The purpose of the age of the Law (2nd world) was to testify, introduce and prepare for Jesus. The second world came to an end and the 3rd world started to be introduced when Jesus died on the cross. From the time Jesus died until 70 AD was a generation and is called the period of the “patience of Christ” because God was patient with the Israelites, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. This whole period of 70 years culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem by fire, is known as the coming of the Son of man in which Jesus had to end the Law’s system of sacrifice, He himself being the ultimate sacrifice, and introduce the Kingdom. Clarifying the confusion about the so-called end times: When the disciples enquired about the ‘end of the world’ they were talking about their ‘world’, in other words, the Jewish system. The ‘day of the Lord’ which would come with a great noise, burning up and melting the elements, burning up the land and its works, was referring to ‘works’ as the works of the Law, ‘elements’ as the elemental things and systems of the Law, ‘the land’ as the land of Israel. Jesus would come to Israel in clouds of judgment, each eye, (the tribes of Israel) even of those who pierced Him, would see him, and mourn because of him. The sun, moon and stars which were to fall were the religious leaders of the nation of Israel with the system of the Law. The scroll of the Law was to be rolled up and pass away. This was the time of the Great Tribulation – it happened in 70 AD. This was to come to pass when the gospel of the Kingdom had been preached unto the ends of the then known world. That generation would not pass away before the end of this, the ‘Law’ or ‘Jewish’ world or system would come. No Christians died in this tribulation, because they understood the warning prophecies of Jesus and had fled Jerusalem before it happened. Jesus came at that time as the Son of man. When He comes or appears again, He will appear as the Lord of Glory, ruling over an unending, unshakable, eternal Kingdom wherein everything is new, a kingdom of love. In this Kingdom Jesus is the sun, the Church is the moon, and the individual Christians are the stars. We are living in the time of the unfolding of the Kingdom, wherein we will rule and reign with Christ as fully manifested Sons of God. We can commit this, our future, to the God who is fully in control of history – the history of the world as well as that of each individual.
