Space can be defined as a three dimensional expanse in all directions, generally thought to be boundless. Time is a fourth dimension of existence which separates events as happening in the past, present or future, and includes every moment there has ever been and ever will be. Thus the space-time continuum is defined as "A four dimensional continuum with four coordinates, the three dimensions of space and that of time in which any event can be located" (Webster's New World College Dictionary). Space has existed since the beginning of all things, but time commenced for this earth when God sent the earth spinning and the first day dawned. Only four time cycles have existed since that first day, the day, the week, the month, and the year. All other measurements of time are human inventions.
As far as we know there has not been any interruption of this space-time continuum since time began. I know that there are accounts in the Bible of two events that seem to contradict this statement, the story of Joshua's long day and Hezekiah's backsliding sundial. Joshua asked God to extend the day so he could finish off the Amorites, "And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and hasted not to go down about a whole day" (Josh. 10:13). This is an apparent delay of time. The other event relates Hezekiah's request for a sign that he would recover his health. He requested that the shadow would recede or retreat ten degrees or steps on the dial of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:9). It is probable that this "dial" was a series of south-facing steps. This was an apparent reversal of the time continuum. I doubt that either one of these phenomena interrupted the 24-hour daily cycle and can be explained by our present knowledge of atmospheric optics such as the refraction of sunlight by temperature inversions.
There are also numerous cases of such spacial anomalies known as mirages. These are especially common along Route 191 in southeastern Arizona, known as the "Devil's Highway" by early settlers. Penny Porter tells of such a sighting; she saw a whole city looming from the desert, afloat on a vast blue ocean, with building, houses, burros, and people strolling the streets. Others have seen images later identified as being hundreds of miles away. These mirages are caused by refracted images of real objects that may be thousands of miles away.
Despite these apparent interruptions, the space-time continuum will exist until the end of time and eternity begins. Then there will be "a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away" (Rev. 21:1). Until that time we are all "trapped in a space-time continuum."
