Friends: Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father in eternal Heaven and occupies space in our hearts here below. When does He have time to love us? Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1036

September 22, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Never a Time  

By Bob Walters

“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” – Jesus praying for himself in the Priestly Prayer, John 17:5

“… before the world began.” For all the discussion in Sunday school and Bible study about “who” and “what” Jesus was, here we’re confronted with “when” Jesus was.

Christian orthodoxy – the basics of the faith, not the capital “O” Eastern church – tells us that Jesus was fully God and fully man. That’s a mystery I can’t define or explain, other than to say that the Almighty trinitarian God – Father, Son, and Spirit – reached down into history and in the person of Jesus, saved us from our sin.

Salvation means our curse and separation from God is resolved by the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross. From His seat in eternity, Christ entered humanity as Jesus of Nazareth, born of the virgin Mary and the seed of the Holy Spirit. Jesus lives, laughs, and suffers among humanity, is baptized, preaches God’s truth, rebukes Israel’s leadership, is crucified by the Romans, died, is buried, resurrected, and returned to his heavenly seat beside God. Then, the Spirit arrives to live in the hearts of the faithful. Our faith, trust, and love of Christ express our acceptance of eternity’s grace.

That’s “who” Jesus was, and is. As to “what” Jesus was and is, meaning His essence in the Trinity of being “from God” or “of God” – topics deep in the theological fabric of Christian truth, opinions, and heresies for 2,000 years – I go with the eternal, uncreated reality of God as a society, community, and relationship of goodness and glory that allows John to say “God is love.” Humanity is an expression of that love, and Jesus the Messiah Christ is Who rescues and heals humanity. He is the Word of God.

What anchors my faith, recognizes this truth, and cements my trust is that the story of Jesus has been discussed, challenged, and protected constantly for 2,000 years.  The fact that smart people have disagreed – and still disagree – on various doctrinal points does not tell me that the story is wrong. That the core Christian beliefs of Jesus’s life, death, burial, and resurrection have endured tells me it is safe to weather any storm, or celebrate any joy, in the name of Jesus.  He is the real deal; done deal.

So, Who Christ is and What Christ does isn’t screaming for further definition in my faith life.  God’s love – for me and others proven through Christ – is truth enough. My love for God and others, thankfully, “covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

I’ll gladly take it.

But this idea of “When” Jesus was, is currently occupying space in my brain. I heard a phrase this past week, regarding the Trinity as existing “before eternity.”  “Before” puts eternity in time, and I’m pretty sure that is not how eternity works. There is no “before eternity” or “after eternity.” Eternity, like the Trinity, was/is just always there. Our human minds, living as we do within the rhythms of God’s Creation of time, space, and matter, measure everything. The definable and measurable world is where we live.

Eternity – and it’s the same with God’s love, the sacrifice of Jesus, the indwelling of the Spirit, the authority of the Bible, the fellowship of the faithful, and probably many other things I’m forgetting – cannot be measured.  These are qualitative realities, not quantitative observations. Jesus on earth somehow had a foot in both camps.

My question: Jesus is in eternal heaven, but He is also in my earthly heart. Does that mean that Christ is there? Or here? Or both? And “when” am I in all this?

Fear not. I realize there is never a time Jesus doesn’t love every one of us.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites C.S. Lewis: “The present is where eternity touches time.” – The Screwtape Letters