This proverb is not only used in our language, but it is also known in other languages. When something turns out well, you forget the misery that preceded it. This is of course a principle that has countless applications. An athlete who crosses the finish line after much suffering, a difficult phase in our lives that we end with a good ending, fill in the blanks yourself.
all
If we take the proverb literally, it is even more powerful: all’s well that ends well. That means when the ending (of something) is good, everything that came before is also good. Through the foregoing we have learned to see what is good and actually learn to value it. A principle that we also encounter quite often in the Bible:
Romans 8
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.
2 Corinthians 4
17 For the momentary lightness of our affliction produces for us an all-eternal heaviness of glory.
Joseph
Evil also works for good in Joseph’s history. Joseph is sold by his brothers and presumed dead. In Egypt he is wronged and ends up in prison. It is precisely through this path of injustice that Joseph is exalted in Pharaoh’s court. It is Joseph himself who declares to his brothers:
Genesis 50
20 You have planned evil against me, but God has planned it for good…
This creation has been subjected by God himself to vanity and corruption (Rom.8:20-21). God also created evil (Isa.45:7) and the wicked for a purpose (Prov.16:4). Evil is a necessary evil and only at the end will it become apparent that everything we now judge as negative has contributed to the good that God intended for His creation. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess: All’s well that ends well.
Philippians 2
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess from the heart that Jesus Christ is Lord , to the glory of God the Father.