The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel Youth

‘What is your first question going to be?’ I was preparing my cross-examination for one of the first criminal trials in which I was involved when I worked as a barrister. A senior and experienced lawyer was helping me prepare. He showed me the significance of a first question.

I belong to a squash club that is also a gym. Each year on 1 January they bring in extra gym equipment. The place is packed out. By about 7 January, they move out all the extra equipment, as most people have given up their New Year’s resolutions, and the club returns to normal!

Get fit

Lose weight

Reduce drinking

Stop smoking

Get out of debt

There is nothing wrong with making these common New Year’s resolutions. Of course, all of us make resolutions that we fail to keep.

The good news is that each year is an opportunity for a fresh start. But then so is each week. Every Sunday is the first day of the week – a new beginning. Actually, every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.

The first three words in the Bible are, ‘In the beginning…’ (Genesis 1:1). Each of the passages for today tells us something about new beginnings and new opportunities, and suggests some possible New Year’s resolutions.

["One young woman asked me the following questions: ‘What will it be like in heaven? What will our heavenly bodies look like? Will we be able to fly? Will we be sexless? Will we be able to see the Garden of Eden? Will we recognise family and friends? What sort of friendships will we have? What will we do? Will there be Bible studies and Alpha? Who is the congregation?’\nThe Bible does not give the answers to all our questions.\nI have a book on my bookshelf entitled, 50 Remarkable events pointing to THE END. Written in 1997, it predicted that ‘Jesus could return by AD 2000'. This is one of many attempts to predict the timing of ‘the End’ that have turned out to be false. That is why Tony Campolo wisely says he wants to be ‘on the welcoming committee’ rather than the ‘planning committee’!\nWe are not told when the end will come, but we are told about the how and the who. The key is the who. Jesus says, ‘I am… the Beginning and the End’ (Revelation 22:13). Of course, ‘the End’ and ‘the Beginning’ appear very different. However, there can be significant similarities to both the beginning and the end.", None]

One young woman asked me the following questions: ‘What will it be like in heaven? What will our heavenly bodies look like? Will we be able to fly? Will we be sexless? Will we be able to see the Garden of Eden? Will we recognise family and friends? What sort of friendships will we have? What will we do? Will there be Bible studies and Alpha? Who is the congregation?’

The Bible does not give the answers to all our questions.

I have a book on my bookshelf entitled, 50 Remarkable events pointing to THE END. Written in 1997, it predicted that ‘Jesus could return by AD 2000'. This is one of many attempts to predict the timing of ‘the End’ that have turned out to be false. That is why Tony Campolo wisely says he wants to be ‘on the welcoming committee’ rather than the ‘planning committee’!

We are not told when the end will come, but we are told about the how and the who. The key is the who. Jesus says, ‘I am… the Beginning and the End’ (Revelation 22:13). Of course, ‘the End’ and ‘the Beginning’ appear very different. However, there can be significant similarities to both the beginning and the end.

['I often get very emotional at weddings. When I was conducting the marriage of my goddaughter, as the vicar, tears were pouring down my face. My great friend, her father, said in his speech afterwards that when you are taking your daughter down the aisle, you expect the vicar to be ‘a rock’, but instead he found that I was ‘a wreck’!\nWhen it came to my own daughter’s wedding, I was determined to hold it together. I was doing well until half-an-hour before the wedding! Then I went upstairs and saw her in her wedding dress. At that point, I lost it.\nThis powerful and beautiful metaphor of ‘the bride’ is one that is used to describe the church in the New Testament (Ephesians 5:22–32). It is used in today’s New Testament passage of the church of the future, which comes down out of heaven from God, ‘prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband’ (Revelation 21:2). This picture of the bride, the new Jerusalem, is prefigured in different ways in both our Old and New Testament passages.', None]

I often get very emotional at weddings. When I was conducting the marriage of my goddaughter, as the vicar, tears were pouring down my face. My great friend, her father, said in his speech afterwards that when you are taking your daughter down the aisle, you expect the vicar to be ‘a rock’, but instead he found that I was ‘a wreck’!

When it came to my own daughter’s wedding, I was determined to hold it together. I was doing well until half-an-hour before the wedding! Then I went upstairs and saw her in her wedding dress. At that point, I lost it.

This powerful and beautiful metaphor of ‘the bride’ is one that is used to describe the church in the New Testament (Ephesians 5:22–32). It is used in today’s New Testament passage of the church of the future, which comes down out of heaven from God, ‘prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband’ (Revelation 21:2). This picture of the bride, the new Jerusalem, is prefigured in different ways in both our Old and New Testament passages.

['Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in 1952. At her coronation in Westminster Abbey, she was handed a Bible, anointed and then crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.\nHer Diamond Jubilee was a multinational celebration marking the sixtieth anniversary of her accession to the throne. The climax was a weekend in June 2012 filled with street parties and concerts, a special service of thanksgiving and the largest river-pageant for 300 years. The whole country came together to celebrate. On 6 February 2017, she became the first British monarch to celebrate a Sapphire Jubilee, commemorating sixty-five years on the throne.\nAccording to the New Testament, every Christian will be crowned and will reign even longer and there will be an even bigger cause for celebration and rejoicing than that of any earthly ruler. You will reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4,6). What does this mean? Who reigns with him? When does this reign begin?', None]

Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in 1952. At her coronation in Westminster Abbey, she was handed a Bible, anointed and then crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

On 6 February 2022, she became the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, commemorating seventy years on the throne. It was a multinational celebration. The climax was a weekend in June 2022 filled with street parties, concerts and a special service of thanksgiving. The whole country came together to celebrate.

On 6 May 2023, at Westminster Abbey, we will see the coronation of the new King, Charles III, who, after being the longest-serving heir apparent in British history, has now succeeded her to the throne.

According to the New Testament, every Christian will be crowned and will reign even longer and there will be an even bigger cause for celebration and rejoicing than that of any earthly ruler. You will reign with Christ (Revelation 20:4,6). What does this mean? Who reigns with him? When does this reign begin?

['When my daughter got married, I walked her down the aisle. At the front of the church, before all their family and friends, in their overflowing love for each other, she and her husband promised exclusive loyalty. They made a covenant of love. It was a love-filled occasion.\nA covenant is two people, or two parties, entering into a formal agreement. The making of covenants was a common feature in the ancient world. A covenant would often be made with a solemn action, such as a blood sacrifice.\nThe idea of covenant is so important in the Christian Bible that the two parts came to be called the Old and the New Testaments (‘Testamentum’ being the Latin word for covenant). Although the new covenant was different from the old one, both covenants come from God’s abounding love for you.', None]

When our daughter got married, I walked her down the aisle. At the front of the church, before all their family and friends, in their overflowing love for each other, she and her husband promised exclusive loyalty. They made a covenant of love. It was a love-filled occasion.

A covenant is two people, or two parties, entering into a formal agreement. The making of covenants was a common feature in the ancient world. A covenant would often be made with a solemn action, such as a blood sacrifice.

The idea of covenant is so important in the Christian Bible that the two parts came to be called the Old and the New Testaments (‘Testamentum’ being the Latin word for covenant). Although the new covenant was different from the old one, both covenants come from God’s abounding love for you.