It is only in the last century or so that sufficient evidence has emerged indicating time had a beginning, and will have an end in the dimension we know it. We little realize how large it was in the first century a.d. to hear the person, Jesus Christ, talk at length about the end of time. He preached an end time message, committed his disciples to the embellishment of some details, and made clear that the creation will convene in another context than time. Most persons seem not to take the point of endings too seriously. They see such an event so far in the future as to give them no currency of interest, even if true. Earth science scholars also speak of the end of creation, but they too, except for some accident, believe it to be distant.
Even so, interest is rising in a belief that at least the creation can’t survive if resources are running out, if populations are becoming too large, if diseases are increasing, if human terrors prevail – and so the story proceeds. This context does not necessarily find God in the scenario. The best hope for many is that research will find a way out for mankind. It appears to biblical Christians that God is willing to take responsibility for endings, as he also takes responsibility for beginnings. Albert Einstein included time ending in his theories: that time is an occurrence of the known universe; that it has been bent so was not constant to history; and, that it will likely end. As the physicist would have it, energy will ultimately run out, and all will collapse to some void, to something other. Modern writers have sometimes taken up the concepts in literature. Vladimir Nabokov, the well-known Russian/American author said simply: I confess I do not believe in time. Some decades ago, a brilliant article in National Geographic, summarized the concepts of time in science. Much knowledge has been added since to help us understand the theme. Time is necessary for mortal man, but ultimately does him in. Revelation 22:11 suggests not to worry.
One is impressed that the end of time was once treated as a joke of religious fanatics told by persons of faith, is now factored into the large theories of astute scientists dealing with relevant matters to that point. One wonders then if there may be, as Isaac Newton believed, something to be found in the two areas of learning, physical and spiritual, that when found will complement each other. One might begin with an analysis of death. On the death of an individual, time ends. Does this suggest that time is an experience which is lost in death, finally in the death of all? Further, that the end is related to spiritual issues, best managed in the transfer of venues, for the Christian, from mortality (related to time) to immortality (unrelated to time). If we do not perceive the first, we may not perceive the second, or if we perceive the first we ought to perceive the second. Timeless matters show time and mortality may well touch the timeless context, which accounts for them. C. S. Lewis argued, the very awareness (desire) was taken by him as an evidence of the larger life. Lewis believed as have many others that nature and science do not cover all vital factors.
A person taking on boundaries of time with a beginning, middle, and end, perceives an important factor for believing that there is a route from here to there. This implies a spiritual (religious) factor that interested persons seriously consider. John, the Apostle, lined up the development of the matter in The Revelation, in the Bible. He provided considerable detail, much of which seems surreal, but studied seriously offers a scenario that ought to be informative for time-watchers. According to the Apostle, the end of time will only occur after a millennium in which mankind will live in an ideal environment so demonstrate what man could have had, if God and God’s program, were adopted and applied. At the end of that orderly period, mankind will be permitted to take it our own way, which by that procedure will call for the end of things – and a restart. The point is that mankind has an important role in the ending of time, and the birth of whatever follows. God appears quite willing to take it on, and makes clear that his ultimate plan will prevail. At that point no one will doubt that the Creator is in control and has the resources to achieve the highest potential of that relating to the meaning of human life, at first nature bound, but prepared for something larger. Certainly there are masses of persons who doubt any new Eden. Relevance for them, if anything follows, becomes irrelevant. There is no redemptive faith in them to relate. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020