755. The ending of the age being the final period of the church is clear from the passages in the Word where it is mentioned. For instance:

I have heard an ending and a cutting off from Jehovah's part upon the whole earth, Isaiah 28:22.

Ending limited, righteousness overwhelmed, for the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth is bringing about ending and cutting off in the whole earth, Isaiah 10:22-23.

In the fire of the zeal of Jehovah the whole earth will be consumed, because He will bring about a speedy ending with all the inhabitants of the earth, Zephaniah 1:18.

Earth in these passages means the church, because the land of Canaan is meant, where the church was. The meaning of earth or land being the church can be seen supported by numerous passages from the Word in Apocalypse Revealed (285, 902).

Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off it will be poured upon devastation, Daniel 9:27.

This was said by Daniel about the end of the present Christian church; see Matthew 24:15.

The whole earth will be a wilderness, yet I shall not make an ending, Jeremiah 4:27.

The first iniquity of the Amorites has not yet come to an end, Genesis 15:16.

Jehovah said, I shall go down and see whether they have made an ending, according to the cry which has reached me, Genesis 18:21.

This relates to Sodom.

[2] The final period of the present Christian church was also what the Lord meant by the ending of the age in the following passages:

The disciples asked Jesus, What is the sign of your coming and of the ending of the age? Matthew 24:3.

At harvest-time I shall tell the reapers, First gather the tares for burning. Gather the wheat into the barns. Thus it will be at the ending of the age, Matthew 13:30, 39-40.

At the ending of the age the angels will go forth and separate the wicked from out of the midst of the righteous, Matthew 13:49.

Jesus said to the disciples, Look, I am with you until the ending of the age, Matthew 28:20.

It needs to be known that devastation, desolation and cutting off have similar meanings to ending, but desolation means the ending of truth, devastation the ending of good, and cutting off the complete ending of both. The fullness of time, in which the Lord came into the world, and in which He will come again, is also an ending.

Intellectual things -- ideas, knowledge, facts, even insight and understanding -- are more separate and free-standing than emotional things, and it's easier to imagine numbering them as individual things. Our loves and affections tend to be more amorphous -- they can certainly be powerful, but would be harder to measure. Using words like “much,” “many,” myriad” and “multitude” to describe a collection of things gives the sense that there is an exact number, even if we don't know what it is and don't want to bother trying to count. These words, then, are used in the Bible in reference to intellectual things -- our thoughts, knowledge and concepts. Words that indicate largeness without the idea of number -- “great” is a common one -- generally refer to loves, affections and the desire for good. Here's one way to think about this: Say you want to take some food to a friend who just had a baby. That's a desire for good (assuming you're doing it from genuinely good motives). To actually do it, though, takes dozens of thoughts, ideas, facts and knowledges. What does she like to eat? What do you have to cook? What do you cook well? Can you keep it hot getting to her house? Is it nutritious? Does she have any allergies? So one good desire can bring a multitude of ideas into play.