Memories can be tricky. Last night my husband described an incident that happened to us more than twenty-five years ago. His recollection and mine are so different that I wondered where he got what he said. In my memory, I can see the event, yet he said the same thing about his memory of it.
Perhaps our brains are wired differently, or perhaps one of us began thinking of this event in terms other than what really happened (even though I cannot see any reason to do so), and over time, the reconstructed memory became the real one.
The other thing that gave me pause is wondering what it would be like if all memories were crystal clear. What if every day of our past seemed as if it just happened? That would be interesting, but more likely it would also be stressful. Time has a way of keeping things in order. If my childhood, teen years, and so on were as vivid as this morning’s breakfast, I’d likely need some counseling!
Yet I wonder if eternity is like that? With time no more, how will the events of our lives look to us? And how will heavenly events be recorded in our minds?
It seems to me that the Bible sometimes speaks in eternal terms. Could it be that the mind of God and His eternal state makes all things such as past, present, and future as ‘right now?’ Does God, who exists outside of time, look at all things as current? Yet even that question and my description isn’t quite it, because ‘now’ and ‘current’ are words about time.
I’ve tried to imagine eternity as God sees it, but quickly realize that it is beyond me. Besides, if ‘all were now’, I’d likely be locked up. My mind, as it is, cannot handle such a collision of experiences.
All that said, when I read John 17:24 this morning, I wonder if Jesus was thinking eternity here. In His prayer, He says, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
In other places, the Bible says that Jesus was crucified before the foundation of the world. That is, God’s plan was set back then in time, but the words sound as if (in eternity) it had already happened.
This verse also says that Jesus asked that those who belong to Him will be with Him where He is. Soon after this prayer, Jesus was crucified, rose from the dead, then went to be with His Father in heaven. Ephesians 2:5-6, say that we are “made alive together with Christ and raised up together, and made to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Again, this is written as if what is future has already happened; these are eternal terms.
Why would God do this? It is confusing. Some ignore the tenses and say the descriptions are about future things, or they spiritualize it and say it is not physical yet, but will be. That could be true, but it seems to me that God speaks this way to get me thinking about eternity.
Even though I cannot fully comprehend what it will be like when time is no more, I also need to think that anything God says is true, even though it has not happened. He says it has already happened, and therefore, by His way of reckoning, I can believe it just as if it has.
Jesus asked His Father that I be with Him where He is, and Ephesians says I am already there, so that is a sure thing. He also asked that I will actually see Him and behold His glory, and many verses say that I have, so that is a sure thing.
My mind cannot understand how this works, yet Hebrews 11:1 says, my “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen!” In other words, when God says something already is, something that I cannot yet see, then I know (by faith in Him) that because He is certain of it, I can also be certain.
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