The End of the World

There came a moment when the things that had always seemed fixed began to loosen.

One by one, the seals were broken.

And what had been hidden began to appear.

The earth shook.

The heavens changed.

The sun no longer gave its light.

The moon failed.

The stars disappeared from their places.

The sky drew back like a scroll.

Mountains moved.

Islands vanished.

Nothing that had once given the world its boundaries seemed able to hold them any longer.

And the great ones of the earth discovered that greatness could not protect them.

Kings.

Commanders.

The wealthy.

The powerful.

Those whose names had opened doors.

Those whose words had moved people.

Those whose possessions had seemed to make them secure.

Their authority reached its limit.

No title could carry anyone farther.

No locked door could keep what was coming outside.

No amount of gold could purchase another hour.

Then Babylon fell.

Everything that had once been bought and sold lost its price.

Fine things remained fine.

Gold remained gold.

Possessions remained exactly what they had always been.

And suddenly none of them could purchase what was needed.

The merchants had nothing left to offer.

The kingdoms had nothing left to promise.

The old world was losing its power.

Then the books were opened.

Nothing was added to them.

Nothing needed to be.

What had been hidden was simply no longer hidden.

Every word.

Every deed.

Every mercy offered when no one was watching.

Every wound given and received.

Every truth avoided.

Every kindness forgotten by everyone except the one who received it.

Every fear that had ruled from a hidden place.

Every love that had quietly endured.

Everything stood uncovered.

There was no argument left to make.

No reputation to defend.

No story to improve.

Nothing could hide behind a name.

And the names themselves began to fall away.

Rich.

Poor.

Important.

Forgotten.

Successful.

Failed.

Accepted.

Rejected.

Insider.

Outsider.

The names had mattered greatly in the former world.

Here, they could not say who anyone truly was.

There was another name.

One that had not been earned.

One that had not been assigned by a crowd.

A name known more deeply than all the others.

Then the sea was gone.

The great separation disappeared.

There was no distant shore.

No horizon beyond which something could remain hidden.

What had been divided was no longer divided.

What had seemed far away was suddenly near.

The first heaven and the first earth were passing away.

The former things could go no farther.

Then Death appeared.

The last enemy.

It had followed every generation.

Kings had feared it.

The poor had feared it.

Cities had built monuments against it.

People had accumulated wealth against it.

Raised armies against it.

Prayed against it.

Ignored it.

Named it.

Refused to name it.

But Death had crossed every border they had ever built.

And now Death stood at the end of the old world.

For a moment, it appeared to be the final thing.

Then even Death could go no farther.

Death itself was overcome.

Beyond it stood an open gate.

No one shut it.

There was no night there.

No darkness in which anything could remain concealed.

No temple separated the sacred from everything else.

There was no inner room into which only a few could enter.

Nothing stood between.

The city needed no sun.

It needed no moon.

Light did not come from above it.

Light was everywhere.

A river ran through it.

Clear as crystal.

And beside the river stood the Tree of Life.

The tree that had waited at the beginning of the story was there again at its end.

Its leaves were for healing.

Its fruit was given freely.

There was no curse anymore.

There was no need to hide.

No gate guarded the way back.

And a voice came from the place where the throne had always been.

Behold.

I make all things new.

The former things had passed away.

The old world was gone.

And what had been hidden was finally being revealed.

In a quiet hospital room, a daughter looked at the face she had known all her life.

Her father’s hand rested in hers.

A moment earlier, it had held hers back.

Now it was still.

She did not let go.