Saturday, May 2, 2020

Times



Some may have the impression that God is not very specific about time, that He passively watches time flow past, and is not directly involved in it. He is eternal after all, so we may believe that time has no meaning to Him. However, I believe that God is more specific about time than we will ever be with all of our watches, schedules and calendars. If we were to look at God's appointment calendar, I think we would see that every line of it would be occupied with a specific purpose. We would find that God has ordained, appointed, set a work for every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every group of weeks of every month of every season of every year of every specific grouping of years. He has assigned even a time of rest for a specific day and year. He successfully accomplishes all of the works which He has ordained for those specific measurements of time. It was revealed to King Solomon that there is an appointed time for every purpose under heaven (Eccl. 3:1).
At least one appointed specific time is so secret, which is the day and hour of the Son's return, that not even the Son of God nor the angels know it, only the Father knows it (Mt. 24:36). The beginning, progression and ending of the Great Flood were all appointed for a specific year, month, day (Gen. 8).
In our lives, we have idle time, not designated for any plan or activity. Not so with God. Even during the time when we are oblivious in sleep, for example, He has appointed those hours to call out every star over our heads by name, and wants us to know He is doing it:
"Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing."   Isa. 40:26, also Ps. 147:4
Let's look at some examples of God's appointed times:
Groups of years:
There are many references in scripture to the grouping of seven years, for example, and the events accomplished within or at the end of those seven years. Groups of seven years were appointed in service to attain a desired wife (Gen. 29:30). God commanded that every seventh year His people should let the land rest and lay fallow, so that the poor of the people can eat what is left on that land, and also the beasts of the field (Ex. 23:10-11). At the end of every seven years, there is to be a release from all debts. This specific seventh year is called the Lord's release (Deut. 15:1-2, Jer. 34:14). There is also a specific work to take place, the reading of the Word of God before all of the people, during the Feast of Tabernacles as it occurs during each seventh year of release, to prepare His people for what will lay ahead (Deut. 31:10-13).  There was a specified group of years counted off, appointed, prophesied and then fulfilled for the first coming and death of the Messiah (Dan. 9:26). We can be assured that there is a also a specific time counted off and appointed for the return of our Messiah, Jesus. 
Year:
Isaiah prophesied regarding "the acceptable year of the LORD" (Isa. 61:1-3). Jesus announced that He was specifically fulfilling that promise, and the works of the Lord by the anointing of His Spirit appointed for that year, including preaching the gospel, healing the broken hearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives and the oppressed, and to restore sight to the blind (Lk. 4:18-21).
Season:
Everything is appointed for a specific season (Eccl. 3:1). There is a season of deliverance (Deut. 16:6). There is a season appointed for birth and death (2 Kings 4:16-17, Job 5:26). There is a season appointed to bring rain for a yield (Lev. 26:4, Deut. 4:14). There is a season in which a word is appointed to be spoken (Prov. 15:23, Isa. 50:4). There is a season for fulfillment of prophecy (Lk. 1:20). There is a season for the visitation of angels (Jn. 5:4).
Month:
Every month is set as a new beginning, as a time for reflection, repentance, change. It is signified by the appearance of the new moon in the night sky. Each new moon was to be an observance before the LORD as a Sabbath, and signified by the sounding of the trumpet so that all may know the moment of its appearance (Ps. 81:3). The new moon of a beginning of a specific month also signals the start of the LORD's Feast of Trumpets. The beginning of each month, or new moon, was a call to worship (Isa. 66:23).
Week:
Each week was marked by the end of seven days, the seventh day being a Sabbath. It is a day of rest and holiness (Ex. 20:8-11).  So even rest is appointed specifically at a set time with the LORD. Seven days were appointed for the circling of Jericho to bring down its walls (Heb. 11:30). The prophet of God sat with the captives 7 days waiting for the word of the LORD (Ezek. 3:15). The water was turned to blood for 7 days in Egypt as one of the ten plagues (Ex. 7:24-25).
Day:
There are numerous specific days and groups of days ordained by the LORD for specific purposes, including those found in His appointed feasts (Lev. 23). The LORD appointed specific days for the accomplishment of specific works, as we see in each of the individual  six days of creation in the first chapter of Genesis. God was revealing His working pattern to us, and its designated relationship to specific increments of time. God could have created all in one moment, or without the division of days, but the pattern was set from the beginning that each day in the LORD has its specific purpose and accomplished "good" and "very good" work. It must be that the pattern continues. There are so many appointed single days of works, they are too numerous to mention except for a few: a day of resurrection (Gen. 22:4, Mt. 27:63, Rev. 11:11), days appointed for covenant and circumcision (Gen. 15:18, Gen. 17:23, 26), a day appointed for justice/judgment/vengeance (Isa. 2:12, 13:6, 9, 61:2, Joel 1:15, Jer. 46:10), a day that the LORD's voice is heard, and He is seen (Zeph. 1:14, Ex. 6:28, 19:11), a day appointed for repentance (Isa. 22:12), a day of deliverance (Ex. 12:51, 14:30), a day of atonement that covers sin (Lev. 16:29-30, 23:27), a day when the LORD is a crown of glory and beauty upon His people (Isa. 28:5), a day for healing wounds (Isa. 30:26), a day of salvation, inheritance, and restoration of the earth (Isa. 49:8), and each day is appointed for the renewal of His mercy towards us (Lam. 3:22-24). It was the first day of a week that Mary came to the empty tomb, and the resurrected Jesus appeared to her (Mk. 16:2, 9). It was also a specific day of a week that Jesus appeared to the disciples for the first time after His resurrection (Jn. 20:19).
Hour:
Jesus, especially, identified the hours of God's specific and appointed work: an hour of healing (Mt. 8:13, 15:28), an hour of deliverance from demons (Mt. 17:8, Lk. 7:21). The specific hour for the crucifixion of Christ was appointed (Mk. 15:25), also the day and hour of the return of Christ (Mt. 24:36, 42-44, 50), an hour when the true worshippers are established (Jn. 4:23), an hour when the dead hear the Son's voice and are raised (Jn. 5:25).
We can be sure that the LORD has appointed a work for each day and hour. That would be greatness in itself, but He goes even further in His works. He appoints works for every moment and for time periods of less than a moment: Cities are overthrown in a moment (Lam. 4:6), His anger lasts for a moment (Ps. 30:5) and people are consumed in a moment (Ex. 33:5, Num. 16:21).
His greatest work concerning us is appointed for a specific moment and even less than a moment:
"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised...and we shall be changed...then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."  1 Cor. 15:51-54 (excerpt)
We should be aware that the works of the LORD, though declared and prophetically completed before the foundations of the earth, are appointed for every moment, hour, day, week, month, season, year and group of years. The Antichrist, inhabited by the Devil, will desire and seek to change the times (Dan. 7:25), but he will not succeed because the times have been appointed by God. Satan is aware that God has specifically appointed times (Rev. 12:12). If Satan is aware of this truth, shouldn't the people of God also be aware of it? The LORD is indeed greater than time, but He still inhabits every second of time for His will and His plan. He is doing an appointed work even right now, in this moment of time.

Our Father has appointed times.



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