"Now unto God and our Father be glory unto the ages of the ages. Amen." (Philippians 4:20).
"The ages of the ages": an indeterminate number of aeons (endless cycles of time).
Revelation 1:18 and Revelation 11:15 associate the ages of the ages with:
1. The immortality of Christ (He was dead, and is alive unto the ages of the ages); and
2. The reign of Christ over the kingdoms of this world, commencing at the time of the seventh trumpet:
"I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive [zao] unto the ages of the ages, Amen; and have the keys of hades and of death. (Revelation 1:18).
Revelation 11:15 says, "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign unto the ages of the ages."
THE BEGINNING AND THE END WRITTEN INTO
THE FIRST THREE AND THE LAST THREE CHAPTERS OF THE BIBLE
Jesus said, "I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end,
the first and the last."
(Revelation 22:13).
Open: Beginning of time: God's creation (Genesis 1:1-31).
Close: Christ makes all things new (Revelation 21:5).
Close: Only righteousness dwells in it (Revelation 21:27).
Open: Tree of life (Genesis 2:9, 16-17).
Close: Tree of life (Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1-2, 14, 17).
Open: Adam given dominion (Genesis 1:26-28).
Close: The dominion of the last Adam (Revelation 3:21; 20:4).
Open:
(a) Satan's deception of Adam & Eve (Genesis 3:1-7, 11-19).
(b) Death becomes the experience of the created humans.
(c) Expulsion from Eden (Genesis 3:22-24).
(d) Death of Adam (the first death) - 930 years (Genesis 5:5).
---Jesus said, "I am the Resurrection [anastasis]
and the (eternal) life [zoe]!" (John 11:25) ---
Close (7th and final trumpet):
(a) The Resurrection and the judgement of the dead:
"We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come;
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come,
and the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets,
and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great;
and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
And the temple of God was opened in heaven,
and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament:
and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings,
and an earthquake, and great hail."
(Revelation 11:17-19).
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it,
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away;
and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it;
and death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them:
and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
(Revelation 20:11-15).
(b) A new heavens and a new earth (Revelation chapters 21-22).
(c) A thousand years (Revelation 20:6-10).
(d) Satan's deception of the nations at the close of the thousand years (Revelation 20:7-10).
(e) Gog-Magog host devoured by fire coming down from God out of heaven (Revelation 20:9).
Human beings are very unlikely to believe what we do not understand, and we will never understand what we do not believe, but here follows an assertion:
When read without infusing any doctrinal bias into the meaning of the text, the Revelation links the commencement of:-
1. the thousand years (Revelation chapter 20); and
2. the binding of Satan (Revelation 20:1-3); and
3. the New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation chapters 21-22),
to a time immediately following the return of Christ
- but what we believe and understand about eternal life and immortality will cause us to interpret the first three and last three chapters of the Bible in such a way as to have it comply with our understanding, else we would suffer from cognitive dissonance.
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