Introduction

Many believers today are confused about what Jesus meant when He spoke of "this age" and "that age." But the Bible makes it clear. Jesus Himself declared that the harvest was the end of "this age" (Matthew 13:39-40). So we must ask: what age did Jesus live in, and when did it end?

Jesus Lived in "This Age"

• Luke 20:34-35 "34 Jesus said to them, 'The sons of THIS AGE marry and the women are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to THAT AGE and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;'"
  
  

• Jesus clearly identified the time in which He was living as "this age".
  
  

• He also pointed forward to a time called "that age", which would follow.
  
  

Daniel Foretold the End of That Age

• The prophet Daniel predicted the only age in scripture that was destined to come to an end.
  
  

• Daniel 12:4, 7 "4 But as for you, Daniel, keep these words secret and seal up the book until the end of time," "7 ... it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and as soon as they finish smashing the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed."
  
  

• The "power of the holy people" was the Old Covenant system centered around the temple. That system ended when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
  
  

What Age Ended?

• Matthew 13:39-40 "39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age."
  
  

• The harvest came at the end of "this age", not some future age thousands of years later.
  
  

• That age was the Old Covenant Age, filled with temple rituals, animal sacrifices, and Levitical priesthood.
  
  

• Jesus lived during that age and prophesied its conclusion.
  
  

We Now Live in "That Age"

• We have passed from the Old Covenant Age into "that age", the New Covenant, also known as the Christian or Kingdom Age.
  
  

• It is not Heaven, but the spiritual kingdom of Christ, where we are now spiritually married to Him.
  
  

• Romans 7:4 "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in regard to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God."
  
  

• We still marry in the physical world, but spiritually, we are united with Christ in the body, His Church.
  
  

• Ephesians 5:31-32 "31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church."
  
  

The Age That Never Ends

• Ephesians 3:20-21 "20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."
  
  

• The age we now live in has no end. The New Covenant is eternal. We are in Christ’s everlasting kingdom.
  
  

Conclusion

• Jesus lived in "this age", the Old Covenant Age.
  
  

• He said that "this age" would end at the harvest, the judgment on Old Covenant Israel.
  
  

• That end came when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, just as Daniel and Jesus predicted.
  
  

• We now live in "that age", the New Covenant age, not Heaven, but the spiritual reality of the Kingdom of God.
  
  

• This age, unlike the former, will never end. We are now citizens of an eternal kingdom, married to Christ, bearing fruit for God.
  
  

Let us rejoice that we are not awaiting a kingdom, but living in one. Let us understand the times, not with tradition, but with truth. Jesus said the harvest was the end of "this age". That age ended. Ours has just begun.