 In the Beginning
The Scripture begins by taking the reader back to the beginning. It really is funny how we all seem to want to know the back story. Many myths and fictions have been imagined by people considering the past before Genesis 1:1. But consider this, there is no past before Genesis 1:1. What I mean is that to speak of the past is to use time to define the existence before the Lord created time as dimension of reality. Even me using before in the previous sentence really doesn’t work because of this concept. We use this language because our existence is tied to the concept of time in such a comprehensive way that we are not at all capable of contemplating a timeless existence. Human language also fails us because our words and verbal structures are bound to time and space distinctions. Since this is the case what should we do with our thinking about eternal things whether in reference to what we would think of from our time bound vantage point as past or future? Options As I see it, we have three options. First, we could just ignore the difficulty and impose our time bound ideas on the realm of timeless eternity. This will inevitably mean that we are building an understanding of heaven or our future eternal existence that is simply wrong. In this scenario it is not a matter of it possibly being right it is simply a sentimental perspective for the purpose of making us feel better but without any basis in reality. Option two would be that we use our understanding of reason and logic to ponder the metaphysical realities of God and His existence outside of the dimensions we exist in so as to come to conclusions about these things that have not been revealed by God explicitly. However, I hope you already see the flaw in this logic. Our understanding of reason and logic are as bound to time and space as everything else that we encounter and so these tools are simply insufficient to answer these impossible questions. So what's the third option? As I see it the third option is to believe God and take Him at His word. The secret things belong to God only the revealed things belong to us (Deuteronomy 29:29). Since this is true we must not speculate beyond what God has revealed in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 4:6). This is not the same as ignoring the realities that are beyond our understanding because we are trusting God with what we cannot know instead of dreaming up sentimental fables. But this is also not the same as the hubris of employing intellect beyond the scope of God’s revelation. We are simply going to seek to understand everything God has shown us and stop where the illumination ends. A New Beginning As we begin a new year most of us are probably pondering what will be coming our way. In our world and in our own personal lives many unexpected things will happen over the next 12 months. So today we should go ahead and set our minds not on the things we don’t know such as our temporal future or the things we can’t know such as the internal nature of timeless existence but rather what God has called us to know which is Himself. The Lord taught us that knowing God means knowing Jesus Christ! Jesus came to give eternal life to all whom the Father had given to Him but notice that eternal life was not defined by Jesus as some abstract metaphysical concept based on pondering timelessness but rather Jesus defined eternal life as having a relational knowledge of the one true God and Jesus Christ the One sent from the Father (John 17:1-5)! So let us spend the forthcoming year knowing Jesus through the word of God, the blessing of prayer and the fellowship of the saints!
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