{"id":4908,"date":"2014-12-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2014\/12\/22\/tom-nelson-bookends-of-bible\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T06:07:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:07:35","slug":"tom-nelson-bookends-of-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/tom-nelson-bookends-of-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Nelson: The Bookends of the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tTom Nelson discusses the importance of the &quot;bookends&quot; of the Bible (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Genesis+1%3A1-2%3A25\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" title=\"view Scripture passage at BibleGateway.com\" rel=\"noopener\">Genesis 1-2<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Revelation+21%3A1-22%3A21\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" title=\"view Scripture passage at BibleGateway.com\" rel=\"noopener\">Revelation 21-22<\/a>) in lending a richness to the overall story of the Bible. When we don&#039;t acknowledge the bookends, the Bible becomes singularly focused on soul and eternity. With the inclusion of the bookends, the narrative speaks not only to soul and eternity, but also to the work and mission of our everyday lives.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThis video is an excerpt from the Pastor&#039;s Guide of our Redeeming Work Bible Study available at our sister-site, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smallgroups.com\/bible-studies\/streaming\/redeeming-work\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\" rel=\"noopener\">SmallGroups.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Nelson discusses the importance of the &quot;bookends&quot; of the Bible (Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22) in lending a richness to the overall story of the Bible. When we don&#039;t acknowledge the bookends, the Bible becomes singularly focused on soul and eternity. With the inclusion of the bookends, the narrative speaks not only to soul <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/tom-nelson-bookends-of-bible\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[142,154,160],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[174],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[413],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3485,3538,3546,3793,4781,5154,5247,5293],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-4908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-bible","tax_ctp_tags-calling","tax_ctp_tags-career","tax_ctp_tags-discipleship","tax_ctp_tags-redeeming-work","tax_ctp_tags-theology","tax_ctp_tags-vocation","tax_ctp_tags-work"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast 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