The Lord hath redeemed his people; And
Satan is bound and time is no longer. The Lord hath gathered all things in one.
The Lord hath brought down Zion from above. The Lord hath brought up Zion from
beneath. (D&C 84:100)
This
verse is sometimes used to show that, in the eschaton, there will be no
"time" simpliciter. However, there are some issues with this reading.
Firstly, even in the eschaton, there will be a moment-by-moment type of
existence, so there will be a "before," "during," and
"after," indicating some type of tensed existence. Furthermore, this
passage is based on Rev 10:6. The KJV translates the phrase ὅτι χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται
as "that there should be time no longer," while other translations
render it differently. The NRSV renders it as "There will be no more
delay" and the NASB has "that there shall be delay no longer."
Commenting
on Rev 10:6, Richard D. Draper and Michael D.
Rhodes offered the following on “there should be time no longer”:
there should be time no
longer/that there will be no further delay: The phrase χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται (chronos ouketi estai)
does not mean that time will stop. It instead is a warning that time has run
out, there will be no further delay, as the Rendition has translated it. A more
colloquial translation might be “time’s up,” meaning that the period has now
come fully to a close. The angel swears that postponement from this point on is
impossible. Telestial time has run out and no further delay is permitted. As a result,
history will instantly move into its next phase, the terrestrial or millennial
period.
The new phase will begin only after “The Lord hath
redeemed his people; and Satan is bound,” when “The Lord hath gathered all
things in one” and “brought down Zion from above” and” brought up Zion from
beneath” (D&C 84:100). When that is done, according to the Doctrine and
Covenants, “The seventh angel shall sound his trump; and he shall stand forth
upon the land and upon the sea, and swear in the name of him who sitteth upon
the throne, that there shall be time no longer; and Satan shall be bound, that
old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of
a thousand years” (D&C 88:110). In Revelation 6:10, the martyrs asked the
Lord, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our
blood on them that dwell on the earth?” The answer is a resounding, “Judgment
is coming right now!” (Richard D. Draper and Michael D. Rhodes The
Revelation of John the Apostle [BYU New Testament Commentary Series; Provo,
Utah: BYU Studies, 2013] 241)
