Studies In The Scriptures
The Five Eons

Time was when there were no "ages" or eons to mark the dial of eternity. God's purpose and favor was promised us before the eons first began their course. They were given us before the times of the eons (2 Tim.1:9; Titus 1:2).

THE EONIAN TIMES

The times of the eons are the scene of sin. They record its entrance and foretell its exit. They had a definite beginning and will have a definite consummation. Theology has made one of its hugest blunders in stretching the terms descriptive of these times into such expressions as "forever" and "forever and ever". As will be seen from the chart, these phrases have definite boundaries and a distinct end. The scriptures use them of the past where all must acknowledge that they cannot denote "eternal." In order to hide this from us the word usually translated "eternal" and "everlasting" is changed to "world" (Rom.16:25; 2 Tim.1:9; Titus 1:2)! It simply means eonian or the times occupied by the eons. If they had translated consistently they would have rendered Ps. 73:12 "the ungodly, who prosper forever"!

The entire span of time is divided into three grand divisions. Before the Beginning we have the Pre-eonian Time. After the Consummation, we have the Eon of the Eons. Between these lie the Eonian Times. This may be shown graphically thus:

The grand infinitudes of time before the beginning and after the consummation have much in common. Chiefly that in each God is All in All. Sin is entirely absent. This cannot be said of any of the eons. Satan was a murderer from the very beginning (John 8:44). And the Son does not subdue all things until the consummation.

THE SYMMETRY OF THE EONS

All of God's handiwork is harmonious and symmetrical. Nature and Revelation are both exquisitely poised. If we have before us even a crude representation of the grand outlines of universal history, it "must" reveal its innate beauty and comeliness.

The cross is the crisis of the eons (Heb.9:26). It has the place of honor at the very heart and center of the eons. On either hand we have the present evil eon bounded by the "days of Noah" in the past and the "days of the Son of Man" in the future. We know that these are but type and antitype. Between these two, the severest judgments the present earth shall know, lies this eon in which we live.

Beyond these on either side we have the Disruption and the Great White Throne Judgment. These are also the boundaries of the present earth. In one case water destroyed this planet. In the other it will be consumed by fire.

An eon further, on either side, we have the Beginning and the Consummation. The Beginning inaugurates what the Consummation concludes. These are the limits God has prescribed. Beyond, we cannot pass.

Thus we find that the eons are symmetrically grouped and pivoted upon the cross. To it all things converge; from it all things flow.

The first and last eons correspond. In the dim past the sons of God compassed its ruin (Gen. 1:2). In the glorious future the Son of God will restore all to more than pristine glory (Heb. 1:8).

The second and fourth eons are also complementary. Adam's sad failure is retrieved in the fourth by his greater Son.

The Son of Mankind rules the fourth eon; the last is under the sway of the Son of God.

The present, the central eon, is the only one under human government. The death penalty, delegated to man in order to execute justice, leads to the most unjust act of all the eons--the murder of the Son of God. His cross stands in solitary and solemn sublimity, in the very heart and center of all.

THE PRESENT EON

With a laudable desire to "rightly divide the word of truth" it has become customary to assign the present economy to a distinct "age" from that in which our Lord lived while on earth. The distinctions which are made are most important and commendable but if we use the term "age" to describe them we are guilty of a radical departure from the form of sound words (2 Tim.1:13). Our Lord lived in the very same "age" as ourselves. We shall use the word "eon" as the representative of the Greek "{aion}," for the sake of clearness and consistency. We have been using the word "age," but even this term has of late become associated with unscriptural thoughts which can be more easily avoided than corrected. This will help to clear up the confusion which so many varying lists of the "dispensations" or "ages" may have caused.

The present economy is not a distinct "eon" from that in which our Lord spoke. Neither does it end until that "coming eon" ("world to come" AV) of which He told them (Mark 10:30; Luke 18: 30) is inaugurated. He could not have meant that the present secret economy is the "coming eon" for that eon will be quite different from the present (Luke 20:35). Indeed, it is preceded by a resurrection.

He could speak of the end of this "eon" and include much that can only take place after the present economy has run its course. The harvest at the end of this "eon" is connected with the Son of Man and the Kingdom (Matt.13:39,40,49). When the disciples ask Him, "What shall be the sign of * * the end of the eon" (Matt.24:3). He does not initiate them into the present secret economy: He does not even stop to mention the destruction of Jerusalem, but warns them that the end will not come "until this gospel of the Kingdom" has been proclaimed as a witness unto all nations. The sign of the end of the eon is the Son of Man Himself coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matt. 24:39).

Such, then, is the future boundary of this eon. But when did it begin? We have seen that our Lord's ministry is comprised within its bounds, but how long it had existed before this, we are not directly told.

A remarkable expression in Eph.2:2, gives us the key to the solution of this question. It reads literally, "the eon of this cosmos." The thought is, the eon belonging to or associated with this cosmos or system of things. When was the present order of things inaugurated? In 2 Peter 2:5 we read of the antedeluvian as "the old world" and again of the time before the disruption as "the world that then was" (2 Peter 3:6). This plainly indicates that there were worlds before the present. It also tells us that the present "world" dates back only to the deluge.

It may be well to remind ourselves that while the word "world" has a wide application, it refers primarily to the organic systematic constitution of creation or society. It never refers merely to the material substance of which the universe is composed.

Order is pleasant to behold, so we are not surprised to find that the Greek word {kosmos} reverts at times to its original meaning "ornament" (1 Peter 3:3). Indeed, its verb always means "to adorn." A radical change in the disposition of authority, such for instance, as the committal of government to human hands after the flood; and such as will occur when the Son of Man takes the reigns of government in the Day of the Lord--these changes work such a revolution in the constitution of human society that each is a distinct system--or world--by itself.

There was a world then, from the disruption to the deluge; and another will be inaugurated at "the coming eon."

The present world began at the deluge and ends with His manifestation. This "eon" also ends at that time, and, as it is the eon "of" this world, it, too, began at the deluge. "The `worlds' and the `eons' synchronize." They are but different aspects of the same thing. A "world" recognizes the "constitution" of affairs while an "eon" is concerned with the effects of such a system and its "duration."

THE READJUSTMENT OF THE EONS

The system or plan of the eons had been adjusted with a view to Israel's acceptance of Messiah. This will be readily seen on the chart showing the Spheres of Blessing. When folded, it shows complete circles; of ever widening blessing. But when Israel refused to accept Him, a readjustment was necessary. This is what the apostle explains to believing Hebrews (who were most vitally, interested in the turn affairs would take now that the nation as a whole did "not" believe). The eons were readjusted to suit this new emergency, so that the state of things they looked upon was not evolved from the previous condition of affairs, before Israel was thrust aside (Heb.11:3 "the worlds were framed!") Meanwhile, believing Hebrews must wait the coming of the Kingdom, as the cloud of faithful witnesses before them had done.

But God does not wait. He hastens on and, in spirit, lavishes upon aliens the blessings which Israel spurned. Instead of hindering they hasten the outflow of His favor. Instead of waiting a thousand years for a new creation with its attendant reconciliation of mankind, these are brought forward immediately. Instead of sending Christ back without a crown He is given the sovereignty of heaven. Instead of paradise regained, we see the sovereignty of the empyrean attained. The interval of Israel's apostasy gives the needed opportunity to attend to those parts of the universe which had not been included in His counsels concerning the earth. He fills up the word of God (Col.1:25) and provides for the complete reconciliation of the universe (Col.1:20).

THE CONSUMMATION OF THE EONS

In this light we can understand the statement of the apostle that the consummation of the eons had arrived (1 Cor.10:11). Not indeed that consummation which must still wait more than two eons before it is realized, but that spiritual consummation effected by their readjustment.

A reference to the chart showing The Spheres of Blessing will show how closely the present administration harmonizes with "the eon of the eons" which is ushered in by the consummation. Both are balanced by the pre-eonian times. In all of these God is sovereign in His work, unhampered by the help of man. Hence matters are not inceptive and fragmentary, but mature and complete.

In Christ, all who are His, are both mature and complete. Just as the consummation ushers in the time when all things are perfected and there is no need of further effort, so it is now, in spirit. The imperfect transitory administrations of the past have been brushed aside. So satisfactory is it all to God that He Himself comes forth to win men to Him (2 Cor. 5:20) and, unhindered by sin, gives them the highest place in all the universe (Col. 3:3).

The return to sacrifice and law and ceremony in the coming eon of the Kingdom but emphasizes the fact that, in spirit, we are far beyond its earthly administrations. They are a retreat to fit the Davidic covenant which falls far short of the transcendant favor that is ours. 

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