OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

Christmas is over and we are in that awkward week at the end of the year between holidays. While some put a lot of emphasis on the welcoming of a new year, to most of us January 1^st is just another day. Some of us may even be asleep at midnight. Historically, January 1^st is the first day of the Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1582 as an adjustment of the Julian calendar. It was the Julian calendar that established the 365-day year we enjoy today.

In ancient days there was no uniform method of time record keeping. And whereas many ancient cultures kept their own crude calendars of their own history, it wasn’t until 46 BC that the first universally-accepted calendar was established by the Romans. But a problem emerged with this new world calendar---in an effort to catch up with their existing calendar ninety days were added to the year 46 BC. Ancient writings called 46 BC “the year of confusion.”

New Years is all about time. The Bible speaks much of time and space; we are spatially-bound creatures within the earth time He established (Genesis 1:14). God is Lord over time and time is the vessel through which He unveils His purposes and program for us and to us (Galatians 4:4; Romans 5:6). God created matter, space and time (Genesis 1:1) in three dimensions; past, present, and future; and He is present in all three (Hebrews 13:8).

Theologically, there are two attributes of God that speaks to our understanding of time. The immanence of God is that He is everywhere within human time (Psalm 139:1-10); the transcendence of God is that He is independent and outside of time (Isaiah 55:8-9). Interestingly, immanence is not to be confused with imminence, which deals with the timing of Christ’s return. 2016 has been a tough year and none of us knows what 2017 will bring. One thing we can be assured of—He is both present with us and above all. Out with the old, in with the new. Think about it. Happy New Year.