◄ What Does Ephesians 1:10 Mean? ►

There is probably no more vital truth for the Christian than to understand our current position in Christ and our future relationship to Him. Before time began, God determined to gather all things together in Christ, unite everything together in Him, to sum-up and bring into one final whole, all things in Jesus Christ the Messiah of God.

Before the creation of the world, there was no time, and there is a day, yet future, when the fullness of time will have been reached, when time will be completed. That is the moment when all that God planned and purposed will have reached its full objective and final consummation.

Currently, time marches on, and living within the constraints of time makes it hard for us to imagine an eternal state where time is no more. But the passage of time has a purpose, and the Bible gives much insight into the way God uses time to work out His perfect plan. The creation account in Genesis tells us God made "Lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and they shall serve as signs and for seasons, and for days and years." And although God Himself is not bound by time, he has appointed days, months, and seasons: "There is an appointed time for everything, and there is a time for every matter under heaven." Even our days are numbered by the Lord and everything He has appointed will come to pass in His timing.

Jesus was fully aware of His own personal timeline when He stepped out of eternity onto the earth. On several occasions He reminded those around Him: "My time has not yet come," until finally the hour was upon Him and "He looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son can glorify you.'"

Time spans from the foundation of the world and will terminate in the dispensation of the fullness of times so that God might gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth.

This is the time when the successive ages of man and the millennial rule of Christ, in which the gospel of God and the good news of Christ has reached the distant shores of humanity will be brought to its close – the time when everything will be gathered up together, in Christ, and given back to God.

This is the time when tears will break into joy and sadness into laughter. This is the time when toil will be replaced with rest, sickness with health, need with plenty, and suffering will be overtaken by glory. This is the time when Israel will have been restored and the groaning creation will sing for joy.

This is the moment when time will cease, and eternity will engulf creation. Eternity is what we are looking forward to. God has made everything beautiful in its time, but we were not made to remain bound by time. God has "set eternity in the human heart." God sent His Son to give us "eternal life."

How we look forward, with joyful anticipation, that moment when "in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him."

Loving Father, Your plans and purposes demonstrate Your great and gracious wisdom. Thank You that in Christ, I am part of that plan, where Christ is all and in all. May my life be one that sings forth Your praises, not only with my lips but in my life. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.