In Doctrine and Covenants 130:7 we read;

But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.

This verse is often quoted as a statement of God’s timelessness by Latter-Day Saints¹. However, few remember the question and answer in verses 4 & 5 of this same section.

In answer to the question—Is not the reckoning of God’s time, angel’s time, prophet’s time, and man’s time, according to the planet on which they reside?

dramatic pause …

I answer, Yes. But there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it.

So we have to take a step back and realize that Joseph Smith was not saying that God is (was or will be) timeless in the statement in verse 7. The statement about past, present and future is clearly in the context of the answered Yes about God living in time. Joseph states that God’s time is defined by the planet on which He lives. So it appears that His time is different in duration but not in direction. Time seems to move forward for Him as it does for us.

But what about the past, present and future that is continually before the Lord? The difficulty with interpreting this phrasing is that D&C 130:7 is the only verse in the LDS canon that has a verse with these three words. We do have one other reference which is often quoted by timelessness advocates from the Times and Seasons on the 15th of April, 1842 by Joseph Smith which was included in the History of the Church Volume 4. That excerpt says;

The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever the “morning stars sung together for joy,” the past, the present and the future, were, and are with him one eternal now;

The details

When Joseph says that past, present, and future are ‘continually before the Lord’ or ‘one eternal now’ what does he mean?

The statement that the past, the present and the future, were, and are with him one eternal now should be read in the context of the editorial within which it was contained. The commentary is titled, ‘Baptism For the Dead.’ ² Joseph is introducing the concept of the finality of death within Christianity. He is trying to explain how the covenants of God are timeless that baptism and Christ’s atonement are not bound by our moment in time on the earth. These truths and opportunities follow us into our future life in the spirit world (the future). In Joseph’s editorial his next paragraph says;

The idea that some men form of the justice, judgment, and mercy of God, is too foolish for an intelligent man to think of: for instance, it is common for many of our orthodox preachers to suppose that if a man is not what they call converted, if he dies in that state he must remain eternally in hell without any hope. Infinite years in torment must he spend, and never, never, never have an end; and yet this eternal misery is made frequently to rest upon the merest casualty.

Then he spends a couple of paragraphs explaining how historical context (the past) is needed to decide if peoples are saved or condemned. We can’t just condemn people. He says, ‘To say that the heathens would be damned because they did not believe the Gospel would be preposterous, and to say that the Jews would all be damned that do not believe in Jesus would be equally absurd;’

Within the entire editorial Joseph is introducing the concept of the priesthood ordinance of baptism for the dead. This ordinance happens now (the present) to save those from the past in the future estate we call the spirit world. God’s plans are not frustrated by time. His ordinances are always with Him and His children. These ordinances provide the power for us to bring about the plan of salvation.

What does God know about the future?

Going back to Joseph’s ’eternal now’ quote, let’s read the entire paragraph.

The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the events connected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation, before it rolled into existence, or ever the “morning stars sung together for joy,” the past, the present and the future, were, and are with him one eternal now; he knew of the fall of Adam, the iniquities of the antedeluvians, of the depth of iniquity that would be connected with the human family; their weakness and strength, their power and glory, apostasies, their crimes, their righteousness, and iniquity; he comprehended the fall of man, and their redemption; he knew the plan of salvation, and pointed it out; he was acquainted with the situation of all nations; and with their destiny; he ordered all things according to the council of his own will³, he knows the situation of both the living, and the dead, and has made ample provision for their redempton, according to their several circumstances, and the laws of the kingdom of God, whether in this world, or in the world to come.

Some may argue that the rest of the paragraph is painting a picture that God sees the fixed future of this earth. However, I see Joseph explaining the big picture facts or nation level facts in his comments. I see Joseph describing the acts that God will do in response to His children’s actions as beings with a choice⁴. The statements can also be read in the context of all possible futures instead of one fixed future. God can see all the possibilities and can respond correctly to bring his purposes to fruition.

Then what does ’eternally before the Lord’ mean?

Could this phrase be describing that ‘all things’ that are about ‘[our] glory’ are continually before the Lord? Alternatively, maybe, Joseph is saying that the angels are continually before the Lord. By referencing the angels, Joseph might not be describing omniscience at all. He could be describing one way to conceptualize omnipresence.

It does seem clear that ‘all things for [our] glory are manifest’ unto the angels and thus to God. I see that phrase as framing the ‘all things’ that God does have continually before him. He acts under eternal truths. He can save and teach the Nephites or Adam of a future act of atoning as if it has happened. These saving moments of atonement and resurrection are eternal in their effectiveness and knowledge.

What is different about God’s time?

I recently read, `An Early Resurrection; Life in Christ before you Die’ by Adam Miller. The entire book helps us understand how to live in time with Christ as Christ lives in time. It is fantastic for its clarity and depth. Here are a few key quotes that relate to this post.

If Christ can weep [Moses 7:28], then time must matter to him. To be vulnerable to loss, he must, in some way, be vulnerable to time. Rather than being untouched by time, it seems to me that Christ is divine because he has a particular way of handling time. He handles time with care. … Many traditional Christian creeds … deny that God can be moved or affected or troubled by time. … This is a brittle kind of omnipotence … It’s a kind of omnipotence that isn’t strong enough to be vulnerable to other people and their decisions. It’s a kind of omnipotence that isn’t strong enough to shelter agency and bear its consequences. … If we confess that God is all powerful, then traditional ideas about his omnipotence don’t go far enough. They limit that power. They allow for God to have only one kind of power, the power to act. But they deny him what Enoch’s vision reveals: that God also possesses the power to be acted upon.

…

This power to be acted upon by life and time and choice - this power to ’long-suffer’ - is another name for Christ’s power to care. … The essence of care is to pay attention rather than being distracted by the past or the future. Pay attention in the present. … In Christ, I don’t just occasionally act with care - I learn to live with care.

…

When I accept Christ as my master, I die early and time’s polarity gets reversed. Rather than always being attracted to the future, time becomes full, and the present becomes magnetic. … In the present, I care for time, I don’t escape it.

…

In Christ, … I part with the past differently, I respond to the present differently. I look to the future differently. In Christ, I hold time itself in a very different way. … To live a different kind of life in Christ is to live time itself in a different way. Living in Christ, I discover a new way of being in time. In Christ, I repent. The past no longer owns me, the present isn’t held at arm’s length, and the future stops undermining me.

…

As a type, baptism is a ritual engine for reordering my experience of time. It shuffles Christ’s resurrected future into my mortal present and, in doing so, frees me from my sinful past.

Conclusion

Once again, we see that God is with us in time. He is not timeless. We can see how His salvation is timeless and that it is an eternal now. We can see that he cares for us in time and that this caring can be defined as being focused on the eternal now. Our salvation is continually before the Lord. He cares for us and wants to have a loving relationship with us. By understanding time correctly, we can come to a greater understanding of His love.

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