"Age" is used in slightly different ways depending on the context, and those differences are reflected in the word’s spiritual meanings. All variations, though, reflect the fact that in there is no time in spiritual reality, and what we experience as time in the physical world reflects changes in the states of life and love in the spiritual world. People’s ages, when mentioned in the Bible, represent the spiritual states those people were in, and also spiritual states we go through in our development. An "age" as a measurement of time represents the duration of a particular spiritual state, which could be temporary or eternal. When referring to the "consummation of the age," "age" represents the pre-eminence of a particular church or belief system, which has turned to evil and must be destroyed to make way for the next. When used as "this age" – some translations of the Bible talk about "sons of this age" – it represents physical life as opposed to life in heaven. Finally, when used as "ages of ages" it represents a permanent spiritual state which is unchanging.

In Genesis 15:15; Exodus 30:21, to be buried in a good old age signifies to pass from an obscure life to a clear one. (Arcana Coelestia 1854, 10248, Arcana Coelestia 10248, Arcana Coelestia 1854)