THE MYSTERY OF THE AGES

Rev. Bertrand Comparet

   It is amazing how much there is in the Bible which is not known even to the most devout Christians, because it is concealed from them by the many mistranslations in the commonly‑used King James' Version of the Bible. Because of these mistranslations, many false doctrines have developed among people who faithfully believe what they have read‑‑‑not knowing that what they read is sometimes mistaken. One of these errors which has mis­led many is the mistranslation of the Greek word "aion"‑‑‑meaning "an age" ‑‑‑as everlasting", "eternal", etc. For example, we see many places where the King James' Version speaks of "everlasting life" and many others where it speaks of "eternal life": and some fine, devout people have worked up elaborate doctrines about the supposed difference between "everlasting" life and "eternal" life.

    Will it shock you to learn that the Bible actually makes no such dis­tinction at all? The New Testament is where we find these references; and you know that almost all of our English New Testaments are translated from ancient manuscripts written in the Greek language. In Greek, "aion", com­monly called "aeon" in English, means "an age"‑‑‑a period of time of long, but indefinite, duration. And the Greek word "aionios", commonly called in English "aeonian", means "to the age"‑‑‑that is, to the end of the age. If you will look up in a good Concordance every reference to "everlasting" life, you will find that in every case the word translated "everlasting" Is this Greek word "aionios", meaning "to the end of the age.” Now also look up every reference to "eternal" life, and you will see that, in every case but one, this, also, is the same Greek word, "aionios".    The translators simply got tired of always using the same English word, and thought it made a better literary style to use sometimes the word "everlasting" and some­times the word "eternal". Where now do you find the elaborate distinct­ions between the two kinds of life? Not in the Bible surely; only in the mistranslation.

   So the Bible deals with time in terms of "aeons", or ages. Let's find out more about them. First, the Bible tells us that the ages had a begin­ning, for it speaks of times before them. For example, in Hebrews 1:2, it speaks of Jesus Christ, through whom God "made the ages (Yes, I know that your King James' Version says, "Made the worlds"‑‑‑but in the original Greek it says "made the ages".) Again, I Corinthians 2:7 speaks of "a secret which God foreordained before the ages to our glory." Again, II Timothy 1:9 speaks of the grace of God that was given us in Christ Jesus "before the times of the ages.

   Also, however long an aeon or age may it be, it also has an end. Matthew 24:3 tells of the disciples asking Christ Tell us, when shall these be; and what is the sign of Thy presence, and of the full end of the age?" In I Corinthians 10:11, Paul tells us that the Scriptures "were written for our admonition, to whom the end of the ages did come."

   The Bible speaks of "ages" in the plural, so there are several of them. How many? There must be at least six of them. We are living in one. In the past, there must have been at least two others, for in Coloss­ians 1:26 it speaks of "the secret that has been hid from the ages and there must be at least two more in the future, as Ephesians 2:7, tells us that God has raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places, "that He might show, in the ages that are coming the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Jesus Christ."  Past ages have been ended by terrific cataclysms or other occurrences which definitely mark the beginning of a new age. Genesis 1:1 tells of the beginning of one age, with the creation of the earth; in the next verse, it tells of the wreckage of it in some catastrophe. No, your King James' Ver­sion doesn't tell this: it is mistranslated. But in the original Hebrew, Genesis 1:2 says that the earth BECAME chaotic and empty ‑‑‑obviously as the result of some great cataclysm. Jeremiah 4:23‑27 was a vision of this, where the prophet said, "I beheld the earth, and lo it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo! they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo! the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath Yahweh said: 'The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. In this first age lived the civilizations, of which archaeologists now find some trace, many, many thousands of years older than Adam. The second age began with the restoration of order out of this chaos and the re‑population of the earth, from Genesis 1:1 onward; and probably Noah's flood, in Genesis 6‑8, marks the end of the second age. The resurrection of Jesus Christ marks the end of the third age: no greater dividing point can be found in all history. Therefore, we are now living in the fourth age, which will end in the overthrow of the existing satanic world‑order and the return of Jesus Christ to rule for the millennium. But we say that Ephesians 2:7 spoke of "ages" still to come, so that proves that there are not less than six ages referred to in the Bible.

   The Bible also speaks of something longer than just an age: in several places, such as Revelation 1:18 Hebrews 13:21 and II Timothy 4:18, it speaks of "the ages of the ages" ‑‑usually translated "forever." But even this is not really eternal or endless. Revelation 11:15 says that Christ shall reign "for the aeons of the aeons". There comes a time when Jesus Christ gives up the kingdom to God the Father; and Hebrews 9:26, speaks of the end of the ages.

   Are you beginning to wonder whether your life will finally end at the time when we run out of aeons? Have no fear of that. I Corinthians 22‑26 tells us that Jesus Christ will reign until He has conquered all enemies, and that the last enemy to be abolished is death. From that time on, for those who are saved or redeemed by Jesus Christ there is no death. It no longer matters whether there may be any reason to mark off a certain period of time as an age. The life He then grants to His own will be truly endless * Hebrews 7:16 speaks of an indissoluble, or endless life; and  Peter 1:4  says that by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has be­gotten us into an inheritance incorruptible ‑‑‑that is, never decaying‑‑­and which does not fade away. So life for the ages carries you up to the point where death is completely abolished, and life does become eternal. Put remember, don't try to find a distinction between eternal life and ever­lasting life: they are the same thing, being merely different translations of the very same word, with the very same meaning. Don't think of me as just an old meany who goes around puncturing your pet doctrines: I'm only trying to bring you the truth as accurately as I can get it.