Limapela Education Project
Faith in Action
This project aims to provide quality education to children in Zambia's Copperbelt Province.
Many Christians have a truncated view of salvation and of the scope of Christ's redemptive work. But the Bible presents Christ as the Lord of all creation, and our ultimate destiny as participating in Christ's renewal of the whole creation. In this penultimate message in his series on biblical prophecy, preached at Greyfriars' Classical Service on 17 May 2009, Rob Yule expounds the thrilling vista with which the Bible ends - the rejuvenation of all things that will occur when God changes his address and indwells his creation.
Biblical prophecy reveals the ultimate destiny of the whole creation, because it is the revelation of the Creator to his creatures explaining his purposes, direction and outcome for his creation. This issue of our ultimate destiny is of supreme importance, because it demonstrates God's ability to accomplish our salvation, bring justice to the world and complete his purposes in history.
Jesus is 'the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end' (Revelation 21:6). Because he is 'the living one, the Almighty', the eternal God 'who is and who was and who is to come' (Revelation 1:8, 18), he is the one who holds the key to the origin and outcome, the derivation and destination, of all things.
Because Christians often forget that the redeeming work of Christ relates to the whole cosmos, I would like to quote two authors on this point, one contemporary and one classical.
Lance Lambert, a contemporary Messianic Jewish Bible teacher, says:
'In the person of the Messiah both the work of creation and the work of redemption are centred. The Lord has not laid aside the original design which he had when he created man and the universe but intends to fulfil it precisely as planned; and it is in its fulfilment that his plan of salvation and his eternal purpose are combined. In fact, the work of salvation, which our Lord Jesus accomplished through his death on the cross, is the means by which God re-introduces mankind to his original purpose. It is sad when believers understand only his saving work, as if that were his goal, and have little or no understanding of his eternal purpose.' (Till the Day Dawns: The Relevance of Biblical Prophecy, Eastbourne, Sussex, Kingsway, 1982, p. 49).
The unity of creation and redemption was also emphasised by the fourth century Christian theologian Athanasius, in a brilliantly simple book he wrote in his youth:
'The first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the self-same Word who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the one Father has employed the same agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word who made it at the first.' (On the Incarnation [c 318], §1
Too many Christians ignore the created world. But the world is God's creation, God's project. He is not going to allow its damage and destruction by sin and evil to have the last word. Redemption is God's way of restoring his fallen world and ourselves as his fallen humanity to the original purpose and destiny he had in mind when he created us.
Jesus is not only the origin and goal of creation, he is the origin and content of prophecy. The Bible ends with a series of seven prophetic visions inspired by what the writer of the book of Revelation calls 'the spirit of prophecy' (Revelation 19:10). Each is introduced by the words, 'And I saw…' (Revelation 19:11, 19:17, 19:19, 20:1, 20:4, 20:11, 21:1).
Prophecy is not of human origin It is the inspired revelation of the One who is both Lord of history and 'Lord of the spirits of the prophets' (Revelation 22:6, 16, cf. 2 Peter 1:21).
We only know with certainty these future events and our ultimate destiny because Jesus, 'the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.' (Revelation 22:6, 16). God has unveiled these mysteries, he has pulled back the curtain on them (the original meaning of the word apocalypse, 'to unveil', 'to uncover', or 'to reveal').
Jesus is not only the revealer of prophecy. He is himself the fulfiller of prophecy. He fulfils the messianic prophecies about the coming Messiah or world ruler who will be born of kingly line of David.
He comes from David's line: 'I am the Root and Offspring of David' (Revelation 22:16). He is the Messiah anointed to rule the nations: 'The government will be on his shoulders' (Isaiah 9:6). His government will increase and have no end: 'Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.' (Isaiah 9:7). 'He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever.' (Isaiah 9:7).
Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon, and therefore the most beautiful object in the night sky. Jesus is compared to Venus, the bright and beautiful morning star (Revelation 22:16), whose light precedes the dawn of day. The light of the age to come already shines for those who acknowledge Jesus.
Since Jesus is the 'Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End', since prophecy sheds light on the meaning of all creation and all history, it is instructive to look at how the last three chapters of the Bible portray the consummation of the space-time universe. Even a physicist has much to reflect on in this passage!
Many people think the Christian hope is that we will spend eternity in heaven. Many popular views of the future are more influenced by Greek philosophy rather than by Hebrew prophecy. According to the vision that ends the Bible, we will spend eternity in a renewed earth! 'I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.' (Revelation 21:2).
In the biblical view of the future even God changes his address - from heaven to earth! 'I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with human beings, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he will be their God."' (Revelation 21:3).
As David Pawson puts it, 'human beings have not gone to heaven to be with the Lord for ever; he has come to earth to be with them for ever.' (Unlocking the Bible, London, Harper-Collins, 2003, p. 1323).
There is only one other reference to God on earth in the Bible - when he took his evening walk with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8).
The garden will become a city. The Bible begins in the Garden of Eden and ends in the City of God.
There is room for everyone: it is over 2,000 kilometres in each of three dimensions, a cube that would just fit into the sphere of the moon.
It is described as a garden city, like no other. A river flows from the throne of God down the middle of its main street. The tree of life grows on each bank, bearing a different crop each month, and its leaves have medicinal qualities that will bring health and healing to the nations! The ground will no longer be cursed. Creation will no longer suffer from its bondage to decay. There will be no street lamps, for there will be no night, and the glory of God will give light to all of the inhabitants of the city.
You'd better believe it. No other prophecies in the Bible are attested by an angel: 'These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.' (Revelation 22:6).
The voice from the throne announces, 'I am making everything new!' The Bible ends with what Jesus called the palingenesia - the 'renewal of all things' or the renewal of all creation (Matthew 19:28).
The Bible begins with the tragic story of human disobedience - how sin, evil, death and destruction entered God's world. The Bible ends with a series of visions of how the fallen creation will be renewed to a state even more splendid than it was in the beginning.
The curse which brought frustration to all creation will be removed. The tree of life symbolises how the presence of God's life in the midst of creation will renew and rejuvenate all of creation. There will be no more sorrow, and pain and tears will be ended.
There will no longer be needed the light of the sun and the moon, because God himself will be our light - the radiance of his glory will irradiate and energise all things.
At present the universe is exposed to deterioration and decay, the result of God's withdrawing his presence because of human sin. Ultimately, this is the root cause of our earth's tragic environmental crisis.
But when heaven comes to earth and God dwells in the midst of his creation, the presence of God's life will rejuvenate the world, reversing decay and environmental degradation.
In the glorious words of the Shorter Litany, what was cast down will be raised up, what had grown old will be made new, and all things will be brought to perfection through Christ who made them.
Paradise will be regained, prose will become poetry, trees will clap their hands, the wolf will lie down with the lamb, death will be no more, sorrow and sighing will flee away, and the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
Adam and Eve were excluded from the garden of Eden because of their disobedience. The book of Revelation tells us that people will be excluded from the garden city of God, the new Jerusalem, for exactly the same reason.
There are whole classes of people living sinful and selfish lifestyles who will be excluded from citizenship in God's city. The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts and involve themselves in the occult, those who worship idols and tell lies, will not inherit God's kingdom (Revelation 21:8). Have you repented of such wicked practices and turned from such depraved lifestyles? If not, you are excluding yourself.
Think on this checklist:
Is your name written in the book of life (Revelation 20:15)?
Is your life free from gross sin (Revelation 21:8, 22:14-15)?
Are you an 'overcomer', not compromising your faith with worldliness and sensuality, but living a courageous and victorious Christian life? (Revelation 20:7)
If you can check these boxes you can look forward with confidence to being a citizen of God's super-city.
Rob Yule, 17 May 2009
© 2009, Greyfriars Presbyterian Church
