Outside the Scope of Time

He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.
PSALM 33:9
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Outside the Scope of Time
If you look at my person, I am something new, because sixty years ago I was nothing. Such is the judgment of the world. But God's judgment is different; for in God’s sight I was begotten and multiplied immediately when the world began, because this Word, “and God said: ‘Let Us make man,’” created me too. Whatever God wanted to create, that He created then when He spoke. Not everything has come into view at once. Similarly, an arrow or a ball which is shot from a cannon (for it has greater speed) is sent to its target in a single moment, as it were, and nevertheless it is shot through a definite space; so God, through His Word, extends His activity from the beginning of the world to its end. For with God there is nothing that is earlier or later, swifter or slower; but in His eyes all things are present things. For He is simply outside the scope of time. Therefore these words, “God said: ‘Let there be, grow, multiply,’” established the creatures as they are now and as they will be to the end of the world. . . . It is as Christ says (John 5:17): "My Father is working still, and I work." The Word which He spoke in the beginning is still in existence.

From Lectures on Genesis (Luther's Works 1:76)
May 3
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