The Eternal Life St Marks Bssendean 3/8/25 Ps 90; 2 Pet 3:1-11; Rev 1:8-18; John 17:1-17
Preface https://youtube.com/watch?v=fOSbohEUKrc&si=AYWpjlV60IBQdmp7
In my thirties, foolishly desirous of an academic career, we went to Brisbane for me to do my doctorate, later published as (https://www.amazon.com/Timelessness-God-John-C-Yates/dp/081917937X).The real reason however we were in Queensland was to be excommunicated from an Anglican cult, part of a lengthy series of traumas training me in understanding that to “bear testimony to Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecy.”” (Rev 19:10); “the Lamb who was slain from before the creation of the world.” (Rev 13:8), suffering is an essential aspect of the revelation that grows disciples. Jesus said, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”” (Luke 24:26). Whilst my doctorate was on timeless causation, it’s greatest error was not centring on Jesus.
Introduction
“When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.” (Amazing Grace) John Newton’s climax to Amazing Grace is literally false but poetically true (Rev 22:3-5). Only the God of the Bible (1 Cor 8:5-6) literally makes time for creatures in his beloved image (Gen 1:26-28). Moreover, the Lord’s constant faithfulness (Lam 3:22-24) to our broken humanity is at the core of his wonderful eternity for us. David, knowing that God is the controller of time prays prophetically in his distress, “My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!” (Ps 31:15). This is the God who made time stand still in Josh 10:30, reversed it in the days of ailing King Hezekiah (Isa 38:8), and in our awaiting the Return of Jesus, shortens and hastens time (Matt 24:22; 2 Pet 3:12).
Though promised “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16), some think they are too young to be useful to Jesus (Jer 1:7), others think they are too aged and infirm (Luke 2:22-38), n.b. JY to DB Ridley College re Luke 2:25 death of Simeon, but as the triumphant Lord of time via his victory over the power of death (1 Cor 15:55-57) there are no excuses for such disobedience. Psalm 90:12, quoted in 2 Pet 3:8, testifies “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone…or like a watch in the night…. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” In comparing the bounty of divine time to the paltry nature of human time we are provoked to accept that each of us been given an allotted time of limited duration. To quote our local pastor Mark “Next year some of us will not be here.” Praise God that Jesus is the fulness of all God’s promises (Heb 1:1-3; 2 Cor 1:19-20), so that the promises of past, present and future “fold over” in their completion in him e.g. he says “Abraham saw my day and was glad…before Abraham was I am” ( John 8:56, 58) (cf. Gen 17:5; John 6:35; 8:12; 10:7,11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1; 18:4-5 12:41; Rom 8:30).
Time was Made for Humanity
I first realised the Lordship of Jesus over my time when 53 years ago I was saved from drowning. As I went under I kept praying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46) While the near fatality was the result of my stupidity in risk-taking the deliverance came at the hand of God (cf. Matt 14:22-32). Since time is a created entity made for the coming of Christ (Col 1:16), we must never treat it as an enemy (my mother, God rest her soul, used to say in her ignorance, “it’s a terrible thing to grow old!”). Since Jesus always “saw what the Father was doing” and knew it was “very good” (Gen 1:31cf. Rom 8:28), we can discern in the Spirit how time serves the holy purposes of God to make us ever more like Jesus (John 17:17-19; Eph 5:26-27 etc.) e.g. DY triple car accidents in last year and JY multiple illness diagnoses (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23985-left-anterior-descending-artery; https://www.americanbrainfoundation.org/julies-story/) all for this holy purpose. On the eve of his Passion Jesus prays in John 17 ““Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh…. Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (John 17:1-5). As Jesus submits his weak mortal flesh to death-and-resurrection he grows in authority over the enemy of death (Heb 2:14-15) and returns to the Father and to share in the eternal glory of God (cf. 2 Pet 1:4) as a human being. In the glory of Christ which we now share (Col 1:27), there are no irreversible mistakes nor unforgiveable sins! Hallelujah, PTL. As Jesus is “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36 Peter) this includes his Lordship of time.
As Lord of Time Jesus is the Centre of It All
Time, as past, present and future, is a subset of the New Testament vision of Jesus. The exalted Christ at the right hand of power shares (Mark 14:62; Heb 1:3; Rev 1:4, 8; 4:8) in the glory of the eternal God as the one “who was and is and is to come”. (Rev 22:13). Hebrews confidently declares, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb 13:7). Jesus himself is “the fulness of time” (Gal 4:4; Eph 1:10), [for in him is the time of all times] in whom all times are measured as to their reason and purpose (cf. Col 1:16). Time is not neutral, empty or purposeless but “in Christ” charged with abundant life (John 10:10). To glorify God in our time we need a revelation of the timeline of Scripture concerning the life of Christ.
Paul is clear on the agelessness/omnitemporality of Christ, “and all (the Israelites) drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ….We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.” (1 Cor 10:4,11). Jude tells us “Jesus delivered his people out of Egypt” (v.5 https://www.billmounce.com/monday-with-mounce/jesus-back-jude). Most compelling for our theme of the centrality of Christ to the overall plan of God is how John 12:41 states of Isaiah’s temple vision of God, “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.”
For God the Son to become human, die and re-enter into glory (John 1:14; 17:5; 1 Tim 3:16 etc.) takes us beyond our commonsense logic of time. Through Incarnation Jesus has taken all broken time and in grace given it to God. Factoring in the glorification of time in Jesus (point to JY T shirt) (Luke 9:34 etc.) alone makes no sense the timeline of Scripture. For example, in the Gospels the Transfiguration of Jesus [was an apocalyptic event] spells the coming end of time as we measure it. It is the miracle underlying all other Gospel miracles, for it alone is not done by Jesus but to Jesus. On the mountain of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah Jesus stands in the glory of his Word in the Law and prophets (2 Pet 1:16-21). What then of the death -and-resurrection of Jesus (cf. John 13:31-32)?
Whilst the crucifixion was a public historical event, the resurrection was an act witnessed by no mortal eye and is unthreatened by decay, annihilation or illusion (Ps 16:10; Acts 2:27; 13:35). The resurrection life of Jesus totally freed his humanity from the deprivations of time such as of ageing, tiredness or disease (John 11:25). The revelation of the resurrection moves our minds outside of the box of ordinary thinking.
We are not told that the stone in front of Jesus tomb was moved so that the resurrected Christ could appear outside his sealed tomb nor should we imagine his new spiritual resurrection body walking through walls (https://thirdmill.org/answers/answer.asp/file/40720) The Bible simply has Jesus appearing in the Garden outside the tomb and that at the first day of the new creation (https://www.livinglutheran.org/2023/03/day-one-and-the-eighth-day-of-creation/),”with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”” (John 20:19 cf.v.26). In the glory of his Father as a resurrected human being Jesus simply materialised and dematerialised at will! The resurrection of Jesus means the elevation of humanity, including all human experience of fallen time, into the very being of God. [(“one Christ. One; not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh; but by assumption of the Manhood into God.” (Athanasian Creed)] Through his Incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven Jesus is the Lord of our time.
In ascension (Acts 1:9) he is taken up in the glory cloud of God and this is how he will Return to Judge the world (Matt 25:31; Rev 1:7). [This is the same cloud present at the Exodus from Egypt (Ex 40:34) the opening of the Temple (2 Chron 5:14) the divine manifestations (theophanies) in the Temple (Isa 6 cf. Ezek 1) because they] we will witness the manifestation across all time-space of the glory of Jesus as the Son of the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Glory in the Church
The New Testament consistently speaks [of our union with Christ,] of Christ is in us and us in Christ, through the gift and power of the Holy Spirit. Our “hope of glory” (Col 1:27), of the coming transformation of the cosmos is as real as Jesus’ body transformed in resurrection-ascension. He has gone up into a realm where death and mourning have passed away and the horizon is his glorious Return as the [consummation and] climax of history. Paul ecstatically testifies, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph 3:21 cf. 5:27) Today Jesus shares in the absolute nature of God giving us a share in the divine eternity (cf. Phil 2:9). In the preaching of the Word of the Gospel Jesus makes himself contemporary with all who hear his speaking (Rev 2-3).
Whenever the Word of God is working things happen beyond normal space and time testifying to the Lordship of Jesus (1 Cor 12:3). E.g. Gifts of “wisdom knowledge faith healings miracles prophecy discernment of spirits tongues interpretation of tongues” (1 Cor 12), so common in the Early Church and in nations where the Church is persecuted e.g. David Stephens’ testimonies from Timor Leste. The climax of human existence comes when the holy Lamb=Word of God Returns to Judge all powers that have deformed and distorted human time, and he comes accompanied by those who have faithfully borne witness to him across the ages (John 1:1-18; Rev 19:10. 14), both angels and saints like us (https://www.voxviva.app/en/comment/14704 cf. 1 Cor 6:3).
Conclusion
Today God is demystifying the Incarnation and Trinity so that we might worship the Father in Spirit and Truth (John 4:24). Instead of approaching Jesus through the lens of our broken time and fractured consciences, with the help of the Gospel (Heb 9:14) by faith we see time in its transformation in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the all-beautifying humanity of the Son of God. In Christ, time has been redeemed into the eternal rest of God (Gen 1:31ff.; John 19:30). In Christ, everything from birth to death (Irene Burton’s funeral), is beautiful in its time (Eccl 3:11).
“Christ’s wounds have healed all time” (Reeves cf. Isa 53:5), “to be in Jesus is to be alive in the intimacy at the centre of the universe” (Darrell Johnson) Eternal life means complete interpersonal communion with a perfectly loving God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The matchless majesty and scope of creation was planned by our heavenly Father to be shared everlastingly with the Lamb slain and raised for us (Rev 5:6). In due time Jesus will Return and will all be “raised immortal” (1 Cor 15:15-58) into the riches of communion with a community of perfect love. What does this mean for now?
This present passing age (1 Cor 7:31) is pregnant with the patience of God allowing people time to repent (2 Pet 3:15-18). We must “redeem the time” (Eph 5:16) in our mission to obey the command of the eternal God (Rom 16:26) to “go…make disciples… of all nations”, a command issued by Jesus indwelling the full authority of God the Father in the inestimable power of the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:18-20). In obedient going the Lord of time will make time for us, for he is Lord of all powers that resist his will, all our efforts to bring him glory through the eternal Gospel (Rev 14:6) shall be blessed. We are in “the last times’ (1 Pet 1:20 cf. Acts 2:17; Heb 1:2), a time of unprecedented urgency for the obedience of the Church and the salvation of the lost. ““Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Rev 22:12). In Christ our sinful past of believers is no more so that our future is filled with the righteousness of God in Christ (1 Cor 1:30)! We cannot presently imagine the dimensions of the new creation in Christ except to walk forward by faith “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”. (Eph 3:20) awaiting the new age when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:4) The Lordship of Jesus over time, which we can enjoy now, will never be boring. “Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from[f] faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.” (Rom 16:25-27)