Lord of Eternity

 
Months ago a relative asked me how the Bible could speak of things in the future as if they already happened. No sooner than my silent prayer for a good answer finished, God gave me something to say. I explained the difference between time and eternity. Time is for us the past, the present, and the future. However, our eternal God lives in the now. For Him, all things are now and He sees both the beginning and the end. His view covers all of what we call time and therefore He can say things like:

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. (John 3:13, NKJV)

Not all versions add the last phrase, yet this thought is throughout the NT — in his deity, Jesus is omnipresent. He is also apart from time. This is seen in verses like:

Even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:5–7)

How can I be both here and sitting in heavenly places? Only because God is eternal and for Him all things are now, not past, present, future. This is why we can trust the promises of God, for in His realm, they are already done.

As today’s devotional reading points out, Joshua did not say to the people, “Shout, for the Lord will give you the city,” but “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city” (Joshua 6:16). How could he say that in view of the fact that the walls of the city were still standing as massive and impregnable as ever? Yet Joshua understood that when God said something would happen, it would happen, because from God’s eternal perspective, it was already a done deal!

In other words, I can consider all the victories that God promises as a sure thing — in His realm, they are completed even before they are accomplished.

When Jesus said, “In me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) I can rest in that eternal truth. While my sin and the sin in the world is presently a foe that has yet to be conquered, in the mind of Christ, it has already been conquered. Since I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), I can also think eternally and be confident of all that He says will/has happened. This way of thinking is called faith!

PRAY: Such joy to trust You, Jesus, and to realize that anything written as if it has already happened is great evidence that You are going to accomplish all that You say. I’m already seated in heavenly places! I am assured that the mess in this world is already overcome, even though I cannot yet see that. Living in time does not negate the facts of eternity. In Your mind, the promises You make are not about the future as much as they are declarations that they have already happened! What peace and hope You give because You know both the beginning and the end of all things!