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This Age And The Age To Come


The English word “ages” corresponds to the Hebrew “olam” in the Old Testament, and to Greek “aion” in the New Testament. It means "forever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity, the worlds, universe, period of time."

Both Testaments speak of ages and ages to come where the LORD is forever God. Age to age, You are the great I Am! To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.

Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

1 Corinthians 2:6-8
6 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,

8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Ephesians 2:4-7
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:1-12
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—

2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,

4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),

5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:

6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,

7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,

11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

Colossians 1:24-27
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,

25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Hebrews 9:26
He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

1 Peter 1:20-21
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Jude 1:25
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

Our understanding of this present age is significant to a right understanding of the Biblical view of prophecy. This present age refers to the period where man has fallen into sin, and die as a penalty of sin. The age to come will usher in the millennial kingdom that will commence with the Second Coming of Christ and last for one thousand years. Man will then sin no more and die no more!

According to Hebrews 9:26 and 1 Peter 1:20, this present era is the end of the ages. This present age is a time of sin, evil and darkness.

Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age?
Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1 Corinthians 3:18
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4
3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Galatians 1:3-5
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

1 Timothy 6:17
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Satan is the god of this age while sin still prevails. The people of this age are living in darkness, relying on their own lusts, wisdom and understanding.

We are exhorted to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. And God will enable and empower us to do so!

Matthew 12:32
Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

1 Corinthians 10:11
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Ephesians 1:15-23
15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,

23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Hebrews 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,

5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

The Apostle Paul continually exhorted the believers to know their position in Christ that was "far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come" (Ephesians 1:21).

Paul also told them that Christ might deliver them "from this present evil age" (Galatians 1:4), instructing them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age (Titus 2:12).

There are some Christians who believe in Preterism. They believe that they are already now living in the age to come. They believe that the phrase "this age" refers to the approximately 40-year period between the earthly ministry of Christ and the destruction of the Jerusalem in AD 70. They also believe that every prophecy of the Bible in the Book of Revelation had been fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. There is no more Second Coming in the future.

The Preterists believe that the kingdom of God was taken away from the Jews in AD 70; the true Israel today is the Church, not the nation of Israel formed in 1948; and modern day Israel has nothing whatsoever to do with Bible prophecy. But these beliefs are clearly not true.

There is also another group of Christians embracing "Kingdom Now" theology. This theological belief is spreading wildly across the Charismatic movement. The Kingdom Now people believe that God lost control over the world to Satan when Adam and Eve sinned.

Since then, God has been trying to re-establish control over the world by raising a special group of Kingdom Now believers. They are known as the covenant people, the overcomers, or Joel's army. Through these "powerful" and "anointed" people, social institutions (including governments and laws) are brought under God's authority.

These Kingdom Now believers think that they have all authority in heaven and on the earth. They have the power to believe and speak into existence things that are not. They are able to bring in the Kingdom Now! In doing so, most of these Christians honestly do not believe in the Second Coming of Christ! If the Kingdom is Now, why should the Lord return? In fact, they are the ones to rule and reign on earth now, not the Lord! There is no need for the return of the King!

The Jewish perspective of Bible prophecy viewed all history as consisting of two ages. The first was this present age - the age in which Israel was waiting for the coming of the Messiah. The second was the age to come - the age in which all promises of the covenants would be fulfilled, and Israel would be blessed to be a blessing to all nations as a result of Messiah's coming.

Isaiah 2:2-4
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.

3 Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

The present age would be terminated by the appearance of Messiah, and the age to come would usher in His glorious reign and kingdom on earth.

The present age will end as the Messiah rules and reigns in righteousness and majesty. In the age to come, the righteous are resurrected, live forever and have eternal life.

Luke 20:33-38
33 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”

34 Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.

35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;

36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the LORD ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”

Mark 10:29-31
29 So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s,

30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.

31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Luke 18:29-30
29 So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,

30 who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

In this age, people get married. But in the age to come, people do not marry. And they never die again. They are the resurrected sons of God. They are raised up from the dead, having eternal life .

When will the age to come begin?

Matthew 13:37-43
37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.

39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.

41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,

42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

This age to come will be preceded by an invasion and capture of Jerusalem.

Zechariah 14:1-4
1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.

2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3 Then the LORD will go forth
And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.

4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.

The Messiah will descend upon the Mount of Olives, and deliver Israel from her enemies. And He will establish His kingdom on earth. The age to come will arrive! The Lord will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

There will be a future kingdom when the Messiah will rule and reign on earth. Before the age to come commences, the Great Commission is still valid for us.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

We will continue to be His faithful servants, doing His will as we await the return of our Lord and King!

Revelation 22:17
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”

Maranatha!

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Written on 20 March 2014