Time Travel
There are many movies and shows about time travel. There's "Dr. Who," "Back to the Future," "Star Trek," "Harry Potter," "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," "Groundhog's Day," "Quantum Leap," "Gravity Falls," and the list goes on and on. Where did this concept come from? Here is a list of writings that popularized the idea of time travel:
400 BC - "Mahabharata" a Hindu story from India
1819 - "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving
1849 - "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
1881 - "The Clock that Ran Backwards" by Edward Page Mitchell
1889 - "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain
1896 - "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells
"Mahabharata" is about time passing differently in a spiritual realm than on earth, something like the story of Rip Van Winkle, so some may argue those are not about really time travel.
Some say that the first story of time travel (both forward and backward) is the book of Revelation. In it we see John being taken to different parts of time: the birth of the Messiah, a period of spiritual war, the fall of Rome, the end of time, and judgement day. Revelation is hard to understand because of the figurative language, but one thing shines through, with Christ we are victors. Not only does He conquer death, but He is the Lord of time.
In Rev 1:1 we are introduced:
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.
Then in verse 4 God is described as, "Him who is, and who was, and who is to come." Past, present, and future. And in verse 9 it says:
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
In 2:8 Jesus is described as "Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again."
In 4:8, God is praised, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
21:8 has:
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
22:12-13 has:
Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
God transcends all time. He is eternal. He is not bound by time as we are.
For John to be taken from one point of time to another is what Sci-Fi writers dream of. But unlike fiction, this was real. I think what John experienced is way beyond our understanding and cannot be written in earthly terms.
Speaking of being beyond our understanding, Albert Einstein said time was the fourth dimension. In his theory of General Relativity in 1905, he proposed that time slows or accelerates relative to something else. If a twin was on a spaceship approaching the speed of light, he would age slower than his twin back on earth. He went on in another theory to claim gravity can bend light and time. The speed of light, is the only "constant" in the universe. Everything else is relative.
The idea of time not existing at the speed of light makes me think of this verse in 1 John 1:5-7:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
This passage is talking about good and evil, but it could also have a double meaning in regards to time.
In the Creation, God said, "Let there be light" on the first day. It was not till day three that God created the sun, moon, and stars. What was the source of light before the existence of the sun and stars? God Himself?
God is awesome and way beyond our understanding. He goes to infinity, and beyond. He is the Lord of all, including time.
Jay Crook