Somewhere in time

Can you remember a single moment in your life that you wished would never end? You might have been with your best friend, a spouse or maybe you were alone somewhere but where ever it was you did not want time to stop. I have had several moments in my life where the sun seemed to stand still and the universal clock stopped ticking. In this euphoria, while basking in the warmth of the sun, I have experienced real peace. It was as if time no longer existed and that the sun in all of its glory just stopped and stood still in the center of the sky offering me a second of eternity.

Can you describe a place you have never been to? An island perhaps complete with coarse coral sand crunching under your feet or a warm tropical breeze as it moves palm fronds around. Theologians have had trouble describing this concept about the afterlife or heaven to others in a meaningful way.  The apostle John tried to describe a vision of heaven to us as he described heavenly things in the book of Revelation 5:6-10. For me I have reasoned in my own mind that there is another place after this physical life passes away. I believe certain euphoric feelings we have in this life, where we wish a single moment will never end, is what we will experience when we pass on into the presence of God.

My wife and I love to watch movies about time travel like “Somewhere in time” or “The time traveler’s wife” and in each one there are those moments where time seems to be more accessible and fluid than how we think of it now, as being more ridged and fixed. Now, I can’t remember anything before I was born except a very early memory of being on a large island surrounded by water, wet sand beneath my feet and a cool breeze blowing through my hair. Do you dream about a similar place or nexus, a place outside this dimension where we will live in the presence of an almighty, all loving God? The bible teaches us that when we finally arrive there we won’t need the sun to stand still that the glory of God provides all the light we will need!

So as Joshua needs more daylight to complete the great slaughter of their enemies he prays for the sun to be halted in its path and the moon to stop where it stood (Joshua 10:12-15). Now for us reading these passages today about 1200 to 1350 years before Christ was born, it seems surrealistic to think that God would not only approve the slaughter of every man, woman and child but He orchestrated it. Then ponder the thought about the earth having to stop revolving for the sun and moon to stand still and you quickly get into the realm of faith. Can any of us call fire down from heaven, demolish fortresses with horns blowing or stop the earth from turning?

All of us if we had that kind of power would wield it against our brothers and sisters without giving it a second thought to the consequences. But on the other hand If we look at Jesus, who had the power to do all these things and more, how He lived and loved and how many people hated Him to the point of wanting to kill Him.  They despised and plotted against Him, the God that created them, who created everything we see around us, allowed Himself to be led like a lamb to the slaughter.  Greater love has no man that would lay down his life for his friends.  Jesus went willingly to His crucifixion, suffering a grueling, barbaric and slow death on a Roman torture device.

“And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying: "’You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.’"