The title for my blog today is interesting for many reasons. First, it is the beginning of the end for my final semester of classes. I have been taking classes for what seems like forever. I went back to school nine months after my oldest daughter was born. That was the fall of 2009. That fall I began a two-year journey to get my Bachelor's degree in Bible. Nine months after I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree, I began classes at Gordon-Conwell Seminary to accomplish my Master's degree. After four online classes at Gordon-Conwell, I transferred to Capital Seminary and Graduate School to complete my MDiv. That was the fall of 2014. This Fall I will be completing my MDiv and graduating in December with my Master's Degree. That is an eight year marathon of classes. Yet, it is the beginning of the end for this phase of my education. I am a student, so this is not the end of my education or learning. Some day, Lord willing, I hope to get a PhD and complete the trifecta of pastoral education. But for the foreseeable future, this is it. This is the beginning of the end for my class time.
The second reason this is the beginning of the end, is my youngest child started school this year. God has blessed me with four amazing gifts and little image bearers to train. My son, my oldest, has started sixth grade this year. God is doing great wonders in him, as he continues to grow and mature into a little man after the heart of God. But this year, my youngest, my little Ellie, started Kindergarten. It is the beginning of the end now. Sooner rather than later, I will have four young adults and eventually four grown children living their lives separate from mine. This year marks the beginning of Ellie's education and the end of a little one still around. The beginning of the end is upon my wife and I as we now watch our four beauties begin to grow through formal education and Biblical training at home. It is the beginning of the end for sure in the family life I once knew.
The final reason my blog is entitled, "the beginning of the end" is I am beginning to preach through the book of Genesis this Sunday. Genesis is a book of God's Word that could be entitled the beginning of the end. Genesis marks the beginning of all things. The beginning of Creation. The beginning of sin. The beginning of marriage. The beginning of the family. The beginning of the covenant. The beginning of God's people. Genesis is the book of beginnings. But genesis is also the book of the end. When the beginning is studied, the end results are know. Genesis makes clear God has always existed. That means at the end, God is still going to be there. Genesis makes the covenant grace of God know. This means that at the end of it, God's covenant grace will still be ruling. When Genesis is studied in greater depth, the end results are know. Genesis not only teaches about the beginning, but even makes the ending clear. Genesis 3:15 points to the end, right in the very beginning. Yes, the serpent is still active and tempting, but Genesis the book of beginnings, makes the end very clear. Satan and sin will be stomped out by the seed of the woman. Genesis is the beginning of the end.
So the title, the beginning of the end, sums up the book I am about to begin preaching through, this final semester of classes, and the stage of life that I am currently in. But becasue God has chosen me before there was every a beginning, I can rest assure that my end will always be in Him and that I truly will never have an end. The beginning of my end will never truly be, becasue of the grace of God alone. The only God never to have a beginning or an end.
