Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit. Proverbs 7: 8, NRSV.
Heavenly Father, thank You so much for always being here at the place of study when we arrive. Now teach us Your will and Your way, we pray in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen.
Yesterday we looked at what I will term, the practical application of this text. Today, let us apply what could be understood as a prophetic/end-time application. Perhaps you will apply a different term at the end of our study. We will be studying the first part of the text, the portion that is in bold. We will be comparing the beginning and the end. “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning[.]”
In the beginning, the curse came into our world, and death, with it, because of sin.
“Then the LORD said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild…” (Genesis 3: 14a, Emphasis provided, NLT). “Then [H]e said to the woman, ‘I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth…” (16). “And to the man [H]e said, ‘Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you … you were made from dust and to dust you will return” (17, 19b, Emphasis provided).
In the end, the curse will be removed, and the blessing restored, because there will be no more sin!
“No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and [H]is servants will worship [H]im … He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever… Nothing evil will be allowed to enter…but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of Life” (Revelation 22: 3, 21: 4, 27, Emphasis provided).
In the beginning, our first parents were exiled from the Garden of Eden.
“So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and [H]e sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And [H]e placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3: 23, 24, NLT, Emphasis provided).
In the end, they will be given an abundant entry into the City of God, and full access, to the Tree of Life!
“Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22: 14, NKJV, Emphasis provided).
In the beginning, sin separated our first parents from God (they ran away from Him).
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the Garden” (Genesis 3: 8, NKJV, Emphasis provided).
In the end, God and man will dwell together, forever!
“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with [humankind], and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people” (Revelation 21: 3, Emphasis provided).
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus” (22: 20)! THE END!
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