Background

I have had a few discussions recently where I have been surprised by the answers given concerning God and how he relates to time. Once again, I think many of us are unwittingly letting Aristotle’s unmoved mover philosophy drive our beliefs in God. The scriptures are full of clear statements about God and his relation to time.

The Old and New Testaments have a few verses that provide value to this discussion. However, Latter-Day scriptures have many explicit statements on God and his relationship to time. Also, President Russell M. Nelson has provided insight on this principle as well.

Scripture References about the time of God

In the topical guide under time on lds.org we can find a set of verses that LDS members would reference concerning time. Many of the verses are about moments or refer directly to man’s time. However, there are a few that specifically speak to God’s time. I could only find two verses from the Bible that had an explicit statement about God’s time. I have separated the verses into “within time” and “beyond time” as to how I have heard them used in my conversations. After presenting the verses, I will provide some context for the “beyond time” verses and then summarise how the scriptures and modern-day prophets testify of God’s time.

Within Time

• 2 Peter 3:8: But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

• 2 Nephi 2:21: And the days of the children of men were prolonged, according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh; wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the children of men. For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their parents.

• D&C 88:42: And again, verily I say unto you, he hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons;

• D&C 130:4-5: In answer to the question-Is not the reckoning of God’s time, angel’s time, prophet’s time, and man’s time, according to the planet on which they reside? I answer, Yes. But there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it.

• Abraham 3:4: And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.

• Abraham 5:13: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.

• Russel M. Nelson: The physical Creation itself was staged through ordered periods of time. In Genesis and Moses, those periods are called days. But in the book of Abraham, each period is referred to as a time. Whether termed a day, a time, or an age, each phase was a period between two identifiable events-a division of eternity.

Not our time but ordered time

All of the verses above along with Russel M. Nelson’s quote clearly state that God lives in a sequenced time. He has a past, present, and future. There are divisions in eternity that happen in order. Unlike what some others have said he lives in a sequenced or linear time. It is not ‘prolonged,’ or stretched like our time, but it appears to be linear.

Beyond Time

These verses are often used to support a belief that God lives outside of time. We will look at each verse in more detail to propose an alternate reading that supports the ‘within time’ verses mentioned above.

• Revelation 10:6: And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
• D&C 88:110: And so on, until the seventh angel shall sound his trump; and he shall stand forth upon the land and upon the sea, and swear in the name of him who sitteth upon the throne, that there shall be time no longer; and Satan shall be bound, that old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of a thousand years.
• Alma 40:8: Now whether there is more than one time appointed for men to rise it mattereth not; for all do not die at once, and this mattereth not; all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men.
• D&C 130:7 But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.

There should be time no longer

Revelation 10:6 and D&C 88:110 both state that “there shall be time no longer.” I have heard these verses used to explain that time only exists with the mortal man. However, could these verses be referencing either or both of the following ideas?

Lengthened Time Ended: 2 Nephi 2:21 talks about this earth having our time lengthened or prolonged. Maybe this prolonged time is what is no longer.

Time for mortal development: Maybe both verses are referencing the end of a time or period. As Russel M. Nelson might say an ‘identifiable event or division of eternity.’

Time is only measured unto men.

Alma 40:8 has a unique phrase that states, “time is only measured unto men.” This verse is often used to imply that we will change to a place that has no time. However, could the verse mean that we will move to a place with time, but that has an infinite amount of time? There will be so much time that we will not measure it. This concept reminds me of a phrase in the movie “In time” from 2011. A man that has immortality (unlimited time) is asking Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) what he would do if he had “all time.” I like Will’s response and think it could be an excellent example of how to understand Alma 40:8.

If you had as much time as I had … what would you do with it? I’d stop watching it.

Past, Present, and Future

D&C 130:7 does not have the word time contained in the verse. However, it seems to imply timelessness, and I have often heard it used as an argument for God being beyond time. However, I see this verse as stating what elements of the future are known instead of a statement about God living outside of time. Notice that the verse explicitly conditions what things are manifest, “where all things for their glory are manifest” as compared to merely all things. God does have his Eternal Plan continually before him, and the truths (or glory) of that plan hold for all of his children whether they happen in the future or past.

I think this same interpretation can fit with this quote from Joseph Smith that is often used to say that God does not experience time. As the all-powerful being, he can move with time and bring His ‘glory’ to pass as he needs to save his children. It does not have to mean that he sits outside of time.

The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever “the morning stars sang together” for joy; the past, the present, and the future were and are, with Him, one eternal “now;” he knew of the fall of Adam, the iniquities of the antediluvians, of the depth of iniquity that would be connected with the human family, their weakness and strength, their power and glory, apostasies, their crimes, their righteousness and iniquity; He comprehended the fall of man, and his redemption; He knew the plan of salvation and pointed it out; He was acquainted with the situation of all nations and with their destiny; He ordered all things according to the council of His own will; He knows the situation of both the living and the dead, and has made ample provision for their redemption, according to their several circumstances, and the laws of the kingdom of God, whether in this world, or in the world to come. Joseph Smith

A God with an open future is a more powerful God

It appears that God lives within an ordered or linear time and has a past, present, and future. He works with us to bring an open future to Glory. Once again, I quote John Sanders.

The glory of Yahweh is not that he simply knows what is going to happen. Rather, it is that he can declare what will happen and bring it about that it does, in fact, occur. God knows all the past and all the present completely, and he has the wisdom and power necessary to work with us, and often in spite of us, in order to achieve his purposes. John Sanders

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