Meditation 2: Time Dilation

As we pick up with our next meditation, we examine the idea of time dilation. To get a sense of what that is, a scene from the movie Interstellar demonstrates the concept through a harrowing scene. The crew is traveling to parts of space that have been receiving readings concerning potential organics, water, and a hospitable atmosphere. The planet they settle on exploring has been receiving continuous signal from the advanced scout, Dr. Miller, who has indicated in the data potential conditions for settlement. However, the challenge with Dr. Miller's planet is that the orbit of the planet has taken it close to a black hole named Gargantua. What this means is that Time is flowing More slowly on the surface of the planet than in the spacecraft where the main protagonists are preparing to land. For them, time is a resource because as they consider the gravity of the planet, they recognize that every hour spent on that planet will be the equivalent of 7 years here on Earth. As they land on the planet, they run into a series of issues that demonstrate the planet is unable to be habitable and that Dr. Miller has died as a result. They also run into several issues that delay their time on the planet. By the time they get back to their spacecraft, approximately 20 years had passed, even though from their perspective, they had only been there a few hours. The human heartbreak occurs when the protagonists return and receive messages from home and what seems like a lifetime of joy, growth, heartache, and death from their families as they have changed over the course of a generation.

This is time dilation, a concept where time flows more slowly when the gravity is stronger. In the movie, the practical implications are quite profound on the individual level and though the protagonists understand the concepts, the reality is something that is much more difficult to process. In that way, we can see a similar reaction in situation in the biblical narrative. Concerning instances where people come into the direct presence of Yahweh, we see people who know what is going on and yet are utterly terrified at the implications of their situation. An example is the commissioning of Isaiah. In chapter 6. He is brought into the presence of Yahweh; he sees the fullness of the glory of God and recognizes the fact that he should die as a result of being a sinful human being in the glory of Yahweh. “Woe is me” is the declaration by the prophet as he considers his situation. Yet, through the graciousness of God, his sins are taken away and he can withstand the eternity that is present as he is being commissioned into the office of prophetic ministry.

Isaiah gets a glimpse of the fullness of the glory and gravity of Yahweh. It is utterly beyond his comprehension save for the intervention of the Lord himself. Perhaps time dilation is a way for us to conceptualize what it must have been like to be the prophet Isaiah in that situation. Time, for all intents and purposes, moved more slowly, if not at all, for the prophet as he is brought before the throne.

Isaiah is not alone in this experience. The disciples are brought into the direct Glory of the triune God during the Transfiguration of Christ. They too know the theory of what is happening, yet they are unable to process the reality, and this is demonstrated by virtue of Peter offering to build habitation for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. We know that all three men are interacting with one another in person. Yet, It also may be that for that brief moment (at least for those on the outside looking in) seeing Jesus, Elijah, and Moses together gathered on the mount, they were experiencing eternity, time dilation in a way, when the gravity and glory of the Lord overshadowed the Mountain. We could see I Kings 19, Exodus 33 and 34, and Luke 9 all happening at the same time through the perfect and direct presence of the Glory of Yahweh and eternity manifesting in their meeting where Moses and Elijah may move, not only forward in time, but are existing across all time while in the Glory of Yahweh. 

The glory of God, the presence of the Lord indeed is beyond time and space itself. Yet, when God breaks into the world, we see that the whole of creation is affected. When the fullness of the glory of God is manifest, time itself is affected. This could lead to some fascinating ideas about the nature of the cosmos where God is directly present, such as the garden prior to the fall. In that situation, it may be that time itself flows more slowly for Adam and Eve as they are in the direct presence of Yahweh. They are experiencing eternity and perfection in all things including time. As the rest of the universe continues in the design of Yahweh, normal time passing included, Adam and Eve and indeed the Earth seem to experience time more slowly, or perhaps from their perspective, not at all. Yet, as a result of sin, the glory of the Lord is drawn away from the earth in a way that we can perceive. Time is given its normal course and Adam and Eve and the rest of the earth are given into what we know as the baseline flow of time, apart from the direct presence of God. Even today, we are discovering through observations by the Webb telescope that a significant area in and around our own Milky Way galaxy that indicates a potential void of matter that sees expansion slower in our part of the universe than in the regions outside of this void. Those galaxies next to us seem to be moving faster due to gravitational issues. There is something unique happening in our corner of the universe that almost seems reminiscent of Out of Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis. 

Yet, in a way even on this side of Glory, we experience a sort of time dilation. When we join together in singing the Sanctus, we are joining in with eternity, singing together with all of the saints and the whole company of heaven who laud and magnify his glorious name ever more praising him and singing Holy, Holy, Holy, The whole earth is full of his glory. While we may know that in the new creation we will join in with all the saints who have gone before us in the eternal feast of the lamb in his kingdom that has no end, we also can be humbled at the way in which we are not prepared for eternity and the fullness of the Glory of God. However, just as it was for Isaiah, we as a people of unclean lips have our sins taken away. We can see the fullness of the glory of God, experience time immemorial with all the saints and with the whole company of heaven, gathered around the throne of God singing along in Revelation chapter 7: “Amen! Blessing and honor and glory and power and might be to our God forever and ever, Amen!”