Redeeming Your Past, Present, and Future
What we are about to learn, is that God has made different kinds of time the way He had made different kinds of trees, flowers, or really anything.
We love dogs, but there are different kinds of dogs and time is just like that. All kinds of time are created for different purposes.
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Because there are different kinds of time for different purposes of God, there is no telling how many kinds of time there are, but let’s start off with some easy ones.
Past Time:
Time gone by and no longer existing (from our perspective), or something occurring before, and leading up to, the time of right now.
Present Time:
I call this “right now” time and, again, all of this is relative to each human being.
Future Time
A later time from your “right now” time.
Because we are human and uniquely created, we deal with our past, present, and our futures differently.
So, we know there are different kinds of time. So far, it’s been easy. Now, the Bible begins to show us other kinds of time.
Unredeemed Time
A flow of relative time when everything is being lost and passing away.
When redemption is not at work and the blood of the Lamb is absent, time is a robber and a destroyer. Time is death and a prison. Entropy rules in unredeemed time. Disorder, uncertainty, and degradation show up and make sure that humans have no strength or ability to exercise authority.
In unredeemed time, the focus is on what is being lost and what is passing away. This is the state of the world where something scientists call “entropy” is engaged. Entropy is a law of thermodynamic physics. Lack of order or predictability always leads to a gradual decline into disorder.
This is what happens when nature rules and reigns, and when the Creator does not. In its natural designed state, time, without the rule of heaven or the component of redemption, is designed to guarantee a continual ending.
Here are some Bible verses that illustrate entropy in unredeemed time frames:
And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention (1 Kings 18:29).
Do you see how the Bible describes the time frame? It’s going away or passing. In the Doppler effect, they would say it’s in redshift.
“Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!” (Job 14:13)
…envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21).
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Do you see the difference between “time past” and “in these last days”? Everything in unredeemed time is fading away.
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which is at the head of the verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with wine! (Isaiah 28:1)
Everything caught up in the flow of unredeemed time is forced to fade and pass away. That’s the purpose of unredeemed time.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:17).
It reminds me of the last words of Frank Sinatra, “I’m losing it. I’m losing it!” The state of what I call “unredeemed time” makes sure that death brings an ending. This is because space, time, and matter are also in continuum with sin and death, but we will get into that in another chapter.
We are all very familiar with unredeemed time. However, there is another side of time to discover.
I don’t know if Frank Sinatra was redeemed or not. I’m merely talking about what kind of time he was dealing with when he died. I can tell you that the apostle Paul wasn’t losing anything. He was actually gaining everything. Why? Time was different for him because of redemption.
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
And that brings us to redeemed time.
“We are all very familiar with unredeemed time. However, there is another side of time to discover.”
Redeemed Time
A flow of relative time where everything is coming and being gained. When the blood of the Lamb is present, the rules are completely different for that specific time frame. It’s the difference between coming or going. In redeemed time, the person in that time flow is gaining life instead of losing life. Time serves God in bringing and giving instead of passing and taking away.
Here are some good biblical examples:
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4).
Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there” (1 Samuel 11:14).
“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Samuel 7:12).
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (Mark 11:10)
And heal the sick there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you” (Luke 10:9)
Important Note
In the flow of redeemed time, all things of the Kingdom and life are coming. The presence of God continues to come more and more in the flow of redeemed time. It’s a lot like when Isaiah saw the train of the glory of God in chapter 6:1: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” The Hebrew word we translate as “filled” the temple actually means “to fill and continue to fill more and more.” It’s a perfect picture of what happens when His holy presence and His redemption enters into a certain time frame.
On the other hand, in the flow of unredeemed time, all things of the world are passing away, fading and dying.
Time is proven to be relative, especially to the observer. Your view of time is determined by the condition of your heart and the authority you walk in or the victimization you are burdened with.
Your timeline is subject, or relative to, how you are able to observe it—whether through the view of heaven or through what the Bible calls an evil eye.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness… (Matthew 6:22-23 KJV).
You can literally change everything by changing your view from a natural view to a redeemed and supernatural view. That means seeing your time through Him and His awesome glory. He causes His goodness to pass before you and you see through that amazing lens of relationship. You can change your time from robbing you into adding life to you. This is the way God designed time. He designed it for you to walk in it in a way that is relative to your heart and your relationship with Him.
“You can literally change everything by changing your view of time from a natural view to a redeemed and supernatural view. That means seeing your time through Him and His awesome glory.”
Messing with time is a lot like flying a jet or driving a race car. You had better know what model you are dealing with. We have to learn to partner with God so redeemed time can overtake our past, present, and future time.
Redeemed time and unredeemed are both time. Just like a Labrador and a wild wolf are both dogs. We have to know how to enjoy the benefits of the one while overcoming the other.
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16).
Conclusion
When redemption is at work, time is completely different from when redemption is not at work within that time.
When the blood of the Lamb is absent, time is a robber and a destroyer. Time is death and a prison. Entropy rules in unredeemed time.
When redemption enters, time becomes a transformational environment from death unto life. Maturity, fruitfulness, dreams realized, goals achieved, and prayers answered become the norm. Heaven comes to you in a time frame shifted by redemption.
What This Means for You
Not only do you need to be aware of your past, present, and future, you need to be aware of the redeemed and “yet to be redeemed” places in your timeline. There are places in your timeline where the King needs to bring redemption. In bad places, He changes the curse to a blessing. In good places, you continue to receive the Kingdom and His goodness without losing it.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Questions to Ponder
How is time relative in my life?
In my own words, what is the difference between redeemed and unredeemed time?
Do I believe redeemed time is available to me? If so, what events in my life would I like to see redeemed?
