The Twentieth Century - The best century so far

Observant readers will note that the above heading is the opposite of last month's The worst century yet. Far from espousing the view that truth is relative, we want to explore a paradox that seems apparent in the unfolding of history. We would argue that, whereas in many ways the 20th century has been marked by sad decline, there are also many evidences of God's goodness and grace - indeed more than at any other time in man's history. If we sounded gloomy last month we want to sound as positive as is legitimate this month. It is our firm conviction that there has been no better time to live in God's Kingdom than today. Yes, things are much worse than they have ever been but they are also much better. We have laid out the evidence for saying this is the worst of times. What evidence is there to say it is also the best of times?

Living standards

Many things come to mind. For example, there is the general advance of literacy, of life expectancy and the generally improved standards of living that many people have known across this last century. Think of the decrease in a disease such as leprosy - now curable and far from being the scourge it once was, thanks to the work especially of Christian missionaries. Or think of the defeat of smallpox. Think too of the increasing taming, by various means, of previous killers such as tubercolosis, measles, whooping cough, rubella and chicken pox.

Advances in science and technology are double-edged in many ways but the apparent discovery of all the elements God has used to create this cosmos, our vastly increased understanding of space, telecommunications revolutions, advances in medicine and the countless discoveries and inventions that have made life so much easier and more interesting are surely tokens of God's goodness. To take only two examples - think of the impact the discovery of penicillin has had on the fight against disease. How many lives have been saved in the short time since Fleming's discovery? Then think of something like the audio-cassette. How much good has been done through the dissemination of faithful preaching and teaching by means of this simple yet cheap and effective tool, unavailable to people in previous centuries.

Gospel advance

More obviously, there has been the continued advance of the gospel to more and more people in more and more parts of the habitable globe. Animism and many other forms of paganism continue to be in serious decline in most parts of the world. Atheistic communism has been dealt a crushing blow and, despite its posturing, Islamic fundamentalism has proved unattractive to most in the Muslim world. Apart from biological growth, Islam has seen no real advance this century.

On the other hand, if you take a book like Operation World you can find statistics showing a rise in the number of professing Christians in country after country. Patrick Johnstone wrote in 1993 'We are living in the time of the largest ingathering of people into the Kingdom of God that the world has ever seen.' The serious decline of Christianity in the West can blind us to the fact that in parts of Africa and Asia great progress is being made. By now perhaps as many as 70% of Christians live elsewhere.

As we come to the end of the century some 30% of the world would claim to be Christian. In a world with a population of about 6,000 million, there are now more than 200 million evangelical believers. Thousands of new people join churches every week. Only 15% of the world is totally untouched by the gospel. Think of countries in Africa such as Burundi, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zaire, where there are now significant numbers of evangelicals. Or in Asia, think of China, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines and parts of Indonesia. In South America Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, all now have relatively high percentages of professing evangelicals. In parts of the world such as Byelarus, Moldova, the Ukraine and Romania, the gospel is making advances it never has before. Even in the world's least evangelised countries there are some who have come to faith in Christ.

Bibles and revival

Advance in Bible translation is a concrete example of how the advantages of modern science and technology have been harnessed so that by now only 6% of the world's population is without access to the Bible in a language that they can understand. The exciting story of how the Bible has been translated into more and more languages throughout this century is impressive evidence of the goodness of God.

Many bemoan the lack of revival in our land. It should be borne in mind, however, that this century has arguably seen more revivals than in any previous century. In these last hundred years, it is claimed, revivals of varying depth and breadth have been documented in Armenia, Central Africa, Wales, India, America, Holland, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Burma, China, Chile, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Scotland, Brazil, Indonesia, Quebec, the Pacific Islands and Argentina. Our aim in saying these things is not to create a false optimism about the future but to remind ourselves that just as it would be naive to enter the next century imagining all will be sweetness and light so it would be equally wrong to enter it without expecting great things from God and attempting great things for him. The gospel will be preached in all the world before Christ comes; more and more will come to him. However, God always uses means and it is important for us as believers to play our part in continuing to make Christ known.

In Revelation 22:11 we read Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who is right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy. It suggests a continuing sifting out of the bad from the good. The bad will grow worse and worse, the good will grow better and better. While the Kingdom of Satan continues to decline God's Kingdom will continue to grow. The growth in this century has been astonishing. We have every reason to expect growth in the coming century too until the return of Christ. Let us be committed to doing all in our power to bring praise to Christ.

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine in 1999

The Twentieth Century - The worst century so far

Writing at a time when the cold-blooded killer of television presenter Jill Dando is still at large, when a man has recently been arrested for planting bombs designed to kill at random and when we receive daily reports of bombing, refugees and ethnic cleansing from the Balkans, one recognises the danger of making a jaundiced assessment of the century soon to be completed.

Murder, violence and war have characterised every century; is this century worse than any other? It is a question worth pondering. Not being tied to a particular millennial view but seeking to believe only what conforms to Scripture I am prepared to argue that this is the worst century the world has ever known and we have no reason to suppose that things will get any better in the next one.

Let me remind you of some of the things that have happened in this century.

• Think of some of the wars that have gone on. The Boer War (1899-1902), Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), The Balkan Wars (1912-13), World War I (1914-18) in which 126,000 died, The Sino-Japanese War (1931-45), The Abyssinian War (1935-36), The Spanish Civil War (1936-39), World War II (1939-45), The Korean War (1950-53), The Algerian War (1956-62), The Vietnam Wars (1946-54, 1964-75), The Falklands War (1982), Arab-Israeli wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973).

That is not to mention other wars such as those in Angola, Biafra, Congo, Cuba, East Timor, Ireland, The Lebanon, Liberia, Mexico, Rwanda, the Sudan, Zaire, Zimbabwe, Desert Storm and the various conflicts in Yugoslavia, etc.

• Think of some of the dictators and tyrants of this century. There are obvious ones such as Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy,  Stalin in the former USSR, Mao Zedong in The People's Republic of China and Pol Pot in Cambodia. In each case these men are responsible for over a million deaths.

Think too of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania, Idi Amin Dada, responsible for 90,000 deaths in Uganda, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Enver Hoxha in Albania, who presided over the world's 'First Atheist State'. Not to mention Franco in Spain, Kim Il-Sung in North Korea, Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, General Pinochet in Chile and Erich Honneker in East Germany.

• Think of the guerilla warfare and the terrorism that has also been characteristic of the century. Think of organisations such as The Red Brigade, IRA, ANC, PLO, ETA, Hammas, Islamic Jihad, etc, and the violence they and others have been responsible for.
• Think of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the close of World War II, killing as many as 200,000. Think of the six million who died in the Holocaust. Think of other cases of genocide in this century.
• Think of words such as fascism, communism, national socialism, apartheid and nationalism and the bloodshed and other wickednesses they have spawned. Think of 20th century words like napalm, semtex, atom bomb, hydrogen bomb, chemical warfare, ethnic cleansing, genocide, terrorism and of the violence and mayhem these bring to mind.
• Think of the way abortion and euthanasia have become more and more acceptable in so-called civilised nations.
• Think of the violence, the murder, the rape, the incest, the sexual and physical abuse, the slavery, the torture, the intimidation of minorities that goes on around the world and has gone on over the century. 
• Persecution of Christians has been another aspect of the violence.  Christians were persecuted, sometimes to the point of genocide, by various states, including the Ottomans and their successors (who perpetrated the Hamidian massacres, the Armenian genocide, the Assyrian genocide and the Greek genocide) and by officially atheist states such as the former Soviet Union, Albania, China and North Korea.
• Think of the poverty and the deprivation, the drug abuse and the alcoholism, the prostitution, the prevalence of paedophilia, the militancy of homosexuals and their supporters - all part of every day life for vast numbers of people.
• Whether earthquakes, volcanoes, famines, floods, epidemics of disease, and other such disasters, manmade or not, are increasing is debatable. There certainly seems no evidence to suggest that they are becoming less frequent.
• Finally, the prevalence of lukewarm and nominal Christianity, the false teaching that is found all over the world should surely also give pause.

Would a perusal of Scripture lead us to expect this latest century to be the worst? Many would say 'Yes'. Others are less sure. Obviously in any given situation there is an ebb and flow. Decline is not uniform. We are talking about the general trend, which is surely downwards. But that is what Scripture would lead us to expect. Evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse warns Paul (2 Timothy 3:13) a little yeast eventually works through the whole batch of dough. Even in Paul's day the secret power of lawlessness was already at work. Surely it has continued to advance.

This is only half the story I know but it needs to be said. Many, including Christians, began this century full of false optimism. Even with the coming of The Great War the optimism continued with some - the war to end all wars it was called - for a time. We would be very foolish to enter the next millennium with the same false optimism. In a world of nuclear bombs, growing practical atheism, militant antinomianism and growing wickedness, how unwise that would be.

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine in 1999

Millennial Musings

I remember the time, as a boy, when I first came to realise that I was living in what we call the 20th century after the birth of Christ. I remember asking my dad how old I would be when the new century arrived. 1 would be 40! I couldn't imagine what it would like to be 40! I still can't sometimes. The 21" century seemed like a way off science-fiction world of inter-planetary travel and strange aliens. For short periods I bought comics with titles such as TV21 and 21" Century that reinforced this idea.

As for the fact we would be entering a new millennium I can't remember giving any thought to that. Somehow that thought has also crept into my consciousness as well as yours and now few an be unaware of it. Most of us can even spell it correctly now.

A warm bed

For much of this time I have been keen to line up with the pedants who point out either that Jesus was actually born a few years before our calendars suggest or those who point out that the new millennium does not actually dawn until 1 January 2001. However, with every man and his dog geared up to mark the date when midnight strikes on the 31st of this month, there seems little point in endeavouring to be alternative.

My one lingering ambition - to be fast asleep in a warm bed when the hour strikes - is all I have left to cling to. One part of me also toys with the idea of finding a well paid job for that evening. The pleas of my eldest son that he be allowed to stay up to mark the occasion, however, mean it is likely that I'll not get my way. I have visions of us ending up in Trafalgar Square or Greenwich or somewhere or, even worse, watching Big Ben on the television. Please don't cancel your subscription, but I've never been a fan of watchnight services.

The 'Millennium' has turned into a gigantic roller-coaster with all the features of the usual season magnified by a hundred. Like Christmas and New Year, this is a basically pagan celebration with, at best, a veneer of religion on top. By the grace of God some will be prepared to consider Christ on this flimsy basis and we pray that books like Why Y2K? by John Blanchard and the FIEC's AD publications will be used to win many to the Saviour. Meanwhile we do need to make some sort of sober assessment about the past and about the future.

Significant Events

As we look back over 2000 years or so, it would seem to me that the four most significant events have been

1. The conversion (if it was a conversion) of the Emperor Constantine about 190 ears before the midpoint of the first millennium.

2. That of Martin Luther, about 20 years after the midpoint of the second millennium. Nick Needham has called Constantine's conversion the most important in history, after Paul's. If that is true, then Luther's must come third.

3. Alongside those two dates we should place two others. On Christmas Day AD 800, Charlemagne was crowned 'Holy Roman Emperor' by Pope Leo III.

4. In 1792 William Carey published his Enquiry, preached his famous 'Expect great things ... attempt great things ...' sermon and saw the founding of the first modem missionary society. I single out these events because all of them have been significant in the 'Christianisation' of the world and more significantly in the genuine conversion of many souls to Christ. In the case of Constantine and Charlemagne, no doubt, Christianisation stands out. However, in both cases many true conversions followed in the wake of their rather worldly attempts to promote the gospel. With the Reformation and the birth of the modern missionary movement we see a more spiritual approach for the most part but the 'Christianisation' element in these two movements is also significant.

The third millennium

These events from the first two millennia give cause to hope that we will see similar and greater things happening in the third. We look to God, in particular, to see Reformation in South America and Africa. What a colossal impact such things would have. Oh that God would raise up a Luther, a Zwingli and a Calvin in those places. 'Christianisation' is a difficult subject but how wonderful if we also saw an increasing Christianisation of the Middle East, Central Asia and the Far East. Some of the things we hear from China and South Korea give hope that this may have already begun. As for Europe - how wonderful if Eastern and Southern Europe should know revival and reformation that would lead to the re-evangelisation of the west.

As to what we can do about all this, I merely note that one of the key elements in both the Reformation and, to a lesser extent, the modem missionary movement was the rediscovery of faithful Christian teaching from the past. Much of what Calvin and others rediscovered in the second millennium they gained via Augustine and others from the first millennium. Without doubt one of the keys to progress in the third millennium is a rediscovery of Calvin and other Reformed writers.

I'm not sure if I am an old man dreaming dreams or a young man with visions but we need to look confidently to God. The amazing things he has done in these last two millennia give us great hope for the future, provided we look to him in everything. Let us give ourselves to serving him now and always.

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine in December 1999

A Day and a Thousand Years

1 Peter 3:8 reads With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

With God, not only is a thousand years like a day, but a day is like a thousand years.

What Peter does not say

wo ideas attached to this verse are wide of the mark.

• Peter does not say how long the world will last. In the past Irenaeus and others argued from this verse that if a day is like a thousand years then the six days of creation argue for a creation lasting six thousand years. The so called Epistle of Barnabas says 'The Lord will make an end of everything in six thousand years, for a day with him means a thousand years.' There are many things against this idea. The chief is that it has nothing to do with what Peter says. Further, a day is like a thousand years is only half the story. Equally, a thousand years are like a day. This must be a metaphor. Peter is against trying to guess when the Lord will return. Even if we could demonstrate this as Peter's meaning we cannot be sure when the world's six thousandth year falls.
• Peter is not telling us how long it took to make the world either. A more recent idea is that if a day is like a thousand years, Genesis 1 really means that God made the world in six thousand years. If the first view panders to advocates of a young earth, this panders to friends of evolutionary theory. However, a thousand years is nowhere near the time that evolutionists require. Such theories usually demand vast aeons of time; millions of years. Some, however, like the idea that God made the world in thousands of years rather than days. Again, it is not what Peter is talking about. There is no reason to suppose (certainly not on the basis of this verse) that Genesis 1 has room for a creation that takes thousands of years.

How Peter says what he says

It is worth noting the way Peter says what he says.

• He speaks in love. He speaks to dear friends, dearly beloved fellow Christians. He writes out of love for them as a pastor. This reminds us that whenever we speak of Christ's return or of judgement we must do so in love.
• He focuses on the most important thing. Again, when it comes to the Second Coming we have many questions. It is important that in all this we remember what is here - and not only when it comes to this subject. If we fail to understand the relativity of time set out here we will understand nothing. Too easily v/e forget the important things. We must not. The wicked deliberately forget creation and the flood, preferring to believe everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. Believers must never fail to see things through God's eyes.

God is unlimited by our restraints

He can do in one day what we might expect to take a thousand years. The focus is not so much on God's eternal nature as his almighty power. Many things, as far as we are concerned, take hundreds or thousands of years. Isaiah 66:8 reads Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Nations do not come to exist in a day. It takes time - many years. Think of Israel or many other nations. Yet here the prophecy is Yet no sooner is Zion in labour than she gives birth to her children. Isaiah directs us forward to the amazing things that happened when God sent his Son into the world and he died and rose and was preached so that thousands came to know him in a short space of time. Suddenly the church was born as if from nothing. Many times since God has done similar things when through the preaching of the Word, families, communities and whole nations have been transformed in ways that would have taken hundreds of years in the normal run of things. We need to plan ahead as best we can but it is important that as we do so we do not forget God who can do things in a moment.

• Here is an alcoholic. His life is a mess. How long to put him right? 'Well' you say 'if you get him into therapy he could be on the road to recovery in months. In a year he might be back to normal and ready to begin to rebuild his life. In a few years maybe he'd begin to get back to normality.' The gospel can change people in a flash. A touch from Jesus transforms.
• There are problems in your life and you think 'it's going to take some time to sort things out.' Certainly it is often God's way to work slowly, step by step - but never forget he can transform situations in a moment.
• How long would it take to see your chapel full again? Sometimes we feel it will never happen. On better days we imagine the place being filled in ten years or something. God could fill it in a day!
• Think of this nation with all its problems. How long would it take to get it back to the way it was in the time of the Puritans? We seem so far gone, it hardly bears thinking about. Yet think what God could do if he should choose to act. This nation could be transformed overnight.

Things can happen in one day of greater significance than some that take a thousand years

We tend to think that the really big, significant things take a long time. It is probably right to think like that but we must not be bound by such thinking. Certainly things like friendship or raising children do not happen overnight. They take time. We need to beware of the idea of instant success. On the other hand, we must never forget that with God a day can be like a thousand years. Things can happen in a day, an hour, that have ramifications for a millennium. Think of Bible examples:

• The Fall. It happened on a particular day. What ramifications followed. One action has affected not just the next millennium but the complete history of the world.
• More positively, think of Good Friday when Jesus hung on the cross for sinners. By his death he has provided salvation for all who trust in him. It was the work of one day yet it has an effect for thousands and thousands of years.
• Or think of the day the Spirit was poured out in the Day of Pentecost and all that has flowed from it.
• Think of the day you were converted - if you know it. It was just one day, yet that day has had ramifications until now and will continue to do so into eternity. Today can affect the next millennium and beyond. Decisions made today can have ramifications through eternity.

This article originally appeared in Grace Magazine. See also this one.

Looking around (at the end of the last millennium)

As we look at the church scene at the end of the millennium, what do we see? Perhaps the most obvious thing is movement. We are in a constant state of flux. A characteristic of the closing years of this century has been the mobile nature of the population. People move from their places of birth to study, to work, to retire or just for a change of scene. The coming of the motor car means also that it is not that unusual on a Sunday for regulars to be away or for visitors to be present.

This mobility is reflected in the way thinking in society and in the churches seems to always be changing. Few, it seems, stay with the grouping they were born into. New groupings seem to spring up all the time. The movement is on several fronts. Some are shaking off the cautious traditions they have grown up with while others are retreating from the wild enthusiasm of their own background. Often they are able to meet on common ground but sometimes the union does not last. Inevitably there is much confusion and constant alteration. 

The very word Grace exemplifies this. For many, Grace churches are conservative, hymn singing, traditional churches. For others, they are chorus singing extremists with no time for tradition. Although the Grace Directory lists only churches holding to the doctrines of grace a mere glance at the hymn books used (Gadsby, Redemption, Mission Praise, etc) reveals much variety in approach. Further, the attempt to place churches into recognisable ‘camps’, although often done, is doomed to failure. Eclecticism, the pick and mix approach, is a parallel feature of society and the churches today. One cannot assume that because a minister listens to Al Martin tapes or takes The Bible League Quarterly he will not read from the NIV. Because a congregation sings psalms it does not mean they will necessarily have no time for Graham Kendrick. 

More specifically …

We see many encouraging things

Following the resurgence of experiential Calvinism in the middle of the century we see many churches with a strong commitment to Reformed teaching. We see many well established churches, conservative in doctrine but contemporary in approach, reaching out faithfully to their local communities. There is an educated ministry that, for the most part, understands its calling. Many ministers have faithfully served their churches for 10, 20, sometimes 30 years. In many churches there are serious minded, committed people who have seriously thought through the issues of the day and are endeavouring to make a stand for truth. There are many young people in the churches – energetic, enthusiastic, eager for the Word. Despite all our problems at home, missionaries are still going out to serve in difficult and demanding situations overseas.

The resources at our command are amazing. The amount of good solid literature available to the average pastor is phenomenal. The advent of the Internet and the amazing CD Rom is transforming the ease with which the Bible and good literature are accessed. There is a PhD waiting to be done on the impact of computer technology on evangelical preaching and literature. Not only is there plenty for ministers to read but plenty for ‘the man in the pew’ as he used to be called too. Children’s literature is perhaps our weakest area but even in that area there is good material. There are a large number of good magazines too bringing news of God’s people from all over the world and all sorts of other helps.

There are a number of excellent conferences and holiday gatherings too where, at various levels, God’s people can benefit from excellent ministry from around the world. The development of the cassette tape for audio and video is also having its impact. Meanwhile the computer has made available helps for people on a more localised level so that by means of handouts, booklets, sermon notes, newsletters etc, a great deal of good is being done. One area where technology of various sorts continues to have an impact is on our singing. The variety of good material available is once again stunning.

Then think of evangelism. There is a great deal going on at many levels. Think of the door to door, tract giving, special meetings in churches and homes, camps, beach missions, etc, going on. Think of the heroic church planting that has become a feature of this latter half of the century.

We see many discouraging things

One is reluctant to say it but in a society that is collapsing before our very eyes, there is a negative side. As divorce, abortion, rebellion and vileness of various sorts continue to grow, following the rejection of God’s Law, we inevitably see the consequences in society and, sadly, in the churches too. While the radio and TV continue to gush out pro-evolutionary lies, increasingly coarse humour and vapid nonsense there seems to be little place for well argued biblical creationism, Christian ethics or even wholesome entertainment. When the media is drawn to the church it is to gaze at the unbiblical, worldly minded, man centred, sensation seeking emptiness of what they choose to call ‘evangelicalism’ or to mock the often misguided excesses of what they call ‘fundamentalism’.

Even the better churches often leave a good deal to be desired. They are mostly small, with less than 50 members. Many have an elderly membership and many do not have pastors. Nowhere near enough men are being prepared for future ministry. We are struggling to fill the pulpits we have and there is a vast need for church planters. Too many churches want to soft-pedal doctrine and are not really convinced of the efficacy of preaching or prayer. We are constantly being side-tracked on to secondary issues and the hunt for the ‘wonder cure’ that will get us out of this mess. Is the answer all night prayer meetings, an AV in every home, the rediscovery of the traditional Sabbath or for men to give up wearing ties to church? No, the one answer is to look to the Sovereign God alone.

There is plenty to distress when we look around at the spiritual state of the churches. However, when we think of the situation at the beginning of the century – swamped by nominalism, riddled with modernism, already sidelined as irrelevant – we can only praise the Lord that he has been so merciful and blessed us in so many ways. And when we think of all that has happened in other parts of the world in that time too we are amazed.

‘How good is the God we adore … we praise him for all that is passed and trust him for all that’s to come.’

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine in 1999

A thousand years and a day

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. Psalm 90:4

This is a verse worth pondering. Think how long a thousand years is – from before William I, say, through Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II. As far as God is concerned, says Moses, it is like a day that has just gone by.

Different perspectives

It is worth observing a thing from another angle. Fresh perspectives are good. From one angle, something looks hard, from another, easy. One vantage point makes a place seem near; another, far. Think of optical illusions like the young woman, old woman. Pride refuses to accept another perspective. Humility recognises other ways of seeing. Not all views are equally valid and we dare not deny objective truth but there are several ways to skin a cat.

Certainly, time has different perspectives. Shakespeare observed that ‘Time travels in divers paces with divers persons’, ambling with a woman waiting to be married and galloping with a thief to the gallows. Also, the older we get the faster time goes.

There are different perspectives to be had on time and life. Some say there is no God and refuse any other perspective. It is like someone getting excited about a pot of weeds and not seeing the beautiful flower garden outside.

God’s perspective

More specifically, we must recognise how different is God’s perspective on time. Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For man, a thousand years is long. Think of what has happened over a millennium – 1066, the Armada, two world wars; scholasticism, the Reformation, global mission. It is interesting that although Adam’s ante-diluvian descendants lived extraordinarily long, none attained a thousand years. Today, the length of our days is 70 years - or 80, if we have the strength. Even Moses only reached 120. Perhaps someone reading this will see the next century but none of us will see the next millennium. For man, a thousand years is more than a lifetime – for God it is like a day. Some days seem longer than others, but even the longest is nothing looking back. A watch in the night is three or four hours. Night and day were once divided into three or four watches each. Watching from midnight until four may be tedious, but looking back, it is nothing.

How different God to man. How far back can you remember? Ten years; fifty? None of us remember a hundred years ago. We cannot imagine living for centuries. But for God, a thousand years is like a day. Think of the view from a skyscraper or an aeroplane. Things are different when we see them from God’s perspective too. We need to get that perspective. It is good to hear the opinions of others – but best to know how God sees it. We must consider past and future millennia in this perspective.

God’s character

How is it that a thousand years is so brief to God? The answer lies in his character.

• All time is equally present with him. We can think of the near future and the recent past easily but to think of something that might happen a thousand years hence or even a thousand years past is not easy. It seems so far off. God is not like that. He is not a creature of time but the I AM who lives in an eternal today. He is everywhere and always, filling every place and every time.
• He sees the end from the beginning. Part of what makes time long to us is ignorance. We cannot know what will happen next. Think how journeys to new places always seem longer going than coming. Time seems to pass slowly in childhood as there is little thought of the future and little idea of what may happen next. God always knows the end from the beginning.
• He sees everything in terms of eternity. As creatures of time, we tend to forget that God has no beginning or end and is unbound by time. When we compare a day with a thousand years, the latter seems an eternity. God, however, compares a thousand years with eternity, so it seems like a day. For God the last 200 years are like two days or two watches for the angels of heaven! Moses uses these terms to help us. We talk of dog or cat years. A cat aged 13 is notionally 7 X 13 years – 91! Similarly we can say, one of our years equals 365,000 of God’s. Seventy years is 25,550,000. Or think of a man for whom £1 is a lot and another for whom £1000 is nothing. Of course, these are pictures; the reality is that God is the eternal God. We need to get this divine perspective, then we will see time as we ought. We will see how brief a millennium is. Though hundreds of years passed from Abraham to Moses to David to Jesus, yet in God’s eyes it was no time at all. We will see it is so too, if we seek the divine perspective.

Lessons

• The long time with no resurrection is no reason for doubts. Psalm 90:3 speaks of men returning to dust. The Bible teaches this and the resurrection of that dust. The world may have turned six or seven thousand years or more and may turn for as many again, nevertheless the resurrection day will come. It is but a week or two, as it were, that those in their graves longest have been dead. Expect the resurrection.
• The long time without Christ returning is no reason for doubts. Peter (1 Peter 3:7) quotes scoffers saying Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. He warns, however, that as God sent the flood, so he will judge this world again by fire. He quotes Psalm 90:4 adding The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God’s patience delays Christ’s return. As sure as this new millennium has arrived so in due time the Lord will return as and when God purposes. There is no delay. A 2000 year wait may seem long to us but not to the Lord. Meanwhile, be patient. The day of the Lord will come like a thief.
• Remember the brevity of life. Time hurtles by. As a child I remember how far off the next century seemed. Yet how quickly it has come. Soon the 22nd Century will dawn and we will all be in our graves.
• Take the long-term view. Many have written off Christianity. There is decline in Britain but that must not cloud the fact that worldwide the gospel advances and will continue to. Communism may engulf it for a season; Islam may stay longer; but truth marches on.
• Look to the eternal God. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27). He has upheld his people for 2000 years. He will in any coming millennia. Look to him.

This article first appeared in Grace Magazine