Shortly before the Lord Jesus was crucified, the disciples ask Him the question recorded in Matthew 24:3.

Matt 24:3
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? (KJV)

The word translated world is aion which means age. The disciples knew that the kingdom of heaven was at hand and that the promise of the kingdom included the hope of a new heaven and a new earth.

Isa 65:17
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. (KJV)

The Apostle John revealed in Revelation 20 that the Lord Jesus will rule the present earth for one thousand years before the New Heaven and New Earth is established.

Rev 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (NKJ)

Since John did not reveal this information until 30 years after Christ’s death, the disciples would not have been aware of it. Neither did the disciples know about the age of our present dispensation concerning the Church which is the Body of Christ. The Apostle Paul said that the dispensation of the Church was revealed to him but had been kept secret even from the prophets of other ages.

Col 1:24-26
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,
26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. (NKJ)

Since the Church age and the 1000 year reign of Christ lie between the crucifixion of Christ and the New Heaven and New Earth in God’s timeline for mankind, and since the disciples were aware of neither, it is reasonable to assume that, as the disciples asked Jesus about the end of the age, they may have thought that the world as they knew it was about to come to an end.

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

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http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/
http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/