An Unlimited Triune Creator God

Simple.
Time with God is eternally present (encompassing past and future). But God set forth His creation bound in time that it will reveal His plan and fulfill His purposes. Therefore though all time consists in His presense they are still played out exactly in the manner He knows and has set forth to be done IN a timely manner.

This is a VERY poor illistration but it is much like playing chess (in a sense). You know what will happen before it happens, you set up the peices, and see it play out (if your good enough :laugh: ) before you AS YOU PLAY in time. Your visualizing the game in your head was kinda outside of time because you were looking forward at what would transpire). However the rules state you can not go back and redo a move.
God set up His own rules that once He created that which He planned it would continue untill ALL was fulfilled, there was no turning back. Thus the reason for the verse (it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment - and MANY others about God fulfilling His plan).

Maybe it helps, maybe not. But it is only a quick answer. Remember the chess portion is a very poor ananolgy since God is not man but hopefully you can see the gist of its meaning.

 

To add to Allan's post, God is outside of time and space, but we're not. We have to play by the rules that God has made. He placed us in this physical 3 dimensional 24 hour day world. We have to live by the physics which God has set in motion.
As Allan said, "it is appointed to man once to die, then the judgement." That's God law and we have to follow it.

 

Not me. I'm not following any law where I have to die. I'm a rebel. A villain. A lawbreaker. A.... aaarrrrrgghhhhhh....

 

You're a pirate?



:laugh:

 

That was supposed to mean I died. Oh well... the pirate idea might have been better, anyway.

 

:laugh: :laugh: I thought he was trying to be a pirate to ! The whole rebel thing and all. :laugh: :laugh:

 

God is not limited in time but we are. In hell, the awareness of God is there also -- that there is a place created that those who rejected Him could live free of Him forever. But there will be a heightened awareness that they were willingly deceived and would have chosen God had they been honest.

Do you realize that all of them will be taken out of that hell -- given new bodies -- to appear before Christ? What a relief! He DID die for all mankind's sins! They will not suffer for sins in eternity -- they will be recompensed for their good works as found in the book of works (Rev 20:13-15). And the "lake of fire" is a spiritual place -- not eternal physical torment (2nd death could only mean physical death since the soul and spirit continue). So spiritually the suffering is as one who is "burning" as when one loves another but is unrequited (1Cor 7:9).

skypair