23. TIME AS THE PATTERN OF THE HEAVENS

23. TIME AS THE PATTERN OF THE HEAVENS

     Jesus Christ is the Light of the World! Be sure to review last week's lesson Christ as Light, "the Firstborn of Every Creature." Then God created Time when He created the sun, moon and stars, symbols of the Original Light.
     Come on! Take a little time and meditate on this. It will bless you greatly! And you will be prepared to see Christ in His exalted role of Light and Time. May you receive this revelation, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Concepts Of Time

       The concept of time is most troublesome in interpreting and translating the Bible. It is futile to deal with verb tense outside of the system within which it must work. For example, in English we view time through the metaphor of a line. We therefore view verbs as having tense related to a position on a time-line from past, through present, to future. We can hardly grasp the concept of anything other than linear time. Yet it seems that Biblical Hebrew and Greek verbs do not altogether fit the model of linear time.[1]

       The idea is sometimes put forward that the only alternative to linear time is circular or cyclical time, as expressed through the metaphor of the wheel. While there are cultures that hold the cyclical view of time, there is, however, another alternative and that is what I believe we will find to be the Biblical view of time. That is the integration of the two:  Time as both a line and a circle, or, as both an arrow and a cycle.[2]

       Not only do the Scriptures recognize both the arrow and the cycle of time, but the record of Biblical events shows that they are not only events in time and space, but also in another dimension that transcends this world order. They are at once both historical and cosmic, literal and spiritual.

       As a system time includes both, (a) the philosophy of time and (b) the method, or formula, for time-reckoning. The philosophy of time within a culture could well be called its world view, for it is in the philosophy of time that the entire cosmos is brought into an integrated system. Time-reckoning is the objective demonstration of the subjective philosophy, therefore the linguistic expressions of time-reckoning can indicate what the background metaphors are.

       In the Biblical Hebrew culture, time-reckoning was the prerogative of the priesthood. In later Rabbinic Judaism, the Jerusalem Sanhedrin of seventy men was given the exclusive right to determine the year, its beginning, and the times of the appointed feasts. This same body was made the keeper and repository of the oral law, (CNT, vol. 4, 102-3).[3]

       What is time? Time is the signature of Light. As God is Light, time is His written Name, but just as a name differs from a signature, so the Name of God is greater than the concept of time.[4]

       Time is the impress of light upon the physical world. Through this impress of time, we have a likeness by which to speak of the power of God’s Name in the earth, both spiritual and natural. As we can only speak of spiritual things through some kind of analogy with natural things, so it is the relationship of time to light that furnishes the analog for relating the Name of God to God Himself.

       Time is the silent, invisible factor in every calculation that determines the ultimate outcome. The final judgment of deeds is their result when multiplied by time.[5] Every true vision of literal reality takes into account the effects of time. Woe to the soul who lives only for ephemeral pleasures! Woe to the generation that lives only for the present! Woe to the nation that has no long-range policies! The message of the Bible is that Man is an eternal being – one who must weigh every decision in the light of eternal time.

       The basic elements of time-reckoning in every culture in the world are based upon the same movements of sun, moon, stars[6] and planets although with adjustments for latitude and longitude. Secondary elements of time-telling are found in prominent seasonal characteristics of each local culture. For example, in the development of the calendar in Egypt, the rising of the Nile came each year in connection with the rising of the star Sirius. Time-reckoning is therefore basically a formula rather than a paradigm.

Cosmology

       To speak of Biblical time is to speak of cosmology. Webster defines cosmology as: “That branch of metaphysics which treats of the character of the universe as an orderly system, or cosmos.” This system, or world view, is described and expressed in various cultures by their calendar.[7] In the era of the writing of the Book of Revelation, there was disagreement among Jewish groups as to which was the proper calendar. Some believed the moon calendar was appropriate and some the sun calendar. This was no mere academic debate but was a serious theological problem.

       Cosmology is the deep structure of time. The surface structure may be expressed in terms of one system or the other among numerous possible systems.[8] The way time is expressed within a culture, however, is a system wherein the relationship of the parts is of the very essence. In a time-telling system, the parts are related with precision, as in a fine clock, so that a part cannot be perfectly understood outside the system, and the system does not work without all its parts or with parts substituted from a different system.

       The Biblical view of the universe is not the modern view based upon the systems of our Roman calendar or that of space exploration. While we consider our view more scientifically correct, theirs was more functional psychologically and biologically, (see below). These differences in world view systems make translation of time-concepts almost impossible without some background information about the system.

       Cosmology for time-telling purposes is based exclusively upon the observable phenomena of the movements of the heavenly bodies in relationship to the earth. It is based upon the appearance of how these various movements relate to each other. It is the system of apparent, observable, constantly recurring cycles. Modern readers who read indoors fail to comprehend the actual dimensions of the time-telling universe.[9] The observation point is the earth, and so it might be said to be an earth-centered cosmology, whereas modern space exploration is based upon the knowledge of galactic systems within the universe. Our Roman calendar is based upon one of the possible systems of time-telling, and is a very good system. Like all other time-telling systems, it is based upon apparent, observable phenomena. Yet, it is not the same system as the Biblical one. (See also Commentary at 1:4 “Asia.”)

Time As The Pattern of the Heavens

       Time, as a Biblical concept, is not an external mechanical process but an organic relationship of earth’s conformity to the “Pattern of the Heavens.” This “Pattern” represents the ideal, the pure, the true, the incorruptible, the immortal. God’s perfect Pattern is shown in the Heavens and should govern in our daily lives: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

       An important aspect of true religion is not merely to mark the times through periodic observances, but rather, by a constant lifestyle and attitude to conform to the image of God; not to worship one or the other, or even all of the heavenly bodies or phenomena, but to walk in a total conformity to the Pattern. It is Man’s vocation and recreation to learn and to take dominion over the whole earth in conformity to the Pattern of the Heavens.

       The whole earth is imprinted by the Pattern: “[The earth] is turned as clay to the seal,” (Job 38:14). Just as the soft clay or wax responded to the impress of the signet seal, so the earth responds to the turning heavens, making day and night, creating seasonal changes, bringing forth herbs, grasses, and grains, producing fruits and fat cattle; then, dying, it is covered by snows and softened by rains.

       The earth reflects the heavens. Just as the vast oceans mirror the heavens, so also Man should reflect as a mirror the pure image of God. He is impressed and molded by the stamp of God’s Name seal upon him. The great truth that the earth was created as an image or reflection of the heavens underlies the Biblical text and its world view.[10] The whole Bible is informed by it; etymology and philology of Biblical words can be enhanced by it; interpretation and translation can be greatly aided by reference to this view. It is a unifying view – all things become a uni-verse, – at one. It is an exalted view, lifting the earthly to an ideal purpose. It is a productive view, bringing the power of times and seasons into the service of the labors of Mankind, but most of all furnishing a comprehensive analog for the universal relationship of God and Man, and exalting the Man Christ Jesus.

This lesson is an edited excerpt from my book Revelation In Context. My book is available at the Living Word Bookstore in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Also available at www.Amazon.com.or www.xulonpress.com . Free downloads are available at www.revelationincontext.sermon.net.

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[1] See also Stanley E. Porter, "Verbal Aspect in NT Greek and Bible Translation, A Review of Research," Tic Talk, (Newsletter of the United Bible Societies Translation Information Clearinghouse, No. 15, Spring, 1991), 1-3.

[2] See Steven Jay Gould, Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time, (Cambridge, Mass. and London, England, Harvard University Press, 1987), 16-19; 72-79; 150-201; 206-08.

[3] It seems clear that what became known as the "oral law," which the Rabbis enlarged and prostituted to their own fleshly wills and emotions, was originally only the lûach, or calendar reckoning information given to Moses on the mount. Since this information was very precise, in exacting detail, and complicated, it remained somewhat of a mystery to those untaught in its intricacies.

     It was unlawful, according to their traditions, to intercalate the year anywhere except in Judea. But even though Lydda was a part of Judea, they were not skilful in "the law," that is, the law of the motions of the heavens that determined the calendar. Lightfoot, Vol. 1, p. 39, quotes from the Jerusalem tractate Sanhedrin: "Is not Lydda a part of Judea? Yes, saith he. Wherefore then do they not transact the intercalation of the year there? – Because they are obstinate, and unskillful in the law."

     The method of reckoning could be established, but the continuing application of the calendar knowledge must be an on-going process, a matter of observation.

[4] W. F. Albright says that the high gods of ancient times may all be related through the concept of Light. He gives the names from many cultures of gods that may be related to Semitic El. The root meaning of the Indo-European words connect them with heaven through the concept of Light, (From Stone Age to Christianity, Garden City, New York, Doubleday, 3^rd edition, 1962).

[5] It is no accident that the term for multiplication is ‘times.’

[6] 2 Esdras 6:45-6 shows the traditional view concerning the creation of time by reference to the sun, moon, and stars: "'On the fourth day thou didst command the brightness of the sun, the light of the moon, and the arrangement of the stars to come into being; and thou didst command them to serve man, who was about to be formed.”

   2 Esdras 6:7 shows that the "dividing of times" means "the end of the first age and the beginning of the age that follows" (ibid.).

[7] "Different Jewish groups had different notions of what the correct calendar was. The calendar represented not only a view of the fundamental nature of reality, but also a practical guide for the observances of the temple cult and the festivals of the religious year," (Adele Yarbro Collins, Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism, Leiden, New York, Köln, E.J. Brill. 1996, p. 10).

[8] The almost infinite variety of possibilities for expressing time are documented and suggested in Martin Nilsson's Primitive Time Reckoning, Acta Societas Humaniorum Litterarum Ludensis Lund, C.W.K. Gleerup; (Longdon, Humphrey Milford; Paris, Edouard Champion; Leipzig, O. Harrassowitz, Oxford University Press; 920, Second edition 1960). Hereafter cited in text.

[9] Malina, Genre and Message, 266. Malina says: "Unlike most persons in industrialized society, the ancients could clearly see the sky in all its starry fullness. For them, the sky was an interactive part of their daily living" (ibid. p. xv).

[10] Neugebauer shows that in Babylonian mathematics of the Hammurabi period there was a strong concept of similarity, (congruence), which later led to geometric calculations. The concept of ratio and proportion followed this idea of similarity. The germ of the idea lies in this tradition of the likeness of heaven and earth (O. Neugebauer, Exact Sciences In Antiquity, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1952, p. 45. Hereafter cited in text.