The End of the Age

This morning, I downloaded a women's Bible app that has a feature to display Scripture throughout the day. You can choose to receive a verse once a day or every hour.

I smiled and thought, Every hour? Why not?

The very first verse that appeared on my screen read:

"Teach them to do everything I have commanded you. 'And remember that I am always with you until the end of time.'"

Matthew 28:20

(Depending on the Bible translation, this is also rendered as "...until the end of the age.")

Immediately, my mind went back years.

I remembered the dream in which I heard the words:

"I want you to advise people."

Then I looked back at the verse.

Not just the command to teach.

Not just Christ's promise to always be with us.

One phrase stopped me in my tracks.

"...until the end of the age."

I've heard or read those words before.

But today they felt different.

I found myself asking a question I had never really stopped to consider.

If God is eternal... why does He speak about an "end of the age"?

God has no beginning.

God has no ending.

His Kingdom is everlasting.

So why would Jesus speak as though something is coming to an end?

Then it began to dawn on me.

Perhaps He wasn't speaking about His timeline.

Perhaps He was reminding us about ours.

This present world...

This generation...

This system...

This age...

has an ending.

Our careers have an ending.

Our titles have an ending.

Our accomplishments have an ending.

Our earthly kingdoms have an ending.

Even the things that consume so much of our attention today belong to an age that will one day pass away.

Yet God does not.

His Kingdom does not.

His Word does not.

His promise does not.

In that moment, I couldn't help but think about my own life.

Just yesterday I was reminding myself not to become distracted by human recognition, job titles, or the temporary assignments placed before me.

They matter.

But only for a season.

Then this morning, before I had even started my day, the very first verse I received pointed me back to Christ's command and quietly reminded me:

"...I am always with you until the end of the age."

Not forever because the age is forever.

Forever because He is.

The age ends.

Christ doesn't.

Perhaps that's why Jesus ends the Great Commission this way.

He knows that everything competing for our attention belongs to an age that is already moving toward its conclusion.

So the real question isn't whether this age will end.

Scripture has already answered that.

The real question is this:

What is distracting me from what matters before the end of the age?

Because when this age comes to its appointed end, only one Kingdom will remain.