Aion-Aionion: Olam does not mean eternal
According to even the Septuagint (the oldest surviving translation of the Old Testament translation into Greek), the Hebrew equivalent of aion-aionion is the word olam. In other words, the Jewish word olam (transliterated) is translated to be equal to the noun or adjective in Greek of the derivations of aion-aionion. Since the later (aion-aionion) is easily seen to mean age (singular – one age) literally, thus it is true that even olam means an age only.
In other words, the literal translation of the Old Testament must only contain the word age and not eternal or forever wherever olam occurs. The only possible rendering of a derivation of olam which may mean everlasting is phrases such as ‘olam and beyond’. In other words, only phrases such as ‘olam and beyond’ may be correctly translated as everlasting. The rest of the olam that occurs in the Old Testament must be correctly rendered as ‘age’ based on the one literal meaning principle. Phrases such as ‘olam to olam’ may be correctly rendered as ‘age to age’ literally. That is why even the song El-Shaddai has a part where it goes ‘age to age You’re still the same, by the power of Your name…’ and not translated wrongly as most of the current English translations which render that phrase ‘olam to olam’ incorrectly as ‘from everlasting to everlasting’.
Consider the brief examples below:
(i) Occurrence of olam
– Example of occurrence: Genesis 21:33
– Example of wrong translation:
“Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.”
(Genesis 21:33)
Note: Translation of olam above is wrongly rendered as everlasting.
– The same example with correct literal one translation:
“Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the LORD, the age-during* God.”
(Genesis 21:33)
*Note: Some would immediately argue that how can God be age-during only? Doesn’t He live forever? This interpretation to the verse above is wrong because the phrase age-during God is not a definition of how long God lives but rather it emphasizes the time period of which God is God. In other words, it is similar to the phrase God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or to the one which says God of Israel. Got it? Namely, every Christian understands that when the phrase God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob occurs in Scripture, it does not mean that God is only God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but also the God of all. Also, God of Israel does not mean that God is God of Israel only but also that God is actually the God of all for He created them all and besides, there is no other God than our one true God!
(ii) Occurrence of from olam to olam
– Example of occurrence: Psalm 41:13, Psalm 90:2
– Examples of wrong translation:
“Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.” (Psalm 41:13)
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” (Psalm 90:2)
Note: Even the phrase from everlasting to everlasting makes little sense if you take it as a figure of speech. If you take it literally, it makes no sense since everlasting has no beginning nor an end and therefore it does not need the words from and to (until, till) to be added to it.
In fact, the word everlasting need not even be rendered twice
(two times) in each of the passages above.
– The same examples with correct literal one translation:
“Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from age to age!
Amen and Amen.” (Psalm 41:13)
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from age to age, You are God.”
(Psalm 90:2)
The language, meaning and accuracy is very clear when ‘olam’ is correctly translated into its literal one meaning, ‘age’.
(iii) Occurrence of olam not applied to God
– Example of occurrence: Daniel 12:2
– Example of wrong translation:
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.”
(Daniel 12:2)
This does not prove eternal hell/everlasting punishment simply because the translation above is wrong and not based on the true literal meaning of the Hebrew word olam which is rendered wrongly as everlasting there.
– The same example with correct literal one translation:
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to age-during life, some to shame and age-during contempt.”
(Daniel 12:2)
Hebrew‘olam’ correctly and literally rendered as ‘age-during’ here.
Did you notice how accurate the Bible is? I mean both the Old Testament and the New Testament both teach a limited time age-during punishment for men? (compare with Christ’s own words in Matthew 25:46 which echoes the same truth of age-during life/punishment respectively to righteous/wicked).
(iv) Occurrence of olam as applied to other temporal things which clearly proves that it cannot mean everlasting by itself.
– Example of occurrence: Deuteronomy 15:17
– Example of wrong translation:
“then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.” (Deuteronomy 15:17)
Due to errorness translations like this the enemies of the faith, especially the atheists have ridiculed the English Bible for teaching absurd things such as ‘everlasting slavery’ (being a slave forever).
– The same example with correct literal one translation:
“then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant age-during. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.” (Deuteronomy 15:17)
The servant who will serve age-during itself indicates that the slave is not a slave forever. As long as the Mosaic Covenant (as we shall discuss later) holds on to the age, this act (or procedure) of appointing a servant holds up age-during. After the Mosaic Covenant has ended in Christ, all these slavery based age-during social contracts have also ceased. These contracts were only held to the age where they were applied, namely the Mosaic Covenant age or simply Mosaic age as it is called in this book.
(v) Occurrence of olam and beyond
– Example of occurrence: Psalm 145:21
– Example of wrong translation:
“My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, and all flesh shall bless His holy name forever and ever.” (Psalm 145:21)
– The same example with correct literal one translation:
“My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD, and all flesh shall bless His holy name to the age and beyond.” (Psalm 145:21)
In the above, we find the phrase ‘to the age and beyond’. The usage itself clearly indicates that olam (age) here cannot possibly mean eternal since if so, then the word beyond added to it would not be needed since it would be absurd to say beyond for something that already means forever. But since the olam literally only means age, thus beyond olam may mean forever. Hence it may not be wrong in this case only to render the meaning as follows: ‘to the age (olam) and beyond (without end – forever)’.
Don’t let the Greek/Hebrew experts fool you by them claiming to be an authority. Please allow me to illustrate with the Hebrew word ‘olam’ which is equivalent to Greek derivations of aion-aionos that it does not mean eternal even in the Old Testament but rather has always meant its one literal meaning, namely, ‘age’.
Many contradictions exist in the Old Testament translations when olam is rendered to mean forever, perpetual or everlasting there causing many atheists as well as other opponents of the faith to ridicule and provide contradictions in the Bible. Our dear Christian professors of hermeneutics and Greek/Hebrew often just shy away without providing any logical answers and think that they are humbly standing up for God(?) when teased. Oh,what nonsense!
These seeming contradictions are not true simply because they were built upon a false premise (of translation) namely, olam = forever, perpetual or everlasting. Take this translation error away and there are no contradictions at all in the Bible. In other words, the true literal one meaning of olam which is age (an unrevealed limited period of time) causes no contradictions at all when unequivocally translated thus in all its occurrences in the Bible. (such literal Bible translations exist – Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and Rotherham’s literal Emphasized Bible (ROTH) are the better ones in English).
There’s probably no such thing as a perfect translation but rest assured that we have a perfect original Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek Bible.
I’ll just give one classic example that should silence both the atheists and also the eternal hell believers as to why Scripture itself teaches us by usage contained in it that olam must and means ‘age’ only.
Any Christian who has tried to convert a Jew from Judaism into Christianity may have heard this famous objection by the Jew:
“Dear friend, there are two things that would prove that either your Bible is contradictory or that Jesus is not from YHWH. To see this, consider the following two statements from ‘your English Bible’:
1. The covenant (Mosaic covenant) given to the Jews is an everlasting or perpetual one which means that it lasts forever.
Here are the verses from your Bible itself which supports this claim:
“ ’This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.’ And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.” (Leviticus 16:34)
“Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.”
(Leviticus 24:8)
“And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat It in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the LORD made by fire, by a perpetual statute.” (Leviticus 24:9)
“Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.”
(Exodus 31:16)
2. The Aaronic priesthood or Levitical priesthood is also an everlasting or perpetual priesthood ordained by YHWH which means it lasts forever.
Here are the verses from your Bible itself which supports this claim:
“And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.” (Exodus 29:9)
“You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.”
(Exodus 40:15)
“and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.” (Numbers 25:13)
This all means that ‘we still have to’, say, sacrifice lambs for the atonement of our sins (of the Jewish people) since both the Mosaic covenant and the priesthood are everlasting or perpetual meaning forever.
If Jesus was from YHWH, how can He contradict by nullifying the sacrifice of sins (by lambs) with the sacrifice of Himself since those acts are clearly stated to be done throughout all generations forever.
Also, how can an eternal covenant (Mosaic covenant) and an eternal priesthood (Aaronic or Levitical priesthood) be ‘obsolete’ and ’changed’ respectively, as stated in your New Testament?
Again, here are the verses from your Bible itself which testifies to this claim in the letter to the Hebrews (how ironic):
The first covenant (Mosaic covenant) ends:
“In that He says, ‘A new covenant’, He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13)
The Aaronic or Levitical priesthood ends:
“Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?
For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.” (Hebrews 7:11 – 12)
Even your Bible (translated by your own Hebrew/Greek experts) testify to this for in each of the verse stated above, you will find that the ‘Aaronic priesthood’ and ‘Mosaic covenant’ being stated as eternal in your Old Testament translation.
Our own Hebrew scholars (of Judaism) also agree that
olam = everlasting, perpetual; continues forever and eternal.
Firstly, because it is our language (mother tongue), and we are pretty sure that olam (which occurs in each of the verses above and translated as perpetual or everlasting) definitely means eternal or forever.A Jew knows the Hebrew language best, trust me.
We, the Jews, being an authority on both Scripture (ordained by God) and language (it’s our mother tongue) therefore clearly endorse your translation of the Old Testament in terms of language to be correct.
By the way, brother, ask yourself, ‘Can something that is everlasting, eternal, perpetual or forever’ ever come to an end?
If so, and Jesus came to change all these, then did God change His mind regarding these covenants? Fulfilling it is not an excuse since even if Jesus fulfilled it, the acts (rituals and observations) are told to be done forever by YHWH throughout all generations. All generations means that even till today it needs to be carried out. How can the same God contradict Himself by instructing in the New Testament to stop all these religious-ritualistic-rites which are so dear to us?
End of the typical Jewish response.”
Ask your best Hermeneutics professor to tackle this Jew and he will be speechless or babble some excuse that even you know won’t seem to add up to the objection given. He may then just proceed to say that this reasonable Jew is being led by Satan and that he (the Jew) has well deserved the eternal hell sentence for contradicting Christianity. This is what will happen if one interprets Scripture without God.
Here is now my response and the one literal answer:
Firstly, God doesn’t change with respect to the good things He has given such as the Mosaic Covenant or the Levitical Priesthood.
Without such a covenant or priesthood, the Israelites themselves would have sinned even more greatly and faced utmost punishments as how the rest of the earth will come or has come under such judgments.
The fact that God does not change with respect to good is reflected by James below:
“Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17)
The law was a good gift because it became the tutor which leads us to Christ as the following verse testifies:
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24)
Now, the contradictions stated prior exists because of the error in their premise that olam (in Hebrew) and its equivalent aion (in Greek) means everlasting, eternal, perpetual or forever. The fact is that one literal meaning in Scripture for this word is as follows:
Olam (in Hebrew) = aion (in Greek) = age (in English) = limited time*.
*More precisely, age = limited period of time which is undisclosed.
Therefore based on our premise of one literal translation, consider the following verses; that were listed prior, ‘again’ – with the correct translation together with its correct one literal meaning:
1. The covenant (Mosaic covenant) given to the Jews is an age-during (lasting to only one age) covenant and not ‘forever’.
“ ’This shall be an age-during statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel, for all their sins, once a year.’ And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.” (Leviticus 16:34)
“Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an age-during covenant.”
(Leviticus 24:8)
“And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the LORD made by fire, by an age-during statute.” (Leviticus 24:9)
“Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as an age-during covenant.” (Exodus 31:16)
Now, think for a moment, it all makes perfect sense. The Mosaic covenant given by the LORD to the Israelites through Moses was only to last for an age. It was a shadow of things to come of which the real covenant is revealed in Christ. The Mosaic covenant was never meant to last forever.
Think about it. For example consider the following explanations given for each of the verses above that makes sense:
(i) For (Leviticus 16:34), it cannot be that the LORD is asking an atonement for sins to be done forever. In the first place is sin and atonement supposed to be done on earth for the Israelites forever?
Also, everlasting statute that implies that sin would last forever on earth with the Israelites and the atonement is to be carried on forever. Sound funny? It is. Every Christian knows that the earth (in terms of marrying and giving birth) is coming to an end as there are no marriages nor giving birth even in the age to come.
(Matthew 22:30 & Luke 20:35)
Therefore how can such an everlasting statute be carried on forever if the people (Israelites) themselves won’t be here on earth forever in such a sinful state?
(ii) For (Leviticus 24:8), if you see the verse prior,
“And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the LORD:”
(Leviticus 24:7)
Here, it clearly states the act of putting frankincense is to be set on every Sabbath continually during the time period of the covenant which is stated to be forever (everlasting). So, the Israelites are supposed to put frankincense forever. Sounds false? It is. That is why this ritualistic act has ended and need not be done anymore since that age-during covenant (not everlasting) which lasted only during the Mosaic age has since been terminated when the Mosaic age came to an end. Let it be pointed out here that I’m not making fun of the Mosaic covenant but rather making fun of the error in translation which leads to such nonsensical meanings literally.
(iii) For (Leviticus 24:9) – Aaron’s descendants are supposed to eat the bread (Leviticus 24:7) forever if it is a perpetual statute (rule). The problem here is that there is no such thing as Aaron’s descendants being born forever in the first place (remember in (i) above, the descendants of men from giving birth comes to an end with the end of the current Gospel age; Matthew 22:30 & Luke 20:35). How much more carrying out such a rule forever when even in the next age (men’s correction age) there are no Aaron’s descendants being born and also both the Mosaic age and Gospel age have ended? (In case you are a little confused by the naming of the ages – here it is briefly; The derivation of these ages are plain in Scripture and are discussed elsewhere in this book but the naming of it I gave just for easy referral). The names are as follows respectively:
The age before our current age: Mosaic age.
The current age: Gospel age.
The age coming next after our current age: Men’s correction age.
(iv) For (Exodus 31:16), if one were to take the part of the perpetual covenant spoken of here, namely the observation of the Sabbath literally, then we have to conclude that the Sabbath-rule is to last forever.
Then by breaking it (since plenty in Israel itself as of today would be working – for example, the Israeli military, firemen, police etc), then they would certainly be tossed into an eternal hell for breaking it. So the finest as they call it in English (people who serve the country selflessly, such as the police, firemen and military) would burn in hell just because they couldn’t keep the Sabbath – rule. Note that the common excuse that the Sabbath may be changed to another day (say Sunday-the first day of the week, etc. ) is not Scriptural at all since God never said that the Sabbath day may be changed from Saturday to another day anywhere in Scripture.
For the Christian denominations which observe the Sabbath rule often quote the verses below to say that the Sabbath maybe changed to another day:
“Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” (Acts 20:7)
Explanation:
Note that the word Sabbath does not occur at all in the verse above. The disciples were not observing the Sabbath in the verse above but rather were doing a gathering on the first day of the week on their own accord (freewill choice) simply because God never gave such a command to gather on the first day of the week. It was done as a choice on the part of the disciples as they hungered to hear the Word of God. That’s all. Furthermore, note that the first day of the week is most likely a Sunday and not a Saturday (Sabbath day).
“On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” (1 Corinthians 16:2)
Explanation:
The English doesn’t get plainer than this. This not a Sabbath rule Paul was instituting but rather an instruction to the believers to collect early what a believer has set aside based on how he had prospered
to be given to Paul for ministry. Paul didn’t want any on the spot love offering collections (you may say) probably because it was not his style. Paul was encouraging giving here rather than advocating a Sabbath rule. The phrase first day of the week just indicates when this is to be done and has nothing to do with Sabbath day – change or whatsoever other Sabbath day – implications. Remember, believers gathered on the first day of the week out of love (for God, to see each other, to worship together, to hear the Word being shared, etc. ) and not as some religious Sabbath day rule.
Such silly level of observance is what our Lord Himself ridiculed often because they didn’t understand what exactly God meant by the Sabbath rule. Basically, God didn’t want men to work all days in a week but rather wanted them to rest (physically) and also at the same time spend that Sabbath day to worship-pray-read the Word so that they may also get closer to Him (spiritually). It is not a rule anymore in the New Testament. Churches gathering on Sunday must be based on the reason of we want to gather to worship God and hear the Word in love and not because of some form of continuation of the Sabbath rule obedience.
It has nothing to do with obeying God since it is not a rule that God ever said in the New Testament to be observed during the Gospel age. Remember also that the Sabbath was only given as a rule for the Jews in the Old Testament and never for any Gentile.
Some would even dare say that (in the name of our Holy God); –
If one does not observe this Sabbath rule, you are not putting God first.
Please, don’t simply take the name of our Holy God in vain by adding such observations that He did not command in the New Testament. All those religious rules ended with the Mosaic age. Remember that the Sabbath was made for man (so that man can rest physically and gain spiritually) and not man for the Sabbath as our dear Lord Himself said:
“And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.’ “ (Mark 2:27)
Jesus observed the Sabbath simply because the Mosaic age (and thus the Mosaic covenant) was still in force. That age has ended together with those covenants (religious rites-rituals-rules). Lord Jesus broke the Sabbath at times simply because He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). Remember, it is not a sin for Christ to break the Sabbath since:
Christ is the Son of God. He is divine (God) and also in flesh (man).
He is therefore above the law of the Sabbath (being the Lord of the Sabbath Himself – Mark 2:28) and can overrule it.
The law as (Mark 2:27) literally states, is only for man. Again, since Christ is God-man and not only-man, He is not bound by the Sabbath law.
He followed it just for righteousness sake as in the case of His baptism (Matthew 3:15) and needed not to follow it at all since He is above all. Remember, I don’t think John the Baptist himself was ever baptised. John wanted to be baptised by Jesus Himself but even tried to relent from baptising Jesus simply because John knows only sinners need baptism but Jesus has no sin (Matthew 3:14).
The real fact is that the Sabbath rule was only enforced during the Mosaic age and thus has ended too. In the current Gospel age, we may gather in churches simply because we want to do so out of love and not based on some religious obedience which was never commanded by God in the New Testament’s Gospel age era.
Now let’s tackle the second part with its literal one meaning.
2. The Aaronic priesthood or Levitical priesthood is also an age-during priesthood ordained by YHWH which means it lasts only to one age; which is during the Mosaic age (specifically).
Here are the verses again correctly translated:
“And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for an age-during statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.” (Exodus 29:9)
“You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to Me as priests; for their anointing shall surely be an age-during priesthood throughout their generations.” (Exodus 40:15)
“and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an age-during priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.” (Numbers 25:13)
In short, the Aaronic/levitical priesthood cannot be forever since even the Israelite generations are not going to be born on earth forever. The priesthood mentioned is only to last during the Mosaic age for all generations within that specific Mosaic age, literally. Also,
The Aaronic/levitical priesthood has clearly been told to have come to an end in the New Testament (Hebrews 7:11 – 12) as stated earlier and similarly, the Mosaic covenant also has come to an end under the New Testament (Hebrews 8:13). By the New Testament, it is meant after the Resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here are those verses again which were translated correctly:
1. The first covenant (Mosaic covenant) ends:
“In that He says, ‘A new covenant’, He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13)
2. The Aaronic or Levitical priesthood ends:
“Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?
For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.” (Hebrews 7:11 – 12)
You see, the Mosaic covenant (Old Testament) ended with the Mosaic age whilst the Gospel covenant (New Testament) is currently in force in this Gospel age.
Similarly, the Aaronic/levitical priesthood ended with the Mosaic age whilst the Mechizedek priesthood is currently in force in this Gospel age.
However, there is only One High Priest under the Melchizedek Priesthood: Lord Jesus Himself. There are no priests under the Gospel covenant who stands in the gap or becomes a mediator between man and God. There is only one Priest and one Mediator and He is none other than Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
One mediator between men and our One God:
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5)
This is what Scripture literally means (as you can check it for yourself) when read under the correct translation of the word age. There is no confusion nor any discrepancies.
The Melchizedek priesthood has only one priest, namely the High Priest Himself, Lord Jesus as is testified in the following verse:
“Therefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.”
(Hebrews 3:1)
Christ didn’t glorify Himself to be High Priest but rather it was God the Father who ordained Him thus:
“So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him:
‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’ “
(Hebrews 5:5 correlates with Psalm 2:7)
This order of the Melchizedek priesthood is not to last forever as wrongly translated but rather only to an age, namely, lasting only to the current Gospel age. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself. Only error filled non literal translations cause these contradictions. In other words, the contradictions stem from the error of wrong translation and not from the Word itself.
Some would immediately try to argue that ‘how can Jesus be a priest for an age only and not forever?’ We will see the reason for this literally, shortly. Note that if Jesus is a priest forever then sin is also forever. For a priest is there to make an atonement for sins and also make intercessions on behalf of believers. In other words, if Jesus is a priest forever, then the problem of sin is not solved for He continues to make atonement (or that His atonement never gets fully applied to all in time) for sin forever. He also makes intercession forever in heaven? For what? All the believers are saved already…
The verses that literally declare that the Melchizedek Priesthood is to last only for one age (in the current Gospel age) are thus:
“As He also says in another place:
‘You are an age-during priest,
According to the order of Melchizedek.’ ”
(Hebrews 5:6 correlates with Psalm 110:4)
Note that the Greek word translated as age-during (in English) above is aiona (Noun – Accusative – Singular – Masculine) whilst its Hebrew equivalent (as it is quoted from the Psalms) is olam. Can you see how the author of Hebrews (the Hebrew/Greek and Scripture scholar) understood the meaning of olam (written in the Hebrew Old Testament) to be equal to aiona (singular age – one age; when the author translates that same Hebrew ‘olam’ into Greek when he quotes the verse in Psalms in his letter to the Hebrews). That is why I said the Bible itself will teach you how to translate these words correctly. God made no mistakes, only men did translational errors.
My point is this:
Don’t just believe what the Hebrew/Greek experts say these words mean. Accept its one literal meaning for olam which is age when it is a noun and age-during when it is an adjective respectively. With these real limited time meanings you will be able to see God’s real purpose of the Ages (aionon – Ephesians 3:11) and will find no silly contradictions in the Bible.
In short,
Olam = age (when olam has a noun ‘feel’)
Olam = age-during (when olam has an adjective ‘feel’)
Remember, without the right concept or understanding of God, the connection with Him is not established. No matter how many hours or prayer, fasting and study of the Word one does, if it’s not according to the correct knowledge of Him it just becomes a zeal not according to knowledge and thus becomes non-fruitful as the following verse testifies:
“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.” (Romans 10:2)
Remember also that He is King of kings and Lord of lords and anything less than Saviour of the World is blasphemy on the highest count. Let not your worship of Him be in vain due to the error of the image you have of Him due to eternal hell concept and thus your heart becomes far from Him and you end up worshipping Him with your mouth in vain by following teaching/commandments of men as also the following verse testifies:
“He answered and said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honours Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’. “
(Mark 7:6 – 7)
This is how satan has robbed the true image of God in your hearts and minds. Why? Only then your prayers may not be heard, you will not be able to be really free (bound by fear of eternal hell), and amongst the principal things, satan gets you to preach a lie which has blocked and turned away many from Christ Jesus, namely the lie of eternal hell. Think carefully: Which one sounds like a lie of the devil: God is an eternal tormentor or God is the Great Saviour of all? You will be accountable for your answer to this question on Judgment Day. So be careful what you say about Him.
Hell under the true concept of the Great Saviour is for the purposes of just punishment and not sadistic torture. Only then those punished will realize that they need Him whom they have rejected and will also subject themselves to the Great Saviour in love. Love doesn’t torture them in the lake of fire but rather they are there bound by their own sins and gods which have brought them there. By the Love of God, Christ Jesus is the One who will even save them from Hell itself when the time is right. Yes, Lord Jesus saves from everything: sin and all its consequences be it death, second death, … millionth death, hell, gehenna, hades, sheol, pit, depths, grave, destruction, lake of fire etc. That is why His name means Saviour.
There is no Saviour nor God like Him elsewhere literally.
Here is a summary of some of the ages discussed prior:
Age | Definition | Beginning | End |
MosaicAge
(Old Testament) |
Genesis 17:2
Genesis 17:13 (Circumcision; The First religious law) |
Covenant –(Genesis 17:7)*
Priesthood – (Numbers 25:13)
|
Covenant –(Hebrews 8:13)
Priesthood – (Hebrews 7 Verses :11 – 12)
|
GospelAge
(New Testament) |
Revelation 14:6 | Covenant –(Matthew 26:28)
Priesthood – (Hebrews 5:6)
|
Covenant –(Matthew 13:39,40)
Priesthood – (Hebrews 7:24) |
Men’s Correction Age | Matthew 25:46 | 2 Peter 1:11;Luke 18:30 | 1 Timothy 2:6;1 Timothy 4:10
(note the words times & end) |
*Note that the Mosaic covenant (covenant between God and the Jews) started with Abraham and not Moses. First Jew = Abraham.