Ecclesiastes 7:8, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning…”
In the immediate context, Solomon is commending focus on the brevity of life and the wisdom that comes with keeping “the big picture” in focus. However, the truth of his statement also applies to redemptive history as a whole…..though it’s right to think of the New Heavens and Earth as the real beginning…in another sense, it is the end, and it is certainly better than the beginning…..
The redemption of Christ does not simply take us back to Eden, it makes Eden the introduction to–as Lewis said–a story that goes on and on forever, in which each chapter is better than the last.