“..Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which
are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly me….. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleths
righteousness..”
Gal.1: 3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father

So what are we saying? The word WORLD (Kosmos) should be seen appropriately as “the system of THINGS” For
we are still Living in the present age, but not affected by the “system of things” that characterized the period of the
time. Therefore note that “The course of a world which is evil is itself evil and to live in accordance with it is to live in
trespasses and sins”

A FURTHER LOOK AT THE WORDS AGE (AION) AND WORLD (KOSMOS)
With the true meaning of the words Age (Aion) and world (Kosmos) as specifying periods, ages, time and the state of affairs (system of things) that characterized that period of existence.

Let us now look at some Scriptural implication of these words as used in the Bible.

In Heb. 1:2 we are told of the worlds that Jesus created ..“God…
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of ALL THINGS by whom also
HE MADE THE WORLDS. KJV. Notice that, the worlds here is plural, so it is not one world as if referring to our
globe as people commonly believe. He has ordained that ALL CREATION shall ultimately belong. “(Philips)” ….
through whom He created ALL ORDERS OF EXISTENCE.” NEB “. … through whom He made THE SYSTEM OF
THINGS”. (Int. Lin. Trans).

A critical comparison of the above translations, of the word “WORLDS” as used here, means that all prevailing
states of affairs or the various “systems of things” that existed, are existing and that will ever exist are the direct creation (ordination) of God in Christ. Hence we read

“He created everything there is – nothing exists that He didn’t make; Christ Himself is the creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t, the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities, all were made by Christ for His use and Glory”. Jn. 1:3, Col. 1:16. Tlb,. See also I Cor. 8:6, Rom. 11:36, Rev. 4:11, Eph. 2;7.

So it is talking of existing ages, times, seasons past, present and future of his creations, and it is called worlds.
Therefore we can see that, everything in existence, the state of affairs, even in the AGES-AION to come are the direct
creation and in control of God’s power – His Christ.

WHAT WORLD (AGE) ENDED WITH THE COMING OF CHRIST? (HEB. 9:26).
“For them must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the END OF
THE WORLD hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”.

Let it be noted that this chapter of Hebrew 9 is dealing with the priesthood ministry of Jesus, with the shedding of
His blood, foreshadowed by the blood of bulls and the tabernacle arrangements. The fact is, through the law covenant by God with the children of Israel, God initiated a Jewish Epoch, (age) with all that the law stood for, that mapped out that period of history, as regards God’s relationship with mankind; the characteristic features of which includes, a priesthood, a system of sacrifices, dietary regulations as found in the book of Leviticus and of
Tabernacle and Temple worships, with festivals and Sabbaths that were all “a shadow of the things to come; but
the body (fullness, reality) is in Christ”. Col. 2:17.

Therefore, with the coming of Christ, and the nailing of these laws and ceremonies to His cross, by the offering up
of His blood, as the ultimate sacrifice, thereby introducing a New Covenant according to Col. 2; 13-17, Heb. 8:13, Mk 14:22-24, He made the Old Covenant with its ritualistic systems of worship to terminate-end, and this is called “the WORLD” (Heb.9: 26), and so making all sacrifices to come to an end through Christ singular sacrifices.
In other words, that was the climax of the history, of the Jewish age of ceremonies and mode of worship. Compare Gal.
4:21-31, 2 Cor. 3:6-16. And that is what is meant by the END OF THE WORLD here in Heb. 9:26.

But again, it should be noted that, this Jewish system of worship and doing things, did not actually end until AD 70, when the temple worship was destroyed by the Romans and so completely terminating the priesthood, the sacrifices and the laws that pertains to it, with the Jews completely scattered.

This is the true meaning of the answer Jesus gave to His disciples, when they said, “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and THE END OF THE WORLD?” Matt. 24:3 “close of the age?” RSV. “End of the age?” NEB. “Conclusion of the system of things?” Int. Linear Trans.

And this is the way it should read, the close of an age, instead of “the world” as used only in the King James version.

“The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel…. Stand in the holy place” Math.24:15. Dan. 9:27, was the
Roman soldiers who moved into the Holy place in the Temple, destroying and dislodging all the Jews that took
refuge there during the siege. Quite an abominable thing for the Jews, that a Gentile should enter the most Holy
place, which only the Jewish high priest is qualified to enter therein once a year, to offer sacrifices for the sins of the
people. The Jews accused Paul of haven “POLLUTED THE TEMPLE” because he went in there with some Greeks-Gentile believers. Acts 21:28. In the true sense of it, all the areas surrounding the Temple was referred to as the Holy Ground .That then was the abomination, it’s not yet future.

Thank God, that in inaugurating the New Order, He is creating a New People for Himself through the Spirit. Heb
8:7-13, 1 Peter.2:5.

But may we heed the word of the Spirit, admonishing us that “ALL these happened to them (the Jews) are
examples…. as objects of lessons to us… to warn us against doing the same things, they were written down so that
we could read about them, and learn from them IN THESE LAST DAYS AS THE WORLD (system of things, the age) NEARS IT END” I Cor. 10:11 Tlb. Compare I Tim. 6:17, 2 Tim. 4:10, Matt. 13:22.
And in I Cor. 7:31.Paul said “the fashion of this world (age) passeth away”. That is the system of the Jewish order was passing away . This was written in DA 57-58, and Jerusalem with the Temple worship fell in AD 70.

DIRECT INFLUENCES OF THE PAST AGE ON THE PRESENT ONE
The lesson drawn from the above analysis is that, the present world order can affect a person’s spiritual life, which
the Bible refers to as “the cares of this world” (Matt. 13:22); an example of whom was Demas

“please come as
soon as you can, for Demas has left me. He loved THE GOOD OF THIS LIFE. (Present system of things)… :2 Tim.
4:10, Tlb, Int. Linear Trans.

But who is the controller of this present world-age? The word says, “And if indeed our gospel be found veiled, the only people who find it so, are those on the way to perdition. Their unbelieving minds are so blinded by the god of this passing age” 2 Cor. 4:3-4.
This same god of this world is identified in John 12; 31 as “the prince of this world’ seen also as the unseen ruler in the heart of men,

“ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” .. “To you, who were spiritually dead all the time that you drifted along on the stream of this world’s ideas of living, and obeyed its unseen ruler (who is still operating in those who do not respond to the truth of God) “Eph2: 1-2,kjv, .. Philips.

Now, it is this unseen controlling power, in the heart of men that makes them enemies of God, for “you yourselves
who were strangers to God, and in fact, through the evil things you have done (are) HIS SPIRITUAL ENEMIES…” Col. 1:21. Philips.

But how did man become the spiritual enemy of God? It is as man in Adam became one with Satan – evil, by
partaking of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil (for) “to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death…” (For) “to be carnally minded is death…” (Gen. 3:1-6,
Rom. 6:16; 8:6).

It therefore follows that, the present corruptions, evils, foolishness, pride, wars among family members, nations and even in religious circles, unbelief in the hearts of the so called Christians of what God Himself is doing and wants to do, goes far back beyond the age of the Jewish order of the Old Covenant.

This is made plain by the parable of the WHEAT and TARES. Matt.13: 24-30; 37-43. In the interpretation given, the
FIELD IS THE WORLD (KOSMOS) – ‘the system of things’. The GOOD SEED – WHEAT are the TRUE DISCIPLES – Children of the kingdom. The TARES are the EVIL ONES – Children of the devil – the enemy that planted them. The HARVEST is the END OF THE WORLD.

Now notice something, the parable states clearly that “the wheat” and “the tares” shall be here till the end of the world, so it is very erroneous to teach that some people would be “raptured” before the end of the world. It is also clear that what the reapers gathered to be burnt are the tares – weeds “system of things” (aion) verse 30 and not the world (Kosmos).

It is always the wicked that are removed not the righteous, just like Noah in his days. He was left behind, and the wicked were taken out, i.e. destroyed. That is what it means to be taken. Therefore to teach that the righteous will be raptured out is not Biblical.

To be continued…

(c) 2015 – Dr. David O. Ogaga