The
Sufferings and Glory
The
Bookends of this Present Age
By
Steve Santini
There is a period
of transition from man’s day or the time of the Gentiles into the millennial
kingdom or paradise. Unfortunately, most charismatic and evangelical Christians
have been led astray by the book of Revelation to believe that this time period
is seven years. (See Revelation)
Actually, according to Jesus, Peter, Paul, David and Old Testament prophets this
time period out of which the faithful church is saved lasts for forty years
that includes in finality of the “acceptable year” as preached by Isaiah and
Jesus.
First one needs to
understand that a generation in Eastern culture lasted forty years. It is
written in Hebrews 3:9,10.
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation,…
Forty is also considered as a period of trial or testing of faith. Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and nights being tempted of the devil. Moses spent forty years with his father in law and wife as a shepherd in the deserts of Midian before being sent to lead the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt.
Along these lines of a generation being forty years
there is a verse that has drawn the attention of many Christians. It is in the
gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In each instance, the context reveals that
Jesus is speaking of future events. It reads in Luke 21:32 as such:
Verily, I say unto you, This generation shall not pass
away until all be fulfilled.
Luke, who had spent considerable time with the
apostle Paul, writes that Jesus first spoke of the eventual destruction of
Jerusalem forty year hence and then the fulfillment of the times of the
Gentiles before he spoke of “this generation” in which all is to be fulfilled.
It is in this verse according to the former context that Jesus is speaking of
another time period of a generation of forty years in which all things would be
fulfilled. The book of Hebrews 4:7, 8, written most likely by the apostle Paul
bears this out. In the former context of Paul’s writing about the generation in
the wilderness he writes about the fact that Jesus spoke of another day or
period of time. This statement of another day is also in the immediate context
of a day, or time period, as it could be translated, that was limited in David.
David reigned in Israel for forty years.
Historically, there were about forty years from the
time of Jesus until the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman Legions in 70 AD.
It was at the end of this early forty year period that the first century church
anticipated the return of Jesus.
It is clear that the community of
Jesus followers expected his return within a generation (40 years?), so the
decade of the 70's CE must have brought on a real crisis. (“Dead Messiah’s Who
Don’t Return,” Oral Comments of Prof.
James Tabor Delivered at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, 1997)
It is said by the apostle Paul that
near the end of his life within the same time period of the destruction of
Jerusalem that almost all had turned away from his message of the mystery of
Godliness. This is borne out by the statements of current textual critics. They
say that the later writing of those termed as church fathers hardly mentions
Paul and that when they do, it is as ill prepared schoolboys.
So what one can see from this is a forty-year period
of time when the message of Jesus through himself, Peter and Paul struggled for
a fulfilling foothold for forty years. One can also see from Jesus’ statements,
according to Hebrews, another day or time period.
With this in mind some areas of scripture gain new
light. In I Corinthians 10 after Paul first writes of the forty years of
Israel’s wanderings he then writes of the ends of the world coming upon the
Corinthians. There are two Greek words that are translated as world in the New Testament. One is the Greek word cosmos
and the other is the Greek word aoin. Cosmos is
always translated world and means an entire
universe, while aion is translated at
times as world and at other times,
properly, as age. Aion or age means
a period of time within a universe or cosmos. This world or cosmos has a beginning and an end. This is why Jesus
Christ is called the alpha and omega. Alpha
is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and omega is the last letter. An age or aion which exists within a cosmos also has a beginning and an end. If, on a piece of
paper, we draw a straight line, which represents the duration of an age, and
then take both ends of the line, which like the alpha and omega are
one in Jesus Christ, and then move the ends uniformly together, we would have a
circle or cycle. With this concept in mind we can begin to understand Paul when
he wrote to the Corinthians.
Now all these things happened unto them (Israel) for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world (aion-age) are come. I Corinthians 10:11
What, then, are between these two ends of the age. It
is as Jesus spoke as recorded in Luke chapter, twenty-one. He prophesied that after the destruction of
Jerusalem would come the “times of the Gentiles.”
Peter writes of these two ends of the age of the
Gentiles in his first epistle.
Searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. I Peter 1:11
James also writes of two time periods.
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early rain and the latter rain.
In Israel, the early rain fell in the autumn to
soften the ground for planting and the latter rain fell in the spring to bring
the crop to maturity.
In light of these scriptural documentations regarding
the two time periods and documentations for forty years each, it would behoove
one to consider secular and ancient history sources regarding a forty year time
period to end this age.
The
great influx of Christian converts to Islam, which took place in the end of the
first and the beginning of the second century of the Hijra, naturally brought
Christian popular ideas with it. These converts did not entirely change their
spirit by changing the name of their religion. It has been even asserted that
it was they who brought into Islam the spirit of partisanship and bigotry to
which they themselves had been so long accustomed. Of that it would be unfair
to lay the whole or even the main blame upon them. Islam in the beginning was
tolerant in a sense. So long as the Christians submitted and paid the tribute
they were not very much molested, and even enjoyed a considerable amount of
liberty. But that was because the Omayyad Caliphs and Governors were not so
much religious leaders as worldly rulers. As the religious system took deeper
hold, Islam would probably of itself have developed a stricter spirit. But
these Christian converts must have brought with them much that belonged to
their former faith. The collections of Moslem Traditions contain many stories
and sayings which are evidently of Biblical and Christian origin. It was
natural that the early Moslems should show keen interest in the Bible, and
their discussions with Christians would help to make them familiar with the
contents of Scripture. Still, I think it was by way of popular importation that
much of the Christian material in the Traditions came.”
In
Islamic writings and tradition there are references to a forty-year time period
to end this age.
The
Dajjal is a false prophet bringing a false religion" "his Paradise
will be Hell, and his Hell, Paradise". He will work certain miracles,
"producing or withholding rain", and other things of that nature; and
will deceive, if not the very elect, at any rate many professing Moslems. In
one tradition it is said that "the Jews will follow him, and perish in his
overthrow". His reign will last for forty years,
Jesus
will appear according to one version at the white minaret on the east of (the
mosque of) Damascus; according to another at Jerusalem. He will pursue the
Dajjal, and overtaking him at the gate of Ludd or Lydda, will slay him.
(Richard Bell, M.A., B.D. The Gunning Lectures, Edinburgh University, 1925)
As Joel
wrote of select generation or forty-years of spiritual beings so to do the
ancient writings of Egypt and the apocalyptical writings of the Jewish Essenes.
"I will not tell of this birth; I must not, mighty Horus, reveal the origin of thy race, lest men should in the future know the generation of the Gods." (Isis to her son Horus, from Stobaeus, The Sacred Book or, in other words, the Egyptian Book of the Dead)
Col B19: From the day of
the gathering in of the Teacher of the Community until the end of all the men
of war who deserted to the Liar, there shall pass about forty years. (Manuscript B,
Dead Sea Scrolls)
The Bible
provides other verses documenting this transitory time period of entrance. The
prophet Micah writes of the transition into the kingdom of God in Micah 7:15.
According to the days of thy coming out of the land of
Egypt (forty years) will I shew
unto him marvelous things.
David, in
Psalms 102: 15-18, writes, in one of several places, of a singular generation
to come.
So the heathen shall fear
the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the Lord
shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of
the destitute, and not despise their prayer. This is written for the generation
to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.
When one goes to
the celestial for confirmation of the bookends for this age one can see the
lesser flock of Ursa Minor separated by Draco from the greater flock of Ursa
Major. Ursa Major represents the future flock, as Jesus said during the time
period in which he ministered concerning another flock to come,
And other sheep I have,
which are not of this fold: them also must I bring, and they shall hear my
voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. John 10:16
The word other in this verse is the Greek word allos which means another of greater quality
and/or quantity. It is to this second flock in a generation in which all things
will be fulfilled that Peter wrote of the glorying of Christ in contrast to the
former sufferings. It is to this future generation of forty years that Peter
wrote to those as a “chosen generation.”
As the sufferings of Christ covered a relatively short period of time of forty years so to will the glories of Christ. Paul wrote of this latter "bookend" period of time as a short work of righteousness in the book Romans. He goes on to quote Isaiah, writing that had not a seed been preserved, the time period would be as the day of Sodom and Gomorha. This latter time period of forty years will be one of wrath directed towards unbelief yet one of glory directed to those of belief. It is this coming transition of forty years to end this age that must be persevered by the faithful in Christ Jesus in regenerative faith and in hope of glory on a pathway into Christ’s future rest of paradise.
As those with the spirit of Christ searched for the length of time between these two periods of time beginning and ending man’s day, so too should consideration be given to the place of this second forty year time period.
|
Ministry and Crucifixion
of Jesus Christ and Pentecost |
Destruction
of Jerusalem Deaths
of Peter and Paul |
|
1.Manifestation of the
Saints Luke
17:26-37 John
1:51 2. Out
pouring and energizing of the gift from the Holy Spirit Acts
2:17-21 |
|
The Dead in Christ Raised
by the Lord himself |
Just & Unjust Resurrected &
Judged Paradise
for the Just; Perdition for the Unjust |
|
All men past and then present changed for
the third heaven and earth (I Tim.
4:10) |
|
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|
|
Peter’s And Paul’s Ministries; The Holy
Spirit and the Revelation of Jesus Christ; Lesser
Flock |
|
Faithful
in Christ Jesus become regenerated by faith with the work of the Holy Spirit
and the Ministration of the Saints: Parousia; Greater
Flock |
|
Joint
Priesthood of Saints and faithful in Christ Jesus unto the resurrected just
and their forthcoming progeny; (age-long
destruction for the unjust) |
|
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|
About
4000 Years Old
Testament |
40 Years |
About
2000 Years Man’s
Day Times of
the Gentiles |
40 Years The Day
of the Lord Day of
Darkness (Joel 2) Faithful
saved out of wrath Manifested
Saints & the faithful in Christ
Jesus become united as the one body of Christ |
1000
Years Millennial Kingdom; Paradise |
Third
Heaven and Earth |
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The End and A New Beginning For Man
The Spiritual
Paradigm (New 9/05)
Considerations on the Spuriousness of the
Book of Revelation
Copyright, Steve Santini, 2003