Bible Bookends
Sierra Combs
If you were to wander around my house, you would find old books in every corner. Even the closets are full of books that I have no room for. If it is old and has a beautiful cover, I feel as if I need to have it, and I have many hundreds to prove my obsession. While I do very much love to read and learn, ironically most of my reading is done on a digital device. Yet it still does not stop me from buying old books, putting them out on display, and just admiring the beauty. Part of this I blame on Disney. I was 6 years old when “Beauty and the Beast” came out, and for the last 31 years I have been waiting for someone to gift me an in-home, two-story library, complete with two spiral staircases and a giant fireplace. Not surprisingly, I am still waiting. There is just something about a beautiful, old, well-written book that stirs the soul. The Bible is literally just that. Its message contains the most beautiful words you will ever hear, and nothing has or will ever be better written. It is certainly very old, and it has the power to stir your soul and change you completely. It is the Word of God, and no other set of books could ever compare.
If you have read the Bible in its entirety, you can see that from the very beginning until the very end, it is all about Jesus. While the beginning of time and the end appear to be very different, there are many significant similarities to both. This has always struck me and is such a beautiful reminder of how amazing God is and how His words are perfect and true. I invite you to turn to the first few pages of your Bible with me. In Genesis chapter 2 we are told that “the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:8-9). The man, Adam, is given full access to the Tree of Life but is forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam fails the test, eats from the forbidden tree, sin enters the world, and God’s story continues for another 65 books.
Now we should flip to the very last chapter of the very last book of the Bible. Revelation 22:1-5 says, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life… also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” Does that sound familiar? Just as at the beginning of time, here we again see the Tree of Life. This tree is both literal and symbolic, representing eternal life and blessing that can come only from God. When sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, access to this tree was cut off. Death enters the scene. Yet, God did not leave us without hope. Instead, He sent His only son Jesus to pay the debt that we owe. The perfect Jesus died on a cross, taking the penalty for our sins. When we trust in Him as Savior, we are reborn and forgiven, given full access to the Father. What Adam lost for humanity, Jesus gives back. One day when He returns, we will live with Him forever in a new Paradise, with full access to that same Tree of Life that brings healing to the nations. Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” Verse 17 gives the invitation for all to come, “And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”
From the very beginning, before the foundations of the world until its end, it is all about Jesus. When we look at the very first sentence of the Bible in Genesis, we see that the creation of the universe was through Him. The apostle John reminds us of this when he tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). Jesus is the Word. Just as it started with Him, it also ends with Him. Revelation 22:20-21 reads, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.” Jesus, Himself sums it up perfectly in Revelation 22:13 when He declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” If there ever were a perfect set of literary bookends, nothing could be better than Jesus!
Sierra Combs
If you were to wander around my house, you would find old books in every corner. Even the closets are full of books that I have no room for. If it is old and has a beautiful cover, I feel as if I need to have it, and I have many hundreds to prove my obsession. While I do very much love to read and learn, ironically most of my reading is done on a digital device. Yet it still does not stop me from buying old books, putting them out on display, and just admiring the beauty. Part of this I blame on Disney. I was 6 years old when “Beauty and the Beast” came out, and for the last 31 years I have been waiting for someone to gift me an in-home, two-story library, complete with two spiral staircases and a giant fireplace. Not surprisingly, I am still waiting. There is just something about a beautiful, old, well-written book that stirs the soul. The Bible is literally just that. Its message contains the most beautiful words you will ever hear, and nothing has or will ever be better written. It is certainly very old, and it has the power to stir your soul and change you completely. It is the Word of God, and no other set of books could ever compare.
If you have read the Bible in its entirety, you can see that from the very beginning until the very end, it is all about Jesus. While the beginning of time and the end appear to be very different, there are many significant similarities to both. This has always struck me and is such a beautiful reminder of how amazing God is and how His words are perfect and true. I invite you to turn to the first few pages of your Bible with me. In Genesis chapter 2 we are told that “the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:8-9). The man, Adam, is given full access to the Tree of Life but is forbidden to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam fails the test, eats from the forbidden tree, sin enters the world, and God’s story continues for another 65 books.
Now we should flip to the very last chapter of the very last book of the Bible. Revelation 22:1-5 says, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life… also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” Does that sound familiar? Just as at the beginning of time, here we again see the Tree of Life. This tree is both literal and symbolic, representing eternal life and blessing that can come only from God. When sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, access to this tree was cut off. Death enters the scene. Yet, God did not leave us without hope. Instead, He sent His only son Jesus to pay the debt that we owe. The perfect Jesus died on a cross, taking the penalty for our sins. When we trust in Him as Savior, we are reborn and forgiven, given full access to the Father. What Adam lost for humanity, Jesus gives back. One day when He returns, we will live with Him forever in a new Paradise, with full access to that same Tree of Life that brings healing to the nations. Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” Verse 17 gives the invitation for all to come, “And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”
From the very beginning, before the foundations of the world until its end, it is all about Jesus. When we look at the very first sentence of the Bible in Genesis, we see that the creation of the universe was through Him. The apostle John reminds us of this when he tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). Jesus is the Word. Just as it started with Him, it also ends with Him. Revelation 22:20-21 reads, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.” Jesus, Himself sums it up perfectly in Revelation 22:13 when He declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” If there ever were a perfect set of literary bookends, nothing could be better than Jesus!
Posted in Revelation
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