JESUS & THE LAST DAYS: The End of the Age

In our first article, we showed that when Jesus said “this generation will not pass away before all these things take place” he meant the people living in his day – his contemporaries. We considered other interpretations of the phrase “this generation” and saw that they come up lacking. We have to wrestle honestly with this fact. In this article, we will consider what “end” was Jesus and his disciples talking about? When Jesus says the “Last Days” – we should ask, “the last days of what?”

The Exegetical Necessity of First-Century Fulfillment

Many Christians today assume that they were talking about the end of the world – that is the events leading up to the end of temporal existence and the ushering in of the eternal state. However, although this understanding is popular, is it actually what is being taught here? An important detail to note about the disciples’ question in Matthew 24:3 is that they did not ask Jesus when the end of the world (Greek: κόσμος) was going to occur. They asked what was the sign of the end of the age (Greek: αἰών).

The word αἰών simply means “a period of time, epoch, or age”. This confusion is not helped by the fact that the popular King James Version wrongly renders the word αἰών as “world” in this verse when it should be translated as “age”. This imprecise translation of this word can cause confusion in several passages and lead people to erroneously think that they refer to the end of the material universe. As John Nolland notes, “in the Greek text ‘your coming’ and ‘the completion of the age’ are marked as belonging together by sharing a single definite article.” So, we cannot separate the “coming” that Jesus is referring to here from the end of the age.

The End of the Jewish Age and the Temple

The answer is that they were asking about the end of the Jewish age – that is, the Old Testament era under the Mosaic covenant of sacrifices, the temple, rituals, etc. The OT prophecies of the promise of a new and better covenant pointed forward to this and was part of the expectations of every faithful Jew. This is why the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD is so crucial to understanding the significance of what Jesus predicted. Jesus was talking about the Jews of his day in Matthew 24 concerning what judgment would come upon them if they did not repent and believe in him. As Milton Terry (1898) rightly notes, “The ruin of the temple was, accordingly, the crisis which marked the end of the pre-Messianic age.”

Earlier in His ministry, Jesus pronounced to the religious leaders that His own body was the true temple. Only after Jesus’ resurrection did the disciples begin to understand that the true and everlasting temple is “the temple of His body” (2:21). The physical temple was designed to be temporary. The physical Jewish Temple along with its sacrifices were supposed to prefigure and foreshadow the work of Christ. So, if you’re someone who has always understood this passage as speaking of something in the future, I’d encourage you to just entertain for a minute the consideration that there may be another way to look at it. As you do this, I think you’ll begin to see how this interpretation is a more natural reading of the text.

False Predictions and Date Setting

There is no lack of examples from the history of Christians trying to predict the end from this and other passages. Dr. DeMar comments that, “The history of date setting is long and tortuous. Francis X. Gummerlock catalogs more than a thousand false predictions over the past two millennia, everything from the identity of the antichrist to the date of Christ’s coming. Two common streams run through all of them: they were sure of their prediction and they were wrong.”

Comparison: Noah’s Day & Lot’s Day

Jesus warns, “Just as it happened in the DAYS OF NOAH, so it will be ALSO in the DAYS of the SON OF MAN (JESUS).” To understand the patterns of judgment, we can look at the characteristics provided in the text:

  • Noah’s Day: They were EATING, they were DRINKING, they were MARRYING, they were being GIVEN IN MARRIAGE, until the DAY that NOAH entered the ARK, and the FLOOD came and DESTROYED them ALL.
  • Lot’s Day: It was the SAME in the days of Lot; the LORD determined to go to Sodom, and LOT and his family leave before destruction.
  • The Warning: Luke 17:32-33 warns us to REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE, who looked back during the spiritual warfare of those events.

Scriptural Warnings to Be Ready

Jesus provides several warnings regarding His coming and the appointed time:

  • Matthew 24:44: “For this reason you also MUST BE READY; for the SON OF MAN (JESUS) is coming at an HOUR when you do NOT think HE will.”
  • Luke 12:40: “You too, BE READY; for the SON OF MAN is coming at an HOUR that you do NOT EXPECT.”
  • Mark 13:33: “TAKE HEED, keep on the ALERT; for you do NOT know when the APPOINTED TIME will come.”
  • Revelation 22:12: “BEHOLD, I am COMING QUICKLY, and MY REWARD is with ME, to GIVE to every one according to his WORK.”
  • Luke 21:34: “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be WEIGHTED DOWN with DISSIPATION and DRUNKENESS and the WORRIES of LIFE, and that DAY will not come on you SUDDENLY like a TRAP.”