A Time for Every Person

Now insofar as he was God and the Word of the Father, he had no time, for he is himself the Creator of times. But having become man, he shows by speaking in this way that there is a time allotted to every person. And it is not by chance, as some of the Gentiles imagine in their fables, but a time which he, the Creator, has appointed to each one according to the will of the Father. This is written in the Scriptures and is plain to everyone. For though it is hidden and unknown to all what span of time is allotted to each, and how it is allotted, yet everyone knows this: that as there is a time for spring and for summer, for autumn and for winter, so, as it is written, there is a time to die and a time to live. [a]

So the time of the generation that lived in the days of Noah was cut short, and their years were shortened, because the time of all things was at hand. But to Hezekiah fifteen years were added. And as God promises to those who serve him truly, “I will fill up the number of your days,” Abraham dies “full of days,” and David pleaded with God, saying, “Do not take me away in the middle of my days.” And Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends, sure of this truth, said, “You will come to your grave like ripe grain gathered in due time, and like a stack of sheaves brought in at its season.” And Solomon, confirming his words, says, “The souls of the unrighteous are taken away before their time.” That is why he urges in the book of Ecclesiastes, “Do not be overly wicked, and do not be hard. Why should you die before your time?”