Why did we choose the name twoagespilgrims.com for our Website? The expression "two ages" is derived from the teaching of
Christ and the apostles about "this age" and "the age to come." The Lord Jesus Christ himself mentions these two ages. In Luke 18:29-30, for example,
he says that those who sacrifice everything for the sake of his kingdom will "receive many times as much in this age
and, in the age to come, eternal life."1 The apostle Paul also teaches that after
his resurrection, Christ presently sits at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, ruling the universe for the
believer's sake, "not only in this age but also in the age to come" (Eph. 1:20-21).
We know that we live in this "present evil age" (Gal. 1:4), but what about the age to come – when is it coming?
Or has it already come? Again, Jesus and the apostles declare that this age to come is not entirely a future era. Jesus
equates the phrase "kingdom of God" (or "kingdom of heaven") with the "age to come." And he taught that this kingdom of
God was ushered in when he first came into the world 2,000 years ago, saying in Luke 17:21, "Behold, the kingdom
of God is in the midst of you," and again in Matt. 12:28, "The kingdom of God has come upon you." Paul taught
that we are now in the age to come, saying, "the end of the ages has come" upon us (1 Cor. 10:11). Heb. 9:26 also
taught that Christ "has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."
In this present age, believers are already blessed by God in Christ "with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3), namely, election, adoption, redemption, inheritance of the heavenly city, and the
Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:4-14). And in his resurrection and ascension, Christ entered into the age to come. This means that
since believers are in union with Christ through faith, they are also raised up and seated with Him in the heavenlies
where he is now ruling (Eph. 2:6). Already, they "have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem" (Heb. 12:22). This overlap of the ages is illustrated in the following diagram:
2
The diagram above shows that the church presently
exists with her Head--Christ--in heaven, a reality belonging
to the age to come (Col 1:18). At the same time, she sojourns
with her feet in this world, a reality belonging to this
age (Heb 11:9).3 And
while living in this dark vale of tears and in this age
of sin and death, she shares in the sufferings of Christ
(Phil. 3:10). But she is also "waiting
for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our
great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Tit. 2:13), when tears, death, mourning,
crying, and pain will forever pass away (Rev. 21:4).
Knowing our present status as "strangers and exiles on the earth" (Heb. 11:13), we the
Malabuyos continue as sojourners and pilgrims "traveling through
this wilderness,"4 making every effort to "renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and
live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age" (Tit. 2:12). And as we continue our pilgrimage
from this dark, broken world to our glorious city of Light (Rev. 21:23), we strive to be guided by the Word of God as "a
light to my path" (Psa. 119:105).
Notes:
1 Italics in Scripture quotations are added for emphasis only.
2 The diagram is a modification from Geerhardus Vos' diagram in
The Pauline Eschatology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1979), 38.
3 "The Two Ages and Redemptive History," Biblical Theology and
Redemptive Historical Hermeneutics,
http://www.two-age.org/beliefs_index/two-age.htm.
4 John Fawcett (1740-1817), "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing."
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