Do the beginning and end run parallel with the books?

Does the first book of Moses speak about an absolute beginning, and the last book of the Bible about a definite end? And if that is not so, from what can we infer that?

These considerations serve our understanding of God’s work. From Ephesians we know that God has a “purpose of the eons” which He made in Christ Jesus(Eph 3:11). So this is a plan across different ages. God works in history. The plan describes a development and contains statements from earliest times and also references to distant times. He has set his sights on a purpose and is now working toward completion.

The book of Revelation is at the very end of the Bible. It is tempting to think that the end of all things is described here. In fact, there is a vision that reaches into the time of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1). In the context of the Book of Revelation, this is the broadest vision. However, the book is not alone in this. We also read about it in the book of Isaiah:

“For behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth. And the former things shall be remembered no more, neither shall they enter into mind.”
Isa 66,17

“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall stand before me, says the LORD, so shall your descendants and your name stand.”
Isa 66:22

If new heavens and a new earth were the last thing, one can already read about it in the Old Testament and not only in the book of Revelation. One could also say here that Revelation looks as far as Isaiah once did, although with much more detail. The book of Revelation connects with Isaiah, as well as with the prophetic speeches of other prophets, and with the apostle Peter (2Pet 3:13). Therefore, the vision from the book of Revelation is not as unique as one might think.

Beginning and end and beyond

Perhaps a more realistic look at the times of the Bible should be that the Bible does not describe everything. Indeed, there are indications of this. There is a time before what is described in Genesis and also a time after the book of Revelation is completed.

The beginning and end of the Bible are not absolute, but relative. For example, when Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”, this could be understood as an absolute beginning. “In the beginning” says the same as “In the beginning …”, as if it were the beginning of all beginnings. However, there are some arguments against it:

• The Hebrew reads “In (a) beginning …”. The definite article “the” is missing, so the expression should be correctly rendered “a beginning” (in Hebrew “bereshith“, not “bareshith“/”be ha reshith”). It is therefore not an absolute beginning.
• The beginning here refers to the creation of heaven and earth, or simply of the beginning Moses wanted to tell about here, the beginning of the narrative, so to speak. Principle: Interpret text in context.
• In comparison with John 1:1-3 it is spoken of that first the word was with God, and only through it all things became. Therefore, both God and the Word were present before the creation of heaven and earth. The creation of heaven and earth is therefore not an absolute beginning.
• God said to Job: “Where were you when I founded the earth? Share it if you know insight! Who determined their mass, if you know? Or who stretched out the measuring cord above her? What are their bases sunk into? Or who laid their cornerstone when the morning stars rejoiced together and all the sons of God exulted?” (Job 38:4-7), from which it also appears that the “morning stars” and “sons of God” were already watching at the foundation of the world. This is also why the beginning of Genesis 1:1 is not the absolute first thing that happens.

There would be other arguments that can support this view. It is the same as with the collection of circumstantial evidence. The further back in time a time is, or the further into the future it is, the less information we have. So let’s evaluate the circumstantial evidence cautiously.

In a graphical representation, the information content could be rendered simplified like this: During the times described in detail in the Bible, the line is “thick”. Towards the beginning and end, on the other hand, it becomes significantly “thinner” because the information content is lower.

The idea that the Bible encompasses “all knowledge in the world” or “all time” does not do justice to the biblical witness. God has already worked before aeonian times (1Cor 2,7) and speaks of a concluding period of the aeons (Heb 9,26, Rev. Elbf. has “completion of the ages”). There are such brief references to times before or after an alleged beginning in Genesis or an alleged end in the book of Revelation. They suggest that the time of our world is embedded in something greater, even that the eons (eternities/ages) of the Bible span only the time of world history and salvation history, not what goes beyond. This, however, is not an actual theme of biblical revelation. The references – though few – are to be taken seriously because they concern essential elements of the Gospel.

Is everything over with the revelation?

No. There are many indications that the book of Revelation does not describe the end. The book simply describes what it describes. It is only the Bible reader who can interpret this as “the absolute end.” However, John himself does not say this anywhere.

John says that he had a vision: “I was in the Spirit in the Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10). The largest part of the book deals with this “Day of the Lord” and especially with the dawn of the messianic kingdom. The transition is marked by judgments that take up most of Revelation (Revelation 4-19). The kingdom itself is only briefly hinted at in Rev 20:1-10. Immediately following, the judgment takes place before the Great White Throne (Rev 20:11-15). The last two chapters are about a new heaven and a new earth:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and the sea is no more.”
Rev 21:1

So what about this new earth and new heaven? Are these perfect? Those who see this as the final station of salvation history are confronted with a very unredeemed situation:

• The final judgment before the Great White Throne may have sent most of mankind into the Lake of Fire, causing them to die again (Rev 20:11-15). Death is still there.
• Some are now on the new earth. There (but only there) death will be no more (Rev 21:4).
• There is nothing here about a heavenly terminus, but the heavenly Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to earth (Rev 21:2)
• When it says “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5), this is a process that is not yet complete
• The leaves from the wood of life that is there are for “the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:2). Those who still need healing are probably not perfect.

This information can be derived directly from the text. But they are not the only arguments. There are still details from the rest of Scripture that have been left unfulfilled until then. For example:

• Death is once dismissed as the last enemy (which includes the second “death”. 1Cor 15,26), after which life and incorruption are brought to light through the gospel of grace, which Paul proclaims (2Tim 1,10)
• Christ will hand over the Kingdom to His God and Father (1Cor 15,24)
• Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord (Phil 2:9-11)
• As in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive (1Cor 15:22)
• Accordingly, as it came to the condemnation for all men through the one grievance, so it also comes to the justification of life through the one judgment for all men. (Rom 5:18)
• God is Savior of all people, especially believers (1Tim 4:9-11)
• God will reconcile all things to Himself through the blood of the cross (Col 1:20)
• God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).

All of this continues to be unfulfilled at the conclusion of the book of Revelation. Not only is the situation in the book of Revelation itself less than perfect and complete, as is often imagined, but other parts of Scripture have not yet been fulfilled. An understanding of concepts of time and chronology in the Bible helps resolve this dissonance.

When we learn to distinguish between “way” and “goal,” the discrepancy dissolves. Some things happen sooner, others later. They harmonize only when we consider the context of each statement. And the book of Revelation has its own context.

The Problem with the Doctrine of Heaven and Hell

Representatives of the doctrine of heaven and hell have, of course, all these texts also in their Bible. What do they do with it? As a rule, this happens:

1. The texts are hidden (not read)
2. The texts are reinterpreted (reduced to “believers”)
3. The texts are classified differently in time (“in an unknown way”)

Consequently, this creates a series of problems with the biblical text itself. While God was to become “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28), that includes either only believers or unbelievers are forcibly subordinated. It is true that every knee should bow and testify that Jesus is Lord (Phil 2:9-11), but only with the knife on the neck, that is, forced. In doing so, of course, there is no glory for God. That should be obvious.

Such assessments then also do not spring from Scripture, but are inferences about texts that one cannot otherwise classify. One is actually in a state of explanation distress, but still fully convinced that God divides the world into good and bad, believers and unbelievers, saved and lost, and yet is unable to save these “bad, unbelievers and lost.” Human teachings such as that of “free will” only distract from God’s competence.

The untenability of this doctrine is not immediately apparent to everyone (it took me years to learn it myself). On the one hand, one should begin to read the Bible in one’s own context, studying the for and against. On the other hand, one should expose the false assumptions about the Bible that lead to these images (Paul, in a similar situation, speaks of “tearing down bulwarks as we tear down reason and every high place that rises up against the knowledge of God,” 2 Cor. 10:3-5).

One of these assumptions is the subject of this paper, “Revelation Describes the Absolute End.” If one can disprove this assumption as false, then this often removes a stumbling block in understanding. God continues to work even after the book of Revelation is closed, and many promises are not fulfilled until then.

Where is the broadest vision of the Bible found?

What happens after the book of Revelation is completed? We have seen a number of texts that can only be fulfilled later because they have no place in the book of Revelation. To deny these texts is simply not to let God reach the goal. However, if He comes to the fulfillment of His “purpose of the eons”, then at the end of the eons what was still outstanding until then will be fulfilled:

• Death is abolished as the last enemy (1Cor 15,26)
• Life and incorruption then come to light (2Tim 1,10) and the completion of the making alive of all (1Cor 15,22-24)
• All things have come to Christ and Christ hands over the kingship to His God and Father (1Cor 15,24)
• God becomes all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).

Now if God is “all in all” at the end of the eons, that is the broadest vision we have in Scripture. The farthest vision is not in the book of Revelation. We find this vision in the apostle Paul.

However, even this is not an absolute conclusion. It is only the conclusion or completion of God’s “purpose of the eons, which He made in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 3:11). Everything is out of, through, and to Him (Rom 11:36). The arc was drawn from the beginning to the end of this revealed time. In the end, everything will be returned to Him. This in turn is only the starting signal for what comes after. However, we do not read anything about this. We only know from Scripture: God leads all back to Himself. His means to this end is His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The eons (often mistakenly translated as “eternities”) are only the greatest ages mentioned in the Bible. It is the time of salvation history, or the time when God comes to the goal. God is not limited to the eons, nor is time limited to the eons. Things are mentioned that took place “before the eons” (1Cor 2:7) and likewise the “completions of the eons” are spoken of (1Cor 10:11).

It is striking how many of these statements come from 1 Corinthians. Paul gave a great context to the Corinthians in this letter. He has placed these things Himself within the framework of God’s action. The challenges in this church were formidable, and just as outstandingly, the apostle demonstrated to the Corinthians that God is much greater than anything we can directly imagine.

This is Paul’s confidence: Our heavenly Father is already working before the beginning of the eons and will one day lead the whole world back to Himself. It is a liberating, sure message, full of expectation and with a confident outlook.

Deepening

• Allausöhnung (Series)
• The Judgments of God (Theme)
• What is eternity (theme)