Answer
The Bible does not directly address the idea of time travel, at least not the type of time travel commonly featured in science fiction. Scripture indicates that each person has an appointed time of death (Hebrews 9:27) and that his days are known by God before they happen (Jeremiah 1:5; Acts 17:26). Scripture speaks often of events occurring according to God’s timetable (Genesis 21:1; John 7:8; 1 Timothy 2:6), which runs counter to the idea of people changing historical events through time travel.
However, the Bible also indicates that God is independent of time. While this might not be a literal type of “time travel,” it would be fair to say that God does not experience time in the same narrow way that human beings do (2 Timothy 1:9; Genesis 1:1; 2 Peter 3:8). There are also instances in the Bible where men are granted visions of the future (Revelation 1:9–11; Daniel 7:13–14). One could argue that John, for example, in the book of Revelation had an opportunity to “time travel” into the future in order to observe the events of the apocalypse.
Scripturally, we can’t really say whether time travel is possible or impossible. Theologically, we have reasons to believe that whatever happens is under God’s control, meaning any possible time travel by humanity wouldn’t change or interfere with those plans. Since God exists independently of time, human time travel wouldn’t change our relationship to God any more than our learning how to fly, split the atom, or travel into space.
In a sense, we all are “time travelers” in that we all travel through time, one hour, one minute, one second at a time. No one goes any more quickly or slowly than that. We have one trip through life; there are no “do overs.” And that’s a good reason why we should pray with Moses, “Teach us to number our days, / that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
