When applied to God olam is always translated `for ever' or

`everlasting' but when applied to man it is never so rendered.  In the case

of man it is manifestly untrue; man's history does not stretch back to

eternity.  A comparative study of the passages where olam occurs will reveal

that the very context provides, oftentimes, a limiting phrase.  For example:

`If the servant shall plainly say ... I will not go out free ... he

shall serve him for Ever' (Exod. 21:5,6), yet the remote context

Leviticus 25:40 tells us that `He shall serve thee unto the year of

Jubilee'. When Hannah dedicated her son Samuel to the Lord she said

`there abide for Ever' but in an earlier verse she said of the selfsame

dedication `I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life' (1

Sam. 1:11,22).

The phrase `for ever and ever' translates the Hebrew le olam va ed,

which rendered literally reads `unto the age and yet further' and the LXX in

Exodus 15:18 recognizes this by giving the translation ton aiona kai ep'

aiona kai eti, eti being the word often translated `yet' fifty -one times in

the A.V.  The root idea of the Hebrew word olam is something secret or hidden

(Psa. 90:8; Eccles. 12:14).  Because the period is hidden or secret,

undefined and unrevealed, must we jump to the conclusion that because we

cannot see the end that there is no end?  Both Hebrew and Greek words signify

a period of time whose end is undefined, but which is however not eternal.

The reader may feel that this explanation robs the believer of security; if

`eternal life' should be after all `age -abiding life' as Rotherham has

suggested, what guarantee is there for what we call eternity?  The answer is

Age -abiding life and age -abiding glory cover the ages that are to

come, which include the millennium, the period after the millennium up to the

Great White throne, and on to the new heaven and the new earth.  When the

`end' or goal of the ages is reached, when the last enemy death, is

destroyed, when the Son delivers up the kingdom to God, even the Father, `age

-abiding life' and `age -abiding glory' will have accomplished its purpose

and will come to an end, but `immortality' is untouched, the promise `because

I live ye shall live also' remains gloriously true; of those who attain unto

the resurrection of the dead it is written `neither can they die any more'

(Luke 20:35,36).  Christ is our life (Col. 3:4) and it is written of Him,

that `He dieth no more'.  He, by His sacrificial death has `brought life and

immortality to light through the gospel' (2 Tim. 1:10).

Those who obtain `eternal' or `age -abiding' life will be necessarily

immortal, for they will all be numbered among the redeemed, but until the

purpose of the ages has been attained `eternal' life in the strict meaning of

the term cannot be enjoyed or entered.  Age -abiding life will be enjoyed

while the ages last, and will merge into true eternal life when the ages are

no more.  There are some whose names will be found in the Book of Life, who

will stand before the great white throne.  For such, `age -abiding life' will

be impossible, for the ages will have reached their goal when the last enemy

shall have been destroyed.  These however will have immortality, just as all

the previous companies of the redeemed, but age -abiding life and age -

abiding glory will not be theirs.