In Mark 10:29-30 Jesus said some pretty spectacular things. “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.”
One of the things I think we sometimes forget is to look at things in context. Sure, I suppose we could say that the “age to come” is in heaven after people die. God has lots of rewards stored up for us in heaven, so that statement would make a lot of sense at face value. The problem is with the last phrase Jesus uttered–“and in the age to come eternal life.” When Jesus made that statement he had yet to go to the cross, die, and rise again. At that time he and all of his disciples were technically still in the Old Testament Age. It was only after his death, resurrection, ascension, and I would even argue another ten days later on Pentecost when Holy Spirit came in power that the new age began. Thus, when Jesus was promising his disciples they would live forever, I don’t think He was just saying that they could live forever in heaven after they died. That would contradict many of the other things He had told them previously. No, Jesus was saying that after he rose and destroyed the power of death over their lives and they entered the age of the New Covenant, they could have eternal immortal life free of death in every form.
Am I saying we are already living in the age to come? Not necessarily—otherwise how would they have had time to receive one hundred times more of what they have given up in the present age? What I am saying is that we could be, and if nothing else that we have relegated many of the promises of God, and most especially those regarding eternal life, to a far off heaven-when-you-die reality instead of a Kingdom-here-and-now version that Jesus spoke of. In fact, Jesus prayed in the Lord’s Prayer for “your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it [already is] in heaven” for a reason. It wasn’t so we could jet out of here and go somewhere else, but so we would transform earth and make it like heaven, ushering in the age that has not yet come because earth hasn’t become like heaven yet.
This is a serious challenge for many because it flies in the face of so many things we have been taught. And yet, those things we have been taught often fly in the face of what Jesus directly said and demonstrated. Jesus taught that we are not supposed to die. He taught that if we die we are supposed to get raised from the dead and keep living. He explained publicly that while the forefathers of the Jewish people ate manna, literal bread from heaven, and still died, that those who ate of Him, the bread that came down from heaven, that they would not die.
In all honesty, a single article like this doesn’t have sufficient length to explain what Jesus was talking about, nor to answer all of the questions that arise when opening this subject up. That’s why I’ve written a book that discusses the subject quite extensively. The Gospel of Life and Immortality is a one-of-a-kind book that begins by explaining how God led me into this particular perspective of the gospel message. The second chapter is dedicated entirely to looking at what Jesus taught on the subject so we can be incredibly clear that this is in fact the true gospel message and not “something else,” and from there we look at the Old Testament, Paul’s teachings, and much, much more. Toward the end the book covers very practical considerations, answers common questions not otherwise answered in previous chapters, and gives some practical steps we can take to walk this out in our lives. If this subject has gotten you curious, questioning, or hungry to hear more, click the book title to pick up a copy of The Gospel of Life and Immortality today!
