we must conclude, with Augustine, that God is outside of time.
Our existence relative to the life of God is probably something we will never get our heads around. C.S.Lewis again has an analogy that helps. He supposes an author writing a story. The time-line of the story is completely independent of the author’s time-line. A character in the story may be preparing a cup of tea when the author’s phone rings. He answers the phone, then goes out to lunch. Two hours later he may sit down at his computer and finish preparing the cup of tea in his story. In fact, he can interject himself anywhere in his story. Perhaps God is like that— He is outside our story, can see all details of our story, past, present, and future, and can put Himself anywhere in our story while knowing all of its future as well.
Deep stuff! Creation is complex. Time is complex. But, “by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Heb. 11:3 It seems that “time” is part of that creation.
And could time end? For spiritual beings with OUR Lord as Saviour? Never.
