The End of Always

Warning: this is a deeply philosophical ramble. Proceed accordingly.

Just the word “philosophy” scares some people. It shouldn’t. Everyone has a philosophy; you can’t operate in a rational world without one. A philosophy is what gives us a basis for judging or interpreting what goes on around us and in us. Sometimes people exchange the word “worldview” for philosophy; this is descriptive of what a philosophy does: it allows us to view the world in a certain way. My philosophy is thoroughly biblical (at least I intend it to be); if you are a Christian yours should be too.

So when I get to rambling philosophically, what I am doing is trying to understand how things work in light of my biblical view. I am trying to square what I see in the world with what I read in the Bible. In an earlier century, Abraham Kuyper would have said what I am trying to do is look at the world through biblical spectacles. If you read almost any of my WHAMM posts, you will find me trying to do that. For example, I did that recently with regard to COVID 19.

What got me thinking philosophically today was Jesus word to His disciples that certain things would “always” be. Certain other things would not always be. For example, in Matthew 26:11 Jesus said the poor would always be with [them], but He would not always be there. This seems to contradict His parting words in Matthew 28:20 that he would be with them always even to the end of the age.When I looked at that verse, I began to wonder what comes after “the end of the age.”

The word Matthew used for "age" was aeon (αἰών) which has a very complicated explanation. Today, when we use the word “aeon,” we mean a really long time. The Greeks, however, may have intended a really long period of time, or they might have meant a specific period like the Iron Age or the Age of Enlightment, or they could have been referring to an endless time period, aka always. Maybe. The Greek doesn’t have an exact match for the English word “forever.” Most places where an English translation of the Bible has “forever” it is a translation of aeon (αἰών) connected to other words like “unto the aeon,” or “to the end of the aeons.”

Jesus spoke of “the age to come” when discussing the Kingdom of God. I am not a strict dispensational thinker, but it is clear that God dealt with humans in different ways at different times. He did not deal with Adam the same way he dealt with Moses and the children of Abraham. He certainly deals with us in the church differently that He did with the nation of Israel. The Bible is very clear that a day is coming when He will change the way He deals with people once again; this is what we often call heaven or some version of the eternal state.

In my devotions the other day [may 6 morning], Spurgeon referred to the eternal state like this: “When this world shall have melted like a dream, our house shall live, and stand more imperishable than marble, more solid than granite, self-existent as God, for it is God himself—'We dwell in him.’” (1 John 4:13) At this point, it becomes almost impossible to grasp what that means. Paul said, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

The state of being “in Him” is beyond imagination. We know for a certainty that God existed before He created our universe. He will exist after this universe ceases to exist as we know it. Since time is an integral part of the space which is our universe, God, therefore, exists outside of time and space. What use are words like “always” or “forever” if there is no time by which to measure them? What comes after always?

I think it is marvelous that the Greek language leaves such a rich complexity in the words that deal with time and eternity. The Bible Greek uses two words for “time”: one is the tick-tock, calendar passage of time; the other is more vague. The meaning of the second word resembles how we use time when we say, “the time has come for action.” We don’t necessarily mean the clock has struck “action time;” we mean that a season or period ripe for action is upon us. For example, the COVID crisis has us in an unprecedented “time” right now. We don’t know how far out the calendar this time goes, but we trust it will not last forever, always, so we endure.

The Greeks, remember, developed the foundation of all Western philosophy. I think they may have had a sense that time would not always (there’s that word again) march along as it appears to us in the “now.” I think they may have allowed for the possibility that in a coming age (aeon,αἰών), we would move beyond “always.” I think we should use that perspective whenever (another time word) things are less wonderful that we would like. I think we should trust the God who created time and exists forever outside of time that He knows what He is doing. Like the Preacher said, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” In that frame of mind, I can bear whatever today brings, but I can’t wait for the end of always. Maranatha!