Doesn't the bible teach that time will end?

If you've read the two previous "Yeah buts", you are probably asking this question. In spite of all you've been taught, the short answer is:  nowhere does scripture say that time/history will end. That may feel like a hit below the belt so take a deep breath and tune in for a few more paragraphs. (If you just can't stomach the thought, get out your Bible and concordance and find the passages you think support that view and then come back and read on).

Admittedly, there are passages in our English translations that seem to teach that time will come to an end. However, the diligent student of scripture is careful to examine the original language to be sure that their understanding of the English usage is consistent with the meaning of the original.

English is a living language and over time the meanings of words change. Let me take a brief aside to make the point. As the united States came together and hashed out the Constitution, the founders were extremely concerned about this problem. They knew what they meant by what they approved, but they knew that the meanings of words change over time and that could lead to misinterpretation of their intentions. In a June 12,1823, letter to Supreme Court Justice William Johnson regarding the interpretation of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed."* 

We're living with the consequences of doing the very thing Jefferson warned against. But that's another story!

Christians make the same mistake when they apply what they think a word means to their understanding of scripture. Diligent students question every word! We may think we understand a word, but proper interpretation and application of scripture demands that we be as sure as we can that we really know.

The word "end" is a good example. The Greek word used in the New Testament is telos. This is not a word of termination but fulfillment, consummation, perfection, etc. Scripture looks forward to "the fullness of time" when God would restore that which was lost in the garden of Eden. This would not be the destruction of planet earth and the cessation of chronological time, but a regeneration (a second Genesis if you will).

Do you remember what God said He did in the flood? Right, He "destroyed" the world! Did planet earth cease to exist? Certainly not. He destroyed the old system and started over. This is precisely what is in view in "the end" of the Jewish world and the rise of the Messianic age.

Will time ever end? Perhaps, but this is not something that scripture teaches. If the scientists are right, the universe is moving toward chaos and total collapse. However, their knowledge is so limited that today's observations should not be considered as absolutely sustainable. Apart from that, we would do well to remember Paul's words at the end of Ephesians 3, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (vs. 20-21 KJV)

We need to do a little word study here as well. "Ages" here is the Greek genea which means generations. You will find it translated that way in many versions. "World without end" is another matter. The interlinear translation has it literally as "age of the ages". The Arndt & Gingrich lexicon indicates the language of the passage is idiomatic meaning "for evermore". A number of translations (including the NASV) render it that way.

The central idea is that the world/age/system ushered in through Christ has no end. "The end" spoken of in scripture is the culmination of all that God had done through the ages to reconcile man to himself. That was fully accomplished in Christ and within the generation He ministered in the first century.

For further study see: The Time of the End

*Jefferson, Thomas. June 12, 1823, in a letter to Justice William Johnson. Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, editor (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830), Vol. IV, p. 373. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed., (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 1475.

© Copyright 2003 - Jim Wade