For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Philippians 1: 21-24, NIV.
Dear Creator, You who are the Alpha and the Omega, please teach us as we sit in Your presence today. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Today, my daughter Julie was sharing some rather interesting thoughts with me, on the message expressed in this passage of Holy Scripture. Her thoughts were, in my opinion, very profound. So I decided to consider it further. I will wrestle with it for a while. I invite you to join me.
She sustains that God is not limited by time or space. I agree. She further states that the Great I Am, is in the present, past, and future, at the same time. In other words, He verily, dwells in eternity! Accordingly, she believes that human beings dwell in time. Nevertheless, as soon as their time ends, their eternity begins. She bases this theory on Hebrews 9: 27: “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment[.]”
I believe that, according to Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 6, “We know that we will die, but the dead don’t know a thing. Nothing good will happen to them–they are gone and forgotten. Their loves, their hates, and their jealous feelings have all disappeared with them. They will never again take part in anything that happens on this earth.” Death in the human sphere is the end of everything.
I also believe, that for the person who accepts Christ as his or her Lord and Savior from sin, everything changes. I read in Colossians “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (3: 3, 4).
I submit for your consideration my modification of her theory based on the fact that, because Christ dwells in eternity, if our lives are hid in His, our eternity does not begin when our time here on earth ends, but from the moment we accept Him into our lives!
We will continue! And we would love to hear Your thoughts on the subject.
I’m reading “It’s Not About Me” by Max Lucado, and he also came to the conclusion that God is eternal and lives in the past, present and future simultaneously. It explains God’s omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, why His plan is known from beginning to end before He even made the universe, and how He knows every move we will make or even every prayer before we utter it – before we are even born. Remember John 8:58, “Before Abraham was born, I am” – Christ claimed to be eternal, else He would have said, “I was”. In Isaiah 57:15, God identified himself as “the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity”. And just think how many times He called Himself the Great I Am. Also see:
Psalm 93:2
Jeremiah 10:10
Romans 1:23
1 Timothy 6:16
Psalm 102:27
Job 36:26
We are but time-bound humans while we are alive, but we shall be eternal when we die. I highly recommend the book. It’s a quick read but it obviously leaves quite an impression.
I’m reading “It’s Not About Me” by Max Lucado, and he also came to the conclusion that God is eternal and lives in the past, present and future simultaneously. It explains God’s omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, why His plan is known from beginning to end before He even made the universe, and how He knows every move we will make or even every prayer before we utter it – before we are even born. Remember John 8:58, “Before Abraham was born, I am” – Christ claimed to be eternal, else He would have said, “I was”. In Isaiah 57:15, God identified himself as “the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity”. And just think how many times He called Himself the Great I Am. Also see:
Psalm 93:2
Jeremiah 10:10
Romans 1:23
1 Timothy 6:16
Psalm 102:27
Job 36:26
We are but time-bound humans while we are alive, but we shall be eternal when we die. I highly recommend the book. It’s a quick read but it obviously leaves quite an impression.