Once again, we experience the passage of time and the extravagant celebration of the new year. But when we look deep enough into Christ and His relationship to time, we begin to realize the beauty of time.
William Lane Craig, in his wonderful book, time and eternity, wrote that “it is not too difficult to provide an analysis of finally non-circular time.”
This is not to say that time repeats itself, but that great themes appear again and again in every historical epoch, like the movements of a grand symphony.
Understanding the biblical “theology of time” and seeing its beauty requires observing time on both an existential and spiritual level.
Kairos It is an eternal God-ordained time of “appropriate” manifestation in our lives and history. Chronos Limited punctuality and functional time. From this perspective, we can better understand Craig’s observations about the circularity of time.
In fact, the biblical view of time is that it is linearly cyclical. Think of a railroad track and its trains. Wheels circulate on linear tracks. Thus, the schematic of God’s great plan of salvation for mankind constitutes the “train” and its spinning wheels that carry it from its starting point to its destination. In Christ, the destination is not “the end”, Telos, Arrival at a new point of purpose for those who primarily participate in time and history.
The track itself may be admired, but not necessarily as beautiful. Photographing the train reveals the glory of the great railroad.
Growing up as a child in America in the 1940s and riding trains around the world as an adult, I discovered the beauty that emerges when trains and tracks meet.
There is no awe in the barren rails, but beauty emerges when you put the magnificent locomotive and its rolling stock on track.
My father-in-law, Ed, was a seasoned railroad worker who loved his job and used the beauty of metal aggregates liberally. In his early days, fire and steam, high keys his notes and rumbling might have blared from the swirl. wheel. When I look into his eyes, I see a man who sees a beauty that cannot be described in words.
When we see the passage of time and history through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s perspective, we will understand the beauty of time in God’s glorious plan.
If you take away Christ, you will see nothing but boring, wasted and empty time. Tracks without trains are sad to see.
The journey to God’s final destination begins in the Garden of Eden. There are the bloody remains of animals that have been killed and skinned so that sinful humans are covered.
When we look at it through the eyes of biblical revelation, we see the road leading from Eden to Calvary. There are many stations along the way, at one of which you hop on and another where you meet me.
There is much realm between that Edenic origin and the proclamation that John the Baptist made that day pointing to Jesus by the river.
How would people recognize the Messiah on that long train journey? The answer is that there were markers along the way. Since the true Lord comes from the line of David, there is a significance of ‘born’ and ‘born’. These were the sections of chirology where God’s plan intersects with human time. Each occurrence of “born” and “born” indicates the fact that the train is on the right track.
So “born” and “born” are not meaningless words, but indicate stops along the tracks that humans can identify and hop onto the train. Therefore, those who knew the prophecies about the coming of the Messiah knew whether John was right.
Biblical genealogy is not irrelevant, but it is a beautiful and blessed indicator that the train is on track. Jesus is indeed of David’s lineage. Each generation station is an important stop along the journey to its destination. It also gives more people the chance to take the train.
“How beautiful!” Grandpa Ed may say, one of his glorious trains passed through the yards and stations under his control.
What a beautiful time for us when we seize the moment of recognizing Christ, accepting Him and allowing Him to take us on board. There you can rest in the weary efforts of trying to travel on foot.
With the end of the old year and the beginning of the new, we are on the other side of that journey that began in Eden and reached its destination in the events of Christ, from his divine birth through the virgin mother to the empty tomb. Standing on the edge. We marvel at the beauty of the time it takes to carry our precious cargo to the end of the line. This can be the beginning of a new line and life journey in Christ.
Perhaps as you read this, you reflect on the trajectory of your life, intersected by God’s moments of time on your journey and His chirological interventions that have led you to God and His destiny for you. You can see the location.
Maybe it’s one of those “opportunities” for you reading this now. You may have to hear the conductor yell “Let’s go!” It’s a new year and it may be time to take a new train.
Don’t hesitate to hop on the glorious and beautiful train that will take you home.
Wallace B. Henley is a former pastor, daily newspaper editor, White House and congressional aide. He served as pastor for his 18 years at his Second Baptist Church in Houston. Henry is the author or co-author of over 25 of his books, including: God and Churchill, Co-authored with Sir Winston Churchill’s great-grandson, Jonathan Sandis.Henry’s latest book Who will rule the coming “gods”? The looming psychological crisis of artificial intelligence.
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