Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occur in apparently irreversible succession. – Wikipedia.

As per the Scriptures, time began after our great Earth was brought into being and the Sun, moon and stars were created. Days are nearly twenty-four hours because it takes so much time for the earth to rotate on its axis. Months exist because the moon, our own Earth's satellite, takes approximately so many days to come around our Earth once. A year is the time our Earth takes to come around the Sun once.

The Sun, moon and stars came into being on the fourth day of creation!

And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth”: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. – Gen 1:14-19.

In retrospect, was there light even before the Sun, Moon and the Stars were created? Yes, because God is light, and He is eternal. The Scriptures say that God commanded the light to be on the earth on the very first day of creation. And God said, “Let there be light”: and there was light. – Gen 1:3. Why was this light required? Because the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. – Gen 1:2.

The presence of God during the creation week resulted in no night. It was evening and morning. It is going to be the same when God’s people reach their destination – New Jerusalem. There will be no night “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof”. -Rev 21:23

Was God the author of chaos (ஒழுங்கின்மை, formlessness) in the first place? Why was the earth void/empty? Did God create darkness? Let us investigate...

The deceived and rebellious angels were cast down from Heaven (currently the third from the Earth) by Satan (Rev 12:4) to the Earth and its atmosphere, the first heaven. (The Prince of Persia (Dan 10:20) was one among the rebellious). Chaos should have resulted immediately because Satan tempted and coaxed them and probably even used violence to bid them bow to himself and to bring them under his control (Eze 28:16). The earth was void because they did not reach the earth neither was anything found here. Satan fell out of the light that filled God’s presence (God is light – 1 John 1:5). Absence of light is darkness. Obviously, God did not create darkness.

Satan (literally, the adversary – you will read about him everywhere in this book ABHOT), the leader of the rebellious angels (and human rebels today), fell to the first heaven from where he had access to the earth as well as to the Lord’s presence; the second heaven was not in existence at this time. His meeting place with the Lord (Job 1:6; 2:1; Zec 3:1; (Jud 1:9)) could have been somewhere in the second heaven (created on the second day) or the first. Fast forward. After the birth of Jesus, the promised 'Man Child' and 'Seed of the woman' on earth, there was war in the second heaven (or first) with Satan and his evil angels on one side and the loyal angels led by Michael on the other (Rev 12:7-9). Satan fell like lightning (Luke 10:18) from there to the earth or/and its atmosphere where the evil angels already were (Eph 2:2).

Men of the Earth have been struggling hard to keep up with the accuracy of this amazing system of calculating time which was brought into being by God. We have utterly failed to keep track of Time with our limited mathematical ability. This has resulted in months that have 28 days, 29 days (in leap years), 30 days and 31 days so that it can fit into a twelve-month year. However, there are cultures (and religions) that recommend adding a 13th month in a year occasionally to fit the grand design of things.

Again, there is the 365 ¼ days system that goes into the making of the extra day that keeps leaping up once every four years. Moreover, there is the correction that is made to our 'time' by adding a second now and then to our time-keeping clocks. How many of us know that a day is not exactly twenty-four hours but only twenty-three hours, fifty-six minutes and four seconds?

The wise men of this earth (scientists, of course) keep talking about a hypothetical Time machine, that is supposed to take today’s men to yesterday and the distant past as well as to the morrow and the far future. HG Wells, the author of 'The Time Machine' was one such 'wise man'. They started fooling the gullible men around them through their fictions – the contents of which, people like us have believed to be reasonably possible! All they recommend is a vehicle that can travel faster than light – approx. 299,792 km/sec (186,282 miles/sec and 670, 616, 629 mph). They call this faster-than-light speed warp-speed which is likely only in one’s imagination (Star Trek). The reason? The fastest that man has managed today practically is 36,000 mph by the New Horizon spacecraft, which, the scientists say, has gone past the last known 'dwarf' planet Pluto – (unfortunately, Pluto gets demoted and promoted now and then, again by these same wise men). Blackbird fighter aircraft:2,700 mph, Boeing 747: 550 mph and Hennessey Venom F5: 301 mph are other mentionable vehicles – only the last two mentioned can carry people. (Apollo 10 Lunar Module reached 24,791 mph (39,897 kmph) on its return to the earth – not escaping from it!)

Wormholes are hypothetical shortcuts or bridges that would make man travel back and forth in time with a speed greater than the speed of light so that he can cover vast time periods and astronomical distances faster. Thus, man would be able to travel to tomorrow before it arrives and travel to the corners of the universe at a wink! He would also be able to travel to yesterday through these wormholes. (Imagine a worm drilling a hole through a mountain at lightning speed so that it reaches the other side instantly instead of taking the usual path of climbing up the mountain and then climbing down at its usual pace – ultra-large distance (space) covered in ultra-short time). Astrophysicists propose a hypothesis that they can travel back to the 20th century, witness the events that happened (like the holocaust) and prevent Hitler from committing genocide and suicide. Funny!

Time (Kaalam in Thamizh) is also worshipped as god – as Kaala Bhairavar (Easwaran with a dog as his vehicle or symbol or sometimes just the dog only) by the Thamizhar. Kaalan is also Yama (in Sanskrit) – the god of death that keeps time for every human being on earth. The death of a person is mentioned euphemistically in Thamizh as 'kaalamaanaar’ and the dead are supposed to wander as a ‘karuppu' – black. Hence, black-feathered ravens are believed to represent the dead loved ones and are fed the first serving of food as a mark of respect.

There are three 'times' mankind can relate to. One is the time between every man’s birth and death. Two, the time between the beginning and the end of this earth. The third 'time' is from the eternity past to the eternity future (from everlasting to everlasting) – when there was no time and when there will be no more time. The lifetime of man and the lifetime of the Universe fit into the concept of 'the arrow of time' while eternity does not. Time freezes there. Unfortunately, man is focused on the first for a large part of his life, and gives very little thought to the second while he is least bothered about the third. Philosophy!

The days of our years are threescore years and ten (70 years); and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore years (80) yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. – Ps 90:10. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. – Ps 90:12. But for God, “a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night”. – Ps 90:4. 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. – 1 Pet 3:8.

Even after huge advancements in technology and science, none has control over one’s own day of birth or death yet. (Even the head of a government is no exception, and that too, after complying with all conditions laid down by leading astrologers and soothsayers!). Pathetic!

Today’s gynaecologists take control of the date of birth of a baby (?) thanks to highly advanced medical technology – they perform a Caesarean section to deliver the baby on a so-called auspicious day (and time) on my side of the world! Physicians also decide the date of physical death by postponing the removal of life support systems from a terminally ill and brain-dead patient. It is sad that the concerned individual still has control over neither of these decisions. People are definitely concerned with time – the time of birth, the time of initiating a business contract, the time for the marriage oaths (and the exchange of rings or tying of the Mangala soothra or the thaali and the time of the nuptials that follows), the time for other important life events including death(!). Anything that happens at an auspicious time – Muhoortham, (according to the alignment of the planets and stars that is favourable to them) is said to bring fortune and luck and all other time is ‘bad’ time. However, believers know their times are in God’s hands and so, are not bothered about the auspicious day or time as do the worldly people. They wait for God’s time and depend on His grace, not 'luck' or 'fortune'.

All that we have is the time between our birth and death. This is given to every individual graciously by the Creator. We are expected to apply our heart to wisdom during this ‘time’. Every day added to our lives is for a purpose – a Purpose, the Purpose that God has determined for mankind. Being involved in this one Purpose by aligning oneself with God’s will and fulfilling the tasks in God’s plan, every one of which is geared towards this eternal purpose, is the only life worth living. For such a person, God’s purpose is primary – everything else is trivial. It is such a soul that will ‘Rest In Peace’ (RIP) even while alive – a real successful life, indeed!

My times are in thy hand – Ps 31:15. God determines the time – when and how long on this earth – of an individual. – Acts 17:26. This, at current trends, does not exceed a hundred years (barring a very few who have managed to enter the Guinness Book of Records by attaining to a hundred and twenty plus). If this is all that we have in Time, it is insignificant when compared to the other living and non-living in nature.

The lifetime of man would become more significant and the only significant thing in the universe if mankind realises that he has been designed to live beyond these hundred years – in fact, an eternity awaits him. The purpose of God encapsulates him. This book ABHOT tries to throw more light on how this is unfolding in His-story and how an episode that involves us is happening right before our eyes. This designing aspect, in fact, goes beyond the eternity past, beyond time. It was even then God chose His generation of believers, the Elect, in Christ Jesus, His Son, by His foreknowledge and pre-destined them for the eternity future.

What is man, that You are mindful of him? or the son of man, that You visit him? – Heb 2:6. Man is a lot less than a dot and insignificant in the expanse. Mathematically, Space is infinite (1/0) and man infinitesimal (1/∞).

While mankind might wonder at God’s marvellous creation in comparison to himself and exclaim, “What is man that You are mindful of him! (as did David the greatest King of Israel who had realised his insignificance at the peak of His career – Ps 8:4), God’s reply would be, “My child, my ‘mind’ is indeed ‘full’ of you”.

Everyone is accountable to the time that is given to him/her. Those who waste it on activities that do not glorify God but rather glorify self or glorify sin should stand before God one day. The lazy, the lethargic and the slothful, God will require an account of.

Everything including the Universe had a beginning – the steady state theory of Aristotle has long since been disowned by the very community of scientists that proposed it originally. The Earth which has this whole universe as a foundation did have a beginning too. While Gnostics profess that the Creator and the Creation are exclusive – Dvaith (Dual) Philosophy, God the Creator has involved Himself continuously in its affairs since its conception and inception. In fact, He is focused on this planet because His only Plan revolves around mankind, His supreme creation, who inhabit this place, designed exclusively for our origin and survival.

The Universe will have its end too. And, the Creator will be actively involved in this consummation as well. That is why He said reassuringly to all who have their hope in Him, “I am the beginning and the end”. Thankfully, God is in control of time and all that happens in time. He has determined a season for everything and a time for every activity! – Ecc 3:1 and God executes His Plan perfectly in His own time – not a moment early, not a second late. Jesus, the Son of God, while on earth waited for His Father’s time all the time. God’s time is the perfect time for His people.

And as per the indicators mentioned by the Lord Himself, the ‘end time’, as the Scriptures call it, is here. We are currently living in the ‘time of grace’ or ‘grace time’ and it is the time of the end. What we do with it will determine our destiny. All who heed to the loving call of God, “Come unto me all you who labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest” – Matt 11:28 adding that “now is the accepted time and behold now is the day of Salvation” – 2 Cor 6:2, can secure their lives forever. God’s children enter this ‘time of rest’ now and would rest forever. Rest assured!

If God forgives one’s past, He takes care of the person’s present, though tense, and his future is perfect! With an imperfect past and an indefinite present, the future will definitely be tense!

Incidentally, good times for the believing lot are bad times for evil-doers! Herod of Jesus’ boyhood times is a perfect example. And can Noah be forgotten?

Coming back: Everything requires time to be defined. And Time exists because of the Earth. But was there any time (human vocabulary lacks another appropriate term, unfortunately!) when there was no time at all? Might have been! Before Earth existed? Not logical?

Before Earth existed? Was there some time when there was no Earth?

Big bang! The wise men of the world have come up with this great discovery. How wise this discovery sounds, only the following statement can tell. Nothing exploded, and everything came into being! Read that again.