Is/will there be time in heaven? [closed]

Question

An answer suggests that "time is meaningless in heaven." Do we know this to be true?

It seems like an easy conclusion to draw, based on the following:

• God created the entire universe, including all dimensions and time. Therefore, God exists outside of time.

• Heaven is the place of "eternal" life.

• In Heaven we will be "with" God (so possibly/presumably outside of time as well?)

But does all of this add up to time being meaningless or nonexistent in heaven? Or does the Bible give us any other clues as to the "timeliness" of Heaven?

_{If there are significantly diverging views on this based on theological tradition let me know in comments, and I can try to make the question more specific, or ask separate questions for those traditions in which I am most interested.}

Answer 1

It seems that the idea that created beings become timeless in heaven is not one that is widely held. God, as the Creator of time, space, and matter, is the only Being that exists outside of time, space, and matter.

There is a significant distinction between that which is mortal, that which is immortal, and that which is eternal (outside of time). That which is mortal has both a beginning and an end. This includes the earth, our physical bodies and taxes (thank goodness). That which is immortal has a beginning but no end. This includes our souls and spirits as well as angels. God alone is eternal. Only God has no beginning and no ending.

The eternal life that we have does not mean that all of a sudden our lives go from having a beginning to not having a beginning. We have eternal life in the sense that it will have no end--not in the sense that it has no beginning. God is eternal in an entirely different sense. Perhaps our language is not specific enough in this.

The key point is those beings who have a beginning cannot go through any process where their beginning is eliminated and makes them timeless.

We have been created inside of time, space, and matter, and we will always exist within that. Only God exists outside of it.

Answer 2

Here's a relevant part from the Catholic Encyclopedia on Eternity

So far for the strict or proper notion of eternity, as applying solely to the Divine existence. There is a wide or improper sense in which we are wont to represent as eternal what is merely endless succession in time, and this even though the time in question should have had a beginning, as when we speak of the reward of the good and the punishment of the wicked as eternal, meaning by eternity only time or succession without end or limit in the future. In the Apocalypse there is a well-known passage in which a great angel is represented as standing with one foot on sea and one on land, and swearing by Him that liveth forever that time shall be no more. Whatever the meaning of the oath may be, it has found an echo in our religious terminology, and we are wont to think and say that with death, and especially with the Last Judgment, time shall cease.

I tried reading the passage in revelation referenced in the above quote. Which I believe is the end of Revelation 11 and I can't make heads or tails of it, but that's par for the course.

Suffice it to say, it is the Catholic understanding that our subjective conception of time will cease in Heaven.

Answer 3

I am pretty sure there will be time. Time is, basically, order. Without order there is chaos and God is a God of order. Events happen in a certain order--you plant a seed and it grows into a tree, you are in one location and then you are in another (etc).

In Revelation 22 we read about the river of God and the Tree(s) of life that yield fruit every month. Now, fruit coming to maturity is evidence of one event occurring after another.

There are many other passages of an event and then another event following it in order. Sounds like "time" to me.

Anyhow, my conclusion, is that there IS time, but more then likely not as we currently know it or understand it.

Answer 4

It doesn't make sense that there is no time in heaven. After all, just talking takes time to occur, and plenty of talking gets done in heaven throughout the book of Revelation. There are passages like Rev. 8:1 (silence in heaven for about half an hour) and Rev. 6:10-11, in which the martyrs are told to wait a little longer. It takes time for the trumpets to blow and bowls of wrath to be poured; they are not all poured out at once. We are told in Eph. 2:7 of the ages to come ahead of us. Every event takes place over a span of time.

Remember that a "time" will come when there will be a new heavens and new earth, and we'll be on earth. We have no reason to doubt that time will continue as we know it.

Answer 5

There is no time in heaven. It just does not exist. Time is a creation here on earth by God like the play button on your DVD. Time makes sense to us here but it will not make sense to us there. We are playing out our lives here on earth; exercising our free will; and being judged. But "God knew us before the foundation of the earth". My guess is, if we are judged worthy, we are already there - there is no gap between our loveones who have gone before and our arrival. Eternal life is a given where time does not exist.