Hey, John,...What Time Is It?

        Perhaps the most relevant passage of Scripture regarding "time" is expressed in the book of Ecclesiastes by King Solomon, the Teacher: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..."  Eccl. 3:1.  The gospel writer John has included many instances relevant to "time" in his book too!  Written below are the "times" as recorded by John.

 

John 2:4 (Jesus speaking to his mother): "My time has not yet come."

        2:13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

        3:4 "How can a man be born when he is old?"  Nicodemus asked.  "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

        4:21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem."

        4:23 (Jesus speaking):"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."

        4:53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live."  So he and all his household believed.

        5:25 (Jesus speaking): "I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."

        5:28, 29 (Jesus speaking): "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out  -  those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."

        5:38 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

        6:1, 2 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.

        6:66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

        7:6, 8 Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.  You go up to the feast.  I am not yet going up to the Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come."

        7:30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.

        7:33 Jesus said: "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me."

        7:39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.  Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

        8:9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.

        8:20 He (Jesus) spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put.  Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.       

        9:24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind.  "Give glory to God," they said.  "We know this man is a sinner."

        11:39 "But, Lord," said Martha, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."

        12:31 (Jesus speaking): "Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out."

        13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.

        16:2, 4 (Jesus speaking): "They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.  I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you."

        16:22 (Jesus speaking): "So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice and no one will take away your joy."

        16:32 (Jesus speaking): "But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home."

        17:1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward Heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you."

        21:14 This was the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

        21:17 The third time he (Jesus) said to him. "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"  Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time.

Perhaps the "time" of most importance recorded in John's gospel is in 17:1 which reads: "Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you."  Since these words are part of Jesus' three-fold prayer near the end of his life, they have special meaning, and when the words pertain to glorification, they become even more important.  What does it mean to glorify someone else, and how does Jesus (or anyone else, for that matter) accomplish this process?

At the conclusion of King Solomon's "A Time for Everything" that is recorded in Eccl. 3:1-8, the next three verses read: "What does the worker gain from his toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."  Eccl. 3:9-11.

 

Yes, God has made everything beautiful in its time.  Time will never end!

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