Ephesians 3:17-19 has always blessed my heart. Paul prayed for his Ephesians friends, as I believe the Holy Spirit would have led him to pray for us: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with ALL saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all fulness of God.”
I don’t know where the idea originated, but “breadth,” “length” and “height” are sometimes described as three primary “dimensions.” And here Paul applies them to our knowledge of the infinite God – and particularly to His infinite love. What a blessing it is to know the Lord in as much fulness as is possible to these limited hearts of ours.
Again, I don’t know where this further idea began, but “time” is often considered to be the “fourth dimension.” And maybe time was included in Paul’s thoughts when he wrote of “breadth, length, depth and height.” God’s love is as boundless in every direction as every other part of the divine being. Back here in II Peter 3 our apostle brings up the subject of Divine TIME – the Divine fourth dimension. “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
In making this statement Peter reaches back to one of Moses’ wonderful songs – Psalm 90. “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou ART God.” Verse 9 – “For all OUR days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend OUR years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Verse 12 – “SO teach us to number our days, that we may apply hearts unto wisdom.” Verse 15 – “Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” And then there is the well-known verse 4 – “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.”
Returning to Peter, let’s consider three things: God’s LOVE, God’s DESIRE and God’s FOURTH DIMENSION.
Just briefly, there is a hint at God’s great LOVE.
I believe that Peter understood what Paul was saying in Ephesians 3. He was grounded in God’s love, and he did comprehend the love of Christ, which passeth all knowledge. And with that touching his own heart and soul, he looked at everyone else around him with love which was quite similar to that of the Lord Jesus. Five times in this chapter alone, he refers to his readers as “beloved.”
Those people were loved by the Saviour, and therefore they were loved by the Lord’s apostle. Some of those people grew up as heathen idolaters, yet God loved them from eternity past. Some of them may have been pharisaic, heathen-despising Jews, yet God loved them. Some of them had committed crimes in man’s sight and horrendous sins in God’s, yet the Saviour loved them and gave himself to graciously deliver them from those sins. We love the Lord, because He first loved us (I John 4:19). And we love others whom the Lord loves because He first loved them and us.
As I just said, in this chapter alone Peter used the word “beloved” five times. Because he loved these people, he felt need to stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance, verse 1. Because he loved them, he yearned that they’d be found of Christ in spotless, blameless peace, verse 14. Because he loved the Apostle Paul, he studied and cherished his theological teaching, verse 15. Because Peter loved those reading this letter, he prayed that they’d not be swept away with error, verse 16. And it was in love that he endeavored to protect them from intellectual and spiritual darkness – “Beloved, be not ignorance of this one thing.” “Don’t be ignorant of these things in the way the scoffers are ignorant. Be not ignorant of one thing in particular.”
Just as briefly as the thought about God’s love there is a hint at God’s DESIRE.
The Lord doesn’t enjoy our ignorance. The Lord yearns to reveal Himself to us. He wants us “to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all fulness of God.” Sure, there were things the Old Testament saints didn’t know about Jehovah. But with the progression of God’s revelation in the New Testament – we can know a great deal about God.
Some points of theology could not be understood until the Lord Jesus ascended into Heaven. He told the disciples, “I will pray the Father, and he shall given you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever: even the Spirit of truth. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things…” One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit is to teach us those things which we need to know and which can be known now that our salvation has been accomplished on the cross. Paul would eventually write to the Romans: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11). And he wrote to the Corinthians “Moreover brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant… now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things…” (Corinthians 10). And, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” (Corinthians 12:1).
Christianity is not a religion of ignorance, and our’s is not a blind faith. Our faith is based on spiritual facts and divine revelations. Jehovah wants us to know as much as we possibly can about Himself and His love and grace. “I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He hath made known, Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for his own.” BUT “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.”
At this point, Peter’s desire was that these beloved saints be not ignorant of GOD’S 4TH DIMENSION.
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” While not necessarily comprehending details, we can be sure God doesn’t tell time, or use time, as we do. And despite what the skeptics would like to think, the Lord is not pushed by time. How often during the week, or within a single day, are we motivated by the clock? It is Wednesday night and the church service starts at 6:00 PM, not 7:00. We have to get this project done, fix or eat supper, get cleaned up and get out the door by 5:30. “Hurry up,” says the clock; time stops for no man. The boss tells us that a certain project has to be completed by such and such a time. It is unreasonable; he is unreasonable; the clock is not being helpful. The sprinter is training to beat a certain time. The wrestler knows he has a slight lead in points, but he is tiring; he has to hang on for 30 more seconds.
The eternal God has no problems like these. He is above time; He is the Creator of time; He is the controller of time. Some preachers are prone to say, “If the Lord tarries His coming, then such and such will take place.” It is not true. “Tarrying” is a time-related word, and God is above time. The Lord may have promised a certain event, and it will take place at some point in human time, but our calendars cannot dictate anything to the God who is above all calendars. Time can’t move God, because He is omnipresent and omnipotent – He has no weaknesses. God’s single day exceeds man’s eternity. Man’s tomorrow is God’s yesterday, and vise versa.
Let’s remember that the context of this verse was skeptical question: “Where is the promise of His coming?” Peter’s initial reply was, “Hey you guys, have you forgotten what the Lord has done in the past? Don’t you know that today’s heavens and earth are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment to come.” God’s delays are not like any kind delay you and I might know under the time constraints of this world. Everything Elohim is going to do, is already done as far as He is concerned. When He chose to save someone, they were already glorified in God’s will, despite the fact that person must repent and trust Christ in time, then live a Christian life for years, before eventually being glorified. And Satan is an already defeated creature in God’s forth dimension, even though today in our time he still walks about seeking whom he may devour.
God’s delays are not LIKE our delays. Foolish unbelievers say that it takes billions of years to create life; God did it in a day – a moment. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day.” That is not an argument for progressive creation or evolution; it is an argument against it. Foolish BELIEVERS ask, “How long Lord? Wilt thou hide thyself FOR EVER?” – Psalm 89. “Forever” is a human concept. It is anthropomorphic. It is an accommodation to our human limitations in this fourth dimension. Just because a divine promised has not yet been fulfilled, it doesn’t mean God has “postponed” things, because He’s UNABLE to fulfil the promise. God is NEVER unable to do anything. “Where is the promise of his coming?” Don’t even ask. It is more guaranteed than your next heartbeat. God hasn’t delayed anything because He is fickle and changed His mind. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And (I Timothy 1:17) – “Unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” In this case, the words “eternal” and “immortal,” also carry the weight of “unchangeable.”
When it comes to human time in the light of divine eternality, the words “longsuffering” and “patience,” come into play. Oh, Mr. Rebel, “despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” – Romans 2:4. Instead of demanding the fulfilment of God’s promises, the wicked should praise the Lord for His fourth dimensional patience.
If you stop and think about it – we often measure time using motion and distance. Google the statement: “Distance from Post Falls, Idaho to Granite Bay, California.” Before the computer says in parenthesis (864.2 miles), it first says, “14 hours 6 minutes.” Google measures distance by using time. And just as God is not limited by time, He is not confined to distance. Philip baptizes the Ethiopian one minute, and the next he is in Azotus – Acts 8:40. That wasn’t by Philip’s power. Even though it took place in Philip’s understanding of time, neither the time nor distance were anything to God. And doesn’t it make you wonder whether or not Philip was familiar with the practical aspects of the transcendent God? Did Philip know that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day?” Was he surprised when he saw his new friend mount his chariot, before he blinked and his eyes opened to see the old Philistine city of Ashdod?
Just as Jehovah’s relationship to time is inestimably boundless, so is He in everything else. This, in God, is related to a number of things. For example, there is no difference in God’s sight between a church of a thousand people and one of his ecclesias with only ten members. A big church is with the Lord as a small church. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years. And the Lord has no problem blessing you as a complex living creature, at the same time blessing a single cell within you or a single atom which is a part of that cell. He cares and controls that potentially cancerous cell, as much as He cares for your seventy years on this earth. Also, there is a sense in which a child is nothing less than an adult in the eyes of the Lord. To the transcendent God there is no difference between a million dollars and ten dollars. “One dollar is with the Lord as a thousand dollars, and a thousand dollars as one.” Elijah was as well fed beside the brook Cherith as he ever was in his mother’s arms as a new born.
What a source of peace this thought should be: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day?” It is just one aspect of a much larger thought – the absolute transcendence of infinite God. Jehovah transcends every single thing in this vast creation of His. There is no reason for me to worry about anything under the canopy of the Lord’s infinity.
Trying to find a way to summarize and conclude this message, perhaps we can use Psalm 136:25: The Lord, “giveth food to all flesh; for his mercy endureth for ever.” The Lord feeds the sparrow and the lily. He nourishes the grass in the field which is here today and gone tomorrow. And those divine blessings are not confined to one day, but to thousands of years. Because “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day?” But perhaps more importantly, at lease for sinners like us – His MERCY is not for the moment, but it “endureth for ever.” The God who exists above and beyond all time has said in John 6:47 – “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”