Travelling at the speed of light - John Harding

We have been thinking throughout our series Because of Jesus about our identity in Christ. How we are hidden in Him, and how as we behold Him, we start to see ourselves for who we really are. It is a profound mystery; how we can be in Christ and Christ in us. How you are in Christ and I am in Christ. We have said throughout the series how we died with Christ. Somehow, 2000 years ago, you died in Him and were resurrected in Him. Paul calls it a mystery, meaning something we cannot get our heads around.

I heard someone speaking recently about light, time and space. He was saying that according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, time is relative to motion. That means that the faster you travel, the more time becomes compressed. So for example, if you left earth in a rocket travelling at 160,000 miles per second for 10 years, you would age by 10 years but everyone else on earth would have aged by 20 years. If you were travelling at 170,000 miles per second, 20 years become compressed into one day. You would have aged one day, everyone on earth 20 years. Whereas if you were travelling at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, all of time becomes compressed into one moment. Past, present and future in one moment. Anyone into Sci-Fi and Doctor Who will undoubtedly be familiar with this theory!

I am clearly no scientist. And the things of faith are mysterious and beyond human comprehension. But I love the idea that Jesus is LIGHT. That means, among other things, that for Him, all of time is compressed into one moment. It means He is eternally present. The past, present and future are all one moment for Him, because He is Light. No wonder He could say Before Abraham was, I am John 8:58.

Go back to those thoughts about being in Christ, and present with Him in His death on the cross.  When Jesus hung on cross He was and is simultaneously with you, right now. He bore our sin in His body on the cross. He became our sin. You were on his mind as he hung there on that tree, because for Him, He is in the past, present and future simultaneously. That means that even if I sin here and now in the present, He is bearing that sin in his body on the cross. Perhaps that's why in Revelation Jesus is described as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world  Rev 13:8.

Mind blowing. No wonder we have to use metaphors like light to describe the God of our salvation. Of course, our eternal destiny is to be like Him. When we see His face we will be transformed into His likeness. We will fully partake in His divine nature. That is our eternal destiny, and I think that’s pretty cool! 

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