Two Perspectives – Seen and Unseen, Temporal and Eternal
The genuine Christian believer treads the temporal real estate of our present world in time knowing that this is not his or her true home. Thus the believer’s trust lies in God’s account of an eternally blessed very good creation in Genesis 1-3. This is the eternal perspective. This is the perspective that Paul proclaims in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, (18) while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
The unbeliever assumes that the present time-cursed earth and cosmos, in which we all presently find ourselves, is the sum total of reality, and therefore trusts the continually changing naturalistic and evolutionary account of an ancient world. This is the temporal perspective.
Both believers and unbelievers are correct in their analysis of the age of their respective worlds from their respective perspectives. Because the object of focus for each perspective is different, there can be no disagreement or bona fide argument between them. Disagreement can only arise when it is assumed by one or both sides that the temporal perspective in our present earth bound space-time environment is the only valid perception of reality.
To put it differently, this disagreement derives from our assumption that this time-cursed cosmos that we presently inhabit is one and the same creation that is described in Genesis 1-3. I do not believe that it is. The days, evenings and mornings of Genesis 1 are in the eternal realm of God where time is of a different nature than in our cursed temporal world today, and this concept is biblically referenced in Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8-9.
Psa 90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night.
2Pe 3:8-9 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. (9) The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
If this is a reasonable interpretation, then there is no point in pitting the Genesis 1-3 account against contemporary scientific judgments about the age of the earth we now inhabit. If each of the six days of the Genesis 1 account is a literal 24 hour present-earth day (Hebrew yom), we must remember that God’s time is different from our time, and not try to impose our earthly notions about time spans on his out-of-time eternal creation in Paradise.
Another point to consider is this. If this creation that we now inhabit is simply a degraded and corrupt extension in time of the original very good Genesis 1 creation, then we may rightfully ask, “Where is the Garden of Eden?” We have explored every corner of earth and exhaustively examined our planet by orbital satellites. No Cherubim and no flaming sword have ever been discovered. We might wonder if God’s Garden of Eden (Paradise) has succumbed to the degeneration and decay of entropic time, or if it and the guarding cherubim were destroyed by some natural disaster, such as Noah’s flood. After all, isn’t everything we see around us passing away in time? By definition, this cannot be the case with God’s eternal Paradise.
Therefore, the Christian believer remembers the wisdom of the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 4:18) to focus on the unseen eternal, and not waste words in futile arguments to reconcile the visible and evanescent temporary world around us with the eternal creation of God. These two perspectives, the unseen eternal and the seen temporal, describe two real estates that are more different than the idiomatic apples and oranges. Let us explore additional biblical evidence for this extraordinary view in the next post.
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