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World Without End
Q: Why do we sing, “World without end”?
A: We say or sing “world without end” in a number of places in the liturgy in the church. For example, it is part of the minor doxology (“little word of praise”) which is:
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
The minor doxology is said at the end of the Introit, Psalms and most canticles (songs taken mostly from the Scriptures which are regularly sung in the service).
“World without end” is also part of the long termination of the collect:
...through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
What do we mean when we say and pray these words? Isn't the world going to end someday when the Lord Jesus returns to judge the quick (the living) and the dead? St Peter says:
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. [2 Peter 3:10]
If this world will be burned up, how can we pray “world without end”? Peter answers that question in the next few verses.
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, an the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. [2 Peter 3:11-13]
Even though this current heaven and earth will be destroyed, the Lord has for us a new heaven and a new earth where He will reign in perfect holiness and righteousness. After our resurrection all who have faith in Jesus will dwell in the new heaven and earth in perfect peace and blessedness.
So our prayer “world without end” is a confession of our hope in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting in the new heaven and the new earth. May God continue to strengthen our faith that we would dwell in blessedness with Him, world without end. Amen.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away. [Revelation 21:1]