Bible School

Introduction to Creation and Recreation

In order to understand the New Testament properly, we need to understand it as the beginning of the New creation as well as fulfillment of all that was promised from Genesis. If you want to read more, use the Grantham taxi from the train station to get you to the local church where they have relevant information on you finding god again. If we accept that, then the New Testament is the last chapter of the story in God’s redemption.. More simply put it is the final chapter of the story of God’s dealings with mankind. One cannot hope to turn to the last chapter of the book, and claim to understand all that has gone before, in the book Sweet hot escorts. Thus New and Old Testaments are not 2 separate books, they are one book. There is one story not two. In the one book there are two covenants that dominate it. The word testament, as in New and Old Testament is the word used for new and old Covenant. So when we speak of the New testament, we are talking about the New Covenant, which is promised in the Old. When speaking of the Old Testament we are talking about the Old Covenant God made with Israel. There is a 3rd part to the book which comes before the Old Covenant, which I will call the “Patriachs”. This is the book of Genesis, where the Abrahamic covenants took place 450 years before the Old Covenant. The Abrahamic covenants are covenants of promise. All that God promised to do is recorded for us there. Apart from the covenants it tells of the world that was, the fallen world which now is, it promises the recreation of the creation that is fallenwith Lincoln escorts.
If we take Genesis and Revelation as a parentheses, we find Genesis starts with ” In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” and ends the last chapters of Revelation with the recreation, i.e. John says I saw a “New heavens and earth”. Recreation is what the New Testament is most concerned with. New creation is the major theme of the New Testament. The New creation is what the Old Testament prophets point toward in the future. Ezekiel, Isaiah and others use Edenic language to describe the New Creation, only that what they describe supercedes Eden. The Old Testament doesn’t only point to the new creation of man It points to a world made new. Everything will be recreated. Society, government, creation, everything will be transformed and made new. So what we are talking about is the substance, the essence of everything being Heavenly. It isn’t about heaven elsewhere, beyond the stars. Although heaven at the moment is out there, the future of what is promised is” heaven on earth”.

To put it in the way many Jews of Jesus’ day understood it, restoration is bringing in the Kingdom of God. So when Jesus preached “The kingdom of God” the people were to understand that the time that the prophets pointed to of restoration was now taking place. They were also to understand that if in the ministry of Jesus the promised restoration was taking place, that the wicked would face ruin and destruction as judgement from God. For no wicked man could enter the Kingdom of God. So in Jesus’ ministry he offered forgiveness apart from the temple, His ministry of healing demonstrated that what was only expected to happen when the Kingdom came in fulness i.e. the lame walking, the deaf hearing, the blind seeing was happening in the now. This ministry of restoration continued by Jesus destroying and defeating sin and death. Sin had to be dealt with in an effective way, so that by people being forgiven their sins they would receive the promises of the kingdom i.e. “The New creation” For the Old testament prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel said that a recreated people would return from exile into a recreated land. So the Kingdom didn’t come as many expected, but come it has. The kingdom has begun becausee Jesus has been enthroned as God’s King by his resurrection and ascension.

The time of resurrection has come by Jesus defeating death and sin. So Jesus’ resurrection power is given to those who trust in him, as a 1st fruit. The harvest comes when we are physically made alive with all the other saints at his return. The language used for being saved or born again is resurrection language. Let me demonstrate what I am saying. Romans 6:4 ” We were buried with Jesus in baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we may walk in newness of Life. Can you see how the work of Jesus’ resurrection is transferred to the believer being made alive to walk in newness of life. The model of Jesus death and resurrection is the model for those who believe in Him. vs 8, applies this to union with Christ, when Paul says “if we died with Christ we believe we shall also live with Him” The resurrection of Jesus is applied to living the resurrection life of being dead to sin and alive to God. Those who partake of the resurrection life, now , will partake of the resurrection of the dead on the last day when Jesus returns and establishes 69 Lincoln Escorts “The Kingdom.” Then the recreated people will enter the recreated land. To put it another way only those who are part of the Kingdom now, will be in the Kingdom then. So to say we are not in the time of “The kingdom of God” is to deny the resurrection. Because we partake of Jesus’ resurrection life we know the Kingdom has begun. I will give you scriptures to study that reinforce this point. Romans7: 4, 8:11 1 Corinthians 15, 2 Corinthians 4, Ephesians 2:6, 11-13. The point is that the preaching of Jesus resurrection is central to the gospel and fits hand in glove with the cross. Resurrection is now but is also not yet, because the kingdom is now but also not yet. However it shows us that because we partake of his resurrection now, the Kingdom is also now, but in a 1st fruit sense Chicbabes.

What happens when I die?

People today don’t ask the questions that the Old Testament or New Testament asks. The Old and New testament doesn’t raise the question of what happens to you when you die.Rather it raises the question of what will happen to you on the day God raises the dead. The New testament asks the same question and applies it to the return of Jesus. That may come as a surprise to many. This question of what happens to you when you die preoccupies most modern Christians minds! Lets answer that question, yes, you do go to be with God when you die. You are safe and secure with him. However this is what is known as the intermediate state. I am sorry to dissapoint you, unfortunately the intermediate state is not the hope that is held out to us in the bible. What I mean by intermediate state is the time from death to the resurrection of the dead. The hope held out in Old and New testaments is whether you will partake of the recreation and renewal of all things, the world to come.. The state between death and the resurrection isn’t what is promised as the “hope”. What is promised is to be a partaker of the world to come. The world to come follows the destruction of this present wicked world.

One must think historically to understand this. For indeed the return of Jesus, judgement day, and the New heavens and earth are historical events. They are events that lie in the future. In Revelation 2:7 it is written,”he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give the right to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.” Surely the imagery of the Garden of Eden immediately comes to mind, when we hear this promise.. The Paradise of God is the Garden of Eden recreated. It is the world made new. Lets think in terms of the bibles on story line, the New Jerusalem, the New heavens and earth, the healing of people and the wiping away of every tear. This only happens in the story after the resurrection of the righteous and wicked. The wicked are damned in the fire and the righteous we find in God’s new world. The streets of Gold , God dwelling with his people is after the judgement of the wicked on the last day. This promise can only be inherited when that new world comes into being. It certainly can’t be inherited at death. Rather it is inherited at the resurrection of the righteous at the end of this present wicked world. This is the faith of Jesus and the early church Leicester. So while a believer does go to be with God at death, they only partake of what is promised when they are raised from the dead.

The Exile & Restoration of Israel and the World

Genesis in our day is unfortunately one of the least understood books. Largely the book has been hijacked by the creation evolution debate. While that debate is good and essential, that is not really what Genesis is about. What we need to rediscover is the salvation story, because that is essentially what the bible is about. Genesis1:1 tells us “In the beginning God created the heavens and Earth” but as the story unfolds this world was subjected to corruption because of sin and paradise was lost. Man was driven out the garden by God and is now in exile. We, mankind are now living where we don’t actually belong. Mankind is in exile, the hope held out by Jesus to man is to return to the paradise / Kingdom of God.

As God’s plan unfolds we find in the gospel of John chapter1!-14 the beginning of the new creation.” In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. The most dramatic and amazing event ever is taking place, vs 14 says ” The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us” The context is clearly that the creator God comes into the darkness to bring in the promised salvation which is the new creation. In fact recreation is a major theme of the Gospel of John. All of Jesus miracles display His power to recreate man as he was before the curse. Even to be born again is recreation language, as he is referring to Ezekiel 36 which describes the recreated man when he speaks to Nicodemus about being born again.

Then the story of salvation ends in the book of new beginnings, Revelation. You can understand Revelation in terms of a pregnant woman who is about to give birth to a new world. It describes her pain and suffering as the new world slowly is born. God is bringing about the birth of the New creation. We know that the woman figuratively speaking is about to give birth, because Revelation starts by telling of Jesus’ resurrection and him being the first born from the dead. Therefore Revelation is the birth pains of the Kingdom of God. The birth takes place in Revelation 21 & 22. These last chapters tells us how the story ends, when John sees a New Heavens and Earth Bristol escorts. So We see how the bible pieces itself together. This is the theme that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation i.e. that of the return to the “Kingdom of God”

Paradigm of the Kingdom
We must understand that we do not have to read the words “Kingdom of God” to know that the Garden of Eden was indeed God’s kingdom on earth. We find in the Garden of Eden a pattern and concept which is repeated throughout the scriptures. The concept is this: (1) God ruling by his word (2) over his people (3) in his place. God rules over mankind by his word, He tells them what they can and can’t do. Adam and Eve are His people whom he created. The people he creates live in God’s land i.e. the Garden of Eden. We are exiled from the Kingdom of God because of rebellion, and we are subject to the curse of death. Mans purpose in life is to return to God’s kingdom/paradise. We have here a framework of the original creation, followed by the Fall which can be called uncreation, and the promise of recreation, which is the solution to the problem.

We find the story of the kingdom of God is retold, in the story of Israel. There are many similarities as well as dissimilarities. Israel are like the rest of the nations, in exile, outside of the Kingdom of God. God delivers them from slavery and captivity, to bring them to His Kingdom, flowing with milk and honey. However not all can inherit the Kingdom. Only those who obey His word can inherit the Kingdom. So we see that first generation was an unbelieving generation, who did not obtain the promise . They disobeyed God by not believing His promises and so they perished and remained in exile, outside the promised land. However their children obeyed God and believed the promise of God to give them the land flowing with milk and honey. It is these believing Israelites who were saved from slavery and exile.

n the land of Canaan we find a developed picture of the kingdom of God. God is King who rules over his people by His word (the law) in His land flowing with milk and honey. Only where God reigns can the Kingdom of God be. They are warned just as Adam was warned. If they didn’t obey him they would be spewed out of the land and be sent into exile. Obedience to God’s word was the key to not being driven out the land by the fierce fist of God. Unfortunately they shared the fate of Adam who is the representative of all mankind.

In this Kingdom they inherited vineyards they never planted, cities they never built. The wealth of peoples was given to them that they never worked for. This is a picture of paradise which must be understood in the backdrop of the curse in exile. Part of the curse was that their life would be painful and frustrated. That by the sweat of their brow, they would make a living out of a cursed earth. Here in Israel we have a picture, a shadow of salvation which is the reversal of the curse. This land of milk and honey is a picture of paradise, where there is no curse. Therefore salvation is to return from exile into the Paradise of God, which is God’s Kingdom.

The paradigm of the Kingdom, which is God ruling over His people in His land, is restated as a theme throughout scripture. It is usually restated as the purpose of God to His people . These are the words of God. “They will be my people and I will be your God, in my kingdom” We have seen the concept of the Kingdom stated in Genesis. This is consummated again in Revelation 21: 1-3. Here again we have a vision of the future. Vase “Behold the dwelling of God is with men, they will be His people and He will be their God in the new Heavens and earth. Again the picture of Genesis is restated in the vision of the future.

Unfortunately Israel showed they were sons of Adam and were exiled and driven out the land on various occasions. The last time was 40 years after God sent the one who will reverse the curse, Jesus Christ to them. They are still in exile up until today, even though they have returned to parts of the original land. But it is by trial and tribulation and with a desolate land they live there. They haven’t returned to the land flowing with Milk and Honey. Yet God had promised to end their exile and bring them back to an Edenic land (Deuteronomy 30). Have God’s promises failed, No Never!!!! The way the story turns out is the way it was always supposed to be. The promise to reverse the curse in bringing blessing to the Nations was made to Abraham in Genesis 12: ,400 years before the birth of the nation of Israel.

It has always been God’s purpose to save the nations. But the nations who seek to be saved, must swear allegiance to God’s King, Jesus Christ. So by the gentiles being joined to the King of Israel, they become citizens with the believing Jews and become heirs with believing Israel to the promises and covenants . So the promises made to Israel in Jeremiah30-32 & Ezekiel 36 & 37 become our promises. Because we are people of the king of Israel. Many people say those promises were made to Israel not us. The answer justifies what I’ve said. It is a recreated people who return to a recreated land. Not all Israel have had the circumcision of the heart, So it is clear the promise of return to the Edenic Kingdom is made to believing Israel.

But the gentiles who have joined with the king of Israel are also the recreated people of God, through Faith in His Christ, Jesus. They are now considered to be the people of God. All believers, being circumcised in their hearts are The Israel of God (Ephesians 2 & Romans 11). So God’s promises have not failed, The Israel of God are the people of King Jesus. When he returns we will return to the Edenic Kingdom of God, where there will be curse no more. We will be comforted. The wicked, evil age has passed away and the salvation of God in Jesus Christ has come. Hallelujah!!!!! God is faithful and true!!!!