What Time Is It?

Jennifer and I are home-schooling our kiddos, and by that I mean she is the teacher, principal and counselor while I am at best the bald janitor.  It works well this way.  Jennifer is incorporating the concept of history into the curriculum and asked for my help to visually capture the concept of time and human history.  I was pumped as only a wannabe historian could be. Stealing away to the basement, I began my masterpiece.  Four hours and several large sheets of drawing paper later, I emerged with my magnum opus, a historical timeline that wrapped the walls of our basement, starting with Ancient Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C. and moving forward into the modern age.  It was a thing of beauty.  Well, it was until I ran out of the cool gold permanent marker and had to go old-school with a No. 2 pencil.  But, creating it was a blast.  What I enjoy about a timeline is its ability to pinpoint a specific moment in history, whether it is in the distant past or right now in our shared present.  Each moment of history is plotted, weaving together a seemingly insignificant conglomeration of stories into one metanarrative.  Timelines display that fact that each historical epoch's political, social, artistic and philosophical expressions are built upon their predecessor, creating a visual manifestation of the Hegelian dialectic.

The whole process got me thinking; where are we on the grand timeline of human existence?  If history and time truly had a beginning, and will one day come to an end as we currently know it, then where are we presently sitting in this copious drama? According to the Biblical narrative, there was a time when time began; we understand this to be the beginning of the universe.  By studying the expansion rate of the universe, the “background radiation” and Big Bang Cosmology, most Christian scientists worth their salt believe the universe began millions of years ago.  Since this beginning, western man has only been able to trace his past to the Tigris and Euphrates and the rise of western culture.  From this cradle of civilization, an entire culture grew up to overtake most of the globe through empire, abstract thought and the cult of individuality.  This 5,000 year old story is categorized by historians as The Pax Romana, The Dark Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Industrialism and finally Modernism, just to name a few pinpoints along the narrative. And yet, 14 million years of life leads us to this particular point in time, today to be exact.  This age, our post-modern pluralistic age is categorized by technology, uncertainty, apathy, narcissism and hope.  So, what time is it exactly?  Where are we on the cosmological timeline and why does it even matter?

Much like precise epochs of the past, I believe we inhabit a very specific and significant moment in time.  As one theologian recently put it, we live between the ascension and appearing of Jesus Christ.  Living between the ascension of Jesus into heaven after his resurrection, and his ultimate appearing again marks a very unique moment in the grand narrative of human existence; a moment that is building to a second climax, not just the denouement of an already figured out drama.  The resurrection of Jesus in 30-36 AD is the climax of human existence, but His appearing ain’t gonna be to shabby.  So, what do we first mean by this second coming, or “appearing” of Jesus of Nazareth and how does this bookend event affect the present?

The Apostle Paul uses the Greek word “parousia” to describe Jesus’ second coming.  In the first century, the word had two distinct meanings that Paul seems to systematically draw upon to make his point crystal clear.  First, parousia was used to describe a supernatural event when people became aware of the presence of a god or divinity, primarily through an act of healing.  The Jewish historian Josephus used the word when describing Yahweh’s coming to rescue the people of Israel. Secondarily, parousia was used in Hellenic culture to denote a visitation from the rightful king to his vassal state, particularly denoting a king's visit to one of his ruled colonies.[i]  Through the use of such a specific vernacular, Paul is making his case very clear; Jesus of Nazareth is very near in spirit and will one day be present in bodily form, visible for the whole world to see.  And, for Paul, this risen Jesus is the rightful king and ruler of the world, though his rule is masked at the moment.  When this parousia ultimately happens, the world as we know it will finally be completely transformed through His presence.

And yet, we live in the interim, a period of history where the world’s true Lord is still waiting His final consummation and vindication, when His reign will take full and complete effect on earth as it now is in heaven.  This temporary point along the historical timeline finds us living under the thumb of sham Caesars requiring our political, social, and spiritual allegiance.  But, we must remember where our loyalties lie: “our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.[ii]

With this as the final act of history, how now shall we live?  St. John the Divine reminds us to “abide in Him; so that, when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his presence (parousia)…Beloved, we are now God’s children; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him just as he is.”[iii]

May living between ascension and appearing find us being about our Father's business, stewarding his good creation, joining his call to radical discipleship and  ushering in his kingdom on earth as it now is in heaven through peacemaking, justice, grace and mercy while joining the thousands of saints before us praying "come quickly Lord Jesus."





[i] Wright, N.T. Surprised By Hope.

[ii] Philippians 3: 20-21

[iii] I John 2:28 and 3:2

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