1. Can what has no beginning really end? 2The world will end in an illusion, as it began. 3Yet will its ending be an illusion of mercy. 4The illusion of forgiveness, complete, excluding no one, limitless in gentleness, will cover it, hiding all evil, concealing all sin and ending guilt forever. 5So ends the world that guilt had made, for now it has no purpose and is gone. 6The father of illusions is the belief that they have a purpose; that they serve a need or gratify a want. 7Perceived as purposeless, they are no longer seen. 8Their uselessness is recognized, and they are gone. 9How but in this way are all illusions ended? 10They have been brought to truth, and truth saw them not. 11It merely overlooked the meaningless.
2. Until forgiveness is complete, the world does have a purpose. 2It becomes the home in which forgiveness is born, and where it grows and becomes stronger and more all-embracing. 3Here is it nourished, for here it is needed. 4A gentle Savior, born where sin was made and guilt seemed real. 5Here is His home, for here there is need of Him indeed. 6He brings the ending of the world with Him. 7It is His Call God’s teachers answer, turning to Him in silence to receive His Word. 8The world will end when all things in it have been rightly judged by His judgment. 9The world will end with the benediction of holiness upon it. 10When not one thought of sin remains, the world is over. 11It will not be destroyed nor attacked nor even touched. 12It will merely cease to seem to be.
3. Certainly this seems to be a long, long while away. 2“When not one thought of sin remains” appears to be a long-range goal indeed. 3But time stands still, and waits on the goal of God’s teachers. 4Not one thought of sin will remain the instant any one of them accepts Atonement for himself. 5It is not easier to forgive one sin than to forgive all of them. 6The illusion of orders of difficulty is an obstacle the teacher of God must learn to pass by and leave behind. 7One sin perfectly forgiven by one teacher of God can make salvation complete. 8Can you understand this? 9No; it is meaningless to anyone here. 10Yet it is the final lesson in which unity is restored. 11It goes against all the thinking of the world, but so does Heaven.
4. The world will end when its thought system has been completely reversed. 2Until then, bits and pieces of its thinking will still seem sensible. 3The final lesson, which brings the ending of the world, cannot be grasped by those not yet prepared to leave the world and go beyond its tiny reach. 4What, then, is the function of the teacher of God in this concluding lesson? 5He need merely learn how to approach it; to be willing to go in its direction. 6He need merely trust that, if God’s Voice tells him it is a lesson he can learn, he can learn it. 7He does not judge it either as hard or easy. 8His Teacher points to it, and he trusts that He will show him how to learn it.
5. The world will end in joy, because it is a place of sorrow. 2When joy has come, the purpose of the world has gone. 3The world will end in peace, because it is a place of war. 4When peace has come, what is the purpose of the world? 5The world will end in laughter, because it is a place of tears. 6Where there is laughter, who can longer weep? 7And only complete forgiveness brings all this to bless the world. 8In blessing it departs, for it will not end as it began. 9To turn hell into Heaven is the function of God’s teachers, for what they teach are lessons in which Heaven is reflected. 10And now sit down in true humility, and realize that all God would have you do you can do. 11Do not be arrogant and say you cannot learn His Own curriculum. 12His Word says otherwise. 13His Will be done. 14It cannot be otherwise. 15And be you thankful it is so.