I’ve heard it said quite often that time doesn’t exist in Heaven. but to date I’ve only found one verse that could be understood to give this impression and that’s only if it’s being read from some translations; the verse I’m thinking of is Revelation 10:6, which starting at verse 5, in the translation of the King James version represents the original Greek text as: 

“And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
and swore by Him who lives forever and ever,
who created the heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it,
and the sea and the things in it, that there should no longer be time.“.

Revelation 10:6

I think there’s a distinct point that needs to be stated before we consider more of this question:
God who created all things including time is not subject to it or any of His creation in any way, as Jesus said to the Jews when they said (paraphrased) “You’re not even 50 years old so how could You have seen Abraham”, in John 8:58 Jesus replied: “…before Abraham was, I AM“. He didn’t say “I was” or “I have been”; though His earthly body and His earthly responsibilities were seen in our realm of time, He isn’t subject to any of His creations.
A subsequent point which I presently believe to be so, (For now we see in a mirror dimly; but then face to face.) is that God’s creation is and always will be subject to time, as with all creation, there is a before and after.

In looking through various translations, I found 10 of 58 versions which interpret Revelation 10:6 close to identical to the peculiar way it’s interpreted in the KJV, and if the verse is read without considering the surrounding verses or other Biblical references to time in Heaven and Hell, it could be perceived as a definite statement to rest the perception of “the cessation of time”, but rather than rest there, let’s consider the following three points:

  1. The text of Revelation 10:6 in the other 48 translations that I’ve looked at, is consistently similar in each of them, including the New King James translation, which says “there should be delay no longer.“, so I’ll now read this portion with the surrounding text from this translation:
    “The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, 7   but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”. 

    We can see the text in question is not revealing the end of time, but that there will be no more delay or waiting for the fulfilling of God’s secret plan, just as He had announced to His servants the prophets. So clarity comes with consideration of context of the surrounding verses and with translation into current language nuances, such as is seen in the difference from the earlier King James Version to the New KJV:
  2. The second consideration we can look at is the mention of time in heaven and hell as shown in the following scriptures which represent a progression of events by either posing a question or making a statement:
    • Rev 4:1  ‘After this I looked and saw a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had previously heard speak to me like a trumpet was saying, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.” ‘
    • Rev 4:8 “And each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around and within. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
    • Rev 5:8  “When He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.“
    • Rev 6: 9 “And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.“
    • Rev 7:15 “…They are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; …”
    • Rev 8:1 “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
    • Luke 16:27 ‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so they will not also end up in this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let your brothers listen to them.’
    • Rev 20:10 “And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.“
  3. Then as a third point of consideration, to revisit and reiterate specifically from Revelation 10:6, we can see it ends with text telling of the revelation of a plan of God’s which will only occur after the action of an angel blowing a trumpet,
    • Revelation 10:6-7 And he swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it: “There will be no more delay! But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants, the prophets.”

Now in consideration of “A point of reference for Time”:

Although we currently measure time by the 360 degree rotation of the earth being termed a day, and by it’s 360 degree orbit of the sun being a year, although we presently measure time by these created entities, time still proceeds if all stellar and planetary activity ceases; A word, a movement and a thought are all time relative occurrences which are similarly represented consistently in the book of Revelation. By “time relative” I mean there’s a before and after, there’s a progression of events or thought, something that wasn’t – then is – then has been or still is since… . Every created being and element have a beginning from which their period of existence is measured by known reoccurring events, such as the earths rotation. I haven’t read any passage in scripture that identifies a central point of reference to measure time in heaven, and if there is we may only come to know of it when we’re there; When John was taken up to heaven (Revelation 4-21) he spoke of the passing of time in terms which we presently understand, such as in Rev 8:1 “half an hour“, his expression of His perception was recorded with purpose, if for no other reason, it at least represents that the passing of time is recognised in Heaven, but more than that aspect, its reference in Rev. 8:1 also speaks of a heavenly example of reverence toward Christ; the one who suffered at the hands of sinners is feared, honoured and revered by heavenly beings who are of substantially greater power than those who beat Him and spat on Him; Who would venture to speak first in His presence? And yet even though He will strike down the nations with the Word of His mouth, He mercifully graciously patiently bore with men in their foolish selfish requests, such as in Matthew 26:64 They answered, “Grant that one of us may sit at Your right hand and the other at Your left in Your glory.”, and He still patiently intercedes for the Saint’s even now. We’re not heavenly beings with the power they’ve been granted, how often should we also keep silence before God, trusting that His ways are higher than ours and always for His glory, and mercifully for our good.

We will be changed from an aging earthly body:

If you consider for a moment one obvious indication of the constraints of our present physical state, which may not be a condition we’ll experience in heaven; Here in our physical universe we’re limited by the dynamics of the physical that slows the completion of a task or action, as blood has to flow, oxygen and minerals must be metabolised, and muscles have to contract, but in the mind (subject again to the present physically similar constraints), thought can take you back to remember events that at the time of occurrence took minutes or longer to occur, but can be reviewed in the mind in a matter of seconds, and the imagination in dreams can cover physically lengthy events in moments; for example; while sleeping, have you ever heard a sound or been bumped, then woken up and realised that you’ve just had a dream which included the noise or bump as a central or latter part of that dream? In a moment, the mind either constructed that dream around the external occurrence, or added it into the latter part of the dream with preceding events, as if it was written in it before the event occurred. When we’re in heaven in a condition which has no physical constraints as we experience here, we may achieve substantially more progress for God’s glory in substantially shorter time. This type of occurrence is spoken of in Luke and Ezekiel:

And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.“

And the living creatures* ran back and forth, in appearance like a flash of lightning

Luke 4:5 & Ezekiel 1:14 (*cherubim: Ezekiel 10:20)

The bible gives numerous accounts of occasions on earth that defy the known physical laws of God’s earthly creation, and this occasion in Luke 4:5 where Jesus is shown the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, is another such event that expresses a dimension that isn’t commonly experienced among many, but that doesn’t diminish the fact of what happened.

But it’s More than just Q&A.

As much as this topic is interesting to consider, unless it draws us to praise God and appreciate Him more, it’s a senseless vain discussion; but to the contrary, I’ve found in considering it, that it brings me to appreciate more of the fact that all creation is absolutely dependent on God for existence, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being;” Acts 17:28, and we shouldn’t let our reverence and fear of Him be diminished by our interactions with those who don’t presently fear Him. His Word tells us that “When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.” 1 Corinthians 15:28. We’re exhorted to love the Lord our God now “under the sun” as we will also in heaven, with all our heart, with all our Soul and with all our mind.

The current state of mans existence is running out of Time, but:

We look forward to the day when we’ll personally experience the words of Revelation 21 & 22

“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light of it there.”

Revelation 21:22-23

“And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.“

Revelation 22:5

I expect that in the place Jesus has prepared for us, we’ll have consistent appreciation of God, there’ll be no more crying, grief, sadness, pain, SIN! and we’ll be able to ask questions of Him eternally, with no deterioration of our thought process, as there’ll be no deterioration of any type there. While we’re living “under the sun”. While appreciating many blessings of God, we also see deterioration and decay which came in from the first sin, and although these results of sin give an indication of age and progression of time, there will be no similar sin based bench-marks in heaven to use as reference to the passing of time, but rather continual activity for His glory as we serve Him with pure hearts, minds and new body, in fullness of life through Christ, forever and ever!

God has graciously granted knowledge of various aspects of His purposes to mankind, who are relatively dust in His vast known creation, and yet He sent Christ Jesus to redeem us so that we should live eternally to glorify Him, and as recipients of His favour, we’re also given revelations that even His mighty angels desire to look into.

We should be Redeeming Time:

Another point in verse that stands out to me is; God’s patience, He had delayed the fulfilment and revelation of His mystery for so long, during which period of delay God has been expressing His mercy and love by redeeming His people for His glory and our eternal salvation through Christ Jesus, as recorded in Ephesians:

…to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 3:8-11

And from the Amplified version:
Therefore see that you walk carefully [living life with honor, purpose, and courage; shunning those who tolerate and enable evil], not as the unwise, but as wise [sensible, intelligent, discerning people], making the very most of your time [on earth, recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence], because the days are [filled with] evil. 

Ephesians 5:15-16 (Amplified version)

Picture credit: King Island from Zeb, Thank You!
APO Aug2020,Jan&Apr2024