“These things were written down…for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”

Having been a pastor since 1979, and being something of an innovative leader in international student ministry since my first book came out in 1992, I periodically get asked all sorts of questions about all kinds of things when I travel and speak.  It’s a position I don’t take lightly, and actually enjoy.  The questions usually give me a hint as to what’s going on in the mind of my interrogator.  One question I get asked more often than others is how I think the end times will work out. Or do I think the Lord’s coming back soon?  Such questions can be virtual land mines, depending on the motive and theological framework of my friend.

So I normally say something like this: “If you read the New Testament, two things are pretty clear: the closer we get to the end of time, there is an increasing polarization between the forces of righteousness and those of unrighteousness.  The other thing is the end of time as we know it will only occur when God knows all the nations (or ethnic groups) have representation in heaven.  In that regard, I think every Christian should be doing what they can to reach the remaining nations with the gospel, because I want to get that story finished sooner rather than later.”  Naturally, I don’t tell them how or when reaching the nations will conclude; theological frameworks do that.  This moves them away from what probably are their preconceived notions and puts them closer to the topic I’m usually speaking about.  One local friend took me to task for not responding with particulars.  I told him, “I’d rather be part of prophecy, part of the plan and making it happen, than just reading about it and having an opinion.”  True, it’s not necessarily an either-or situation, but God’s got prophecy under control.  My opinion about it will not change a thing.

This prophetic discussion brings us to our text, 1 Corinthians 10:11, which says, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”  Let’s take this one step at a time.

First, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, undoubtedly the most carnal of any New Testament church.  Anyone who thinks they weren’t saved should consider the fact that Paul called them “brothers” at least 25 times.  Second, beginning in chapter 10, Paul recounts a string of events and experiences from their “forefathers” (v. 1, specifically Moses), which “were written as warnings” for a disobedient people.  The stories are graphic: “their bodies were scattered over the desert…in one day twenty-three thousand of them died… were killed by snakes…and were killed by the destroying angel (vs. 5, 8, 9, 10).  Seems that angel either followed them from Egypt or was similarly dispatched from heaven.   God is an equal opportunity punisher.

That brings us to Paul’s comment on “us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”  Moses lived 1500 years before Paul, 3500 years before us.  That’s half of all recorded human history on earth! However many eras and epochs have occurred, God is always in the present tense as well as past and future.  He is the only one who spans time like the sky does the earth.  And from the very beginning he planned for his Son to be the fulfillment — the goal, the end, the finisher — of them all.

We see the same thing in Hebrews 9:26.  In contrast with the repeated priestly offerings for sin,

Christ “appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.”  Again we see the fact that Christ’s first coming initiated the end of the ages.  Notice Hebrews 1:1-2, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but now in these last days has spoken to us by his Son…”

Every redeeming work on the planet is a prophetic event, a major entry in Heaven’s vast chronicle of global redemption, and an eventual cause for angelic celebration (Luke 15:7, 10).  The upshot of all this is that God, who works out everything according to the counsel of his majestic will, “is faithful” to help you endure temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13).  He who is timeless provides “a way out, so that you can stand up under it.”    As today unfolds, do you retain the knowledge that you live in the last days?  Are you looking for that way of escape so that your steps today will honor him who is the fulfillment of the ages?