We need to understand how time and eternity interact. Most people think time is linear - there’s eternity at one end, then a time line, then eternity at the other end. Perhaps this looks familiar:
eternity)---time---(eternity
But that image is wrong. What we need to picture is a wheel. A wheel has a hub and a rim. Imagine God and eternity existing in the hub, and time running along the rim. With this image in mind we can see how, like randomly inserted spokes, God can reach out and touch any point in time, at any point in time.
We also need to understand that what happens in one realm reflects upon the other (Matthew 18:18)… the two interact much like the light caught between two facing mirrors. What happens in one reflects in the other, then back to the first and returning again and again in an endless chain. That’s part of that eternal being thing... once set in motion, it reflects forever.
But think about it. The day you are born, God enters the world to walk beside you until you die, and then He takes you home. Having spent your whole life with you, retreating only to bring you back into the hub with Him, from there God enters the world when your best friend is born, spends his entire life with him, until He brings him home. Then again, reaching into time the day King David was born, spend his entire life with him, until He brings him home. That’s how God is able to be with all of us, all of the time, at the same time.
It also shows how, even tho for all men it is appointed to die, the believer shall never die. Because at the moment they die they are caught up with God to Life. Unbelievers take a dirt nap until their appointed resurrection. But for believers the resurrection occurs immediately. To us, it appears linear. But to God, our time means nothing. "Today you shall be with me in paradise" Christ told the thief. Not "be patient and I'll be back for your soul some day".
As an aside, it also brings up the role of praise and thanksgiving for answered prayer, as our worship here on the rim after an event goes into the eternal hub before God, Who can then react back upon it at any point in time, including that which to us is past. That is how praise and thanksgiving for answered prayer can influence the outcome of what we’re rejoicing over before it even happens. And it’s why we should be thankful people as a matter of nature.
And to answer another question in this thread, we do reunite with our physical bodies on the other side. Is Christ's physical body still in the grave? No, it was taken up and redeemed and now serves as His spiritual body. It will be the same with us.
eternity)---time---(eternity
But that image is wrong. What we need to picture is a wheel. A wheel has a hub and a rim. Imagine God and eternity existing in the hub, and time running along the rim. With this image in mind we can see how, like randomly inserted spokes, God can reach out and touch any point in time, at any point in time.
We also need to understand that what happens in one realm reflects upon the other (Matthew 18:18)… the two interact much like the light caught between two facing mirrors. What happens in one reflects in the other, then back to the first and returning again and again in an endless chain. That’s part of that eternal being thing... once set in motion, it reflects forever.
But think about it. The day you are born, God enters the world to walk beside you until you die, and then He takes you home. Having spent your whole life with you, retreating only to bring you back into the hub with Him, from there God enters the world when your best friend is born, spends his entire life with him, until He brings him home. Then again, reaching into time the day King David was born, spend his entire life with him, until He brings him home. That’s how God is able to be with all of us, all of the time, at the same time.
It also shows how, even tho for all men it is appointed to die, the believer shall never die. Because at the moment they die they are caught up with God to Life. Unbelievers take a dirt nap until their appointed resurrection. But for believers the resurrection occurs immediately. To us, it appears linear. But to God, our time means nothing. "Today you shall be with me in paradise" Christ told the thief. Not "be patient and I'll be back for your soul some day".
As an aside, it also brings up the role of praise and thanksgiving for answered prayer, as our worship here on the rim after an event goes into the eternal hub before God, Who can then react back upon it at any point in time, including that which to us is past. That is how praise and thanksgiving for answered prayer can influence the outcome of what we’re rejoicing over before it even happens. And it’s why we should be thankful people as a matter of nature.
And to answer another question in this thread, we do reunite with our physical bodies on the other side. Is Christ's physical body still in the grave? No, it was taken up and redeemed and now serves as His spiritual body. It will be the same with us.