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!
Note:
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Written on 20 March 2014