For man, the past and the future are not symmetric. What this means is what happened yesterday will not happen tomorrow, there will be two different and independent set of events that occur when comparing the past to the future in our day to day lives. As a consequence of this, time is not reversible. In physics however, this is a different story. The fundamental forces of nature in elementary particles, molecules, and atoms are symmetric with respect to their development in time, meaning going forward in time or backward in time makes no difference. Scientists call this time-reversal symmetry. In quantum mechanics, time reversal symmetry implies that when t goes to -t, the wavefunction goes to its complex conjugate, meaning that the Schrodinger equation must remain form invariant. In quantum field theory, this translates as invariance under similarity transformation of operators caused by an anti-unitary operator. Physicists recently have discovered spontaneous static magnetic fields with broken time-reversal symmetry in a class of iron-based superconductors. The research results were published recently in the Journal of Nature Physics. [1]
Reference
- V. Grinenko et al. Superconductivity with broken time-reversal symmetry inside a superconducting s-wave state, Nature Physics (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-020-0886-9
Generally speaking, magnetism and superconductivity are antagonistic to one another. What this means is there are superconductors in which superconductivity coexists with magnetism where superconductivity itself induces spontaneous magnetism. The researchers report the finding of a narrow dome of an s+is′ superconducting phase with apparent broken time-reversal symmetry (BTRS) inside the broad s-wave superconducting region of the centrosymmetric multiband superconductor Ba1−xKxFe2As2. This important finding calls for new theoretical models and as we had seen previously, will help with the development and advancement of quantum computing technology.
A superconductor is a material that can conduct electrical currents without energy dissipation as heat, these materials still require low temperatures, but the search for a high temperature material continues. One of the applications for this type of material is in MRI technology and the efficient generation of strong magnetic fields. Approximately all known superconducting materials (99%) are time-reversal symmetric. Only these novel superconductors are able to spontaneously generate constant internal magnetic fields. In the research paper, scientists performed a systematic investigation of high-quality Ba1−xKxFe2As2 single crystals to elucidate the fundamental mechanism responsible for the spontaneous generation of magnetic fields in the superconducting state. By combined μSR (first muon spin relaxation) and specific heat studies they were able to show that the apparent broken time-reversal symmetry state occupies a narrow region inside a broad s-wave superconducting dome of the Ba1−xKxFe2As2 phase diagram. Researchers also proposed theoretical arguments in favour of an s+is′ superconductivity in the broken time-reversal symmetry state, and defined the relationship of this superconducting state with topological changes of the Fermi surface. The synthesis route for the Ba1−xKxFe2As2 is relatively simple, therefore these materials have enormous potential for applications. As a result of this discovery of new superconductors which break time-reversal symmetry, the basic mechanism of superconductivity needs to be modified considerably.
The Spiritual insight that we receive from this type of research is related to the time-reversal symmetry in the sense that God is able to see the past, the present, and the future without restriction or limitation. God’s ability to see the future leads to God’s ability to provide prophetic messages of future events. For example, the Lord God of Israel prophetically spoke through Moshe that Israel would drive out the Amorite, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (Shemot / Exodus 34:10-11) and the Gergashites (Devarim / Deuteronomy 7:1-2) from their land. The God of Israel made a covenant with his people in Parashat Ki Tisa, making a prophetic statement of the future in the following way.
Shemot / Exodus 34:10-27
34:10 Then God said, ‘Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you. 34:11 ‘Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. 34:12 ‘Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 34:13 ‘But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 34:14 for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God 34:15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 34:16 and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their gods. 34:17 ‘You shall make for yourself no molten gods. 34:18 ‘You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt. 34:19 ‘The first offspring from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the first offspring from cattle and sheep. 34:20 ‘You shall redeem with a lamb the first offspring from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. None shall appear before Me empty-handed. 34:21 ‘You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. 34:22 ‘You shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 34:23 ‘Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 34:24 ‘For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no man shall covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God. 34:25 ‘You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning. 34:26 ‘You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.’ 34:27 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ (NASB, י וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי כֹּרֵת בְּרִית נֶגֶד כָּל-עַמְּךָ אֶעֱשֶֹה נִפְלָאֹת אֲשֶׁר לֹא-נִבְרְאוּ בְכָל-הָאָרֶץ וּבְכָל-הַגּוֹיִם וְרָאָה כָל-הָעָם אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה בְקִרְבּוֹ אֶת-מַעֲשֵֹה יְהוָֹה כִּי-נוֹרָא הוּא אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶֹה עִמָּךְ: יא שְׁמָר-לְךָ אֵת אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם הִנְנִי גֹרֵשׁ מִפָּנֶיךָ אֶת-הָאֱמֹרִי וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי וְהַחִתִּי וְהַפְּרִזִּי וְהַחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי: יב הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן-תִּכְרֹת בְּרִית לְיוֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה בָּא עָלֶיהָ פֶּן-יִהְיֶה לְמוֹקֵשׁ בְּקִרְבֶּךָ: יג כִּי אֶת-מִזְבְּחֹתָם תִּתֹּצוּן וְאֶת-מַצֵּבֹתָם תְּשַׁבֵּרוּן וְאֶת-אֲשֵׁרָיו תִּכְרֹתוּן: יד כִּי לֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לְאֵל אַחֵר כִּי יְהוָֹה קַנָּא שְׁמוֹ אֵל קַנָּא הוּא: טו פֶּן-תִּכְרֹת בְּרִית לְיוֹשֵׁב הָאָרֶץ וְזָנוּ | אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהֵיהֶם וְזָבְחוּ לֵאלֹהֵיהֶם וְקָרָא לְךָ וְאָכַלְתָּ מִזִּבְחוֹ: טז וְלָקַחְתָּ מִבְּנֹתָיו לְבָנֶיךָ וְזָנוּ בְנֹתָיו אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהֵיהֶן וְהִזְנוּ אֶת-בָּנֶיךָ אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהֵיהֶן: יז אֱלֹהֵי מַסֵּכָה לֹא תַעֲשֶֹה-לָּךְ: יח אֶת-חַג הַמַּצּוֹת תִּשְׁמֹר שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תֹּאכַל מַצּוֹת אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִךָ לְמוֹעֵד חֹדֶשׁ הָאָבִיב כִּי בְּחֹדֶשׁ הָאָבִיב יָצָאתָ מִמִּצְרָיִם: יט כָּל-פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם לִי וְכָל-מִקְנְךָ תִּזָּכָר פֶּטֶר שׁוֹר וָשֶֹה: כ וּפֶטֶר חֲמוֹר תִּפְדֶּה בְשֶֹה וְאִם-לֹא תִפְדֶּה וַעֲרַפְתּוֹ כֹּל בְּכוֹר בָּנֶיךָ תִּפְדֶּה וְלֹא-יֵרָאוּ פָנַי רֵיקָם: כא שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲבֹד וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי תִּשְׁבֹּת בֶּחָרִישׁ וּבַקָּצִיר תִּשְׁבֹּת: כב וְחַג שָׁבֻעֹת תַּעֲשֶֹה לְךָ בִּכּוּרֵי קְצִיר חִטִּים וְחַג הָאָסִיף תְּקוּפַת הַשָּׁנָה: כג שָׁלשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה יֵרָאֶה כָּל-זְכוּרְךָ אֶת-פְּנֵי הָאָדֹן | יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְֹרָאֵל: כד כִּי-אוֹרִישׁ גּוֹיִם מִפָּנֶיךָ וְהִרְחַבְתִּי אֶת-גְּבֻלֶךָ וְלֹא-יַחְמֹד אִישׁ אֶת-אַרְצְךָ בַּעֲלֹתְךָ לֵרָאוֹת אֶת-פְּנֵי יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ שָׁלשׁ פְּעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה: כה לֹא-תִשְׁחַט עַל-חָמֵץ דַּם-זִבְחִי וְלֹא-יָלִין לַבֹּקֶר זֶבַח חַג הַפָּסַח: כו רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹא-תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ: פ [שביעי] כז וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָֹה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה כְּתָב-לְךָ אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה כִּי עַל-פִּי | הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה כָּרַתִּי אִתְּךָ בְּרִית וְאֶת-יִשְֹרָאֵל:)
This covenant agreement begins with the Lord God saying “Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.” The Lord states we are to “obey his commands” because of what He is going to do in the midst of His people. The Lord states within His covenant agreement, what He is going to do, to drive out the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. He warns His people not to make a covenant with these peoples, and to not serve or worship him in the way these people serve and worship their gods.The danger of making a covenant with the neighboring peoples is in worshiping their gods and turning from the Lord their God. The most significant aspect of this covenant is of God working in their midst, to give them power and strength to overcome the nations. In the book of Judges, we are told how Israel disobeyed the command to worship no other gods (see Judges 3:6) and as a result they were not able to drive out the Jebusites (Joshua 15:63). According to the Scriptures, the Canaanite tribes were not entirely driven out until David defeated the Jebusites in Jerusalem and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Israel (2 Samuel 5:6-7).
Biblical prophecy consists of the Lord God revealing to man events that will take place in the future. In the Bible, the prophetic passages, God’s revelation to men, the interpretation, admonitions, and/or predictions appear throughout the biblical narratives (from beginning to end). As we see here in the Torah narrative from Shemot / Exodus 34, the prophets through whom the prophetic messages were given, functioned as a warning to Israel what not to do (as in our text) or to repent from their sin and idolatries, with a warning of punishment for not heeding the warning. Some prophecies are conditional, others are unconditional.
In the Prophets and the Writings section of the Tanach (OT), the Lord God of Israel states that the house, throne, and kingdom of David and his offspring will last forever (2 Samuel 7:12–16, 2 Chronicles 13:5, Tehillim / Psalm 89:20-37). Note however according to 1 Kings 9:4–7 as well as 1 Chronicles 28:5 and 2 Chronicle 7:17, we are told that Solomon’s throne was conditional on his obeying God’s commandments. Notice something here about this concept of time reversal symmetry of materials where the fundamental forces of nature, the elementary particles, molecules, and atoms are symmetric with respect to their development in time, meaning going forward in time or backward in time makes no difference. The command places a constraint on directionality of time in our lives in the sense of whether one obeys or disobeys leads to different events.
The word Nevi’im (נְבִיאִים) is the plural form of Navi (נָבִיא), or prophet. The Nevi’im, the Hebrew prophetical books in the Tanach (OT), are subdivided into two major parts: four books of the “Former” prophets and 14 books of the “Latter” prophets. Together these books trace Jewish history from the time of Moshe’s death until the destruction of the First Temple and the subsequent exile of the southern kingdom to Babylon. Maimonides writes the sixth principle of faith is to believe that the Prophets are True and trustworthy! This precept obviously assumes that prophetic revelation is possible and knowable by mankind. This couples the idea to our responsibility to heed these words that God has given us! Maimonides Writes saying, “We must realize that there exist human beings who have such lofty qualities and achieve such great perfection that their souls become prepared to receive pure spiritual wisdom. Their human wisdom can then become bound up with Creative Mind of God and receive an inspired emanation from it. This is prophecy, and those people who achieve it are prophets.” This statement is how Maimonides argued for both faith and reason, that it is possible to have faith and reason, faith is not unreasonable. This means that we who have faith are not irrational or lacking rationality. The NT also attests to the truth of the words of the Hebrew prophets, and identifies Yeshua the Messiah as the Chief Prophet upon whose word the kehillah (ekklesia, “the body of believers”) would be built (Ephesians 2:20). Yeshua quoted from the Hebrew prophets and stated that they demonstrate His claim as the Mashiach of Israel (John 5:39). It is also interesting what Yeshua states about one of the most famous prophets in the bible, Moshe.
John 5:46-47
5:46 ‘For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 5:47 ‘But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?’ (NASB)
This applies to many topics of which Moshe wrote about, i.e. the creation versus evolution and 24 hour day/day creation account (Bereshit / Genesis 1 and 2, Bamidbar / Numbers 17) Aaron’s staff budding, of the future prophet who would come we are to listen to (Devarim / Deuteronomy 18), etc. Notice that Yeshua states, “if you do not believe his (Moshe) writings, how will you believe My words?” This is very powerful and significant in light of the importance of the Torah in our lives, and the theologies today that seek to do away with God’s Torah. Yeshua’s words draw in the context of establishing God’s Word as an authority over our lives. This means we are actively seeking to apply God’s Word to every part of our lives. One can lay the Bible on the table, or on a bookshelf, or even carry it around all day long, and the Bible itself is not going to do anything. It is only when we open up the Bible, and begin to read the Scriptures and apply God’s Word to our lives does the Word of God become effectual to change us. When we read the Bible, it is then that we gain understanding looking at a particular scripture with understanding saying “oh that is what this scripture means!” When we read the Scriptures, we automatically begin to interpret the scripture as soon as we begin reading the Bible. Our different experiences, how we were raised, and what we have been taught, these things influence our understanding and interpretation of the scripture. This was the difficulty the people had in Mark 1 when seeing Yeshua cast out demons by the authority of his command, the demons were compelled to leave. The people did not understand the power of God in their lives. Believing upon all of God’s Word by living it out, this is the power of God in our lives to overcome the world by His dwelling in our midst, as we read in Shemot / Exodus 34.
In the essence of Moshe’s words written in the Torah regarding the Messiah, the Hebrew language is unique in the sense that the word הוא (singular pronoun “he”) can refer to an individual or an entire nation. As a result of this, it might be argued, what may be applied to an entire nation may also be allied to one man. This observation is very significant! This is the context of how one sacrifice and one priest could make atonement for an entire nation taking the example from Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement, See Vayikra / Leviticus 16). This is what and how the Messiah could die for us taking the curse upon himself to make atonement. This is why the gospel message always brings us full circle back to the Torah. As Yeshua taught תשובה (Teshuvah, Repentance) calling the people to turn back to God’s ways, according to the Torah, he led the way for us, and taught us what a life lived for the Lord God our Father in heaven looks like. When this happens, it won’t just be the evil spirits that see, but all the world will know who we are as God’s people, being filled with love, peace, joy, and endowed with power in God’s Messiah.
The point is when we study the Scriptures from a Torah based perspective, and believing that the Torah was given to God’s People, both past, present, and future, all of Scripture and the Gospel Message becomes clear. The History and theologies we are taught shape our presuppositions and philosophical beliefs and these things shape our perception of reality and most importantly, our interpretation of the Scriptures. This leads to the questions we ask about life and spiritual matters, and the questions we ask are shaped by the assumptions, the expectations of the hypothesis and theories we embrace and ultimately the theologies and doctrines we hold onto. These are the things the scientific research on time-reversal symmetry draws out for us today! The idea of coming to the truth is a universal principle and the reason there is so much variation in biblical interpretation. The difficulty however is to find a set of assumptions that we can all agree upon that leads to the correct conclusions. The Torah remains as a foundation stone upon which all of God’s Word stands! The common ground we must have is to establish our faith and trust in the Word of God, taking the foundation of the Torah as a way of Life with the help of God. Coupled to Yeshua’s teachings, we can know without a doubt what God wants for us in our lives according to His Holy Word! Based upon our assessment from a biblical and historical perspective, the Torah is a fundamental part of the gospel message! Therefore it is important to hold onto a Torah centric hermeneutic because only then are we able to read and understand the scriptures for our lives. The power of God is revealed to us through faith in His Messiah Yeshua, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God in our hearts, to transform our lives for His glory, and to know truth, life, joy, and peace as His children!
