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Writer's pictureMichael E.B. Maher

God’s measurement of time

2 Peter 3:8 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

 

Before we look at the rest of the creation account as recorded in the book of Genesis, we need to have an understanding of eternity. Mankind measures the passing of time based on the physical creation that God has put in place for us, for God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.” (Genesis 1:14). And so, mankind in this life can only measure the passing of time as it relates to the physical elements that our creator has put in place. If those elements were removed however, then men would no longer have any reference point by which to measure the passing of time. This concept brings us to the realm of eternity, which is also the realm of the spirit. The spirit realm does not measure the passing of time as men do in the physical realm, precisely because in the spirit realm, the elements of lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; for signs and seasons, and for days and years, do not exist. Nevertheless the spirit realm does measure the passing of time. So how is time measured in the spirit realm? Physicists in this life define time as the progression of events from the past to the present into the future. That definition works perfectly in the spirit realm, for the passing of time in the spirit realm is also measured as the progression of events from the past to the present into the future. So how does this concept correlate with the passing of time in the physical realm in which men dwell? The progression of one event to the next event in the realm of the spirit can be as short as one day in the natural; however the progression of another event to the next event in the realm of the spirit can also be as long as one thousand years in the natural. In the above passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter explained the concept of how the spirit realm measures time, by telling us that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. In other words, the spirit realm exists outside of the constraints of time as we know it. And so, that concept now brings us to the creation account in Genesis. In this account God speaks of creating things on the first day, and creating things on the second day, etc. In context, when God speaks of a day, He is referring to a day in the spirit and not in the natural, i.e. from one event to the next event. The corresponding time lapse in the natural however, i.e. between each event described in Genesis, in some instances covered billions of years, while in other instances it covered millions of years, and in still other instances covered only a few thousand years. None of the days mentioned in the Genesis account however, refers to a twenty-four hour cycle of the earth’s rotation on its axis, as experienced by men on the earth. It is for that reason that the narrative of the Genesis creation account taking place over six 24 hour cycles of the earth’s rotation on its axis is clearly an erroneous one. And so, in that light we can better understand God’s account of creation in the bible. 

 

The centrality of the earth

 

Again, before we look at the rest of the creation account, another important truth needs to be understood, which is that the earth is central to God’s creation of the physical realm? This means that everything that God created on the earth and surrounding the earth, i.e. the universe and everything that is in it, were created solely for the benefit of the earth and its inhabitants. In other words, earth is the only planet in the whole universe, which God has created to be inhabited. Natural man rejects that biblical truth as foolishness, for when they look at the vastness of the universe and the innumerable number of stars and galaxies in it, they become deceived into believing that there must be many more planets in the universe that support some form of life, including intelligent life. Such foolish thinking helps them to believe the lie that the God of the bible does not exist. And so, professing to be wise they become fools, by expending much time, resources and energy, in a desperate search to discover other forms of life that they are convinced, must be “out there”. Those same individuals also foolishly believe that the universe and the earth that exists today came into being, by having all the complex elements of the earth and universe being put into place through a process of random chance selection. There are no credible scientists today that would disagree that the universe we live in and the earth that we live on is perfectly tuned in every aspect, to support life on earth. Because of that scientific fact, many scientists acknowledge (some reluctantly) that a superior being must be responsible for putting it all together. Even as early the 1960s and 70s, physicists had begun to reconsider the concept of the design hypothesis for the universe. Many were impressed by the discovery that the laws and constants of physics are improbably “finely-tuned” to make life possible. As British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle put it, the fine-tuning of numerous physical parameters in the universe suggested that “a super intellect had monkeyed with physics” for our benefit.[1] There are however, some scientists that still try to prove that all of this perfection we see in the universe and on the earth came about through a simple process of random chance and they try developing complicated mathematical calculations to prove their theories. They are forced to come up with these theories, because if they don’t, the only alternative left is to acknowledge that a superior being created all of it, which they refuse to do. One observer, in describing their foolish thinking has likened the practical application of their theories, to having a tornado pass through a junkyard and in its wake leaving a fully assembled Boeing 747 aircraft.

 

Michael E.B. Maher


[1] From bacterial propulsion systems to human DNA, evidence of intelligent design is everywhere  STEPHEN C. MEYER  Ph.D  DECEMBER 1, 2005






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