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Matthew 12:32 (NKJV) "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
The word "come" at the end of the verse is the Greek word mello, which means: " about to be." We could translate this: "the age about to come." About to come for who? For the original audience, which was those in the first century. Ephesians 1:21 (NKJV) far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
Here again, we see the two ages. So, the New Testament speaks of two ages, "this age," and "the age to come." The understanding of these two ages and when they changed is fundamental to interpreting the Bible and understanding when the dead went to heaven. The New Testament writers lived in the age that they called "this age." To the New Testament writers, "the age to come" was future, but it was very near because "this age" was about to end.
1 Corinthians 2:6-8 (NKJV) However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
The wisdom and rulers of "this age" were coming to nothing because the age was passing away. He is speaking of the Jewish leaders and the Old Covenant system. The rulers of "this age" crucified the Lord. These rulers would shortly have no realm in which to rule because "this age" was about to end. Think about this, If the Jewish age ended at the cross, as so many claim, why were they still ruling the age? 1 Corinthians 10:11 (NKJV) Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Paul said very plainly that the end of the ages was coming upon them, the first century saints. "This age," along with its wisdom and rulers, was about to end. 1 Peter 1:20 (NKJV) He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
Jesus came during the "last days" of the "this age" that was the Old Covenant age, the Jewish age. That age came to an end with the destruction of the temple in AD 70. So, the New Testament writers lived in what the Bible calls "this age." "This age" of the Bible is the age of the Old Covenant that was about to pass away in the first century. It should be clear to you that "this age" is not the Christian age in which we live. In the first century, the age of the Old Covenant was fading away and would end completely when the temple was destroyed in AD 70.
Hebrews 8:13 (NKJV) In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
The book of Hebrews was written at around 65-69 AD. At this time, the Old Covenant was still in effect but it was ready to pass away. It passed away in AD 70 in the destruction of Jerusalem. The "this age" of the Bible is now ancient history. Alright, "this age" was about to end, and at the end of the Old Covenant age several things happened:
1. Christ returned:
2 Timothy 4:1 (NKJV) I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will (mello: about to come) judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:
Hebrews 10:37 (NKJV) "For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
2. The resurrection occurred: John 11:24 (NKJV) Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
This was the "last day" of "this age," "the age to come" has no last days. So, the resurrection was to happen at the end of the Old Covenant age when the Lord returned. 3. The judgment occurred:
Matthew 13:40 (NKJV) "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
Since the "present age" of the Bible ended in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple and the coming of the Lord, we must be in "the age to come." And if we are in "the age to come," then the resurrection has already happened. Notice what Jesus said the believers would receive in the age to come.
Mark 10:29-30 (NKJV) So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, 30 "who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time; houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions; and in the AGE TO COME, ETERNAL LIFE.
If eternal life was a condition of the "age to come," then does this mean that the New Testament saints who lived in "this age" did not yet have eternal life? Or we could ask the question this way, "When did believers receive eternal life?" To answer that question, we must know what "eternal life" is. Prior to Jesus' messianic work, no one went to Heaven. John 3:13 (NKJV) "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
If prior to Jesus' messianic work, no one went to Heaven-- where did people go when they died? They went to a holding place of the dead and waited for the atoning work of Christ and the resurrection from the dead. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for where they were prior to the resurrection is Sheol. In the New Testament, the Greek word is Hades. What this place amounted to was a waiting area for disembodied spirits. God had promised to redeem His people from the grave.
Hosea 13:14 (NKJV) "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.
Psalms 49:15 (NKJV) But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, For He shall receive me. Selah
These verses express the hope that God will provide salvation beyond the grave, one of the few Old Testament references to life after death. This verse anticipates the clear New Testament teaching of life after death, and eternal life, and salvation from God. Resurrection is: "resurrection from the dead." To understand death, we need to go back to the book of beginnings, Genesis. In the book of Genesis, we see what death is.
Genesis 2:15-17 (NKJV) Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
God warned Adam, regarding the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "The day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." Adam disobeyed God and ate of the tree. Did Adam die that day? Not physically! Adam lived at least 800 years beyond the day he ate the fruit. But, God said he would die the day he ate, and we know that God cannot lie. Adam did not die physically that day, but he did die spiritually. He died spiritually the moment he disobeyed. Spiritual death is separation from God. Isaiah 59:1-2 (NKJV) Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Because of his sin, man was separated from God. He was dead in trespasses and sins. The focus of God's plan of redemption is to restore through Jesus Christ what man had lost in Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:21 (NKJV) For since by man came death, (spiritual death) by Man also came the resurrection of the dead (eternal life).
Because of Adam's sin, we are all born dead, separated from God. But through Jesus Christ came the resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ came to redeem man from death, to resurrect man back into the presence of God. The Bible is God's book about His plan to restore the spiritual union of His creation. Resurrection is not about bringing physical bodies out of the graves, it is about restoring man into the presence of God. To be taken out of Sheol and brought into the presence of the Lord is what the Bible calls the resurrection. Daniel spoke of this in -
Daniel 12:2 (NASB) "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
For believers, the resurrection is to be given everlasting life. When was this resurrection to happen? Daniel 12:13 (NASB) "But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at THE END OF THE AGE."
Jesus' answer to the Sadducees about the woman who had seven husbands indicates that the resurrection was to occur at the changing of the ages. Luke 20:34-35 (NKJV) And Jesus answered and said to them, "The sons of this age (the Old Covenant age) marry and are given in marriage. 35 "But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, (the New Covenant age) and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;
The resurrection was not something that was available to them in "this age" (the Transition period, AD 30 to AD 70) but would be available to them in "that age" (the New Covenant age), implying that the resurrection would occur at the beginning of the New Covenant age. So, the resurrection was to happen at the end of the Jewish age, the Old Covenant age. We know that this happened in AD 70 with the destruction of the Jewish temple. To be resurrected was to be given eternal life and to be in the presence of God.
