A Time & Space Machine

In the J.B. Phillips Translation of the New Testament, Hebrews 11:3 says, “And it is after all only by faith that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God’s command — that the world which we can see has come into being through principles which are invisible.”  In this translation, the created universe is referred to as “time and space”, and it is those concepts that I would like to write about this month.

I recently watched the 1960 movie, The Time Machine, starring Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux, based upon the book by the same name by H.G. Wells.  The book and movie are based upon the premise that a Victorian inventor has built a machine that can transport him forwards and backwards through time.  In his particular case, he is more concerned with the time travel aspect than the space aspect.  He wants to see if somehow he can make a difference in the world by traveling either to the past or the future and determining what might need to be changed in order to then make things on earth better.

Seeing the movie again reminded me that for a while now I have been especially fascinated by the concept of space.  And more specifically by the fact that at many times I have been occupying the very same space that many other people (and in many cases very famous people) have occupied at other times in the past.  I imagine it is this kind of fascination that draws many of us to places like the Nathan Hale Homestead in Canterbury or the Mark Twain House in Hartford.  The desire to see the place (i.e. space) occupied once-upon-a-time by those people.

This is why, on our trips to England, while others may be appreciating the historical artifacts, when Avril and I have visited the homes of famous writers such as Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie or Thomas Hardy, I oftentimes just find myself contemplating the fact that I am occupying the very same space that they once occupied.  Standing in the same spot they once stood.  Looking out the very same window they once looked out.  In a way, I feel somehow connected to them.

I think this must be why people visit holy places like Jerusalem by the millions every year.  Just to be able to walk the same streets that Jesus walked, to stand on Mount Calvary in the very same place where the eternal Son of God gave His life for the sins of the world.  I've never been on a trip to Israel, but I can imagine that there must be times in which people who do make such visits truly feel as if they are standing on holy ground.

As I've pondered these things, it began to occur to me that Heaven will basically reverse the current issues related to time and space.  Right now we can't see those who have gone before us in time who may have occupied the same space as us.  But in heaven, if they knew Jesus, then we will be able to see them.  The separation time now forces upon us will no longer exist because time will be no more.  We'll all be able to exist in the same space at the same time because we will all be in eternity and not in time.

The interesting thing is that we tend to think of time as the ever-present constant.  “Time marches on” we say … as well as “Time waits for no man”.  We take the space we live and walk around in as a given.  We don't even think about it really.  It's time that is the enemy.  It's the passage of time that makes us older, and it's time that we eventually run out of.  But in Heaven it's space that will actually be the constant.  And it's in that space called Heaven where the presence of God will dwell.

We'll have the new heavens and the new earth to roam.  We'll each have a place (space) that we can call our own, for Jesus said that He was going there to prepare a place for us.  We may even be able to travel to and visit one another in the homes that He's presently preparing for us.  And we may even have the opportunity to occasionally have Jesus visit us, just as He did with Mary and Martha and others when He once lived in time and space.

H.G. Wells wanted to travel through time in order to change the world into a better place for humanity to live.  But Jesus traveled into time and space in order to die for the sins of all mankind, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but would be changed into people who were meant to live someday in a better world.