So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, Matthew 13:49.
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Hebrews 9:26.
A reader (who received half of his genetic code from me) contacted me to say that he had read the post The Beginning which was published on June 17th. He thought about the concept that the beginning is a long period of time, and considered the difference between the phrases "in the beginning" and "at the beginning" as used in the King James Bible. He decided to apply that same concept to the terms "in the end" and "at the end". What he found confirmed the point made in the original post. "In the beginning" in a King James Bible is an extended period of time whereas "at the beginning" is a precise point in time.
If you look at our first sample verse, Matthew 13:49, you can see that the angels are unleashed "at the end of the world". That contrasts with Hebrews 9:26 wherein Paul tells us that that the period of time known as the end of the world started with the appearance of Jesus Christ to put away sin. What is the difference? "At the end" is a specific point in time when God blows the whistle and calls an end to his longsuffering of man. "In the end" is a period of time starting with Jesus Christ and ends in the Book of Revelation. In the end of the barley harvest is different from at the end of the barley harvest, Ruth 2:21- 2:23.
You can tell people that you got married in the end of the world. You joined your church in the end of the world. The Norman invasion, The Crusades, and World War II all happened in the end of the world. Likewise, there are many events that happened "in the beginning. The Book of Genesis does not contain them all. The beginning ended at Genesis 50:26, So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
The events of Isaiah 14:12-17 as well as the events of Ezekiel 28 happened in the beginning and happened before anything recorded in Genesis 1. How do we know that? We know because the Apostle John tells us, for the devil sinneth from the beginning, I John 3:8. That happened in Ezekiel 28:5, By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. We know that the Apostle Paul picked that exact moment as the root of all evil. For the love of money is the root of all evil, I Timothy 6:10.
Both the end and the beginning are long periods of time in Bible reckoning. Things that happen in the beginning or in the end can be thousands of years apart. If you are one of those people who have sweat over how to cram all of the events listed in Job 38, Ezekiel 28, and Isaiah 14 into a few verses in Genesis Chapter 1, cheer up. Not believing a King James Bible hurt expositors for hundreds of years. You have a far greater blessing. You have an exact duplicate of the bible that God the Father has on a podium in heaven if you possess a Cambridge Text King James Bible as it was published between c1920 and 1985.
You can believe every noun, every verb, every preposition, every article, every adverb, every adjective, capitalization, every punctuation mark, every spelling, and every verse marking. Don't be surprised if what you find when you read and study your bible is distinctly different than the commentaries on your shelf. Be free. Kick out the junk and believe the truth.