The use of the word “end” speaks of the completion of an age. That which accompanied that age, including the gift of the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts, served a purpose for that age. Peter writes, “the end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7). When the New Testament refers to the end, it is not referring to the end in the sense of time. The term used (cf. Matthew 28:18-20, “until the end of the age”) is an intensive form of the Greek “tele”, meaning “consummation, goal or end.” It is significant to note that the element of “time” is not even considered by the use of this word, itself. It points to a determined end when of the accomplishment of divine purposes. In the case of the end of the age, it describes the age’s goal or purpose is completed.
However, the implication of “end” does involve the duration of those things that were being used to accomplish divine purposes. Once the purpose had been met, the arrangement was no longer required. This is likened to scaffolding used in a construction zone. Once the construction is completed, the scaffolding comes down because it has served its purpose or end. Jesus promises to be with them until the consummation of the age or until it is fulfilled. The implication is that once the goal is accomplished, it no longer continues and thus ceases.
Therefore, this end or goal is directly linked to the “last” days. It was the age in which the entire plan is completed. This corresponds to the Greek word “perfect” that does not mean “flawless” as is commonly accepted in today’s vernacular. When Paul uses this word in 1 Corinthians 13:?, he refers to a time when something is completed, a “future fullness” of what is at present, “in part.”
Some preachers are confused in thinking that the Holy Spirit would come to be with the human race til the end of the world. So, when they read of Jesus leaving in order for “another comforter” (v. 16) to come, they apply the promise of the Holy Spirit “abiding with you forever” to themselves. Don’t jump ship, here. Jesus was talking to the apostles who were promised that the Holy Spirit will be with them, forever. When Jesus commissioned them to go into all the word to preach, he ends by promising them, “I will be with you til the end of the age (aion). To translate this phrase, “end of the world” is an unfortunate translation that gives the comfort of an empty promise. The Bible does not refer to the end of the world (kosmos, universe) but to the end of the age, i.e., the Mosaic age. So, He promises to be with them through the work of the Holy Spirit through the end of that present era, the end of their earthly life, and the end of the Holy Spirit’s guiding them into all truth.
The Comforter, in the person of the Holy Spirit, provided the consolation and confirmation during a period of infancy and uncertainty. Each saint received at least one gift from the Holy Spirit, who compacted them into one body as it pleased Him. It was designed for their mutual edification. The mystery of the gospel included the grafting in of the Gentiles under a new covenant. This transition of creating this one new man from Jew and Gentile, slave and freeman, male and female took time to be integrated into the practice and treatment of one another. But, once this was accomplished, and the destruction of Jerusalem was finished, the scaffolding of miraculous confirmation and revelation was removed. Consider Galatians 3:23-29. It reads,
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
When entering a discussion of the time in God’s scheme of redemption, we must be careful not to be persuaded by the millennial views of Christendom, who make the “end” promises to be fulfilled in our age. Of course, in every generation, since the promises were first given in the first century, the claim is that Christ is coming soon and the fulfillment is always put off until the next generation, who make the exact claim that previous generations had made. Yet, no promise made by God was left unfulfilled to become the occasion for His enemies to mock and ridicule.
All that the law and prophets had typified and prophesied was to be completed during these days. Prophecy would return in the person of John, the Immerser, and in Jesus, the prophet who comes as one like unto Moses (Deut. 18). But, he was more than a prophet. He was both king and priest that would complete the final and perfect picture of God coming in the flesh and developing a true kingdom of priests. So much intricate workings of God’s wisdom was involved in the fulfillment of these last days that one is compelled to stand in awe of his manifold wisdom and admit like David of old, “It is too wonderful for me.”