A God who is Outside of Time

 

2 John 1-13

In John’s second letter to the church at Ephesus, it begins in this way “The elder to the elect lady and her children.”  It would be like your pastor sending a letter to the church and it began, “The pastor,” but many wonder if John is addressing a Christian woman and her family or that of a church and its members are being personified.  I sure do not have any insight to that dispute, and is that what is important in this letter?

If you will take a few minutes to read this short letter, two words dominate the letter, truth and love.  If we hope to be light in this present darkness, in this culture of empty platitudes, it will require that we are driven by truth, and that we share that truth in love.  Our Redeemer Jesus Christ the Son of God often spoke to the meaning of these two words.  When Pilate was interrogating Jesus, Jesus made this statement, my kingdom is not of this world, so Pilate ask, “So are you a king” and this was Jesus reply; “You say that I am a king.  For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37-38)  Pilate’s reply to Jesus was much like many in this present darkness, “What is truth?”

Often, we forget or cannot conceive of or contemplate a God who is outside of time, who understands tomorrow before you or I have acted or given thought to what we call future.  There is an old saying, “A word to the wise is sufficient” and so listen who Jesus is calling “Truth.”  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  I had a few people tell me that’s a show stopper, let me give you something to think about, “Before Creator God spoke the world into being, before He formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed life into him, our Creator knew that man would rebel, that man would choose to live independent of God, and that His only Son would take on flesh, and become lower than the angels and die for our sins, now that’s beyond my understanding, but not beyond my ability to believe.  In fact, that sums up the word love, “God is Love,” and love always shows up as an action.  What voices are you listening to?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice