Great stories also have great endings. Final thoughts that not only bring a story arc to a fitting conclusion but point the reader to deeper reflection. Earlier this week I mentioned my admiration for one of CS Lewis’ opening lines. His Narnia series ends with this lovely sentence:
“All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
Yesterday’s “Through the Bible” reading plan covered the final two chapters of the Book of Revelation. I invited you to compare and contrast the first three and last three chapters of the Bible. I want you to see how beautifully coherent God’s Word to his people is. As pastor Andrew and I have emphasized, the Bible is a singular story, about a singular hero, divinely inspired by a single author. And if you read carefully you will find he doesn’t leave unsatisfying loose ends! I don’t have the space in this little corner to outline a complete comparison but here are a few high points.
| Genesis 1-3 | Revelation 20-22 |
| Earth and heavens created (Gen 1:1) | New heaven and earth (Rev 21:1) |
| Satan’s first rebellion (Ch 3) | Satan’s final rebellion (20:3; 7-10) |
| Sun for the day (1:5,16) | No need of the sun (21:23) |
| Darkness called night (1:5) | No night there (22:5) |
| River for earth’s blessing (2:10) | River for the new earth (22:1,2) |
| Sin/defilement enter the garden | Nothing defiled enters the city (21:27) |
| Curse pronounced (3:14, 17) | Curse renounced (22:3) |
| Death entered (3:19) | No more death (21:4) |
| Man driven from the garden (3:24) | Man restored (22) and God dwells with him (21:3) |
| Tree of life guarded (3:24) | Tree of life accessed (22:14) |
And there are so many more besides! Rev. 215b-6 says: “Behold, I am making all things new…It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” If God can know, and by his power bring to pass, the story of everything, can he not be trusted with the story of our short lives?
Something to apply: All of us struggle to give God our complete surrender. Give some time today to pray and think about the fact that God is your Alpha and Omega, and follow the exhortation from Hebrews 12:1b-2a, “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (bold emphasis added).