The Time Problem

Have you ever wondered how this could have happened?

He (Christ) was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
[1 Peter 1 : 20  NIV]

I have been musing about the sovereignty of God and the eternal realm he inhabits for decades, trying to understand, as a mere creature living in the time realm, our powerful Creator living in the timeless realm.

In a previous post, Understanding Eternity, June 27, 2012, I offered some illustrations to show how God might know events well before they happened in our time-controlled world. But I didn't take the next step and explore God's intervention in our world well before we could see the effect of that action, as described by the Apostle Peter above. 

Let's use the Mother's Basket of Goodies illustration from that previous post.

Mother has a basket of goodies.  When she looks into the basket, she sees all the goodies at the same "time". (Eternity view)
Mother takes items out of her basket, one at a time, and gives them to her children.  They see the goodies as they are given to them, one at a time, and in the order in which they are given. (The Ages view) 

Let's see if we can use this simple illustration to help us imagine God's choosing of Christ before the creation of the world.

God looks into his basket of goodies - all the events that will ever occur in the heavens and on the earth. He sees these all at the same "time". Indeed, he is continuously seeing them - seeing them during all of time.

One of his goodies is Jesus putting on an earth-suit, being humiliated and rejected, removing sin and death from mankind, and restoring mankind to its original God-image nature.

So by the time God handed out the goodie called the creation of the world, he had already placed the Jesus' goodie in his basket, which he then decided to hand out "in these last times".

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
[Galatians 4 : 4  NIV]

Let's look at another "creation of the world" verse.

For he (God) chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
[Ephesians 1 : 4  NIV]

Here's another one of the goodies that was in God's basket long before he handed out the goodie called the creation of the world.

Every event that will happen throughout the ages, and beyond, God has in his basket of goodies - to be handed out at the right time, the time of his choosing.

This way of thinking helps me give meaning to the distinction between the timeless realm, in which God lives, and the realm of the ages, in which we currently live.

Blessings, Barry
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Published BLOG at https://barrysgracespace.blogspot.com
Other published Writings at https://www.ibtechservices.com.au