Quickly? How long is it?
By Harley Pinon
In discussing time, as it relates to prophecy, I have often said that there is “man’s clock,” and there is “God’s clock,” and they aren’t always the same. I site Peter as one who says, “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. {9} 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.” (2 Pet 3:8-9 NASB)
How many bus drivers have waited on a student who was running to catch the bus? If a bus driver can wait on a child that’s running slow so that he doesn’t miss a day of school, how much more important that the Lord wait on someone who is a bit slow in responding to the gospel and making his life right? The driver may wait a matter of a few, or maybe several seconds – God may wait a few, or many years to give various ones a chance to repent and be converted before it is forever too late.
But how long is “quickly”? Sometimes when I insist that God’s clock is different from ours, some object and say, “Oh, no! That would be too confusing! God’s clock must be synchronized with ours.” Well, I don’t think so, but for a moment, let’s restrict our discussion of time to the here and now.
A teacher on the first day of school encourages his students, “You need to move quickly in order to get to class before the tardy bell rings.” (I taught where you had three or four minutes to get to class.) In this case, quickly is less than four minutes. A house is on fire. You want the fire truck to get there quickly. As a youth, I watched a neighbor’s house burn to the ground in about one hour. It seemed amazingly quick.
Then you’re on a great date. How did the time pass so quickly, and we are talking about the hours that passed. Then there is the student who is returning to school. “The summer passed so quickly,” but it was two or three months. Then there are the parents who attend their child’s graduation from high school. They look at each other as they say, “The time went so quickly!” They’re talking about the 12 years in school plus the five or six years before first grade. Seventeen or Eighteen years, but they passed “so quickly.”
Then there is the couple who have reached retirement. The kids are grown, and some of the indicators of advancing years are evident. He may have lost much of his hair and much of his strength. They may still be young at heart. They look at each other and say, “I can’t believe the years have passed so quickly.”
“Quickly!” How long is “Quickly”? Is it the three or four minutes a student has to get to class, or is it the 70 or 80 years of life that God may give us? Is it the seconds we have to get out of a burning building? How long is quickly?
What is the point? The point is this. There are some who base their study of prophecy on their concept of “quickly.” I ask the question, is it sound to use “quickly” as the main idea, or basis or interpreting prophecy when “quickly” is such an indefinite word, even as we use the expression among ourselves. Among ourselves is not including how God uses time, and Peter has clearly indicated that our concept of time and God’s concept of time can be vastly different.
For the reasons above, I do not believe that “quickly” in all it’s different forms should be the cornerstone of interpreting prophecy. There are certain time elements in prophecy which are far more definite. I believe that the seventy weeks of Daniel can be used to very closely date the time our Savior would be here on earth, and, of course, there are other definite time periods in prophecy: the seventy years of captivity for the Children of Judah: (Jer 25:11 NKJV) 'And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Daniel read the prophecy: (Dan 9:2 NKJV) in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
Daniel prayed fervently about that promise and what an answer to prayer! (Dan 9:21-22 NKJV) “yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. {22} And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.” How many prayers have been answered by an angel coming to talk to you?
Yes, time has a place in our study of prophecy, but a prophecy that speaks of seventy years is one thing. A prophecy of “quickly,” “suddenly,” or “at hand,” is quite another. So what is my conclusion? When indefinite periods of time are specified about events that we may not be sure of, it isn’t wise to re-interpret other understood events such as the end of time, the day of judgment, and the resurrection, to make these fit someone’s understanding of “quickly,” “suddenly,” “at hand,” or even which generation is being referred to by “this generation.” It is my conclusion that preterists have started with the wrong set of “givens” when they base their interpretation on the “time” statements and then redefine other major events to make them fit their “time” concepts.