Freedom from Darkness

ETERNITY Series Lesson One The Great I Am   5 April 2020

Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.

Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God.

John 10:30: I and my Father are one.

Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

We cannot stop the advance of time. It is linear and limited for us. We can only live one moment at a time. In contrast, God is eternal. Any talk of eternity must start with and include Him. Our ability to understand timelessness is limited. Our efforts to grasp some idea of what it means involve ideas and theoretical constructs, for we cannot see time. God gives us memory, imagination, creativity, and history. We can imagine what things past might have been like, or what things future might be like, but we can never inhabit more than one moment of time, even though we may recall what we wish. God’s description of Himself as “I AM” is not just clever wording, it is a depiction of His existence: He simply IS, has always been and always will be. It is always “I AM” for God.

God is a spirit and has no such limitations as we have. He tells us He has no beginning. I won’t pretend that we can understand that, or that I do. But in the same sense that men struggle to understand the world of physics, energy, or the meaning of art, we can think about what it means and come to a useful grasp of it.

The physical world was said to have three dimensions. Two are co-ordinates on an invisible “plane”, such as a map or table. The third co-ordinate is a vertical one, so that you can imagine the intersection of two lines on paper, with a description of height above the paper being the “third dimension” to locate a “Point” in “space.” This is how mathematicians describe a location.

Albert Einstein, the formulator of the theory of relativity, explained a fourth dimension of time. With those four measurements, we can describe when as well as where an object is located.  This is necessary because we are continually moving “through” time. We may come to a specific spot, such as our kitchen sink, every day. But because of the passage of time, we are never at the same spot is “spacetime”. We age; the world has turned; and even though things look the same to us each time, they are not. Preachers have often correctly stated that there will never be another moment in time like that particular service. They were correct!

When asked what are the four dimensions, a physic professor answered thusly:

Rory Coker, Professor of Physics at The University of Texas at Austin (1966-present), Jun 26 2018:

The word "dimension" is used with at least two totally different meanings in physics. For example, physicists say a measurable physical quantity, like charge, has a dimension, just called "charge," and it is measured in "units," the usual unit being the Coulomb. In this sense of the word, the fundamental dimensions of physics are things like length, mass, time, charge, etc. The other use of the word is in reference to "space dimensions." The universe we can observe has three independent space dimensions. Since to specify the location of an object, we also need to specify the time at which it was at that location, we can say that space-time is four-dimensional. Einstein discovered that the distinction between space dimensions and the time dimension is dependent on the inertial frame of reference chosen... in other words, what is a purely time dimension in one frame may be partly one of the space dimensions, and partly the time dimension, in another. For this reason we usually say that the observable universe is four dimensional .

Top left from Stanford University, top right from Wikipedia

Now to make this more complex, let us shift to other things also referred to as “dimensions”:

The strong nuclear force; the weak nuclear force; gravity; electromagnetism; and Einstein’s formulation of what is called “space-time”. He envisioned an invisible relationship between matter that takes into consideration not just where but when matter exists in relation to other matter.

--Because light, or energy, in Einstein’s theory comes from the interactions of the electromagnetic force, scientists have searched for over 100 years for ways to unite energy or light from the electromagnetic force with the other three forces, which are strong and weak nuclear forces and gravity. Two theories, independently developed and proposed by German mathematician Theodor Kaluza and Swedish physicist Oskar Klein suggested the possibility of a fifth dimension where electromagnetism and gravity unify.... https://sciencing.com/5th-dimension-11369444.html

A simple meaning of the theory of “relativity” is that no matter is absolutely “fixed” and therefore its location velocity mass, energy and gravity are ‘relative’ to other matter. This is the beginning of complex descriptions of matter and energy which led to the splitting of the atom. It also is the basis of continuing research which has led to the current state of physics theory. We will later touch on some more theories which believe there are actually TEN dimensions; “string theory”, “quantum physics”, and the search both scientifically and philosophically for what is broadly described as a “unified theory” or “unified field theory”, and how this new knowledge has actually affected unbelieving man’s ideas about God.

Relativity says several more interesting things that may help us imagine what God is describing to us, albeit in ways we can’t yet clearly see. It says that nothing can travel faster than light; that time cannot run backwards; that the distance between objects decreases with increased speed and MASS increases with speed. Therefore, if an object COULD go, let’s say 99.99 percent of the speed of light, time would decrease to only about 1.4 percent of normal, but the weight of the object increases over 10 times its original weight, and the ENERGY required to move that object at that speed because almost incalculable. A truly exciting element of this knowledge comes from the experimental confirmation of an effect called time dilation, predicted by relativity theory. It states that time slows down at higher speeds, with a proportionally slower speed of time as speed increases. Numbers of experiments with particle accelerators have proven the theory to be fact, but none as effectively as the measurements from Galileo 5 and Galileo 6 space probes. They were accidentally placed in orbits with different speeds, and both had precise atomic clocks on board whose readings were monitored extensively. The readings proved that objects moving fast see a slowing of time for themselves compared to objects moving more slowly. (Space.com, Einstein's 'Time Dilation' Gets Pinpoint Measure Thanks to Wayward Satellites By Mike Wall December 06, 2018)

We also know that the massive amount of energy that it takes to split an atom is so great that when atoms are split, the power is that of an atomic explosion. Energy= mass x velocity2is the familiar equation that is associated with relativity. Think of it! Every atom of every molecule of every cell of every structure and organism on earth is held together by unimaginably powerful force. Can we grasp the power of God? No.

Yet the Bible teaches that ALL of that force was created by God in the beginning, “ex nihilo”, that is from nothing; by His command (Ps. 148:5); and is held together by the power of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Creator Godhead (Col. 1:17)

Science has aggressively tried to envision, measure, explain and understand difficult things. Why should not we accept God’s help with the things of God?

1 Corinthians 2:9-10:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Sound complicated? the Bible says: Colossians 1: 17: He is before all things, and by Him all things CONSIST.

Isaiah 40:22: It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

Is. 57:15 a: For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy;...

1 Timothy 1:17: Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen

1 Peter 5:10 a: But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternalglory by Christ Jesus,...

What may we conclude? What visions may we construct on the screens of our minds to help?

1) God is a spirit being, and unencumbered by mass and its attributes. Time slows down for physical objects. Mass increases with speed, as does the energy required to move it. Distance shrinks with speed.

2)  

Why is it then so hard for us to believe in a condition without time, called ETERNITY?

We don’t inhabit it yet as we are in physical bodies. (More another time on the necessity and blessing of physical death in order to be saved and redeemed from theses “bodies of death.”) (Rom. 7:24) We will need for these bodies to die. God will transform us into a body fit for eternity, somewhat like Christ’s.

I am NOT saying God needs a physical means to create, maintain, or inhabit His heavens and universe. I am suggesting that these feeble glimpses from science, into a universe in which TIME virtually does not exist, are consistent with what God has told us about it in the Bible. The Bible does not need to be “proved”. God saying it is enough. But there is physical information about time known to man today.

God will one day dissolve all the matter of which we are aware in this earth, and we will get new bodies.

He will not be limited in eternity or necessarily go by the rules or structures He presently uses.

Isn’t it exciting to see such physical evidence of His creation, power, and rule? Just as God can do anything spiritually, including redemption, so also He can physically. His creation is intricate, intelligent, detailed, and coherent. We will look later at what it means for our spirits to be eternal, what eternity ahead will be like for the lost and the redeemed.

In the meantime, we should be in awe (Ps. 33:8), reverence (Heb. 12:28), and praise (Heb. 13:15) to our mighty Father.