The New Creation

Creation and New Creation

Do Revelation chapter 21. And then after you have that, if you would please put a marker there and search your bulletin there maybe. We will get back to that hopefully before lunchtime. And then turn to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. We’re continuing this part of the series dealing with how salvation is presented in the Bible, and we’re looking at the big picture of it. We saw God’s ultimate purpose to save and restore his fallen creation in the end. We have seen that salvation is realized both now and not yet. We’ve seen that in a few different ways. And then last time we looked at that in regards to specifically the theme of the kingdom of God. And now today we look at that again and trace out the same story, only as it is tracked in Scripture under the theme of creation and new creation. Creation and new creation.

We begin with Genesis chapter 1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness, and God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning the second day.

And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind on the earth.’ And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning the third day.

And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. And God set them up in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning the fourth day.

And God said, ‘Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.’ So God created great sea creatures and every living creature that moves with which the waters swarm according to their kinds and every winged bird according to its kind and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth.’ And there was evening and there was morning the fifth day.

And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things, and beasts on the earth according to their kinds.’ And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them, and God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heaven, over every living thing that moves on the earth.’

And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.”

And as you are aware, we will not take time to read, but as you’re aware, chapter two then gives us a zoom-in. It finishes the week with the seventh day and then gives us a zoom-in of the sixth day showing God’s creation of man and the restriction that is placed on him. Let’s bow together for prayer.

Our Father, we are thankful that you are the great Creator God that we read of here in this book that is from you. We pray that you would help us to understand; expand our minds to see your greatness and to see your purpose for this earth and for creation and for history. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.

You’ve heard me say it before, that the Bible begins where it does, not simply for chronological reasons. Now it makes great sense to start where it does for chronological reasons, and I’m sure that’s involved. It’s somewhere better to start than at the beginning. But as you read through it, in fact, you scarcely get past, “In the beginning, God,” or “In the beginning, God created.” You scarcely get past that and you realize that Moses, in writing this for us, is not starting here simply for chronological reasons, but he’s starting here for theological reasons. He is not setting out simply to tell us an order of events. He is starting out where he does to tell us something about God and to establish a right frame of reference from the beginning.

In fact, it seems—and many have argued this, I think it’s right to see this in its historical context—this is intended probably as a polemic on Moses’ part to show the greatness and the power of God as over against the powerless idols and so-called gods of the nations around them. Here’s the God who speaks and things appear. Here’s a God who makes the worlds according to his own will. Here’s the God who, unlike the gods of so many of the pagan nations around them, is not the product of the universe. But the universe is of his making. He has made it all according to his own will. It’s probably intended to refute the polytheistic cosmologies of the day.

And here we have presented for us the entire universe, the creation of the one true living God, the God of Israel. Every pretended deity, every creature that’s held up as deity—even the sun, the moon, the stars—all of it is just the handiwork of this one true living God. Everything, all that is, is his making and is therefore dependent upon him. There’s no dualism, no absolute philosophical dualism allowed. It is not God and this other power, but there’s God and everything else. And all of this “everything else” is what this God has made. There’s no confusing of the two.

And so God is presented as transcendent, not just great and powerful, able to do this, but transcendent above it all and reigning over all of it. And there we come to the point that he is the creator and therefore the king and therefore the ruler over all that is. He is a God also who is eternal. Because in the beginning he was already there and created all of this space-time continuum that we live in. And so he is not only eternal, he’s independent. He’s self-existent. He does not depend upon the world and all of these so many factors for his existence like we do. But he is the God of what the older theologians call the God of aseity. He exists a se, from himself. He exists from himself. He’s self-existent, independent of all of his creation. He reigns over it all. He made it all. He’s independent of it all. He precedes it all.

And all of this, Moses is building for us this framework of understanding reality, for understanding history and all that will follow. This is a transcendent God of all power who made everything that is, and therefore is king ruling over all of it. And we are meant, it seems, after reading through Genesis chapter 1, we are meant to be left with a sense of awe, a sense of wonder. What kind of God is this who can speak and worlds appear? And we’re also intended, it would seem then by contrast, to be left with a sense of smallness, even insignificance, a sense of dependence, and then more to the point, as it will develop, a sense of obligation to this God who made us and who rules over us.

As the creation account unfolds, we learn more about this God and about the created order. We learn that God is a God of order and a God of wisdom. He made everything—it’s repeated several times over—he made everything good. Evil is not a part of the original creation. He made everything good. All the needs of the creatures are met. There’s a beauty and a perfection about it all. There’s an orderliness about it all, a symmetry to it all, a comprehensive complementarity to it all. It all fits together so well, and all of the needs of all of the created order are met in the rest of the created order as God provides for all that he has created. And in fact, the whole thing is so well functioning, and it bears the unmistakable mark: made, designed, there is a creator.

And that’s the context then in which we come to day six in the creation of humanity. And humanity is introduced and the very first thing, the very first thing we must note with regard to humanity is that we are God’s creatures. Utterly dependent upon him and absolutely obligated to him. We are not autonomous beings. We are created beings. Created by God and therefore dependent on him and obligated to him. And the second thing we have to note about humanity as it’s created is that we are created in God’s image to reflect God’s glory in the world, to express his rule and dominion over the world, to spread his glory over all the world. And the creation mandate is given to humanity, created in God’s image: be fruitful and multiply, replenish, fill the earth and subdue it and rule over every dimension of it, spreading God’s glory, as it were, around the earth as his image bearers.

In creation we are reminded also of God’s kindness. It’s implicit in the pronouncement that he gives over and over: “God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good. God saw that it was good.” It’s implicit in all of that, but it’s also seen in the big picture that God creates this whole created order with a seeming self-functioning to it, all reflecting that it is made, but all fitting together so well in a complementary kind of way, all so perfectly well balanced and all in order, and God providing for all of his creatures. And when it comes to his human creatures, we see God’s kindness again. He creates man in his image. He gives him an abundance of freedom. And then he says, after he has made man, “It is not good. It is not good that man should be alone.” We have this wonderful picture of the Creator concerned for the creature and providing for him a wife to fulfill what was lacking in his fellowship. A God of glory, a God of transcendence, a God of kindness, a God of goodness.

And the Bible presents for us then here at the outset the whole context of reality, the whole context of history. Everything is set here in place, and this seems to be Moses’ purpose in starting where he does, to set the stage for all the rest of history that will follow. We have God, the Creator, the kind and benevolent King. We have the created order itself, fitted exactly to our needs, dependent upon God, blessed, good, orderly in every way. And then we have his human creatures, men and women, created in his image, dependent upon him, responsible to him, and again, blessed. That’s a wonderful picture then we have not just of the creation but of the God who made it and of this wonderful world, this wonderful world order that he set in place to reflect his own glory.

The Uncreation

And then we come to Genesis chapter 3 and the first challenge. And a sinister character is introduced to us: Satan, called here the serpent. More subtle and more cunning than any of the animals that God had made. He’s a creature; no dualism here, no equal opposing force. He’s a creature of God. We’re not told the details here; we’re given that later on in the story. But it must be assumed he is, even at the outset, he is one of God’s creatures. God has made everything else that is. And here this creature comes with a sinister plot to oppose God as God’s archenemy, to destroy this created order that reflects his glory, instead to ruin it.

And so he appeals to human pride. “Look how good this forbidden fruit is. It’ll taste great. It’ll make you wise.” And he instills and stirs up a false sense of autonomy. “Why should all of this world revolve around him? Why shouldn’t it revolve around you? Why isn’t your happiness supreme? Go ahead, choose what will make you happy. You are at the center of this universe.” Again, stirring these feelings of self-importance and of self-autonomy, all very contrary to reality. Because the fact still remains that God is the creator and we are utterly dependent upon him and absolutely responsible to him. But stirring these mistaken ideas of autonomy and self-importance and appealing to human pride.

And of course, Adam and Eve eat of the fruit. And in the aftermath, we have what we call the fall. The consequences of it all, the curse. And this disruption in all of the created order. Genesis chapter 3 outlines it in broad strokes for us. There is now Satan opposed to humanity, Satan’s seed against the woman’s seed. This conflict, and with all of that, all of the injustice and moral evil that comes into the world. He pronounces the curse, judgment, not only on Satan, but also on the woman. “Your desire will be towards your husband and he will rule over you”—the beginning of the battle of the sexes. And so now men and women are set at odds with one another. He pronounces judgment, a curse on the man himself and on all of the created order. “You’ll make your living, but you’ll make it by the sweat of your brow.” And there’ll be the resistance of the created order. Instead of this perfect harmony and perfect complementarity with it all, there’s going to be a resistance from the created order. And thorns will grow up and weeds and thistles and all of this to make your eating difficult because now you’ve got to weed it all out and get rid of it.

And with all of that implied, the whole created order is disrupted. And now we have storms, and we have tsunamis, and we have tornadoes, and we have floods. And the whole created order now is upset, in a sense ruined, because the created order itself is caught up in human sin and in the consequent curse. We have paradise, and then paradise lost. We have creation, and then sort of the uncreation. It’s all falling apart. And to this day, all of the created order is reeling from this curse that God pronounces in Genesis chapter 3. And all of the evil, both moral evil and what we call natural evil—suffering, sickness, storms. All of this is the result of human sin and the consequent judgment of God in pronouncing that curse in Genesis chapter 3. And all of the disruption in family unity, and all of the disruption of good against evil in this world. And all of the storms, and all of the disruptions of nature, and all of the natural evil that comes—all the created order is reeling from God’s judgment against human sin.

We come to Genesis chapter six through nine, and we have the account of the flood and of Noah. And it seems on one hand that this account is given simply to underscore this whole point of the uncreation or the decreation. And it’s all falling apart now. In Genesis 1, we have the waters originally set in their boundaries above and below the earth. And now we come to Genesis chapter 7, and we have the collapse of it all, and the windows of heaven are open, and the waters fall upon the earth, and the waters beneath the earth are surging upwards to the earth. And it seems to be this uncreation, a collapsing of the created order. We have in Genesis chapter 1 the creation of man and the kind of provision of God for man in all of his needs. And now we find in Genesis 6 through 9, God nearly wipes out all of humanity, save eight people, because of human rebellion and sin. It seems like the whole thing is collapsing and falling apart.

In Genesis 1 and 2, we find man created in God’s image and in perfect fellowship with God and enjoying communion with God. And now God comes against humanity in judgment because Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5 says God saw that the evil of man was great, that every thought and intention of his heart was only evil all the time. As one commentator has put it, the flood is the final stage in a process of cosmic disintegration that began in Eden because of human sin. And this accounts for all of the trouble that we see in this world, from the personal level to the family level to the society and community level, to moral evil, to natural evil, the upheavals of nature and all. We have creation now fallen under a curse, creation ruined. We had originally harmony, perfection, beauty, symmetry, and now disorder, disarray, danger, evil; from creation to the uncreation. Paradise, paradise lost. All because of human sin. And the created order itself, caught up in the consequences of human sin, falling apart under divine judgment.

As we read through the Bible, we find reflections of this further in the Psalms and in the prophets. For example, we find them referring to the seas, the oceans, and with all about them that is so frightening. The restlessness of the waters, the deep, the monsters of the deep. And all of that is symbolic, representing the turbulence and the unrest that marks all of the created order and the turbulence and unrest that marks humanity specifically. It’s like the raging seas tossed back and forth.

A whole book of the Bible is given to expounding the implications of the curse on the human pursuit. For all this world has to offer, the book of Ecclesiastes tells us, for all that it promises that looks so good and promises such happiness and such fulfillment—we go for it all and we go for all the gusto we can and under the sun we find it’s all vanity of vanities. Empty. It’s like chasing a soap bubble. You reach out to grab it and it’s gone. And there’s something about this created order that though it promises so much, it just doesn’t deliver.

Paul remarks on it in an important way in Romans chapter 8. He speaks of the created order as fallen into vanity, fallen into emptiness, the groaning of the created order, groaning with childbirth pains and labor pains, the whole created order groaning because of a curse. As I’ve heard it put before, I think in a fascinating kind of way, the whole created order is in the minor key. The low of the cattle, the sound of the wind, all of it expressing the groaning condition that has come about because of human sin.

A Hint Of Hope

Looking back again at Genesis 6 through 9 and the flood, we see also, though, a promise. A covenant promise that God made. It may have seemed that God was done with all of humanity and done with the whole creation itself because he has come to such measures to destroy it with the flood. Humanity itself and the world were overthrown with the waters of the flood. It may have seemed that God was done with it all, but God makes a promise and he hangs his bow, his archer’s bow in the sky to promise and to remind him of his promise that he’ll not do this again.

In fact, there’s more. There are some hints of hope as we read through the aftermath of the flood account in Genesis. In Genesis chapter 8, we have the separation again of the waters, reflecting the original creation of Genesis chapter 1. Again in chapter 8, we have the animals brought out of the ark again to repopulate the earth, again reflective of Genesis chapter 1 in the original creation. In Genesis chapter 8, we have the days and the seasons reestablished, again reflecting the original created order of Genesis chapter 1. In Genesis 9, we have humanity again blessed by God, again reflective of the original created order. Again in chapter 9, we have humanity commanded again to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and to rule over it all. A reissuing of the creation mandate, reflective again of Genesis chapter 1. In Genesis chapter 9, we have God providing for humanity with food, again reflective of the original creation in Genesis chapter 1. And we even have other parallels: the themes of sin and nakedness and rebellion and judgment occurring now after the flood with Noah and his children. And even after the sin and rebellion, again we have the note of curse on Canaan, but again the note of blessing: God blessing Noah and his family.

With all of that, we have a hint of hope. And certainly after you’ve read the rest of the story, you can look back at the Genesis account of the flood and see there’s certainly a note of hope that you just can’t miss. And God is going to preserve the created order. He’s made a promise that he’ll not destroy it. And you gotta think now, with all the reestablishing of the original creation, that God is still set out on his promise to bless. And yet, the root problem remains. We’re not quite through with the account of the aftermath of the flood in Genesis chapter 8, verse 21, and we find God repeating his assessment of humanity: man’s heart is evil from his youth. The thoughts of his heart are only evil all the time. And so we’re left with some kind of tension. There’s curse, and there’s the result of the curse that remains, and yet there’s hope. There’s still sin and the cause of all of this problem, and yet there’s a hint of hope as the story unfolds.

That hope is furthered when we turn the page to Genesis chapter 12 and following and we find God’s promise and his covenant with Abraham and he promises Abraham and his descendants a land, a land of their own in which they will be blessed and in which they will be a blessing to the whole world. We turn a few more pages and we come to Exodus and God brings Israel out of Egypt and makes them a nation, a nation of his own, a nation in which God dwells, a nation in which God is king. Ring a bell? A nation, a people, a land, an area where God is king, where God rules. And God has them establish the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies on the inside with the Ark of the Covenant. This is the throne room of God who reigns in Israel and who is Israel’s king. And in that tabernacle itself—and we’ll see this in later studies, in some of the furniture that’s adorning the tabernacle—we find reflections again and reminders of the way it was in Eden. We get the idea here again that God is moving back in. God is reestablishing a new order and a new people.

We come to the prophets and it’s interesting how they pick up this creation theme and how they deal with the creation. It becomes a metaphor as well. The creation and God’s original work of creation becomes a model, a metaphor, of what God will do again for his people in saving them and bringing them back out of exile. And then it becomes more than that. It looks ahead to a time of complete redoing of the whole world. And a new creation theme emerges where God will not only rescue his people, but God will restore the whole world and bring about a whole new created order. And in fact, that land promise to Israel and to Abraham seems to expand in the prophets, and it begins more and more to see that God has plans for the entire world.

The original creation becomes a model of a recreation, a new creation. Isaiah chapter 65 verses 17 and following is the most famous of these. I’ll just read it for you quickly. “Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth. No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, but they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord and their descendants with them. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food, and they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.”

A new creation, a new order, a new world order—a return to Eden, if you will, he says, is coming. Amos chapter 9 verse 13 reflects the same: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes, him who sows the seed. The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.” There are many passages in the Old Testament that reflect this same kind of thinking. I think I mentioned it last time. I love the way that Jesus reflects on all of this in Matthew chapter 19 when he speaks of the coming age as the regeneration. This thing is going to start all over again, a recreation.

And all of this is tied in the prophets to the “coming of God” theme—that God will come, he will break back into history, and he’ll reestablish this whole thing and bring about a new created order. And that’s where we find in the Psalms and in the prophets the figurative language of the trees clapping for joy and the mountains and the seas resounding with joy. Figurative expressions of creation finally being set free because it has been caught up in human sin and all the judgment of it. At last, when God breaks into history to rescue his people, the whole created order itself will rejoice in restoration, the new creation that God brings. And all of that is the Old Testament view, looking forward to what God will do.

The New Testament Perspective

And then we come to the New Testament. Let’s take time to look again at Matthew chapter 1. Keep your hand still in Revelation; we will get there. Matthew chapter 1 and verse one: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.” Now, if you happened to be reading this in Greek, and if you happen to have read the Old Testament in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, you would see that Matthew here has lifted some words out of Genesis and put them here in Matthew. Do you see what it rings a bell with? Think in terms of Genesis chapter 2 and verse 4, “the book of the generation of the heavens and the earth.” Or Genesis chapter 5 and verse 1, “the book of the generations of Adam.” We could even push it here a little if we wanted: “The book of the Genesis of the heavens and the earth,” “the book of the Genesis of Adam.” And now Matthew picks up that language: “The book of the Genesis, the book of the generations of Jesus Christ.” Is there the hint in all of this that now we’re looking toward a new beginning? A new beginner? A new Adam? Starting over with the created order?

And then we read on in Matthew chapter 1 and we have verse 21: “He shall save his people from their sins.” Not explicitly a creation or new creation theme, but it does address the root problem, doesn’t it? And you gotta wonder at this point, if he is coming to deliver his people and deal with this problem of sin, what will the consequences be for the whole created order?

In John’s gospel, chapter 1, Jesus is introduced as the Creator become incarnate. Again, there’s a hint. What implications will this have for creation, for new creation? Gospel writers record for us that Jesus, after his baptism, was immediately taken to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And again, there’s the reflection of this Adam theme. Adam was tempted in the garden and he failed. And Mark gives us an interesting difference. Mark notes for us in Mark chapter 1 verse 13 that Jesus in this wilderness of temptation was with the wild animals. In the note of danger, not with the advantages of Adam the first, but the Adam the second comes to do battle with Satan, and he’s already now in a fallen world with all of its dangers. And as he emerges triumphant over Satan in that temptation account, we begin to see this contrast coming together a little further. This new Adam wins. This new Adam defeats Satan. This new Adam does not sin. This new Adam is obedient. And we have to wonder again, if he is presented for us as a new Adam and a new beginning and he is successful over Satan in temptation and remains faithful to God, what implications will that have for the big picture?

And then we come later in the gospel accounts and we find Jesus introducing his ministry with the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” And you wonder, you wonder, is creation’s goal finally going to be accomplished? And we read further in the Gospel accounts, and we find Jesus performing miracles of all kinds: he turns the water into wine, he multiplies a boy’s lunch to feed a multitude with it. He heals the sick. He heals leprosy. He heals palsy. He heals blindness. A man with a withered hand is healed of that. He heals a man with epilepsy. He raises the dead. He casts out demons. He stills the storms. And in his casting out demons, he says explicitly, “This is evidence of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is among you.” And we have in all of these miracles these glimpses of a restoration, an in-breaking of a new creation in the gospel accounts, in Jesus’ working of the miracles.

And then we get through all of that, and we find Jesus going to the cross, the whole point of which is to show that he bore the sin of humanity and, taking our curse, died under the judgment of God. And surely it is no coincidence at all that it is pointed out for us in the gospel writers that they made a crown of thorns to put on his head. The very symbol of the curse made his as he goes to the cross to bear our curse and to take the judgment of God for our sin. And having exhausted the curse, the Lord Jesus is raised from the dead and himself enters into the new creation. That’s what Revelation says about him in Revelation 1 and Revelation 3. He’s the firstborn from the dead who is the beginning of God’s creation—the beginning of God’s, we could insert, new creation.

And then we find the ascension. He ascends back to heaven, and Peter comments on that in Acts chapter 3, and speaks of Jesus, whom the heavens must receive until—get it—until the restoration of all things. And then we read through the book of Acts how the word of Christ goes out, the gospel goes out, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name. And the creation mandate now is transformed. It’s no longer simply “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it,” but because of human sin another factor has been introduced. The creation mandate now becomes, in Jesus’ words: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” You’ll be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth, as God now spreads his image and re-images humanity after Christ throughout the world through the gospel. And as the gospel goes forth, men and women are reclaimed for the glory of God, spreading his glory around the world as the original creation mandate was given.

And as these men and women individually are reclaimed, one by one, we have different kinds of vocabulary describing what happened. It’s described in terms of rescue: they are saved. It’s described in terms of converting: turning, turning back. It’s described in terms of sanctifying. And one of my favorites: it’s described in terms of arrest, being placed under arrest. That’s Paul’s language in Philippians—apprehended by Christ. Men and women, one by one, apprehended by the Lord Jesus and made his and restored. And the gospel advancing throughout the earth and God’s purpose for this new creation is starting to happen.

We also see these conversions one by one described not just in terms of rescue and of apprehension or arrest, but we find these conversions described in terms that are reminiscent of Genesis chapter one. I wish we had time to go there—Second Corinthians chapter four. Paul gives this exactly: the gospel is hid to those who are lost; the god of this world has blinded their minds. But the God who caused the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to make us see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ is glorious is objectively true. It is obviously true. But it is hidden from the sin-darkened mind of humanity. And they don’t see it. They look at Jesus and they see something else. And they don’t appreciate him for who he is. But just as in the original creation, God sovereignly and irresistibly shined into this world he’s creating to make light, so also he has shined in our hearts to make us see what we didn’t see before: the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, a new creation at work.

And in fact, that’s exactly the language Paul picks up in the next chapter, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, a verse you all know well: “If anyone be in Christ, he’s a new creation.” And Paul describes it in terms of his own experience. “I used to judge people in a certain way. I judged Jesus in a certain way. But now in Christ, I see it all very differently.” A new creation. A whole new state of affairs has resulted from my encounter with Christ. And brothers and sisters, that’s your testimony. That’s my testimony. We’re not done giving our testimony until we talk in those kinds of terms—that everything’s different. Everything’s new. Old things have passed away. Old things have become new. A new creation. We’ve entered it. We’re there. And really, we can’t adequately describe our own experience until we begin to talk in those kinds of terms—that God has made us all over again. Created, that’s Paul’s word, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

And yet, and yet, we live in this present evil age. The world, the whole created order is still fallen. There’s still thorns. There’s still storms. There’s still evil, natural and moral. And in fact, we struggle in our own minds with that, don’t we? Temptation to sin is still there. We still entertain thoughts that we shouldn’t. We still do things that we shouldn’t. We still say things that we shouldn’t. And the whole created order is still fallen. The curse is still evident. There’s still sickness. There’s still disease. There’s still death. There’s still injustice. We all sense that all things have become new. And when we read that in Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 5, we get it. All things have become new. Old things have passed away. We get it. It speaks to our experience. There’s been a real change. And in fact, people all around us notice it. They’ll say it about us: “Those people are different.” They might not say it in the kindest of words. They might say, “You’re weird.” But they notice, and they’ll even say it in terms like, “They’re not like the rest of us. They’re made of a different stuff.”

And yet we live in this fallen world of sin and disruption and decay and disorder. And at the same time, we experience the new creation. We’re caught between two creations, two world orders. We’ve tasted, as the New Testament tells us, we’ve tasted of the powers of the age to come. There’s salvation now, and salvation not yet. A new creation, and yet we’re still in the old creation. And so although we are men and women made new, the epistles now in the New Testament still, even though they proclaim that we are a new creation, the epistles still echo the prophet’s hope of a new creation still coming. I mentioned Romans chapter 8. It’s one of the big passages in this regard where Paul speaks not only of a groaning creation, but it speaks of the creation groaning, waiting, waiting. And you remember what it’s waiting for? Waiting for the revelation of the sons of God. Caught up with us in our sin, the whole created order is waiting for our own restoration. That is the redemption of the body. And when we are finally caught up in the ultimate of new creation, all of the created order will come about with it.

Again, I would like to take time to look at some of these passages, but I’ll just mention 2 Peter 3, verses 10 and following: “According to his promise, we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” And of course, all of this comes to a grand climax in the book of Revelation. And here the metaphor becomes a bit mixed. It’s still creation and new creation, but it’s also the tale of two cities. You have Babylon and the New Jerusalem. And Babylon finally succumbing to the New Jerusalem. Of course it comes to a happy climax in Revelation chapter 19 when Jesus is depicted in wonderfully graphic apocalyptic language as coming on a white horse with a sword coming out of his mouth and wearing crowns expressing his rule and coming to take charge of all of history and of this world.

And now I’ll have you look—I promised we would get back—look at Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21, beginning with verse 1: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea was no more.” Remember what we saw that was symbolic of in the Proverbs? “The sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. For the former things have passed away.’ And he who is seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.'”

And then turn over to chapter 22. Chapter 22. And I want you to note here the echoes of Genesis 1 and 2. “Then the angel showed me the river of water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life”—ring a bell?—”the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruits, 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.”

And you can’t miss that there’s something here of a return to Eden. Only it’s more than that; it’s not just return to Eden, it’s sort of a back to Eden and beyond. Paradise, paradise lost, paradise regained, and then some, is the idea. The New Testament perspective then is that in Jesus Christ, in our experience in Jesus Christ, the age to come has come. The new creation has broken into the old creation and there’s a radical transformation of all that we are. We are not the people we used to be. A whole new state of affairs and yet pervasive as that transformation is, it’s just a preview of a full glory and it is just our individual experience in the whole new creation that God will bring about through Jesus Christ who has come and himself taken the curse, and having exhausted the curse, has emptied it of its claim on us and of the created order. Amen. Let’s bow for prayer.

Our Father, we thank you for this happy prospect that we have. We’re grateful for the great experience we enjoy in Jesus Christ. We love to reflect upon how you have made us over in him. We marvel at the difference in our own hearts, and yet we long for that day when it’ll all be complete. We thank you for that hope, and we ask that you would hasten the day of coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.