Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning? 2. Time to Wake Up!

The world is changing around us at a steady pace.  However, our awareness of change is usually clouded from our view because it occurs slowly and incrementally.  A fitting analogy is that we can barely detect the movement of the minute hand on a clock as it measures the progression of time.  But it moves unrelentingly forward nonetheless.  Likewise, the darkness before dawn contrasts sharply with the noonday sun.  However, the human eye cannot detect the gradual brightening of the dawn as time passes unless we snap photos periodically and compare them.  Similarly, our personal maturation in body, mind, spirit, and character; and our mastery of manual and athletic skills all occur gradually with much patience and endurance.  

Our mirrors remind us that our faces are wrinkling and our hair is thinning.  Thankfully, these changes occur so gradually that they are unnoticed by us, and even by our friends who assure us that we “haven’t changed a bit.”  But, all flattering aside, few of us deny that our bodies “they are a changing.”  So are the times in which we live.  Although one day may be the same as the next, still our calendars all have special days.  We celebrate events like births, marriages, and graduations, while others like hospitalizations and deaths of loved ones can be sudden “wake-up calls.”  Whether they bring joy or sadness, we can benefit from pausing to reflect on both our celebrations and our sudden “wake-up calls.”

“Wake-Up Calls”
This article is Part 2 of “Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning?”  In Part 1 we described three “Christmas Contrasts.”  These contrasts become evident when we consider two major groups of people and how they celebrate Christmas.  While many celebrate Christmas with lights and gifts, only one of the groups knows the true meaning of these traditions.  Sadly, the other group misses this joy because they do not know Jesus personally as the “Light of the World” and “God’s greatest Gift”—i.e. Everlasting Life in Him-- forever (John 3).

Just as there are two ways to celebrate Christmas, so there are two major views of time.  The Apostle Peter describes one view, expressed by the mockers who ask, “Where is the promise of His [Christ’s] coming?  For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation (2 Peter 3: 4).”  This view resembles that of deism.  Deists will acknowledge a Creator God, but believes God has wound up the clock of time and then simply allows events to play themselves out in the world without His intervention.  Peter goes on to say that those who hold this view of a non-intervening God have forgotten that God does intervene and even directs the human drama.  To make his point, Peter reminds deniers of the time in which the world was destroyed, being flooded with water (2 Peter 3: 6b).  The historical reality of a world-wide flood at the time of Noah is supported by geological studies.

The span of “geological history” suggests there were long periods without evidence of change.  But these periods of stasis were markedly disrupted by events such as volcanic eruptions, changes in sea level, and climate change.  We should note that not all geologists today believe that “long periods of time” amounted to billions of years.  

Young-Earth geologists like Dr. John Whitmore, a professor at Cedarville University, have published scientific data [See HERE.] and given talks [See HERE.] explaining that the supposed “long geologic periods” are in fact not so long.  John’s studies of the geology of places like the Grand Canyon and Mt. St. Helens suggest evidence that these geologic formations have resulted from short-term cataclysmic events that caused massive movement and deposition of sediments followed soon by erosion on a grand scale.  Dr. Whitmore integrates his findings with the biblical revelation to explain these events.  [See “Does Science Trump Theology in the Pursuit of Truth?”  Click HERE.]

The biblical timeline of human history corroborates the geologic and archeological data and together they affirm the reality of God’s interventions of judgment and deliverance.  The peace and perfection of the Garden of Eden was interrupted when Adam and Eve chose to disbelieve and dishonor God’s Word, allowing sin and Satan to bring corruption into creation.  Later, God’s judgment upon the descendants of Adam and Eve came through the flood in which only Noah, his wife, and family were spared.  To date, this global flood must have been a tremendous “wake-up” call.   After the flood, God introduced Noah and family to a world that had been greatly altered geologically, ecologically, and meteorologically during and after the global flood. 

When the descendants of Noah became corrupted and brought great violence and turmoil upon the Earth, God called Abraham to leave his heathen civilization.  By faith, Abraham believed God’s promise that He would make of his descendants into a new nation.  The Abrahamic Covenant led to creation of the nation of Israel whose long history of change was characterized by gradual descent into sin and repeated warnings by God’s prophets, eventually punctuated by God’s abrupt judgment and deliverances.

One of the most noteworthy of God’s judgments upon the Southern Kingdom of Israel (i.e. Judah) occurred around 600 BC.  The prophet Isaiah warned Ahaz, king of Judah, that if Judah followed in the idolatry and rebellion of the Northern Kingdom which was eventually conquered by Assyria, they would also face God’s judgment.  But Judah did not heed the prophet’s wake-up calls, and after Isaiah’s time they fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC.  Those Israelites who survived a long siege of Jerusalem were carried off to endure a 70-year exile in Babylon.  Isaiah had not only predicted the Babylonian captivity before he died, but boldly challenged God’s Chosen people to be ready to return to the Holy Land after their captivity had ended.  The the nation of Israel would then exist for 400 years with no revelation from God before the announcement of the coming of Christ whose humble birth is the central reference point for how we mark time in years on our calendars.

A "Wake-Up Call" for 2024
Our focus has been on the theme of “gradual changes over time, punctuated by “wake-up calls.” 
We have noted that this pattern is evident throughout human history and even in geological history.  Finally, we have seen that it matters to God how we respond to His commands and to the apparent “interruptions” that He allows in the progression of time. But before we conclude, we should realize that, as we enter 2024, this year has the potential to be the most turbulent year history has known, at least in recent times.  How many "wake-up calls" could be in store for us in 2024?

We would like to think that readers of Oikonomia are regularly attentive to national and world news.  For these informed readers, we need only to mention a series of key words and you would almost immediately be able to give an impromptu explanation of how each could be a "powder keg" for a major national or global "wake-up call."  Below is our listing which is not exhaustive:

Add to these disturbing developments the warning we conveyed in Part 1 of "Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning?" [Click HERE.]  Recall, we referenced the book by Eric Metaxas, Letter to the American Church (Salem Books, 2022) in which this author warns the American Church that it is following the same path as the German Church in the 1930's which was largely silent in the face of the rise of Adolph Hitler.

Taken together our listing of sources of "wake-up calls" is enough to keep us up at night.  It is not our intent to push us into panic mode.  Instead, we each need to be alert in mind, body, and spirit and vigilant to maintain our individual love and obedience to God and our integrity toward our neighbor.  If this article serves to awaken us to the urgency of our times and be more committed to the Commission given by Jesus Christ (Matthew 28: 18-20), we will have succeeded. 

Starting Strong in 2024
As 2024 begins, how can we prepare to respond to God’s “wake-up calls?”  As part of our own New Year meditations in Scripture, we have written a series of eight short devotional meditations based on our study of Isaiah Chapter 52.  We encourage you to visit “Eight Devotional Meditations for the New Year” by clicking HERE.   We hope your reading, study, and prayer over each of these meditations will help to “awaken you” in mind, body, and spirit as you begin this New Year.  To start "Day 1" of the devotional series, click HERE.

Finding Purpose in the Created Order: Stewardship of Time

In a world faced with economic and political uncertainty and instability both within the borders of the USA and beyond, it is not unusual to encounter those who are striving to make sense and purpose out of the world. Who among us has not experienced the dark cloud of hopelessness and despair if even for a short season? Upon what can we rely for our sense of purpose?

The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes states:
Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?

Of course “the Preacher” eventually proclaims that the real world of meaning and purpose can be found when we realize what is “beyond the sun” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). But suppose we choose to deny that such reality exists “beyond the sun?”

British ethologist and evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, denies the existence of supernatural reality. Indeed, he expresses a viewpoint and outlook that may be responsible for the widespread sense of hopelessness and gloom among many in our day. Dawkins states:

“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”

I believe that our sense of purpose and hope is linked to how we perceive the universe. Do we see the universe as being the result of order, design, and purpose; or one that is random, chaotic, and amoral. If one accepts the Bible as authoritative, then its first book, Genesis, can provide a foundation for hope and purpose in life. In my experience, one way that Genesis encourages an outlook of hope and purpose is by its clear teaching that God acted in creation to bring about a world, or kosmos, that is bursting with order and purpose.

The account of creation is an account of how God created matter from nothing. Then He created order, form, and purpose from matter that apparently lacked order, form, and purpose (Genesis 1: 1-2. The subsequent purpose-driven acts of creation introduced order and form to energy-matter, time, and space. First, God separated light from darkness. Then, He separated the heavens from the earth; and He separated the land from the waters.

Then, God created distinct kinds of creatures and enabled them to reproduce according to their kind. Finally, He created mankind as a combination of the dust of the earth and the breath of God. His purpose in creating mankind was to show forth His nature and purpose within the created order as mankind would exercise dominion in a God-honoring manner. Each creature was “programmed” genetically to grow and reproduce under the control of an internal biological “clock” which could be set and reset in response to daily and seasonal cycles. Biological rhythms were possible because God had also ordered time into years based on what we now understand as the time of Earth’s revolution around the Sun; and , months based on lunar events, and days, based on Earth’s rotation.

Finally, God divided time into what we now call weeks of seven days. Unlike years, months, and days, weeks have no known basis to mark their duration in the physical realm. Instead, they are rooted in the purpose of God to institute a seven-day cycle of work and rest. God was the first to demonstrate this ‘cycle’ of a “six-day work week” followed by a day of rest (Genesis 2:1-3.

So, we find a spiritual and emotional “prescription for hopelessness and despair when we acknowledge and submit our lives to the cyclic rhythm of time that God ordained? Submission to a pattern of work and rest requires an act of the will. Can we deliberately stop what has been our focus for six days and say, “Enough.” Have we learned how to be arrested– to submit to God’s purpose that time be given to regular pausing as God did to see what He had done? [God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. Gen. 1:31]. Do we pause and reflect upon the work of our hands and minds, to express thanks to God for giving us the strength and ability to perform the work? If we do this, we are regularly reminded that even our ability to work comes from God; a God Who desires to fellowship with us through His Word and in prayer, and to give meaning and purpose to our lives “under the Sun.”

Dear God, the Eternal One Who has given order to the world around me, help me to live by the order and purposes that you have for my life. You have searched me an known me. You know when I sit down and when I get up again; when I am depressed and when I am joyful. Even before I was formed in my mother’s womb, you knew the number of days that were allotted for me. Help me to trust Your plan for the use of my days, both the days for work and that special day each week for rest and refreshment. Help me on those special days to take time in Your Word and in prayer; and to pursue You, the only one Who ultimately can infuse eternal blessing and, meaning, and purpose into my life. Amen.

In subsequent entries in Oikonomia, we will examine other aspects of God’s created order and how they each provide a framework for our growth and maturation as human beings. Your comments, insights, and questions are ever so welcome here.