THE TIME HAS COME

The way the Hebrews looked at time does not mean they did not have any sense of history; it means that they had a different sense of history. We determine the past, present and future events in a long sequence of measured time; the numbered hours, days and years. For the Jews the one and only basis for this continuity of events was God. It was God who ordained the times: a time for fasting or a time for feasting, a time of judgment or a time of salvation. The events of history were acts of God, and their sequence depended upon the free will of God.
When Jesus came, he announced ‘a new time’ and the imminence of God’s final and definite kingdom: “The time has come (is fulfilled) and the kingdom of God is close at hand (near). Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The time of the kingdom is the quantitative time we are in (it is the measured time) but the ‘season,’ or trait, mood, or quality of that time changes. Times of prayer, fasting, giving, building, not building, birthing, not birthing, are all times that are qualitative within the kingdom time. It takes great wisdom to know our times. Jesus said, “Do you know how to discern the appearance (face) of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:3) Do we have the Weather Channel but don’t know the plans and mind of God?

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Jesus