WILL THERE BE TIME IN HEAVEN?

WILL THERE BE TIME IN HEAVEN?

Yes. There will be time in heaven.  Although God is timeless and infinite as the I AM (Exodus 3:14, John 8:58) and “the alpha and omega” (Revelation 1:8, 21:6, 22:13), there still will be an aspect of time in the new heaven and new earth. Revelation 8:1 states, “When the Lamb [Jesus] opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1 ESV).  Christians will live for eternity as prior finite beings.

The presence of music in heaven (Revelation 5:8-10) implies that there will be time because meter, tempo, and rests are all intrinsic to music. Anything you do in heaven will involve some aspect of time. Heaven itself also interacts with time on earth because the inhabitants in heaven rejoice over every person on earth that repents of sin (Luke 15:7). In addition, the Christian martyrs ask the Lord, “How long … until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ The Lord told them they must “wait a little longer  .. until their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been” (Revelation 6:9-11 NIV). The book of Revelation illustrates a continuous interaction between heaven and sequential events happening on earth. Therefore, there will be time in heaven. Randy Alcorn, Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions booklet (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 28; Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 258-261.