KEEPING YOUR EYES
ON THE
RIGHT END
everything exists” (Hebrews 2:10). Jesus is the source of God’s creation and God’s story, and he is the goal of God’s plan. To be sure, God will end the world as we know it at some particular time and in a particular way—that’s what we call the “end times”—but it isn’t simply the termination of time for which the entire cosmos is groaning. What all creation expectantly awaits is the revealing of Jesus alongside a redeemed multitude of brothers and sisters (Romans 8:18–23). ALPHA AND OMEGA
The first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. The apostle John used these terms to describe Jesus as both the beginning and the goal of God’s work in human history. John also used these terms to make it clear that Jesus is God in human flesh. In Revelation 1:8, the “Alpha and Omega” is “the Lord God”; then, in Revelation 22:13–16, the same words are applied to Jesus.
$OSKD DQG RPHJD DUH WKH ÀUVW DQG ODVW OHWWHUV RI WKH Greek alphabet. © Zvonimir Atletic
God’s purpose is not simply to get people into heaven; God’s plan has always been to display his glory throughout the cosmos in and through Jesus. According to the apostle Paul, God “set forth” his purpose “in Christ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Ephesians 1:9–10). The present fellowship of Christians that will someday culminate in the communion of heaven is simply an outgrowth of God’s plan to bring everything together in Jesus the Messiah. Jesus is the source of God’s creation and the goal of God’s plan. He is “the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
But, before we wade any deeper into our study of the end times, there’s one more issue involved in keeping our eyes on the right end: To keep our eyes on the right end is not GREEK only to recognize Language in which the New Jesus as the goal of God’s creation. It’s also to Testament was written, in an see that, through the work of Jesus on earth, ancient dialect known as koine the last days have already begun. or “common” Greek.
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