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The Spirit in time
Richard Dawson, 23 June 2015
Time is one thing none of can escape from. As the old saying goes… ‘Time and tide wait for no man!’ Time is an unconquerable boundary for most of us and yet there are tantalising clues within the material world that time is not nearly as fixed as we might think. Time, according to Einstein, is relative. It changes according to how space is filled and the faster one goes the slower goes time for the person travelling, though this effect is only noticeable when one gets close to the speed of light. The Bible affirms that God is Lord of Time—God is over time—God is not limited by time and we see this in action largely through the Spirit. It is the Spirit who announces ‘ahead of time’ what will happen (prophecy). It is the Spirit who pronounces ‘ahead of time’ the purpose of a person or an event (word of knowledge) and it is the Spirit who takes past events and makes them illuminate present situations (interpretation). The Spirit moves in and out of times to reveal God and to proclaim God’s glory and if we are to understand God we shall have to move in the ‘things of the Spirit.’ This is why relationship with the Spirit is so central to discipleship in the New Testament. Peter is described as being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’ in Acts 4 as he defends his actions before the Sanhedrin. Paul says ‘Be filled with the Spirit and go on being filled with the Spirit’ in Ephesians 5. Only in the Spirit, who is not limited by time, may we relate properly to the God who is above all time and who works in all times to bring all people revelation of the purposes of the Kingdom of God.
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