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Nederlandse vertaalvlag, Dutch translation flag

The beginning.

I am the Alpha and Omega, said the Lord, Who is and was and yet to come, the Almighty.(Revelation 1:8)

The Greek capital lettre Alpha; the same as the Latin one and deducted from that the English captial letter A.
The Greek capital lettre Alpha; the same as the Latin one and, deducted from that, also the English captial letter A.

And He said to me: it is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.(Revelation 21:6), (Revelation 22:13). And God said unto Moses: I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you(Exodus 3:13-14).

God is, according to the scripture the beginning and end of all things; Humanly spoken things always have a beginning and an end. The Bible was written from our viewpoint and in that there always is a beginning and an end. Yet, one immediately has to realize that God himself excedes that. This can hardly be imagined by men and therefore looks impossible to us, because we don't know it and therefore we can't understand it, but that does not mean it wouldn't be true. God is without beginning and end, says the Bible, from eternity to eternity He is God (Isaiah 43:10-13). He has always been there and will always be there. Got is eternal and the cause of all that we know.

Regarding people: we have a two-sided starting point: namely, first: the beginning of man in general sense, as mankind, by the creation of the people Adam and Eve. Second: of course the beginning of ourselves as a person, not after our birth, as most will say/think, but yet before birth, namely in the womb of our mother; as body yet without form (Psalm 139:16). We as a person, however, have no ending according to the Bible. We (our soul) will exist forever1; or, eventually, in heaven, or on the new earth, in both cases with God, or in hell; for ever departed from God.

But, some shall say, if we know one thing certain is that we all die. Yes, but that is our earthly dead, the moment that we leave the tent that we live in, and our body will be broken down (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, 2 Peter 1:13-14). So, our body is pictured, in the Bible, as a tent, a temporarily living that we can leave. So, with our earthly death2 it does not stop, as many do think/believe.3 (Luke 16:22-31, Matthew 28:5-6, John 5:28, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, Fillipians 1:23)

Our world, our earth and the universe, started, according to the Bible (Genesis 1 and 2), because God created it in 6 days (I believe that). It took place about 6000 years ago. That age can be determined by genealogical registers in the Bible. That there is a lot of doubt about that nowadays, also by christians, is clear, not in the least place caused by the influence science and evolution theory. I will go into that separately (see menu left).

About the end of the world as we know it, the Bible says it will pass away; there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Matthew 5:18, 24:35, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 20:11, 21:1). Yet the new earth will be for ever, because Christ's government shall never end (Daniel 2:44, 7:14). It will be without decay and will also not be replaced by another kingdom. It is eternal. The only thing that changes is that the Christocracy of the (millanial) Kingdom will be handed over to full theocracy when the period of the new heaven and new earth will begin (1 Corinthians 15:24). Christ will, however, as yet was made clear by Daniel, still reign then. When God then will be 'all in all', it speaks about the trinity-God, but in essence the Kingdom will not change.

Footnotes:

1. This is not the same as 'eternal life'. 'Eternal life' according to the Bible, is not a quantity but a quality; namely a living with or community with God. That is not for everyone. You must believe in Jesus to possess that. See 1 John 5: 11-13, John 3: 14-18 and John 3:36. That eternal life is not something you receive after death, but that is what you get, what you own right after the moment you become a Christian. The opposite of 'eternal life' is 'eternal death', an eternal living without and completely separated from God.
2. There ar three aspects of being dead. a) Our earthly dying, that means our bodily or physical death. b) Dead in trespasses and sins, that is the spiritual death. That is the state anyone is in who has not been converted yet (Ephesians 2:1). c) Death by eternal judgement. The eternal death, that is the second death, the pool of fire; the hell. There is no life after the second death.
3. This comes forth from Enlightenment-thinking, by which, thanks to the Enlightenment, everything that is miraculous or that is without our reach of observatios is regarded as impossible, irreasonable and therefore regarded as not true/false. One has, so to speak, crowned rationalism as its true god. We can't measure 'after death' and therefore know nothing about it and that's why one simply assumes that everything stops after death.