A New Year’s Reflection on TIME for Every Year
Whether we are clergy, laity, parents, teachers, or just someone at crossroads wondering how best to move forward into the new year, the following Scriptures and scenarios are recommended for guidance and reflection, because the living and eternal Word of God is always a good place to start. We often hear the term: “Time is of the essence,” which means that a timely response to a matter is critical. Especially in the current season of our lives, it is important that we understand the season of time in which we now live and learn how to best manage and use the time we have been given.
As we are approaching the new year, 2024, I invite us to consider the events and experiences of the past year of 2023. Let us consider the subject of “Time” in light of the Scriptures: -Time having to do with –time past, –present, –future, and time eternal. A new year is upon us, and it may be prudent to take stock of where we have been psychologically, mentally, spiritually, socially, health-wise, and otherwise. Based on the following Scriptures, how might we do better in the new year as opposed to the old year? So, starting with the beginning of time at Creation, let us reflect on God’s perspective and action over time.
–GENESIS 1: 1-5 deals with “FIRST THINGS.”
At the beginning of creation, the self-existent God-head made the heavens and the earth by speaking them into existence. The earth was without form, was void, and in darkness. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the earth. Then God said: “Let there be light. And He saw that the light was good. Then God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. So, the evening and the morning were the first day. According to the Bible, this is how recorded time began. Out of chaotic nothingness, darkness, and void, the Master Creator out of infinite wisdom commanded all things into being beginning with light.
–ECCLESIASTES 3: 1-8 addresses time as seasons of life that are inevitable and that affect all human life positively or negatively.
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to dance, a time to gather stones, a time to cast stones away, a time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing, a time to gain and a time to lose, a time to keep, a time to throw away, a time to tear, a time to sew, a time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to hate, a time to love, a time to make war, and a time to make peace.
QUESTIONS: WHAT TIME IS IT IN YOUR/OUR LIVES? WHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING ABOUT IT –(if anything) In Ephesians 5: 16, Paul tells the church and now us, to walk circumspectly and wisely, –not as fools, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Should we be planting, sowing, embracing/refraining, tearing, being silent/speaking, gaining/losing, making peace or making war?
Now at this juncture, is a good time to make some serious decisions, especially about our relationship with God, as well as with one another for tomorrow is not promised to us. It is a good time to define our own season and the current season of our world as they exist today.
–JOHN 1: 1-5 & v.14 John begins His Gospel saying: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among men. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
When Jesus said to Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:25) He was being consistent about His identity and purpose that John wrote about in John 1:1-5. –IN HIMSELF IS LIFE…and He demonstrated that power and authority by calling Lazarus out of the grave and back to life.
-Jesus existed in His Father as the “Word.” He became incarnate as the Son. But He pre-existed time from eternity, came to earth in flesh to redeem humanity, and has returned / ascended back to eternity for eternity, until He comes back at the second coming as Judge, to judge the living and the dead.
According to the Bible, we cannot navigate this earthly journey successfully without His Light and Life in us and with us. All who reject Him remain in darkness and will be lost from the glorified eternal life with God in Heaven at the day of Judgement. He offered Himself as the atonement for our sin. By faith we believe that Jesus is the Living Word and the Only Begotten Son of God who came from heaven to earth in human flesh. We believe in our heart and confess Him as our Lord and Savior with our mouth, repent of our sins, and are baptized in water for the remission of our sin. This is the beginning of our Salvation. A new life begins, and we follow His teachings and principles of the New Kingdom continually.
–HEBREWS 1: 1-4 explains how God the Father spoke to people in ages past, and how He has chosen to speak to us finally. The writer (possibly Paul) affirms that all things were created, upheld, and sustained for all time through the Son who is heir over all things now and forever. He is greater than Moses, David, Daniel, Elijah, Samuel, and all other prophets, priests, angels, and kings who existed before Him. As SON, He is greater than all the servants who came ahead of Him.
Before Christ came into the world in human form, God the Heavenly Father spoke through various means and ways by the prophets and through their ancestral fathers. However, in these days, God speaks through His Son, who He appointed heir of all things. For through Him all things were made and by the power of His Word all things are sustained and kept. He is the identical image of His Father at whose right hand He is enthroned in the Majesty on High, after purging our sin by the shedding of His Blood here on earth. So, we don’t have to walk through life in this world alone and in darkness. Without Him as our Light, our Shepherd, and our Guide, we will stumble, fall, and lose our way. So, I invite us to stay connected to the True Vine and be fed and nourished spiritually by the Word of God, by prayer, in worship, by thanksgiving, praise, service, etc. Just as we feed ourselves with natural food daily –so we need to attend to our spiritual health and well-being with regularity and consistency.
Through faith and trust in God with the understanding of who God was/is– in times past, who God is in the present, and who God is for eternity. We begin to understand that God has spoken and continues to speak to people today. We learn how to hear, to listen, to speak, and to act- hopefully according to God’s Will and purpose over time. It is evident then, that Jehovah God continues to act and move at different times and in various ways, except that it all happens now through His Only Begotten Son, Christ Jesus. The Creator continues to act and to interact with creation to sustain, maintain, to keep, and to care for it and for us all as He works through humanity as care givers for the planet. We were created in the image and likeness of God our Heavenly Father, and told to increase, to multiply, and to have dominion over the earth and all its creatures.
LAST THINGS: REVELATION 21: 1-7 speaks of a vision that John, the Evangelist, saw while he was exiled on the Island of Patmos.
John was shown a new heavenly creation: — a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and was no more. He saw a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
A loud voice said: “Behold the tabernacle of God is with people. He will be with His people, and He shall be their God. There shall be no more tears, no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, FOR THE FORMER THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY…Behold I make all things new. Write these things down for they are true and faithful.”
Obviously, we are not there yet. However, for those who are discerning, it can be understood that time is marching toward the fulfillment of this vision. With technology advancing as fast it is now, it is clear to some of us that a new era is dawning with great possibilities and potential for great and awesome things to happen. (-some for the good and some for evil.) The new Jerusalem, the new heavens and the new earth are on their way, for time is not standing still.
What John saw coming down out of heaven was a beautiful thing. It was like a beautiful bride adorned for her husband. Although technology is often misused and abused by many, the opportunities for spreading the Gospel of Jesus the Christ and His Salvation for the world, has never been more available and visible as it is today.
Then He said to John:- “IT IS DONE! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give the water of the fountain of life to those who thirst. Those who overcome shall inherit all things and I will be their God and they shall be my children.” (This is Jesus speaking to John)
THE OLD YEAR IS CLOSING
Let us pause and ask ourselves if there are some old things you / we would like God to shut out, cast away, never to return any more? –How about the wars, the injustice, the violence, the crime, the sicknesses and diseases, the poverty, the strife, …and so much more? Could this darkness and chaos of the season we are in be a part of the preparation for the new things to happen?
Then Let us pray that the darkness of the epidemics and all the chaos and evil of the past few years pass away, and that a new and better heavenly kingdom will come to earth. Let “Thy Kingdom come, and Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
May our Heavenly Father release a NEW JERUSALEM INTO OUR LIVES, FAMILIES, INTO OUR WORLD, INTO OUR CHURCHES, GOVERNMENT, BETTER ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CONDITIONS, MORE OF HIS GRACE AND FAVOR, BETTER HEALTH, HEALING, WHOLENESS, AND CURES. …Let us pray that the Shalom of God and the Light of Christ will permeate and penetrate every human mind and heart so that goodness and mercy will dwell in the earth and follow us all our days. Amen.
We started our journey of reflection on “time in the book of Genesis, and we are closing in the book of Revelation (the first and the last books of the Bible. As we journeyed through time from a Scriptural and biblical perspective so may we continue through the year with the Word of God in us and with us as we try to successfully navigate our journey every day with Jehovah God in Christ Jesus as our Help and our Guide. Our God will help us as we journey through time day by day, enable and empower us to discern the times and to live wisely.
“The LORD of Hosts is with us.” “The God of Jacob is our Refuge.” “In His time, He will make all things beautiful.” Christ will lead us out of the darkness into His marvelous light.
In 2024 and beyond, may our Creator open new doors from heaven, that will enlighten and illuminate our world, our homes, our families, and us individually. LORD JESUS, GRANT US MORE OF YOUR LIGHT TO TAKE AWAY THE DARKNESS. Send down a new era, of peace, love, joy, hope, and grace, we/I pray. Help us to redeem the times for good and to overcome the evil seasons and evil days. WE CALL FOR YOUR DIVINE INTERVENTION INTO OUR WORLD AND IN OUR LIVES. LORD, Jehovah God in Trinity, You are a prayer answering God. Please answer speedily and according to Your steadfast love and mercy we beseech You.
THANK YOU– ABBA/FATHER IN CHRIST JESUS. And thanks for the help of the HOLY SPIRIT. …HALLELUJAH…AMEN!
