What do the following texts have in common?
First, “Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, because the thing came about suddenly.” (2 Chron 29:36)
Second, “So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.” (Neh 6:15-16)
Third, “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” (1 Peter 1:10-12)
Fourth, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 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. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,” (2 Peter 3:8-10)
Fifth, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God (2 Peter 3:12)
Sixth, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Rom 2:4-5)
Seventh, “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Heb 6:11-12)
The first text notes the joy people felt at seeing how quickly true religion was reestablished under the leadership of twenty-five-year-old King Hezekiah. The second was how quickly the wall, which lay in ruins for one hundred and forty-one years, was rebuilt. The third mentioned the careful search holy men made to find when the Messiah would come. The fourth notes that God’s perspective on time is vastly different from ours. The fifth, in 2 Peter 3:12, exhorts us to live in anticipation of what God revealed to us regarding future events. The sixth and seventh remind us that God, the creator of time, has a purpose for every minute He created.
Solomon gave us the correct view of time in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. He summarized it this way:
“He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.” (Eccl 3:11)
All the above refer to God’s time. He gave revelation so that we can know, and so we won’t know until it comes to pass. But it is always in God’s time. We need to avoid false teachings such as headline exegesis and accelerationism. The first seeks fulfillment of prophecy in the daily news. The second seeks to help God move along His timetable by works.