The post Time and Eternity was my attempt at concisely putting together some ideas that kind of spiraled out of control when I preached them from the pulpit. I wanted to outline the main points, support with scripture, and come as immediately as I could to a conclusion. I am pleased with the way it turned out, except for later realizing I had left out what could be an important consideration.

God created time. He exists outside of time but does interact, particularly through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, with those of us who are temporal. In my original sermon I mentioned that time is a construct, a conception or idea rather than a tangible object. Justice is a concept but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. It just isn’t solid the way a brick is. But what about the effects of time? Those seem real enough.

Most of what we blame on time is really the effect of sin. Think about work for a moment. Before sin and the curse, Adam was given a task to perform; a job. He was told to dress the garden and keep it. A condition of the curse is that his job would become work. “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread.” The land which had previously produced fruits and vegetables with ease now also grew thorns and weeds. But having a vocation was not the curse. God created time on day one of the creation week and saw that it was good. Our bodies grow old and deteriorate as a result of sin and the curse. I don’t bounce around like I used to. When I was kid I got hurt doing fun things, like crashing a bicycle or falling out of a tree. Now I get hurting doing mundane things, like sleeping funny or sitting too long.

The curse affected the man, the woman, their relationship with each other, the animal kingdom and even the earth itself. After the Great Flood the world was further affected, judged harshly by a righteous God that regretted the creation he had made. Mountains wear down, boulders crumble, valleys are slowly filled by sediment, the shape of the earth’s surface is constantly in a state of flux. Nothing lasts forever… in this present reality. The Word of the Lord endures forever. And according to that Word the world he created and declared good will be put back right again. Time and sin will be no more, beauty will not fade, and all creation will give God the glory, honor and praise he deserves.