Troublesome Topic: Evangelization Marked the Completion of an Age, but Which Age?

Many have taken this as a clear measurement Jesus gave us so we could know when He will return. But remember what was said earlier about the word “end;” it means “completion” or “fulfillment.” This verse does not refer to the end of time as we know it, but to the completion of an age, specifically the age in which the disciples were living, the age of the Law. 

According to the interpretive process I am using here, the confirmation that the age of the Law had been completed and the transition to what we call the Age of the Church, or the Age of the Holy Spirit, had been realized was that the news about the salvation God offers was shared with many people throughout the known world, and the temple had been destroyed. Did they happen at about the same time? Yes.

We have always been taught that Jesus effected the change from the age of the Law to the age of salvation by His death, resurrection, ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Is that right? Or does this passage change all that? Don’t worry, what we have been taught is true, however, there is more that needs to be explained. Jesus finished all the “work” required for the transition; here He was talking about the confirmation of the transition, and the confirmation is what the disciples were asking for. We seldom hear about its confirmation because it is not important to us, but it was one of the burning questions of the disciples. The part that seems strange to us is that there was such a long gap between the “work” of Jesus, and the confirmation of what He did; it did not come till almost 40 years later.

A gap of 40 years probably made more sense to the people of that time than it does to us. 40 years was considered one generation and it was a symbol of completeness. Here is something else to consider – In the decades prior to Jesus there had been many people who claimed to be the Messiah, and there were many more that came after Him who made the same claim. However, their impact, their legacy and their accomplishments did not live on after them. This was one proof that they were frauds. In Acts chapter five we read how the great Jewish leader Gamaliel expressed this same opinion when he advised his fellow Sanhedrin members to wait and see what the legacy of Jesus would be. He mentioned two upstarts who’s efforts had ended in nothing. Then he said, “if this plan or this work is of man, it will end in ruin” (Acts 5:38). In their minds waiting to see if the impact still carried on after a generation had passed made perfect sense. By placing the confirmation of His work one generation (40 years) away, and by making it something as climactic as the destruction of the temple with its system of sacrifices, the confirmation was undeniable. Also, what He accomplished and what that meant for the souls of mankind, was confirmed as people from every known race, living in every part of the known world, embraced it and followed it, often at risk of their lives.

When Jesus spoke these words the disciples did not know it would be a 40 year wait, but those that lived past AD 70, like the Apostle John, saw what happened and realized the importance of it all. He would have realized that it turned out to be about a 40 year span of time and would have seen how fitting that was.

 Please understand that I am not trying to take away the motivation for those missionaries who are translating the Bible for the people groups that do not yet have the Bible in their language. My wife and I are close to more than one couple involved in this work; we pray for them and we send monetary support as well. We want them to keep translating. I trust they will keep working because it is God’s will that all peoples hear of His offer of salvation. They have been taught that Jesus will not return a second time until they finish their work of translating. I don’t think that is what Jesus was talking about. I believe that most translators are motivated by more than one thing, so I hope this does not throw cold water on those doing the hard and long work of translating God’s word; however, I think we have injected ourselves into this passage of Scripture when it only referred to AD 70, not to our era.

In summary, the disciples asked three questions, one of them being “what will be the sign . . . of the completion of the age?” They wanted to know when the age they were living in, the age of the Law, would be confirmed as consummated. They were confident that Jesus was the Messiah, but in their minds He wasn’t affecting the transition from one era to another the way the Messiah was supposed to. The sign they were looking for was a confirming sign, not a predictive sign. Jesus’ response was something like this, “I will indeed fulfill this age and usher in the new age. You want confirmation? You will have it and it will be BIG. The confirmation of the transition from one age to another will be two major events, first of all the very foundation of the system on which the former age is built will be forcibly eliminated at great cost of life, secondly, people from all over the known world will embrace the new system showing that it is a good and desirable thing that God has done.”

This is what God had been working toward ever since the fall of man into sin recorded in Genesis 3. Although it took almost 40 years to come, and most of the disciples were dead by then, the whole world witnessed the answer to their question, and it was just like God to make it powerful, undeniable, and perfectly fitting.

The next lesson is: The Stench of Desolation Spoken of by Daniel