God’s Eternal Clock

(Acts 1:7-8, Dan. 7:25, 12:7, Rev. 12:14)

Have you learned to listen to the Spirit?  Have you learned to sit at the feet of Jesus and ask Him questions and believe for answers?  Do you understand that by the Spirit, the Lord creates a hearing ear in your spirit so that you might know His voice?  If you do not know these truths, you can because God is always searching for hearts turned to Him.  He never changes and is always ready to give us wisdom and understanding.  As we mature in spirit, we also learn not to lean on our understanding and to trust Him fully.  Very often events happen and it throws us for a loop as we say.  Often we have developed an expectation for what he is going to do, or what is going to happen.  And God moves in a very different way, or simply opposite of our expectation. Even as disciples, we sometimes do not know what spirit we are of.  (See Luke 9:53-56)

We need to realize, no matter what we may understand, we know in part.  We may compare spiritual notes with others and collectively think we see what’s coming.  And whoops!  Not what we thought!  And we step back and admit, “Your ways, Lord, are higher than ours.”  I am thinking it is much better to be still and listening than figuring out God’s next step.  I often hear of an excitement over a dream from the Lord.  It is so easy to slide into a fascination with the gift the Spirit gives.  But we learn to maintain a focus on Him.  He wants to bring us into step with Himself.  Jesus says, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  A burden exists.  The Lord looks for those who share in His burdens, His concerns, His desires.  He calls us into fellowship with Himself and we experience His sufferings, and His joys.

All this works patience in us.  We know that the Lord is going to accomplish certain things.  But they are all on His schedule.  At the start of 2021, I knew I was entering a season of changes, of new connections.  I have learned to be led by the Spirit.  I cannot make the timings right but He does.  Some are concerned that we, His people, can screw up His timing.  I think we overestimate our influence.  Jesus said plainly, “It is not for you (closest disciples) to know the times and seasons which our Father holds in His own authority.  But you shall receive power (great, spontaneous, explosive ability) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”  I have changed a few of the specific words that are written in Acts.  Yet we do not look for our understanding to be perfectly correct.  He is true!  We often err by judging His clock by observation.  We are easily distracted.

Mankind, in and outside of the church, has an assortment of calendars.  Paul cautioned those foolish Galatians not to be caught up in observing days and months and seasons and years, saying he was afraid for them.  In modern words, he was concerned that after all his efforts, they didn’t get it!  With all appropriate respect to the Hebrew calendar, the Lord is not bound to follow it, nor should we be.  He does cause many things to align to strengthen our faith.  But the law remains as the tutor, to lead us to Christ.  The new wineskin we are, as softened by the Spirit, is not to be restrained by old forms.  We explore them for understandings of Christ but they are ineffectual for imparting life.  Life comes by our connection with Christ, the head. When the Lord opened heaven to John on Patmos, He gave several specific time periods for certain events.  Yet in one instance He used an imprecise phrase, times, time and a half a time.  That same phrase was used when the Lord was speaking to Daniel.    Have you noticed how that pattern shows up in real time?  We read of two witnesses who speak for 1260 days (Rev. 12).  Divide that by 30 and we have 42 months.  That is the same time period that is for the unbelievers to trample the holy city.  Forty two months is 3 and ½ years.  Time in years, 1 + 2 + 1/2 = 3-1/2 years = 42 months.  This is not given for us to figure out all the patterns.  We may not predict fulfillments correctly.  I remember Jesus words at His ascension.  Now we may remember Daniel’s response to see that the 70 years were completed so he prayed for the restoration of the Lord’s house.  But we do not live in the day of Daniel.  What was John’s prayer at the end of his revelation of Christ?  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  Only the Father knows the day and the hour, and we see it is coming quickly.  It is all about Him and becoming His bride.