Time No Longer
This past week I caught a flight from LAX to Albuquerque New Mexico. Earlier that day Billie and Mikaela accompanied Brittany and her five children on the first leg (14 hours) of their long return drive to Virginia. Brittany’s husband Brent boarded a plane in Washington DC. The plan was for us all to meet in Albuquerque that evening.
As scheduling would have it I arrived first at Albuquerque’s Sunport—the land of enchantment's name for an airport. I called Billie from my cellphone to get an update on their progress. They were making good time. I then checked the large departures / arrivals board to find information on Brent’s flight from Dulles International, it was on time and would be arriving in a few hours.
As I stood there looking at the electronic board tracking all of the planes coming and going, their estimated times of arrival / departure and assigned gates I was taken back by how empty the chairs near the arrival gates were. Aside from a solitary airline agent, there was nobody there to greet the arriving passengers. I remembered for an instant how different things were prior to 911. In those days there were often grand send offs, warm lingering embraces and tear streaked cheeks. And in those days the arriving passengers, particularly if the returning traveler was a missionary who had been far away for an extended period of time (two years), were greeted by celebratory welcoming parties made up of family and friends, warm embraces and again tear streaked cheeks.
The electronic screen refreshed and under the time column a message flashed. I heard the voice over the intercom announce “final boarding.” But was it really? For that leg of their journey perhaps, however in the much bigger picture each departure only sets the stage for future arrivals. When we depart from an airport, the sunport or from any port for that matter there is always a new arrival awaiting us just beyond the horizon. And the only real variables are our times of departure and arrival. And so too it is with temporal waypoints—like mortality and celestial destinations—like our heavenly home.
Let me digress for a moment. The idea of time and God’s timing are integral to appreciating the relationship of earthly arrivals / departures and heavenly departures / arrivals.
Tick-Tock, tick-tock the hands of time plod on. At times we are tempted to measure the success or satisfaction with our life by the length of time we are here in mortality. It's good to remember that we are powerless to extend our days, hours or even minutes beyond the time granted us by the grace of God. It is true that we can enhance the quality of our life by choosing wisely and being good stewards of our bodies, but even then the Lord sees fit, according to His plans and His timing, to allow us to experience illnesses, hardship and most of all the consequences of our choices.
Absent the knowledge of God’s plan for the happiness and exaltation of His children, life as seen from our imperfect perspective, through carnal eyes and with our limited telestial reckoning of time, will inevitably seem to short. The trappings of telestial time include equal measures of urgency—the sense that time is always running out and short sightedness—our inability to see clearly into the future.
The reckoning of time is not the same for telestial beings as it is for celestial beings. Nor is our comprehension of God’s timing complete in this mortal sphere. Let me share a few thoughts that will facilitate our understanding of the difference between mortal man’s reckoning of time—telestial or earthly time and God’s reckoning of time—Celestial time.
This earth was created in the Lord's time, which is celestial time. Furthermore the reckoning of the Lord's time is according to the reckoning of time on Kolob. And one day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of time on this earth.
The six days or periods described in the Biblical account of the creation were measured according to God’s reckoning of time. And His time as recorded by ancient prophets was according the reckoning of time on Kolob, the closest world to the dwelling place of God. Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden according to God's time. Following the fall of Adam and Eve the earth and all living things thereon experienced a change, becoming mortal—meaning they were subject to death. In addition the reckoning of time changed from Celestial to Telestial.
Let me repeat, before the fall, Adam was subject to Kolob's time (celestial time or eternal time).
“Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.”
After our time in mortality is complete, following death, our spirits will return to the world of spirits where we will again reckon time according to celestial time. The old testament prophet Abraham explained that 1 day of the Lord is equal to 1,000 years on earth. So if we do a little simple math 100 years on earth is equivalent to approximately 2 1/2 hours where God dwells.
If you’re thinking so what? You’d be absolutely correct. It’s not really that important in the big scheme of things, but fun to ponder nonetheless. We are all familiar with seaports, airports and in the case of New Mexico, sunports. All places where journeys begin and end. Everywhere you look there are people embarking and disembarking for places near and far.
Imagine for a minute that in heaven there is a similar place where we wait for our turn to come to earth and that is the same place to where we return when our time in mortality is complete. A great big ‘Celeport’ in heaven. There is no need for TSA at the Celeport. In heaven crowds of well-wishers gather to both send off and welcome home telestial travelers. Furthermore, for convenience and because families are of central importance let’s suppose, rather than having gates predominated by a specific airline, each gate is assigned by family. Therefore the crowds of spirits gathered to see both arriving spirits and departing spirits are our children, parents, grandparents and extended family. In short the people who will or did matter the most to us during our telestial journey.
Here is a glimpse at what this imaginary Celeport might look like. A large crowd of well-wishers is gathered near the family gate. Everyone is conversing about mortality. Some in anticipation of what to expect and others, new arrivals recently returning from their journey abroad, share telestial experiences and give advice. The world VEIL is embroidered in gold lettering above the gate. Everyone knows that passing through the veil will mean that all of their pre-existent memories, including the advice from their ancestors, will be guarded away until they return home and pass back through the veil gate. That’s one of the necessary conditions of developing and learning to live by faith.
A calming woman’s voice sounds over the PA system. “Now returning from the latter days . . . .” Everyone’s voices trail to a whisper and then stop altogether. The name is familiar to all who are gathered. Remember this is a family gate, all of the persons both arriving and departing are well acquainted with one another. The persons standing nearest to the gate, at the front of the departure line, are the first to embrace the new arrival. "Well done, well done!" The crowd cheers. The next to depart hastily say their hello’s and good-byes and receive one last piece of advice from this most recent graduate of the telestial school of experience, “your time on earth will be short, make the most of it.”
Speaking of time, in the Celeport there are no early arrivals and no delayed departures. Nope, not for any reason. No weather delays, no mechanical delays, no delays due to a lack of space for overhead luggage. Every arrival and departure is precisely according to God’s timing. The silver haired—patriarchal looking couple at gate, charged with keeping the line moving, glances upward at the lettering ‘veil’ inscribed over the gate. A subtle reminder. Their parting assurance instills a sense of peace. “You will not be alone. The holy ghost, the comforter has been promised.”
There is a brief pause as another person steps through the gate, returning from mortality exclaiming, “Wow! That really was a quick return trip. You weren’t kidding.” A cheer goes up from the family, “well done!”
As you observe the happenings, the coming and going your are amazed at the continuous flow of people. The names flashing on the Arrival/Departures board are constantly changing. Looking closely you notice the times on the board are according to CT—Celestial Time, God’s time. Arrivals are those spirits who have completed their missions in mortality and departures are those embarking on the shortest, yet most critical segment of their journey through eternity.
If such a Celeport really existed, with a Lang Family gate, and if they had an arrivals/departures board here’s what a snapshot of our family board would have looked like nearly thirty years ago.
Saturday Night
Departures Arrivals
Brittany 10:00:00 pm
Jamie 10:01:33
Amanda 10:02:09
Mike 10:04:40
Danny 10:05:09
10:05:35 Rudolph E. Lang Sr 12/87
Jason 10:06:21
Dean Jr 10:06:35
Carly 10:07:54
Thomas 10:07:54
Cassidy 10:11:01
Mikaela 10:11:44
Rachel 10:11:51
Alisa 10:15:41
Sam 10:16:10
Katie 10:16:31
Emily 10:19:16
Julie 10:20:35
Marina 10:28:01
Braydon 10:29:30
Marissa 10:31:18
Preston 10:32:30
Shay 10:36:27
Nathan 10:37:32
Evelyn 10:40:15
James 10:40:22
Austin 10:40:25
Lilly 10:41:19
Madelyn 10:43:22
George 10:43:36
10:43:37 Rudolph E. Lang Jr 9/14
Alex 10:43:44
Rudy 10:44:55
King 10:44:55
Andrea 10:45:10
10:45:46 George 3/16
Britt’s baby 10:46:00
Mik’s baby 10:46:36
As soon as we die we no longer reckon time by telestial standards, but instead we switch back to celestial time. So that means my grandfather, who passed away nearly 25 years ago according to our telestial reckoning, has in reality only been in heaven a mere 35-40 minutes according to celestial time.
And if that’s true then the prophet Joseph Smith only arrived a little over 4 hours ago. And Jesus returned to his celestial home just two days ago. It means that our life span, if we live to be a hundred years old, equals two hours and twenty-four minutes celestial time.
"This mortal probation was to be a brief period, just a short span linking the eternity past with the eternity future. Yet it was to be a period of tremendous importance. . . . . This life is the most vital period in our eternal existence."
"After the temporal existence of the earth is finished, it will again go back on celestial time, and there shall be "time no longer." D&C 88:110-111. That is not to say that the inhabitants of the earth, who will at that time be celestial beings will not reckon by time, but by a different time - Kolob time - the Lord's time.
—Joseph Fielding Smith
What does "time no longer" mean? Could it be referring to the fact that God is omnipresent—meaning the past/present/future are always before His eyes? Or that the days of our probation are past? Or could it mean that the reckoning of time as we think of it now will be entirely different? The second coming of the savior will end the temporal or telestial existence of the earth. With the Savior's second coming and the ushering in of the millennium the earth will be restored to its terrestrial state, the way it was prior to the fall of Adam. The reckoning of time will return to celestial time.
During the millennium the time between death and resurrection will be measured as the twinkling of an eye.
"In that day there will be no death until men are old. Children will not die but will live to the age of a tree. Isaiah says this is 100 years. When the time comes for men to die, they will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and there will be no graves." —Joseph Fielding Smith. D&C 101:23-31 , Isa 65:17-25
Look at your watch again . . . . . tick-tock, tick-tock it never stops. Each second spent never returns. Since you started reading this post you are minutes closer to returning to your heavenly home. It would be wise to remember what's most important is not how much time we have, but instead how we use the time allotted to us. That's what we will be accountable for.
Well spent or not, these minutes will never return. So what are you going to do with your time? Before being born into mortality you probably never pondered this question. In the pre-existence time had no boundaries, no limitations, we were eternal spiritual beings. Actually, we still are eternal spiritual beings residing for short time in a temporal tabernacle of flesh. And because of the atonement and resurrection of Christ one day our resurrected, perfected bodies will be united with our eternal spirits. Never again to be separated.
When we were sent to earth our Heavenly Father gave us a period of time called mortality or temporal life. Mortality was to be the shortest and yet the most important time in our eternal existence. A time that would determine the rest of eternity. What you do with your time in turn determines what you do with your life and also your eternity. Waste away time, waste away life and waste away eternity. Each second of every minute in the day is an important part of eternity. The future is full of opportunities. But opportunities like time have a limited shelf life, an expiration date beyond which they are spoiled, forever wasted and lost. What are you creating or building with your time, the time allotted to you alone, that you alone can spend?
I would be fooling you if I pretended to know the timetable for Heavenly Father’s plans and purposes for you or even for myself. But this much I am certain of, there is still time enough to turn away from the ways of the world, to face Him, to repent and to resume our journey back to His presence. There is no time like the present.
One day your body will resurrect, your intelligence will be retained. But time lost or spent unwisely will be gone forever. It can never be reclaimed or relived. What is your eternity worth?
Time table KEY
TT (Telestial Time) CT (Celestial Time)
1,000 yrs 1 day / 24 hours
500 yrs 12 hours
250 yrs 6 hours
125 yrs 3 hours
100 yrs 2 hours 25 min
50 yrs 1 hour 12 min
25 yrs 36 min
1,000 yrs 1,440 minutes
1 yrs 1.4 min / 86.4 sec
1 month 7.2 sec