What Is The End Of The Ages In Hebrews 9:26?

The writer of Hebrews wrote this about Jesus and the end of the ages:

"He has appeared once for all at THE END OF THE AGES to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." (Heb 9:26)

The ages were the combined periods of time beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and ending with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70.

After Adam and Eve sinned, sacrifices for sins began with an animal that was sacrificed.

Adam and Eve were clothed in the skins of the animal.

At the end of the ages, Jesus appeared and put away sacrifices for sin when he was sacrificed on the cross for all sins.

The end of the ages was not the end of the world but the end of the ages from Adam and Eve to the end of old covenant Israel.

The final end of the ages was marked by the end of Jerusalem and the temple, where animal sacrifices continued by unbelieving Israel even though Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice.

Jesus told his disciples about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in Matthew 23-24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, prompting them to ask him...

...when the end of the age would occur

and

...what would be the sign of his coming?

The end of Jerusalem and the temple occurred when Jesus came on the clouds in judgment of old covenant Israel in AD 70.

Jesus told the first-century leaders of Israel that they would see him coming on the clouds.

Matthew 26:64

“But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

In the Hebrew Bible, coming on the clouds was imagery used to explain the judgment of God upon nations through an army (see Jeremiah 4:13 for an example).

Jesus coming on the clouds was when the Roman armies marched through Israel and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.

This marked the end of the ages, leaving the eternal age of grace that we live in today.

Many people have been taught that the end of the age or ages is the end of time.

However, Jesus appeared during the end of the ages and was sacrificed on the cross for our sins.

That was around AD 30.

Therefore, the end of the ages could not be the end of time.

In AD 70, the end of the ages arrived when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed.

Today, we live in the eternal age of grace.

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