THE THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURELECTURE EIGHT: NEW CREATION

New Creation

The Metanarrative

Creation Fall Israel Jesus Church New Creation

The Metanarrative

Creation Fall Israel Jesus Church New Creation

New Creation

The idea of a totally renewed creation does not begin in Revelation 21-22.

•Other texts?

- Isa. 65; 66

-2 Cor. 5.17

Isaiah 6517 “See, I will create

    new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered,

    nor will they come to mind.

18 But be glad and rejoice forever

    in what I will create,

for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight

    and its people a joy.

19…the sound of weeping and of crying

    will be heard in it no more.

Isaiah 6620 And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. 21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord.

22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure.

2 Corinthians 5 (NIV, 2011)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5 (NIV, 2011)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The “age to come” now overlaps with “this age.”This is what it means to live in the “last days.”

New Creation

The idea of a totally renewed creation does not begin in Revelation 21-22.

•Other texts?

- Isa. 65; 66

-2 Cor. 5.17

New Creation

The created order and human “physicality” are redeemed in this new creation.

• If they were not, then God’s project of creation could be seen as a failure.

-Resurrection is essential: 1 Cor. 15

1 Corinthians 1520 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

[…]

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 1551 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet… we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 … then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

    Where, O death, is your sting?”[Hos. 13.14]

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

New Creation

The created order and human “physicality” are redeemed in this new creation.

• If they were not, then God’s project of creation could be seen as a failure.

-Resurrection is essential: 1 Cor. 15

-Key: What happened to Christ will happen to us, and the whole created order(!).

New Creation

The created order and human “physicality” are redeemed in this new creation.

• If they were not, then God’s project of creation could be seen as a failure.

-Resurrection is essential: 1 Cor. 15

-Key: What happened to Christ will happen to us, and the whole created order(!).

New Creation

The New Jerusalem; the New Creation:

•Rev. 21-22

Revelation 211Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

Revelation 214 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

14th century tapestry

New Creation

The New Jerusalem; the New Creation:

•“People as Place” (Gundry):

•We should not take the imagery too literally.

•What’s missing:

•Temple: God’s presence fills the whole creation.

•Sea: Symbol of chaos, evil (not merely calm)

•Darkness: For John, symbolic of dark deeds

New Creation

The New Jerusalem; the New Creation:

•Connections to Eden:

-Ep. of Barnabus: “God will make the end like the beginning.”

-River, East from Throne (Gen. 2.10; Ez. 47)

•Tree of Life:

•No longer any Curse

Revelation 221Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

The Metanarrative

Creation Fall Israel Jesus Church New Creation

The Metanarrative

Creation Fall Israel Jesus Church New Creation

Thanks for a great class:

Reminders

Complete Course Evaluation.

Final Grades

DOUGLAS FARROW

“Our choice is between a doctrine of the Ascension that truly affirms our humanity in Christ and one that secretly or openly denies it…Our future involves incalculable transformations, but a real man will be there, and a real garden too, though we know not what will grow there, or how.”

GREATEST LIVING SCHOLAR OF THE ASCENSION.