Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to this assembly to those of you at home here and those of you abroad listening to this broadcast. I pray for grace as I talk to you to you today about a topic that I think interests almost everyone, whether believer or unbeliever, and that is ETERNITY

Now I have to first of all state that this topic is not one that suddenly popped into my head as I began preparing for this sermon a couple of days ago but has been a part of something really big for me personally. For I have been on a spiritual journey now for some weeks, one that has been boggling my mind, exciting my heart and quickening my spirit - an adventure that has been both exhilarating and challenging because it has forced me to rethink some very important - nay, critically important - themes in the Besorah (Gospel) which tradition has presented to us in one way but which both Scripture and history presents somewhat differently. Truth told, what I want to do today is present you with a summary of some of the things the Ruach (Spirit) has been showing me that are a part of a huge project that I have been working on day and night now for months.

So what is 'eternity', why is it important, and how do we understand it? The simplest answer is: eternity means 'forever'. To the ancients it was so important that they deified it and represented it as a goddess. To the ancient Egyptians, Persians and Hindus, 'Eternity' was depicted as a circle or a ring. In some cultures, 'Eternity' was represented as the phoenix, the mythical bird which it was believed arose from its own ashes and became immortal. Both the ancient Arabs and the Hebrews represented 'eternity' by the colour white. An awestruck John the Revelator was shown the Ancient of Days, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), who appeared to him with white hair, symbolical of his eternal existence:

"His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire" (Rev.1:14, NIV).

A belief in eternity - forever - was not unique to the Hebrews, and why indeed should it be? Eternal life in one form or another is the ultimate promise of almost every religion in the world, and that is because nearly every culture believes that there is more to life than just birth, death and what happens inbetween. And though every age has had its atheists, none has been more atheistic than our own. Ours is, sadly, a sceptical, pessimistic age - an age, particularly amongst the youth, filled with nihilism ... the belief that there is no purpose to anything. Accordingly, the ancient pagans had more hope than so many millions of disillusioned youngsters in our sad times.

As soon as you start entertaining thoughts about eternity, strings of questions soon follow in their wake: what is eternity like? What form does it take? Can we make progress there? What will we be doing forever? Wouldn't we get bored? Would the flow of time seem the same as it does here? How can we even fathom it?

Most of us want to live forever, though, seeing all the imperfections of earth-life, most would want it to be a happier sphere free of pain and sorrow. Most religions and cultures have assumed that Eternity would therefore be very different from this life. Most assume it is non-physical because of the frailty of our physical bodies and the impermanence of everything. We wonder if we will retain our essential sense of self or whether we would drop out of our personal consciousness to become submerged in a vast ocean of Nirvana-like 'cosmic consciousness'? It would make a difference what reality of eternity is like because it would affect the choices we make here on earth. Those Christians preparing for Eternity who believe there is only one life take a very different attitude to Hindus, for example, who believe in reincarnation and assume they will be back after they die to try again and improve their karma.

Almost all religions offer some kind of life or awareness after physical death and yet nearly all admit that the form it might take - how we might feel, and what we might do - is beyond our capacity to know. Nevertheless we feel compelled to speculate, because it's just too important not to. I don't know about you, but I'd like to live forever. I'd like to take with me some of the 'living' we do down here but, like you I'm sure, I'd like to leave some of it behind too. And the good I enjoy down here I'd like to see enhanced in the next life.

Now I can't go into all the religious philosophies that exist about eternity and I'm sure you wouldn't want me to. You will have learned about some of these in school and picked up others in the movies such as Star Wars which has a very Buddhistic view of an afterlife and eternity. In this New Agey pantheistic system we are all 'god' whether in our present physical or in a spiritual disembodied form. The ancient Greeks, exemplified by the teaching of the philosopher Aristotle, believed that the physical universe was eternal, something modern evolutionists believed in too until recent times.

With all the different ideas about the nature of eternity, we should not be surprised to learn that 'eternity' is one of the most controversial words in the Bible. I think if you were to interview the Christians of all most of the denominations about eternity, they would tell you that at the point of death we would enter an eternal realm where time goes on and on, non-stop, ad infinitum, into infinity. They would also tell you that the kind of life we live in that infinite, eternal, everlasting dimension, will depend on the decisions, affiliations and actions we take in this life. And nearly all will tell you that these earth-bound things we do fix in cement, as it were, the kind of life we inherit.

Go to many who belong to the older Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches, and they will have a number of images in their heads, which they have been actively taught or have passively absorbed from their culture, in which they believe they will be plucking harps in the clouds or walking streets of gold arm-in-arm with the Saviour together with all the other saints. They believe that these believers will be a tiny minority and that the vast multitudes of people will be barred from heaven. The wicked, for their sins, will burn in torment and anguish in an eternal hell.

Confronted with such a choice, millions have been motivated to embrace this vision while others have been so repelled by it that they have turned to atheism. I am not at all surprised, because there is an inherent character contradiction in this doctrinal set because it is not clear whether Elohim (God) is an Elohim (God) of ahavah (love), power, and mercy, or of hate, ineptitude, and vindictiveness. The rest - those who don't accept this belief system - are neutral, bewildered, confused, or might turn to other 'versions' of eternity.

One of these 'versions' is called 'annihilationism'. It teaches that the wicked and unbelievers - the overwhelmingly vast majority - face a heavenly 'firing squad' pr are vapourised at the final judgment leaving only the righteous - a tiny minority - to enjoy eternity with Christ.

The Jehovah's Witnesses are the largest group who believe in this teaching. In this version, most of humanity is wiped out forever. Unlike those orthodox Christians who believe in a spirit world consisting of an eternal heaven of bliss and an eternal hell of torture, the Witnesses, and others who subscribe to annihilationism, do not even believe there is a spirit world, except for Elohim (God), and malakim (angels) and 144,000, the élite of their sect or denomination. They believe they cease to exist after death and are re-created from scratch at the beginning of the Millennium. In other words, they don't even believe there is a 'heaven' or 'hell.

One historical group, amazingly, in Yah'shua's (Jesus) day, though very religious, didn't believe there was an afterlife at all! They were the sect of the Sadducees. To this day I have never been able to grasp their mindset.

It has not been until recent times - within the last few months, actually - that I have even bothered to write much about this subject, let alone plunge into a detailed exegesis. The reason is I have never felt the need to. I have never been happy with the idea of eternal torment, because I have never been able to reconcile that to the character of the Elohim (God) of the Bible I know and love, and whilst I may have paid occasional lip-service to the doctrine in my early days as a believer, I have never really accepted it. The only reason I have felt the need to articulate this question now is because I have seen clearly for the first time how spiritually destructive it is and been shown the spiritual powers that animate it, and they are not clean. They certainly aren't loving.

The last few weeks have been exhausting but eye-opening as I have worked on a whole slew of articles and reproduced books by distinguished theologians on Aenonian Time and Universal Salvation. This has forced me to rethink much of the common English language that we as Christians and Messianics use and re-evaluate it in the light of what Yahweh is showing me.

As witnesses of the Most High, the language we use must be accurate and therefore true. It is a potentially dangerous thing to bear witness, and just because the majority do, however ignorantly and inadvertantly, doesn't give us the right to be slipshod or careless. Misunderstandings, however unintentional, can nevertheless cause so much destruction. I shall never forget the day I was witnessing in the streets of Newcastle, England, a little over 20 years ago, and hearing a heated exchange between an atheist and an Evangelical Christian who believed in eternal torment. The Christian was using eternal torment as a cudgel to threaten the atheist into submission and was failing spectacularly. I was ashamed because the love of Elohim (God) was lost in this rather unpleasant exchange. And, of course, I have been threatened with eternal torment by more than one Calvinist zealot because I did not accepting their 'orthodoxy'. Indeed I have been threatened twice just in the last couple of days by zealous Christian women frustrated because I do not accept their unscriptural doctrines.

So let us cut to the chase and look at this word 'eternal' in our Bible. The word is important, obviously, because, when the Hebrew or Greek is translated correctly, it is applied to the nature of Yahweh-Elohim Himself. He is eternal by nature, we are not. We are made eternal, like Him, but conditionally.

When we use the English word 'eternal' we mean 'forever', 'everlasting', 'timeless', 'perpetual' and 'immutable'. In a popular translation like the New International Version (NIV), the word 'eternal' is common, being used 81 times, with the word 'forever' used 289 times. So those two words alone are used 370 times! Unfortunately, the vast majority of the words used to translate 'eternal' or 'forever' do not mean 'eternal' or 'forever'! They, rather, mean 'age-lasting' or lasting for a fixed period of time, usually of unknown duration.

Although some fixed periods of time can seem like 'forever', that is only because we are of finite stuff. We have a tendency to exaggerate, don't we? If I say that so-and-so has been in the bathroom (toilet) 'forever' I obviously don't mean that literally. And the Hebrews exaggerated things no less than we do (this is called 'hyperbole') with a perfect example at the end of the Gospel of John by way of illustration:

"Yah'shua (Jesus) did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written" (John 21:25, NIV).

So, to reiterate, the majority of words we translate as 'everlasting' or 'forever' in our English Bibles actually don't mean that. The main two are olam (in the Hebrew) or aionios (in the Greek). You will need to memorise these two words because you're going to come across them a lot from now on, and indeed you may have heard me begin to use them in my daily broadcasts. When they are not referring to eternity (which is the majority of the time), they are talking about 'chunks of time' or 'time-chunks', and specifically, periods of time, with beginnings and endings, for accomplishing the purposes of Yahweh. Thus one of these 'time-chunks', 'ages' or 'eons' is the Millennium, the only one we know the exact length of, namely, 1,000 years. This is the time-chunk, age, or eon that comes immediately after the time-chunk, age, or eon that we are living in now.

Let's begin with a well-known passage about the Elohimhead (Godhead) - we'll start with the New King James Version (NKJV), as that's the one most of you here have, and then the New International Version (NIV):

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal (aidios) power and Elohimhead (Godhead), so that they are without excuse" (Rom.1:20, NKJV).

"For since the creation of the world Elohim's (God's) invisible qualities - his eternal (aidios) power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Rom.1:20, NIV).

"Eternal" is the perfect adjective for Elohim (God) because clearly the Creator has no beginning nor end. He doesn't sleep. It doesn't matter what men or demons do because He continues steadfast in His plan and purpose. He is perpetual and never changes. For Elohim (God) "does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17, NIV); with Him there is "no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17, NKJV). He has perfect foreknowledge about everything. He is omniscient, all-knowing.

For the last 500 years the King James Version (KJV) has been the most prominent and revered translation of the Bible in the English-speaking world. So much of it has passed into the daily usage of our language. For 300 years it was the 'Authorised Version' (AV), the only one used by the Protestant Anglophone world so when people quoted it, it was the undisputed 'Davar Elohim' or Word of God in the minds of believers. Hence the expression you may hear from time to time, "Praise God, the Bible says what it means, and means what it says", cements, in the minds of its users, the truthfulness of its words regardless of their individual accuracy. Jerome's Latin Vulgate was used even longer and for the European (Catholic) Church that was the 'undisputed Word of God'. Because of this mindset - and this is sadly true in the KJV-Only cult which regards all other translations as 'false' or 'of the devil' - many have overlooked otherwise obvious mistakes regarding the uses of certain words. And as we here all know, the King James 'Authorised' Version is not infallible, nor do we worship it. Rather, we worship King Yah'shua (Jesus) and we allow Him to lead us into all emet (truth), even when it means we must make a revision of our thinking about the Bible, whether the KJV or any other.

Let me give you an obvious example of an error. In the Tanakk (Old Testament), the 'old covenant' of Moses is referred to as "an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel" (Lev.24:8) in the King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV), the American Standard Version (ASV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), and lots of other versions including the New Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version (ESV) which both reword it slightly differently saying, "...the people of Israel, as a covenant forever" (NRSV) but which means the same thing. Even Messianic Versions like the Restored Scriptures True Name Edition (RSTNE) get it wrong, describing the covenant "everlasting" too ... which isn't really surprising as this version is just a cosmetic reworking of the KJV.

Now they're all clearly wrong! Why? Because if the Old Covenant is 'eternal' then there can't be a New Covenant, can there? If one covenant is "eternal" or "forever" or "everlasting", then how can there ever be another covenant that replaces it? Yet the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) say, what?

"For if what is passing away (the Old Covenant) was glorious, what remains (the New Covenant) is much more glorious ... Moses ... put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away (the Old Covenant)" (2 Cor.3:11,13, NKJV).

"... He says, 'A New Covenant,' He has made the first (Old Covenant) obsolete (disused, discarded, antiquated). Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old (the Old Covenant) is ready to vanish away" (Heb.8:13, NKJV).

Quite clearly, the New King James Version (NKJV), like all the other translations I mentioned (and more), contradict themselves. The KJV-Only folks are in a real pickle and they have to do some amazing wriggling and acrobatics to save themselves, like saying the Jews and Christians are under two different covenants (a lie that is common in Evangelical doctrine) or that 'everlasting' really somehow only seems to mean 'forever', or that it would seem to be everlasting because it lasted for so long. But is that really a satisfactory - let alone - honest answer to the problem?

We have exactly the same problem in Exodus 40:15 where the Aaronic Priesthood is described as "everlasting" too, implying that that Priesthood will endure for eternity even though we're told that it has been replaced by the Melchizedek Priesthood in the New Covenant. It's for that reason that Mormons and a lot of Messianics believe that both Priesthoods will be around and are still valid, a reason both believe animal sacrifices must be restored. What nonsense! For Hebrews 7:14-18 declares an end to the Aaronic Priesthood to make way for the Melchizedek and tells us that blood sacrifices are permanently over. That's why at least one Messianic group rejects the Book of Hebrews and why so many Messianics have rejected Paul altogether. I could go on and cite other examples but I think the point has been made. There is a blatant contradiction unless ... the Hebrew has been translated wrongly. And it has!

The word in question is 'olam' and, as is well known, actually means "a duration of time which is concealed or hidden" [1]. In other words, olam means an unknown, but fixed chunk of time - it has a beginning and an ending, just as the Old Covenant and the Aaronic Priesthood did. Thus there is no contradiction between the Old and New Testaments.

If we can accept this - and we have to if we're going to be honest and consistent - then we must deal with doctrines that have been accepted by the Church for centuries that are clearly wrong. We are going to have to prayerfully think long and hard at the implications of this emet (truth) which, incidentally, in no way diminishes either Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) or our salvation. So you can rest easy on that score as we dig deeper.

So what should the King James translators and others have done with Leviticus 24:8 (on the Old Covenant) and Exodus 40:15 (on the Aaronic Priesthood)? They should have made it clear that the Old Covenant and the Aaronic Priesthood were only for a fixed period of time - 'an age of time' or, as we are going to call it, 'aeonian time' because scholarly translations that acknowledge this emet (truth) use the Greek word aionios. Plus we have an Anglicised version of 'aeonian' which is 'eonian'. But as we know, most of the KJV was not a fresh translation but carried over vast amounts of Tyndale's work, and he, and those before him, were influenced by the Latin Vulgate.

Now I am sure you will agree with me that the way Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) defines His terms is the way we must too. Go to any Protestant Church and most of them will preach that 'eternity' is a state of being into which the saved enter when they die. They also teach that 'eternal life' is the life that the believer receives from Elohim (God). And yet nowhere in the ground text of the Bible will you find a Greek word meaning 'eternal' used to describe the kind of chayim (life) that Yahweh gives to true believers.

So what I am going to do is substitute the Greek word 'aionios' in place of the translator's word 'eternal' and slowly but surely you will start to get a different picture. Let's start with a well-known passage, John 17:3 which reads:

"And this is aionios life, that they may know You, the only true Elohim (God), and Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) whom You have sent" (John 17:3, NKJV).

So if aionios isn't describing 'eternal' life, what is it describing? It is describing a quality of relationship with the Saviour who brings us into a present knowledge and experience with Yahweh, our Heavenly Father. It's all about the here-and-now. This aionios life enables us to know Elohim (God) - the great "I AM" - this very second, this very moment. Does this mean that we are denying that Yahweh is eternal? Absolutely not. We have already established that Elohim (God) is eternal.

If we are going to let the text speak for itself and not superimpose human understanding on it, then we must first of all state that 'aionios life' and 'eternal life' are not the same thing. We cannot equate them. They have totally different meanings. Yah'shua (Jesus) is here telling us that aionios life is a dynamic relationship with the Eternal Elohim (God) which has a specific outcome, namely, spiritual growth and change. Aionios isn't some abstract, intellectual, or philosophical idea. It's very concrete indeed!

Now I am sure you are clamouring for me to declare that we somehow become 'eternal' beings by virtue of our being connected to the Eternal Elohim (God), and we'll come to that in a while, but for now I want to ask you to please not go and read into Scripture what you either expect or want it to say. Let Scripture be Scripture.

Now let's think this through carefully. We all agree that the adjective 'eternal' is appropriate for Deity. By definition, Deity is 'eternal' - without beginning or end. Question: are you and I 'eternal' beings? Are we without beginning or ending? Clearly not, since we are created beings, like the malakim (angels). We had a beginning in some eon-past and we know for sure that in this eon - this life - we shall have an 'end' when we die. Notice I am not making any differentiation between our different 'parts', whatever they may be. And if you're trying to get me to acknowledge that we have an 'immortal soul', I have to challenge that, because there is no such thing as any 'immortal soul' whithin a mortal man that is mentioned anywhere in Scripture. If there were, then we would have no need of Elohim (God) as we would be self-existing. Believing that lie was the big mistake Satan made. So let us keep this simple, as simple, in fact, as the Scriptures keep it. We can talk about the details later.

Elohim (God) is 'eternal' only because He is of "infinite duration, everlasting, timeless, perpetual and immutable", as defined by Webster's Dictionary or "that always has existed and will exist, unchanging" to use the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Now very clearly we, by contrast, are constantly changing. Clearly we are changing intellectually, emotionally and physically all the time, and if you believe your spirit can be 'born again' then that itself is a change, is it not? Every part of us, then, is able to change. Moreover, the Scriptures teach that this process of continuous spiritual change begins (obviously) in the spirit of the believer and requires time to be completed.

Let me ask you this: would you like to have 'eternal life' now? I wouldn't! Were I to get 'eternal life' right this moment, becoming immortal like Yahweh, I would be stuck in my present sins and unresolved issues forever! The Tree of Chayim (Life) confers 'Eternal Life'. Why do you think Adam and Eve were barred from it after their fall? Because they would have been trapped in their sins for all eternity had they eaten of its fruit. Thus we learn:

"Yahweh-Elohim made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them (after the Fall). And Yahweh-Elohim said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever' (i.e. become an eternal being)" (Gen.3:21-22, NIV).

Our life - our existence, in whatever state - is one of continuous change over aeons of time. The process of change in the direction of 'eternal life' begins when we are born again but requires time to be completed. That is why Scripture talks of salvation past (Rom.8:24), present (1 Cor.1:18), and future. That is why Scripture tells us to keep on working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil.2:12) and speaks of a time in the future when we will be saved too. As for myself, I do not want to receive eternal life or immortality until I am perfectly conformed to the image of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) and if I am totally honest with myself, and with you, then I can testify that I am not yet 'perfectly conformed'- not by a long shot. My imperfections, revealed by by many sinful actions, betray me. Does that mean I am lost? Not at all! I am receiving aionios life from the Eternal One all the time. I am a work in progress.

So that we don't go around in circles, we need to know more about this adjective 'aionios'. It comes from the noun 'aeon' which means 'age' or 'ages, as in "the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations" (Col.1:26, NKJV) and "in the ages to come" (Eph.2:7, NKJV). These "ages" are multiple time periods, segments or chunks that have a beginning and an end. Please notice that the Scriptures describe "ages", that is, at least two ages after this 'age' which we live in now as mortals - the Millennium and the 'Ages of the Ages'. In other words, we don't just hop from here into heaven and that's the end of it - there are quite possibly multiple ages or time-periods to come, and two we definitely know about!

Now if we are going to get a proper handle on this word meaning 'age' or 'eon', then we are going to have to do a little grammar study. All reputable linguists will tell you that an adjective can have no different or greater meaning than the noun from which it is derived. For example, the adjective 'monthly' could only be derived from the noun 'month', not 'hour', 'day', or 'week'. Aeonios life can only mean a life pertaining to an 'age' or 'ages of time' because 'aeonios' is derived from 'aeon.' Can you therefore understand that it is a fundamental error to apply the word 'eternal', implying 'timelessness', when periods or portions of time are clearly meant?

The Amplified Bible, which I know some of you enjoy, gets this clearly across in its expansion and paraphrase of Hebrews 1:2-3:

"In the last of these days [Yahweh] has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son (Yah'shua/Jesus), Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages (CLNT, 'eons') of time [He made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order]. He is the sole expression of the glory of Elohim (God) [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [Elohim's/God's] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty Davar (Word) of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high" (Heb.1:2-3, Amp.V).

When translators, theologians and preachers change 'age-long' to 'eternal' they are obscuring, rather than proclaiming, Yahweh's sovereign wisdom and magnificant plans for human beings through the ages of time in creation! And we are strictly warned, are we not, never to alter Scripture (Rev.22:18-19), for obvious reasons, because then we will end up doing the devil's work, obscuring and twisting the emet (truth) about the Eternal One!

Consider then, the enormous scope of Yahweh's work, as we just read in Hebrews 1:2-3 in the Amplified Version. The aeons - past, present, and future - are not Yahweh's 'hit and miss' attempts at getting a few loyal subjects to obey Him. Rather, the aeons are the womb out of which Elohim (God) brings forth people to accomplish His purposes. In ages past Elohim (God) called not only the Israelites, but also idol-worshipping Egyptians and Assyrians to be His servants. Those ages were the periods of their coming to know about Elohim (God) and learning obedience to His ways.

This is a huge revelation about how Yahweh uses everyone in every time period. There is never an aionios, aeon, eon, or age where He is not active and using people, both to work in individuals as well as to work in history. For example, I have often said that Lao Tszu was the 'Apostle John' of the pagan Chinese for you will find much emet (truth) interspersed in the Tao Teh Ching.

Yahweh causes everyone to be born into their particular national, cultural and spiritual time and circumstances for a reason. The emet (truth) may be concealed or diluted but it is there nonetheless and it is possible for men and women, even in a pagan environment, to live according to their conscience, and therefore the Light of Messiah "which gives light to every man coming into the world" (John 1:9, NKJV) by which he will be judged, this being his internal Torah. Paul understood this clearly, testifying that

"...when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah (Law), do by nature things required by the Torah (Law), they are a torah (law) for themselves, even though they do not have the Torah (Law), since they show that the requirements of the Torah (Law) are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them" (Rom.2:14-15, NIV).

No one then, in any eon or age is actually disavantaged as far as salvation is concerned because there is enough emet (truth) built into every man and woman anywhere for them to make the choices needed to be judged worthy at some point to receive all the Father has in store for them. Why they are born in the age they are is known only by the Creator but we must remember there was also a pre-mortal aionios too which all of us inhabited. Therefore every one of us experiences at least three, if not four, aeonian lives - the first as a premortal spirit, the second as a mortal on earth in a physical body (in one of earth's eons, or maybe two if you live at the junction of two), the third in Sheol as a disembodied spirit (unless you are alive on earth when Yah'shua/Jesus returns and you are resurrected in the twinkling of an eye), the fourth during the Millennium (if you are part of the Bride) and finally, fifth (or fourth, if you are not of the Bride), in the later eon or eons. There is a lot going on, and will go on, in our existence since our creation.

The present 'messianic' or 'church aeon/eon' or 'age' is a unique time in which other people redeemed and appointed according to Elohim's (God’s) purpose and grace before the aeonios times began, are being birthed and nurtured in the new covenant relationship of sons and daughters:

"[Elohim/God], who has saved us and called us with a qadosh (holy, set-apart) calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus) before time (CLNT, 'times aeonian') began" (2 Tim.1:9, NKJV).

Do you see the bigger picture and the nature of our calling? Those so privileged are the 'ekklesia' or 'called out' people, the qadoshim, the saints, or the set-apart-ones, who are known as the Messianic Community or 'church'. Their initial salvation experience commenced when they were 'born again.' In this spiritual regeneration they received the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) of promise. And for what purpose?

"Blessed by the Elohim (God) and Father of our Master Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), who blesses us with every spiritual blessing among the celestials (heavenlies), in Messiah..." (Eph.1:3, CLNT).

What is this Ruach (Spirit) for? One of the most important functions to serve as the "token" (HRV), "earnest" (KJV), "pledge" (NASB, NRSV), "guarantee" (RSV, NLT), "deposit" (NIV), "guaratee of purchase" (JBP) or down payment toward the inheritance of true believers (Eph.1:14). So while partaking of 'aionios' or 'aionian' life, that's to say, growing in the knowledge and love of Elohim (God), they ultimately mature to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Messiah (Eph. 4:13), and find themselves perfect and entire, lacking in nothing (Jas.1:4). When perfectly conformed to the image of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) (Rom.8:29), they shall have their inheritance which is to become like Elohim (God) (Gen. 1:26). For them the work of the aeons will have been completed ... assuming they don't fall away and so inherit a different resurrection and a lesser glory [2].

With every progression of new understanding, it is quite normal for there to be objections. Sadly they can sometimes be violent, either verbally, physically, or both, which is itself a revelation about the spirits guarding those beliefs. Messianic Evangelicals are no strangers to presenting hot potatoes to the Body of Messiah as part of this necessary end-time mandate for the "restoration of all things" (Ac.3:21, NKJV). Loyalists to creeds and tradition are always the most adamant objectors to new emet (truth) because deeply ingrained within their minds is the conviction that the believer automatically has 'eternal life'.

It is already quite clear, from the little we have hitherto seen, that we do not automatically acquire 'eternal life' in the traditionally-understood sense. Someone acquiring 'eternal life'would become a person in a state of timeless immutability, or eternality, and would be disqualified from Yahweh's purpose in creating man. His creative processes require repentance and change. Since Elohim (God) categorically states that He does not change (Mal. 3:6), then it is His children who change. Scripture states, "we shall (future tense) be like Him for we shall see Him as He is" (1 Jn.3:2, NKJV). The ages exist in order that during them we may, with our eyes on Yah'shua (Jesus), be "transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory" (2 Cor.3:18, AENT) - "with ever increasing glory" (NIV) - "just as you would expect from...the Ruach (Spirit)" (KNT). Clearly this is a gradual process over time.

Which brings us to a very serious matter indeed which I have already briefly raised but not attended to in any real depth. What about the wicked? The kind of argument that has been advanced since the days of Augustine is that since true believers receive eternal life then sure it must mean that the wicked must receive eternal punishment? The eternal quality of the one must, it is argued, be the same as the eternal quality of the other.

However if, as we have shown, that aeonios life for the righteous will one day be completed (in whichever of the glories they have attained to as described by Paul), then aeonios punishment for the unregenerate will also one day be completed.

The classical and most often quoted passage of Scripture in defence of the Augustinian doctrine of eternal punishment is Matthew 25:46 where aeonios punishment is contrasted to aeonios life:

"And these (the wicked) will go away into everlasting (aeonios) punishment, but the righteous into eternal (aeonios) life" (Matt.25:46, NKJV)

The argument goes that if the latter is supposed to mean endless life, then the former supposedly means endless punishment. If the punishment is limited, the life must also be limited, the duration of each being expressed by the same word. Though the reasoning seems to be logical, it is nevertheless based upon the unfortunate mistranslation of the word 'aeonios'.

Even if the premises for eternal punishment in Matthew 24:46 were true (which they are not), it is clear from Romans 16:25-26, that 'aeonios' does not mean 'eternal' which modern Bible versions acknowledge:

"Now to Him who is able to establish you by my Besorah (Gospel) and the proclamation of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), according to the revelation of the mystery hidden (held secret) for long ages past (CLNT, 'in times eonian/' - aionios), but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal (CLNT, 'eonian' - aionios) Elohim (God)" (Rom.16:25-26, NIV).

Here again 'aeonios' occurs twice. 'Aeonios' cannot mean 'eternal' when it speaks of the Besorah (Gospel) being kept secret "since the world began," (KJV), "for long ages past" (NIV), or "for long ages" (ESV). If 'aeonios' meant 'eternal' (perpetual, everlasting), then the Besorah (Gospel) would still be a secret or a mystery, which it obviously no longer is, for there would be no succession of ages before which it was a secret nor after which it could be revealed.

The same emet (truth) is revealed in Titus:

"In hope of eternal (aeonios) life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before time (KJV, 'the world') began (before times aeonios)" (Tit.1:2, NKJV)

The fact of the matter is that 'aeonios', wherever it is used in the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament), has one uniform meaning. It always means the same thing! When applied to Elohim (God), He is the aeonis Elohim (God), or the Elohim (God) of the Ages (Eons), in other words, He is the Being who through aeons of time is working out His wonderful plan. The word 'aeonios' has the force of 'belonging to', or 'in connection with', the ages or eons.

For example, 'aeonios life' (Jn.3:16), 'aeonios salvation' (Heb.5:9), 'aeonios redemption' (Heb.9:12), 'aeonios inheritance' (Heb.9:15), 'aeonios fire' (Jude 7), and 'aeonios punishment' (Mt.24:46). To suggest that 'aeonios' means 'endless times' or 'endless ages', is not only a contradiction of terms, but it is nonsensical and confusing. It is equivalent to suggesting an 'infinite finite', a 'limitless limit', a 'something nothing' or a 'full vacuum' which are crazy ideas belonging more to Zen Buddhism than to Christianity. An age (eon) is a span of time, a period of existence. And though it is seemingly immeasurable to man, nevertheless it is of limited duration. It's a fixed chunk of time.

If we now look at 'aeonios' as it is applied to punishment in Scripture, we see that this too pertains to a period of time or age in which Elohim (God) is working out His purposes! The Greek word translated 'punishment' is 'kolasis', which means 'to curtail, retrain, chastise, or prune.' Aeonios-chastisement would then be a sentence of chastisement with both a beginning and an end, for the purpose of correction. The fact that the sentence of chastisement has an end does not in any way take away from its severity as Paul testified to the Romans:

"Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of Elohim (God): sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off" (Rom.11:22, NIV).

Yahweh has promised judgment to the Gentiles until He sends forth judgment unto victory:

"Here is my Servant whom I have chosen,
the One I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Ruach (Spirit) on Him,
and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear His voice in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break,
and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.
In His Name the nations will put their hope"
(Matt 12:18-21, NIV; cp. Is.42:1-4).

For when Yahweh’s judgments are in the earth, He makes this promise:

"With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my ruach (spirit) within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments are in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness"
(Isa.26:9, NKJV).

You see, Yahweh's chastisements are never meaningless, as they would be if aeonios punishment were forever. That would be shere nastiness, punishment for punishment's sake only, the hell that the pagans used to believe in. Even those who have not benefited from His judgments while living on this earth, will one day experience His judgments, for as it is written

"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb.9:27, NKJV).

The marvelous emet (truth) of the one-and-only Besorah (Gospel) is that Yahweh’s chastisements are redemptive:

"Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am Elohim (God), and there is no other.
I have sworn by Myself;
The Davar (Word) has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall take an oath ...
(Isa.45:22-23, NKJV)

"... at the name of Yah'shua (Jesus) every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is Master (Lord), to the glory of Elohim (God) the Father" (Phil.2:10-11, NKJV).

If you have seen the art work of Jack Chick, who was a Calvinist beliving in eternal torment, he visualises this scenario where angry men with gritted teeth and clenched fists spit out angrily against their will that 'Jesus Christ is Lord' before being thrown to the demons to be tortured for ever. But these confessions are willing, genuine and heartfelt. There is gratitute implied because they have learned their lesson and seen the emet (truth). They have understood that their punishment was both just and necessary for their benefit.

Let's imagine for a moment, to be fair to those who still sincerely believe in eternal punishment, that an aeon (eon) and its adjective aionios did mean 'eternal' as they claim. As we apply their forced interpretation to other passages that use the same words, we will see how utterly illogical and absurd the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) would appear in giving the following scriptures - I am going to make some substitutions so you can see what I mean:

"This grace was given us in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus) before the beginning of eternity (aeonios)" (2 Tim.1:9).

"...which God, who does not lie promised before the beginning of eternity (aeonios)" (Tit.1:2).

"...according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for eternity (aeonios) past" (Rom.16:25).

"...who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil eternity (aeon)" (Gal.1:4).

"the harvest is the end of this eternity (aeon)" (Matt.13:39).

"...who have tasted the goodness of the Davar Elohim (Word of God) and the powers of the coming eternity (aeon)" (Heb.6:5).

Ridiculous, isn't it? Even the translators know it makes no sense so they are forced to use the correct translations. Suffice it to say that there have been 'aeons' or time-chunks in the past, not 'eternities', and that there is the present 'aeon' or time-chunk, and there are 'aeons' or time-chunks to come. These all combined make up TIME, encompassing the whole progressive plan and program of Elohim (God) for the development of His creation.

Brethren and sisters, the fact of the matter is the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) has only one word which can truthfully be translated "eternal". This is the Greek word 'aidios' which is used only twice. Once it describes the Elohimhead (Godhead):

"For since the creation of the world Elohim's (God’s) invisible qualities — His eternal (aidios) power and divine nature — have been clearly seen" (Rom.1:20).

The second time it describes the chains which hold rebellious malakim (angels) until their day of judgment:

"These He has kept in darkness; bound with everlasting (aidios) chains for judgment on the great day" (Jude 6).

These timeless, unchangeable chains will always be a symbol of the severity of Elohim's (God’s) corrective measures. Apart from these two verses, there is no place in scripture where a word meaning 'eternal' is to be found.

'Eternity' and its synonyms are serious, wicked mistranslations of the Hebrew and Greek words olam and aionios, respectively. Both the Old and the New Testament misuses indicate a biased mind-set which hides Yahweh’s true nature and purpose. The uniform translation of 'aeon' and its adjective 'aeonios' solves many inconsistencies in scripture study. Yah'shua (Jesus) came to give aeonios life, a quality of relationship with the Father through Himself, a life that is only the earnest or promise of much more to come. The most shameful consequences of this error are the grotesque images which Christianity projects of Elohim (God), who in reality is so loving, wise, just, and powerful. Yahweh’s ahavah, agapé or love nature corresponds with His purpose which required Yah'shua (Jesus) to hang on a cross, and about which Yah'shua (Jesus) said:

"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32, NKJV).

"All" means everybody, not just some, but every human being who has ever lived. Not all will inherit the same resurrection or glory, but all will be drawn to Him and all will be reconciled with the Father through Him. His wisdom and majesty dominate the ages (eons) through which mankind is drawn toward Elohim's (God’s) goal of creating man in His own image, "that Elohim (God) may be all in all" (1 Cor.15:28, NKJV).

So here we are with, for many of you - probably most of you - a new truth, or rather, an old truth restored. What, then, does all of this mean for us practically-speaking? Understanding the realities of Yahweh’s plan of the ages has great practical application in the life of the believer. The amazing grace of Elohim (God) which we so willingly embrace for ourselves, we then extend to every living soul. We know that if Elohim (God) saved a "wretch like me", then our emunah (faith) can be extended toward seeing every other wretched, lost soul saved one day. Grace can be truly comprehended when it is extended to all creation. To limit Elohim's (God’s) grace - His undeserved loving kindness, His unmerited favour - is to be of a legalistic law mentality which judges, condemns and puts 'our' group above another. It should only be too obvious that it is the very rejection of this unlimited grace which justifies the self-righteous and divisive attitude so prominent among Christians, whether Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Calvinists, Catholics or whoever. Whether in the home, church, messianic assembly, or world, all grounds for judgment and condemnation are removed. The emet (truth) brings us down to size.

The "Messiah in you" (Col.1:27) is the "Messiah of Elohim (God)" (Lk.9:20; 23:35, NIV) who never fails. He was slain before the foundations of the world (Rev.13:8) in anticipation of man’s failure. Calvary was not an after-thought. The "Messiah in you" has unlimited ahavah (love), hochmah (wisdom), and perseverance for delivering you as well as all creation from every bondage of sin and death. He is well able to complete that which He began.

Our confidence is greatly enhanced when we see Elohim (God) in His magnificence and grandeur, "the author and perfector of our emunah (faith)" (Heb.12:2, NIV), who Himself has emunah (faith) for the whole world. Yah'shua's (Jesus') blood will acquire all it has purchased; He "gave Himself a ransom for all men, the testimony given in its proper time" (1 Tim.2:6, NIV).

The salvation of all mankind continues throughout the expanse of Elohim's (God’s) ages (eons):

"For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the messianic community (church); and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made shalom (peace) through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven." (Col.1:16-20, NASB).

Endnotes

[1] William Wilson, Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies
[2] See our websites on Aeonian Time and Universal Salvation

Acknowledgements

[1] Lee Salisbury, Eternity Explained

Further Studies