Day 364

Nehemiah 11:22-12:47, Revelation 21:1-27, Proverbs 31:21-31

On the penultimate day I find myself looking back and looking forward.

Nehemiah takes me back to the point that started this whole journey for me, Soul Survivor. The dedication ceremony for the wall sounds like a worship event that can not be rivalled. Massed choirs, all the people singing and they end in the temple where they join together in unending praise. It takes me back to a massive tent, in the middle of a sea of tents, where 12,000 people joined together to bring praise to God. Hearts and voices joining to give glory to God, an experience that you can’t forget and nor would you want to. A time of praise that set me off on reading the Bible in a year with a load of other people from Soul Survivor.

And then in Revelation I find myself looking forward. We seemed to spend a long time in the middle of Revelation reading a great deal of challenging stuff, and then we come through the darker parts and find ourselves in the light, the glory of Christ shining from the heavens and the new Jerusalem, the new heaven and the new earth where there will be no more weeping. These are things that are still to come and we can look forward to them with eager anticipation as we await what the Lord is to do in those final days. We can be assured though, that when we reach this end, it will be a period of unimaginable joy and peace.

What started you off on your journey through the Bible or indeed your journey with Christ? The answer to that will be different for all of us, but we can be sure that when we stay true to the Lord the end will be the same for us all, in the New Jerusalem where every tear is wiped away.

Take a bit of time to look back, but take much longer looking forward to the promise that Christ has for you.