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INTRODUCTION
The Bible history can be divided into “ages” for study. An Age is a period characterized by specific events, people, and nations. These Ages track the chronology or “passage of time” in sacred history. A chronological study of the Bible begins with Creation and ends with the Book of Revelation.
The Bible records its chronology through generations. Three “books of generations” document history from Adam to Yeshua:
- Genesis 5:1-32 This is the book of the generations of Adam. I call this the Ante-diluvian Age because it occurred before Noah’s flood.
- Genesis 11:10: These are the generations of Shem. I call this the Post-diluvian Age because it followed the flood.
- Matthew 1:1: The book of the generation of Yeshua Christ. I call this the Jewish Age because it records the history of the Jews from Abraham to Yeshua the Messiah.
Generational chronologies appear in sequence throughout the Bible. However, because exact dates for biblical events remain uncertain, I have not attempted to synchronize them with our modern calendar. Where necessary, I placed events within approximate time periods. At many points, the biblical world related to the secular world. Secular history provided information for dating biblical events; however, these dates rely on a manmade calendar known to contain errors, such as the date of Christ’s birth.
The physical earth served as the basis for Ages and generations; though generations pass, the earth remains:
- Ecclesiastes 1:4: One generation passes away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abides forever.
Each age comprised generations:
- Colossians 1:26: Even the mystery which hath been hidden from Ages and from generations but now is made manifest to His saints.
While the Bible helps determine dates for certain ages, it does not record many secular events because these were not concerned with history of Israel, the nation from which Christ and Redemption came. Biblical history provides information about different ages and groups events within specific time periods.
THE TWO-AGE FRAMEWORK
The New Testament divided history into “This Age” and “The Age to Come.” The person and work of Yeshua Christ reshaped the Jewish eschatological framework.
Matthew 12:32: ESV And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
This Age and The Age to Come
To understand the timeline of the New Testament, one must grapple with the usage of the Greek word aiōn, an essential term translated as “age,” “epoch,” or “world-era.” The New Testament writers divided chronological time and redemptive history into two distinct, Ages: “This Age” (ho aiōn outos) and “The Age to Come” (ho aiōn mellōn). This dual-age framework was the bedrock of Jewish apocalyptic and eschatological thought. The incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Yeshua Christ reshaped and reoriented the traditional Jewish framework of time.
The Apostle Paul also gave this division in his letter:
- Ephesians 1:21 ESV far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one (age) to come.
He declared that Yahweh had seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one (age) to come.
The first era, designated as “this age,” referred to the contemporary Jewish Age—the Old Covenant era dominated by the Levitical priesthood, the earthly temple structure, and the administration of the Law. Because it was an era prior to the full victory of the Cross, it was characterized by the pervasive power of human sin, the universal reign of spiritual death, and dark spiritual opposition to the purposes of Yahweh.
The second era, known as “the Age to Come,” was defined as the epoch which would follow the Jewish Age. This is the age in which we live today—our current age—marked by the reality of the righteousness of Yahweh, the supernatural experience of eternal life in Christ, and the definite Divine victory over the powers of darkness.
The transition between these two ages was not through a sudden, catastrophic collapse of the material universe but, Yeshua Christ Himself initiated and engineered the transition between the ages. Through His first advent, His cross-work, and judicial return at the close of the Old Covenant system, He acted as the hinge, closing out the old world-order and bringing in the new.
The Present Realization of the Messianic Kingdom
This transition brought to realization Yahweh’s redemptive plan. The Age to Come is not a matter of speculative future dreaming; it was inaugurated through the destruction of the Old Covenant Temple in AD70, and it continued to unfold and expand up to today. It began with Yeshua’s promised return in Glory, an event which brought a definite closure to the Jewish Age and initiated the New Covenant.
The reality of this inaugurated Age to Come is evident in the transformed lives of individual believers. Whenever a heart is regenerated, freed from the bondage of sin, brought into union with the living Christ, the supernatural characteristics of the Age to Come break into the human experience. Therefore, the full Kingdom of Yahweh has already come, not as a carnal, geopolitical empire with physical weapons, but as an all-powerful spiritual manifestation. It rules from the heavenly places and expresses its authority within the hearts of the redeemed, as the reality of our current era, the Age to come.
The Transition and Overlap of the Two Covenants
When Yeshua walked the earth, He did so within the parameters of “this age”, the Old Covenant Jewish Age. The temple in Jerusalem was still standing, animal sacrifices were offered by the Levitical priesthood, and the law of Moses was the primary religious boundary for Israel. Yet, in His very person, Jesus brought the “Age to Come” into the midst of the dying Jewish world-order:
- Luke 11:20 But if I with the finger of Yahweh cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
When He cast out demons by the finger of God, healed the sick, and forgave sins, He was displaying the unadulterated spirit of the New Covenant age. This means that during the period spanning from the ministry of Jesus to the catastrophic events of AD 70, the two ages experienced a forty-year overlapping transition.
During this generation-long transition, “this age” was waxing old and preparing to vanish away, while “the Age to Come” was being established, and empowered from on high. The Apostles lived in this precise interval, describing themselves as those upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1Corinthians 10:11). They recognized that they were standing in the twilight of the Jewish age and facing the brilliant dawn of the Age to Come.
