One Torah for All

 

One Torah shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.

Exodus 12:49

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Time

 

Everyone seems to be keenly aware of time in our fast paced culture.  Many people wear watches.  We fill our homes with clocks.  Today we have clocks built into our VCRs, DVD players, microwaves, stoves, and, in some cases, even refrigerators.  We find time-measuring devices to be an integral part of computers, cell phones, and other electronic gadgets.  There are clocks on banks, stores, in the town square, and at all sorts of other businesses.  Nearly everywhere we look, there are clocks to show us what time it is.  We cannot get away from time.  We seem to be bound to our schedules and time.  Even if there were no clocks present to show the measurement of time, there still would be measurement with the travel of the sun, moon, and stars through the sky, not to mention the internal clocks that we all seem to possess.

The concept of time is one that is not easily grasped or defined.  One can easily grasp the passing of a minute or some other measurement, but what is it that these units actually measure?  Do they measure time, or is it something else?  We hope to demonstrate that what a second, minute, hour, day, week, month, or year measures is, in fact, not time at all; but these are actually the measurement of an event or events.

Let us briefly examine the unit of measure called a year, first.  What is a year?  365 days.  But is that all?  No.  A year is the length of an event.  The event in question, is how long does it take for the earth to travel around the sun in one orbit?  That is what a year is.  In Scripture, it begins with the observation of barley in the green ear.  Then it ends, and begins again with that same observation, barley in the green (Aviv) ear (coupled with the New Moon).  The barley being in the green ear always happens in the spring of the year, and must always be so.

What about a month?  What event does this measure?  A month is how long it takes for the moon to go through one complete cycle, beginning at a new moon (first visible crescent), and then the cycle ends, and begins again, with the next new moon, in 29 to 30 days (occasionally in 28 days).

What about a week?  Seven days.  What is it that the week measures?  It is a commemoration of the creation.  Six days you should labor and on the seventh you should rest.  A week measures how long it took YHWH to create the heavens and the earth.  Even though we can no longer directly observe this particular event (because it is completed), we still count the days in groups of seven.  And that much we can do by observation (that is, by actually counting the days).

What about a day?  It measures from sunset to the next sunset, or one complete revolution of the earth upon its axis.  In modern times these units called “days” are further broken down into hours, minutes, and seconds (and in science these units are further broken down into even smaller units).  But when a person looks at the foregoing units; i.e., year, month, day, these units are measurements of events that we can easily observe.  Please note that the measurement of a week was not included in this list as it falls into a slightly different category because we can no longer directly observe the week of creation in the same way that we can observe the revolution of the earth or the trip of the earth around the sun.

So the question remains, does a year measure time?  What about a month?  Or, what about a day?  Do these units of measure actually measure time?  Or, do they really only measure the particular events that they are intimately tied to?  As one knows, the number of days in a week is always the same, but not so for a month or a year.  Nor is the number of weeks the same in a month or even in a year.

Does a clock actually measure time?  Or does it measure something else?  A clock measures an event.  And what is the event that a clock measures?  It is the event of the earth rotating upon its axis; and indirectly, also the earth traveling around the sun.  The hours, minutes, and seconds are just fractions of that particular event.  So is this really time? 

If this is not time, then what is time?  Is it only something on a clock?  Is time just the second hand moving around the face of the timepiece, along with the minute hand and the hour hand?  Is this all there is to time?  Or is there much more to this concept than a casual glance will reveal?

This is what we normally call time, but is this really time?  Or is time something else altogether?  I submit to you that it is, in fact, something very different.

What does Scripture reveal about the concept of time that can be helpful to us in gaining some insight that will help us live better lives?

There are more than fifty different words translated into English from Hebrew as time.  This somewhat illustrates the difficulty in understanding this concept.  Many of these words are dealing with particular events that occur at regular intervals, illustrating that there is one aspect of this subject that is actually dealing with events rather than this thing called “time”.

For the purposes of our study, we need to define some terms for us to use throughout this study.  This way we can use these terms and understand what we are referring to without getting confused (hopefully).

The first term that we need to define is event time.  For the purposes of our study, we will define event time, as that which pertains to, and is associated with, an event.  Event time is the length of duration of a particular event.  Event time is what the majority of the Hebrew terms in the Tanak are actually dealing with.  Event time is also clock time.

We often express event time in terms of past, present, or future.  Past, present, or future most often is in reference to some event, thus dealing with event time.  In a very real sense, this is the only time that we can truly know (at least for the present), for we all live it every moment of every day (which are actually events in and of themselves).  In fact, we cannot place ourselves outside of this concept, for our bodies function in event time continually.  The fact that we live in event time is the very reason that we have such a great difficulty in truly understanding the concept of what time actually is.

In a very real sense, we are only present in the event of now, the present.  The moment that is now as it passes into the past, is replaced by another moment from the future and becomes now.  This is continual and constant!  We will discuss this in more detail below.

So those things that we described above: the year, month, week, day, hours, minutes, and seconds, are all types of event time.  The challenge of this study then, is to actually come to terms with real time and give it a definitive definition according to Scripture.  But it seems that we cannot do this without also examining event time in some detail.

Event time then is an event that happens in the physical world in which we presently exist.  For example consider the following passage.

 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

 

(1) לַכֹּל זְמָן | וְעֵת לְכָל חֵפֶץ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם:       
(2) עֵת לָלֶדֶת       וְעֵת לָמוּת
     עֵת לָטַעַת       וְעֵת לַעֲקוֹר נָטוּעַ:
(3) עֵת לַהֲרוֹג       וְעֵת לִרְפּוֹא
     עֵת לִפְרוֹץ       וְעֵת לִבְנוֹת:
(4) עֵת לִבְכּוֹת      וְעֵת לִשְׂחוֹק
     עֵת סְפוֹד        וְעֵת רְקוֹד:
(5) עֵת לְהַשְׁלִיךְ אֲבָנִים
                           וְעֵת כְּנוֹס אֲבָנִים
     עֵת לַחֲבוֹ        וְעֵת לִרְחֹק מֵחַבֵּק:
(6) עֵת לְבַקֵּשׁ      וְעֵת לְאַבֵּד
     עֵת לִשְׁמוֹר     וְעֵת לְהַשְׁלִיךְ:
(7) עֵת לִקְרוֹעַ      וְעֵת לִתְפּוֹר
     עֵת לַחֲשׁוֹת     וְעֵת לְדַבֵּר:
(8) עֵת לֶאֱהֹב      וְעֵת לִשְׂנֹא
     עֵת מִלְחָמָה    וְעֵת שָׁלוֹם:

 

As the reader has probably already noticed that the word time is repeated over and over again in this passage.  The English word time is translated from the Hebrew word עֵת (êt - pronounced as ate), which is understood to mean: 1a) time of an event; 1b) time (usual); 1c) experiences, fortunes; 1d) occurrence, occasion.  Please note the concept of an event in each case of this definition.  This is the most common Hebrew word that is translated as “time”.  And, as we see in the passage above, this word עֵת is used 29 times and in each and every case it is used in the context of an event.

The one major aspect of event time that we need to understand, is that event time is temporal.  What this means is that event time is passing, temporary, and transitory.  It can have little or nothing to do with eternity, or it can have everything to do with eternity.  In this study, we refer to eternity as real time.  However, as we will see shortly, event time and real time intersect in the physical realm.  (More on this below.)

The second term that we want to define is real time.  For the purposes of our study, real time is somewhat more ethereal (otherworldly); i.e., real time is dealing with the spiritual realm (and events in the spiritual realm) and with eternity.  Therefore, it is much more difficult to put into definitive terms.  We will use the term real time to mean that which is not event time.  We will build and add to this definition as we progress through this study.

Time – whether we are speaking of event time or real time, each has a correlation to the other.  That correlation is order.  By this we mean that both have the concept of sequence inherent in them.  That is, the events flow from one to another in a logical order of sequence of the events that are respective to each realm.  The difference is, that those events in event time are in the physical realm, and those events that happen in real time are those in the spiritual realm. 

What this means, basically, is that we have a concrete way to measure the event in the physical realm and assign to it a date, a unit of measure.  This gives us a reference that we can easily understand and communicate to others.  However, this is not true of events that happen in the spiritual realm (real time), because we quite often have nothing concrete to reference the events to in the physical realm (event time).

Hence, the great difficulty we have in trying to reconcile prophetic events (especially those that are yet future) that YHWH has recorded in Scripture (real time) to the event time of the physical realm.

Please notice in the following passage at least two words that are important to our study.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time: also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that Elohim has done from the beginning even to the end.

 

(11) אֶת הַכֹּל עָשָׂה יָפֶה בְעִתּוֹ | גַּם אֶת הָעֹלָם נָתַן בְּלִבָּם מִבְּלִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִמְצָא הָאָדָם אֶת הַמַּעֲשֶׂה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה הָאֱלֹהִים מֵרֹאשׁ וְעַד
סוֹף:

 

One of those words בְעִתּוֹ (b’ito) is a form of the word עֵת that we looked at above.  The other word is הָעֹלָם (ha’olam) the base word being עוֹלָם (olam) which is translated as “eternity” in this verse.  It is this word עוֹלָם (olam) that is the beginning of our understanding of real time

The three letter root of this word עוֹלָם (olam) is עָלָם (alam) which means “to hide” or “conceal”.  This gives us an indication of the difficulty that we are facing in understanding real time.  This is primarily so, because generally we cannot see nor experience real time with our physical senses; i.e., we cannot measure it, we cannot see it, we cannot touch it, we cannot hear it, we cannot taste it, and we cannot smell it.  So how do we know that it even exists?

We know that real time exists because Scripture tells us that it exists.  The question is, what can we know about it?  We will discuss this more below.  Before we go further into real time, let us discuss more about event time; hopefully, to have a better foundation whereby we can come to understand real time and its relationship to us.

 

Measuring Event Time

One of the more famous experiments involving time is Einstein’s experiment in which he took two identical clocks set to the exact same time.  He then sent one clock on a journey and the other one remained stationary.  The clock that went on the journey when it returned had a different time registering on the face of the clock.

Einstein then believed that he had proven that time was variable and that light was constant.  However, this is slightly in error.  What Einstein actually proved was that the measurement of time was variable, not that time itself was variable.  In order for his theory of relativity to work, there needed to be a constant.  He made that constant to be light because of this experiment.  However, as we will demonstrate below, light is not constant.

Let us consider something called the Doppler Effect.  Christian Doppler first proposed this in 1842.  Basically, when something is moving towards you or away from you, there is a difference in the sound.  All of us have heard a siren coming towards us and then pass us and proceed away from us.  The difference in the sound is known as the Doppler Effect.

We not only see this effect in sound, but we also note this effect in light.  We generally see stars as either blue or red.  These different colors correspond to whether the star is moving towards us (blue) or the star is moving away from us (red).  Contrary to the Big Bang theory in which it should be expected to see all or most of the stars moving outward from a central point (the center of the big bang), what scientists actually see is about an equal number of stars moving toward us (blue) and stars moving away from us (red).  If light was constant, we would not see any difference in light from an object that was moving toward us or away from us.

Also, let us consider a prism.  Many of us have used a prism in a science experiment to take a beam of light and divide it into the color spectrum.  If light was constant, light could not be divided into its different color spectrums.

Also, science has shown that gravity bends light.  In fact, astronomers have been able to make some of their discoveries because light does bend.  Gravity and other physical forces such as black holes affect light and the path that it travels.  This indicates the physical nature of light, showing to us that, because light does, in fact, have physical characteristics, it therefore cannot be constant.

Another recent development in the use of light is fiber optics.  This is basically either a glass or plastic strand through which light is passed after it has been modified to carry a signal like a phone call.  If light were constant, then it could not be modified to carry this type of signal.  What science is actually learning is that light is just another form of electricity.

Then there are lasers.  Lasers are highly focused beams of light that have been modified to do a specific task depending on the desired effect.  If light were constant, then lasers would not be possible. 

Even more recent is the mathematical discovery of the tachyon (pronounced tack-e-on).  This is an element that actually travels a billion times faster than the speed of light.  It travels so fast that it passes through all solid objects which are not really solid, but only appear that way to us in the physical realm.  Einstein did not believe anything could travel faster than the speed of light, which was why he probably chose to make light a constant.

These facts about light are pointed out to show that light is, in fact, not constant.  If light were at a constant speed, then there could hardly be such a thing as the Doppler Effect or the use and development of fiber optics.  If light were constant, other physical forces (such as gravity) would have no effect upon it, nor could it be altered to carry a phone message thru fiber optics.

This is pertinent to our study on time, in that we need to see and understand that what Einstein actually proved, was that it was the measurement of (event) time that is variable.  Event time is variable; i.e., it does not always take the same length of duration for the earth to travel around the sun, or the moon to travel around the earth, or the earth to rotate upon its axis.  And the measurement of event time is certainly variable.  Unlike event time, real time is not variable.  We will examine why real time, unlike event time, is not variable below.

When we understand that both the clocks in Einstein’s experiment have physical properties, we can see that forces such as gravity, centripetal, and centrifugal forces (as well as others), do, in fact, have an effect upon these clocks.  Then we would see that these forces would not affect the individual clocks in the same manner, because one clock would be stationary and one clock would be moving.  We can then clearly see that it was not time that was different for each clock, but rather it was the effects of these different forces upon the moving clock that caused it to measure differently from the clock that was stationary.

It would seem that our technology has just about peaked out.  That is, it cannot proceed much further laboring under its current theories that are based upon a theory that is slightly flawed.  It is interesting to note that technology seems to come in spurts.  That is, a major discovery will happen and then there will be a technological boom until that discovery peaks or gives us about all that it can give us.  We have reached or neared a peak.  The next quantum leap in technology will come when scientists adjust Einstein’s theory to the understanding that light is variable.  This will most likely give us our next leap in technology.

The reason that Einstein’s theory works as well as it does, is because his theory is based upon event time.  And as we have seen, the measurement of event time is variable.  Therefore, there has been (as should be expected) a limited amount of success in using this theory to further technology.

 

What is Real Time

Let us consider an illustration.

Let us have a room represent our life.  In that room there are two doors, one door to enter the room and the other door to exit the room.  The first door to enter the room represents a person’s birth.  The second door to exit the room represents the person’s death.  As long as a person is in the room they are alive (physically). 

The path (amount of time) taken to go through the room represents the length of a person’s life.  So, if a person could learn how to remain in the room, they would not die; i.e., exit the room (in a metaphorical sense).

What we see in this illustration, is that it is the person moving through the room and not the room that is moving.  If we were to understand that the room also represented (real) time we would come to understand that real time is not moving, rather we are moving through real time; albeit, one moment at a time.  This is also true of event time; i.e., event time is also moving through real time.  That is, the room itself (event time) is also moving through real time.  Thus, while we are in the room, not only are we moving, but the room itself is also moving through real time.

While we have the room representing the event of a person’s life, we could easily expand that room to include a much larger event than a person’s life.  We could expand it to say it was the birth, life, and death of a nation, which may include several hundred (or even thousands of) years.  We could even expand it to include the birth, life, and death of a planet; e.g., earth.

The size of the room does not matter; for whatever the size of the room that we desire to illustrate, it is easy to see that it is never the room that is moving (from our perspective).  Rather, it is what is moving through the room that holds our attention, when it should be the room itself that we need to focus upon in order to gain understanding as to what real time is.

Whatever we have the room to illustrate, it is representative of some form of event time.  However, what we need to come to understand, is that it is in this room that event time and real time intersect.  And if we can transfer our lives from living in event time to living in real time, then we will, in fact, stay in the room and not die.  That is to say that we will not die spiritually; albeit, we will probably die physically.  

Some clarification seems to be in order at this point concerning the foregoing.

 

Now

If someone told you that they wanted you to do something for them right now, you would understand when it was that they wanted it done.  And most of us do have some kind of understanding of what now is.

However, if we were to ask the question of how long is now, we would get a wide variety of answers.  So just how long is now?  There has been much written on this subject and some of the discussion is very interesting.

But we are not quite so concerned with how long now is, as we are with: does now ever end?

Please consider the following passage.

Qorintayei Bet [2nd Corinthians] 6:1-2
1 And working together (with him) we entreat also that ye receive not the grace of Elohim in vain
2(for he said,” At an acceptable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation did I help you; behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation).”

When is the day of salvation according to the passage above?  Right now!

I grew up going to and worshipping in first-day churches.  I am not pleased about that, but that is how YHWH ordered the early part of my life.  I have heard many of the dear old saints (as they were known in the church) stand up and give their testimony about how they were saved when they were x number of years old and then when they were x age, they were sanctified wholly.  There was a saying that was said in the church and laughed about (although it is not really funny), “saved, sanctified, and petrified.” 

These dear old people could tell you exactly when (and where) they had gotten saved.  Now mind you, there is nothing wrong in knowing that information.  However, if that is where a person’s focus is at (in the past), then that person is quite probably in trouble!

According to this verse, our salvation is not in the past, rather our salvation is in the present.  It is in the now!

Here is another verse to consider.

Timote’os Bet [2nd Timothy] 1:9
9 Who saved us, and called us with a set-apart calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Mashiach Yeshua before times eternal.

Now, I am not a Greek scholar by any means.  However, it is my understanding that the Greek word that is translated into the English “saved” is in the aroist tense.  What this means, basically, is that this word is simultaneously past, present, and future.  So the proper understanding of this would be, “Who saved us; Who is saving us; and Who will save us.”  This needs to be kept in mind in reading this verse (and others like it), so that one’s understanding will be complete and not just partial.

So, the basic challenge before us is to learn how to extend and enlarge our now.  What this basically means, is that we need to learn how to function and operate in such a way that we are constantly hearing His Voice and obeying Him moment by moment; i.e., in the now.  So, that while our salvation began in the past, it also is in the present now, and we continually choose to live our lives hearing and obeying His Voice, which continually extends our present salvation into all the future nows that He mercifully gives to us.

It seems that it is at this very point that real time intersects with event time.  So by listening for, hearing, and obeying His Voice, we are making the events of real time a reality in event time

 

The Concept of Olam

The first place that this word appears in Scripture is found in B’reshit 3:22

B’reshit [Genesis] 3:22

 

22 And YHWH Elohim said, “Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:”

 

 

(22) וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים הֵן הָאָדָם הָיָה כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע | וְעַתָּה פֶּן יִשְׁלַח יָדוֹ וְלָקַח גַּם מֵעֵץ הַחַיִּים וְאָכַל וָחַי לְעֹלָם:

 

Please note, that in the passage above, YHWH states that He is concerned that man could eat of the tree of life and live forever in his sinful state.  Before we proceed let us look at some definitions of the word “olam”.

From Brown, Driver, and Briggs:

H5769 - עלם   /   עולם - ‛ôlâm
1) long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world
1a) ancient time, long time (of past)
1b) (of future)
1b1) for ever, always
1b2) continuous existence, perpetual
1b3) everlasting, indefinite or unending future, eternity
Part of Speech: noun masculine

And from Strong’s:

H5769 - עלם    עולם - ‛ôlâm  ‛ôlâm - o-lawm', o-lawm'
From H5956; properly concealed, that is, the vanishing point; generally time out of mind (past or future), that is, (practically) eternity; frequentative adverbially (especially with prepositional prefix) always: - always (-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever (-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end).  Compare H5331, H5703.

The word “olam” is from Strong’s number 5956, which is as follows.

H5956 - עלם - ‛âlam - aw-lam'
A primitive root; to veil from sight, that is, conceal (literally or figuratively): -  X any ways, blind, dissembler, hide (self), secret (thing).

As we can see from the definitions provided by Brown’s, Driver and Briggs and Strong’s that the basic idea of “olam” concerns something that is concealed or veiled.  This is certainly true about what is on the other side of this life, what we usually think of as eternity as it is veiled from our physical senses.

With this concept in mind let us look at a few passages of Scripture dealing with real time (eternity – olam - עולם ).  For the reader’s convenience we will underline those words that have been translated from the word olam.

Tehillim [Psalm] 61:4
Let me dwell in Your tent forever; Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.  Selah.

Please note the presence of the word tent and how that corresponds to our earlier illustration of the room.  If we can learn how to dwell in His tent (rather than our own tent-room), then we will in fact be living in real time (eternity) in this present physical world.  More on this below.

B’reshit [Genesis] 21:33
And Avraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheva, and called there on the name of YHWH, the Everlasting Elohim.

As we should expect to find the word עולם is intimately associated with YHWH, for He is the Everlasting One!  What we are beginning to see in this passage, is that real time is actually an attribute of Elohim.  It is this fact, that real time is actually an integral part of who YHWH is– eternity is and flows from YHWH, for He is the One who is, who was and who shall be; that we begin to see time as an attribute of YHWH.

Shemot [Exodus] 3:15
And Elohim said moreover to Moshe, “Thus shall you say to the children of Yisrael, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Avraham, the Elohim of Yitzchak, and the Elohim of Ya’aqov, has sent me to you: this is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”

Please note that YHWH tells us that YHWH is His name forever (olam). 

Tehillim [Psalm] 9:7
But YHWH sits as King for ever: He has prepared his throne for judgment;

Again, we see that YHWH’s reign is forever.

Tehillim [Psalm] 37:27
Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

Likewise, if we are to dwell with YHWH in real time (עולם – eternity), then we are going to have to stop seeking to please ourselves (doing evil) and seek to hear and obey His Voice (doing good).

Now let us add to this another word, the word עד (ad – pronounced “odd”), which means essentially the same thing as olam except with a different focus.  Let us look at a definition and then bring out what the difference between these two words is.

The following is from Strong’s Concordance.

H5703 עד - ‛ad - ad
From H5710; properly a (peremptory) terminus, that is, (by implication) duration, in the sense of perpetuity (substantially as a noun, either with or without a preposition): - eternity, ever (-lasting, -more), old, perpetually, + world without end.

While olam is the concealed vanishing point (forever), ad is dealing more with the duration or the whole period between now and that vanishing point.

The following verse is the first verse that contains the Hebrew word ad, and it also happens to contain the Hebrew word olam.

Shemot [Exodus] 15:18 

 

YHWH shall reign for ever and ever.

 

יְהוָה יִמְלֹךְ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד

In the previous verse we see that YHWH shall reign forever and ever.  How would this be possible if He was not the Eternal One?  And since He is, in fact, the Eternal One, we can see that real time (eternity) is actually one of His many attributes.

Let us look at one more passage of Scripture that has both olam and ad in the text.

Yeshayah [Isaiah] 30:8 

 

Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the latter day, for ever and ever.

 

עַתָּה בּוֹא כָתְבָהּ עַל לוּחַ אִתָּם וְעַל סֵפֶר חֻקָּהּ | וּתְהִי לְיוֹם אַחֲרוֹן לָעַד עַד עוֹלָם:

This is a very informative verse because it has this phrase at the end:

לָעַד עַד עוֹלָם:

Please notice the repeat of the word ad.  We have the word ad twice along with the word olam.  And since ad is dealing with the duration, what this may be teaching us, is that the writing in this book is not just for the present time, but also for the time to come or the olam haba (the world to come).  This seems to be a very wonderful and reassuring promise to those who keep His commandments.

This phrase only occurs three times in Scripture, all in Yeshayah.  The other two places are 26:4; 45:17.  The subject of each of these three passages is basically the same: eternal salvation.

 

An Unchanging Elohim

Malachi 3:6 
For I, YHWH, change not; therefore you, sons of Ya’aqov, are not consumed.

Tehillim [Psalm] 102:26-27 
26 They shall perish, but You shall endure;
Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment;
As a vesture shall You change them, and they shall be changed:
27  But You are the same,
And Your years shall have no end.

Ya’aqov [James] 1:17 
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.

These are just a few of the verses that we could quote to support the concept that the Creator of the universe is unchanging.  He does not lose anything, nor does He gain anything, because He is perfect in every way.

The thing that we need to glean from this, is that since YHWH is unchanging, and since we have already seen that real time flows from Him and in fact is one of His attributes, we can rightly conclude that real time (eternity) is constant and unchanging.  So the question that we asked earlier is now come to the front; how should this affect the way that we live in the here and now?

 

Real Time Injected into Event Time

Qorintyah [1st Corinthians] 15:28 
And when all things have been subjected unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subjected to Him that did subject all things unto Him, that Elohim may be all in all.

At some point in this flow of events, one of the events that is coming, as seen in the above passage, is that all things that are not now subject to Him, will be placed into subjection to Him who is our Creator.  In order to accomplish this YHWH came into this world in the form of a man.

Yochanan [John] 17:3 
“And this is life eternal, that they should know You the only true Elohim, and Him whom You did send, even Yeshua Mashiach.”

When Yeshua came into this realm, in a very real sense it was real time being injected into event time.  Since He is the Creator of this realm, when He came into it in the form of a man, He injected eternity into this realm, into event time.  Part of the significance of this can be seen in the fact that even the way that we reference time was changed.  From the moment of that injection, we now reference events as coming either before or after that moment or that event.

While this did happen in the past, about two thousand years ago, it only happened in a general sense.  By this we mean that this event of real time being injected into event time does affect every person in event time, but only in a general sense or only in an objective way.  In order for this event to make any true difference to a person individually, then real time must be injected into their personal life.   Let us examine a few passages to see what Scripture can show us.

Yeshayah [Isaiah] 55:6 
You seek YHWH while He may be found;
You call upon Him while He is near.

What this passage tells us, is that there is a season (event time) in which we can seek and find YHWH.  Likewise, there is also a season in which it has become too late to seek and find YHWH.  Let me tell you about a former fellow worker of mine.  This happened about thirty years ago.  We would often go for a break to the restaurant in the same block where were worked.  It was not unusual for us to talk about Scripture.  This particular day our discussion took on a more serious note than usual.  My co-worker’s name was Bob.  I asked Bob some pretty heart-searching questions.  He was not ready at that time to make a commitment to Messiah.  But he said something to me that day that I shall never forget.  He said that he would like for me to inform him just before things got really bad, so that he could accept Messiah as his personal Savior, so that he could continue on living the way that he wanted to right now.  I told him that would not work for at least two reasons.  1) What if we were no longer in contact with each other? and 2) if he just continued to live however he wanted to, then his heart would grow hard and he would not want to accept Messiah later.  Now was the day of salvation, and if he let it pass, it may not come around again.  There was just no way to know for sure if he would have another chance and why would he take such a chance as this?

The truth is, that YHWH wants to inject Himself into each of our lives daily, if we would but ask Him.  This, in part, is what it means that now is the day of salvation and now is the acceptable time. 

Kepha Aleph [1st Peter] 1:24 
For,
All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls;

Notice that mankind is as the grass; that he is here in event time for only a very short season.  As such what this should teach us, is that we need to make good use of the little (event) time that we have been allotted.  If we fail to do this according to His word, then we cannot expect for Him to allow us to experience real time in its fullness.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

 

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time: also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that Elohim has done from the beginning even to the end.

 

(11) אֶת הַכֹּל עָשָׂה יָפֶה בְעִתּוֹ | גַּם אֶת הָעֹלָם נָתַן בְּלִבָּם מִבְּלִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִמְצָא הָאָדָם אֶת הַמַּעֲשֶׂה אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה הָאֱלֹהִים
מֵרֹאשׁ וְעַד סוֹף:

 

Please note that YHWH has set eternity in our hearts.  It is up to us to find that eternity and to dwell in that place.  Please consider these words of Mashiach.

Yochanan [John] 4:14 
“but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.”

YHWH has placed in each one of us His eternity.  When a person does not allow Him to fill that place that only He can fill, or if a person attempts to fill it with some created thing, then when that person dies (exits the room), and they have not learned how to dwell in the now, eternity (real time) then passes them by.  This would truly be tragic!

Tehillim [Psalm] 18:2 
YHWH is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
My Elohim, my rock, in whom I will take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

Please note that YHWH is our salvation.  Now please note the following passage.

Qorintyah [1st Corinthians] 10:4 
and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock was Mashiach.

YHWH is our deliverer and our salvation and He came in the form of a man whose name was Yeshua.  If we are to find eternity, then we must of necessity, find Mashiach, for without Mashiach we cannot find that intersection of real time with event time.

Let us purpose in our lives to live only for Him; for in doing so, we will begin even now to live in real time.  And living in real time is something that is not an option if we are to enter into the olam haba (the world to come).  The sooner that we begin to put aside the things of this world and putting aside living in event time, and begin to live in His (real) time, the better off we will be.

The biggest hindrance to living in His time is our own selfish desires and finiteness in which it is difficult for us to see beyond the here and now, while continually gratifying our fleshly desires.  This is where exercising our faith on a daily basis, even a moment by moment basis, is crucial to walking according to His Voice.  For, when we either get behind or ahead of His Voice and are walking only to the thoughts and dictates of our own thinking, then we are not walking towards eternity, but rather away from it.  Walking in this manner, walking only in event time, can only end in one tragic result:  not having a place in the olam haba, the world to come.

The teachings of Mashiach are essential to understanding how to walk in this life so that we are walking according to real time, His time.  For example, Mashiach taught us to love YHWH our Elohim with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as one’s self.  Doing these things causes us to walk according to His time.  When we let Him actually reign in our daily living so that we are acting in accordance to His commandments, rather than allowing the events around us to dictate what we are doing and saying; then His love will flow through us and this will enable us to live daily in real time.

Let us always remember that everything that happens to us in this (event time) is only temporary and passing.  Let us remember that it is those things that we do for Him in real time that will have any lasting value.

Mattithyah [Matthew] 6:19 
19 “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
20  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal;
21  for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Whose time do you treasure?

Do you treasure His time?  Or do you treasure your time?  The only way to treasure His time and thus lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven is to make His time your own time.  This simply means living according to His time, according to real time

Has real time (Mashiach) been injected into your event time?  And if not, don’t you think that it is time for this to happen?

ABBA YHWH, we desire to dwell with You in eternity.  Please teach us how to begin doing that now in this life!  In the name of Yeshua our Mashiach,

Amein and Amein.

Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

 

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