The Bible in 16 Verses: 11. "New Creation" Isaiah 65:17

The New Creation as the Climax of the Old Testament

So, as you can see today, we're going to be on the new creation and we are still in the time is coming. Today is going to be our last session in the Old Testament. We've gone through creation, Adam and Eve, human beings, the fall, redemption promised, Abraham, Judah the king, the Passover lamb, King David, the suffering servant, resurrection promised and today we're going to go through the new creation.

Next week, we'll finally get to the part we've been waiting for, everything that the Old Testament was pointing to, the time has come. We'll see fulfillment, the cross, resurrection, justification and glory.

So last week, the terms that we talked about were new covenant and new creation, alright. God started a new covenant or promised a new covenant to the house of Israel in Ezekiel chapter 36 and Jeremiah 31.

We talked about God breathing into the dead men's bones and bringing them to life so that they could live and that's all done by the breath or the spirit of God, raising dead sinners to new life. So the new covenant and new creation, this is our story so far.

God created a very good kingdom of which he is the king. He created human beings, his children to represent him in that kingdom and they were responsible to expand it. Through their sin, Adam and Eve rejected God's commission and rebelled against their father and creator yet God proved his covenant love toward them despite their unfaithfulness.

Very good did not turn into very bad, it just proved the character of who was always very good. There will be ongoing enmity between the offspring from now on but God promised a redeemer who will crush the head of the enemy and secure God's victory.

With this promise, very bad turned into very hopeful. Next, God chose Abraham, an idolater, to bring the seed through whom the covenant blessings will come to all the families of the world. Despite the sinful lineage of Abraham's family and specifically Judah's royal seed through David, God is still faithful to bring the covenant blessings to the world which would be ruled by a faithful king.

Because all people were guilty and deserved death, the blood sacrifices of the Mosaic law reveal more clearly their guilt and ongoing need for a substitute, the one suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Though the servant, through the servant and the work of the spirit, God would establish a new covenant and give lasting life to his people.

Isaiah's Vision of Holiness, Sin, and Cleansing

All right, so today our verse for the day is for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. The quote is fill your memory with the words of eternal life.

You will need them in the dark and lonely hours of life. Then they will shine out like stars. They will speak in the solitudes with infinite sweetness and power. When you recognize that in this world your life is but a vapor and know that you have eternal life in Christ Jesus and you're going to be reunited to him forever and a new heavens and a new earth, you have different perspective.

Things take on a different meaning. Okay, so one of the most amazing historical books written in the last few years has to be Laura Hildebrand's Unbroken. The book tells the story of Louis Zamparini, a 1936 Olympian and World War II bombardier.

His plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean and he spent 47 days fighting off hunger and sharks. He then was entered into a Japanese prisoner of war camp for two years. If you've read the book or seen the movie, you know that the story is almost too unbelievable.

It couldn't be a work of fiction because it would never have made it past the editors. However, it actually happened. I don't know if you've ever seen the movie or read the book. It's a good movie to see what this man went through and then how he comes to faith.

He actually came to faith in a Billy Graham crusade. So this is a story of perseverance and how God brings someone through to that point. When we're reading through the Old Testament, we're reminded of Zamparini's life.

Now I know the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus, not Zamparini, right? I get it. But just when you think there can't be another twist in the story or just when you think the characters are out of the woods, the bottom falls out again.

And that's what Zamparini's life is like. Once he gets rescued from being on the raft with the sharks, now he's brought into a Japanese prisoner camp and it just gets worse and worse and worse for the guy.

And the same is true of Israel, from not just Israel, from Adam and Eve to Noah to Abraham to David to Solomon to now with the prophets where they're being exiled from when the northern tribes were taken over.

The southern tribe, Judah, is being deported into Babylon. They're in a bad way. Isaiah, the son of Amoz, was the official scribe for King Uzziah. It's this noble man that God called to be a prophet and speak powerful messages to several kings in Judah.

In Isaiah's account of his call, the prophet describes seeing the Lord in heaven, enthroned and surrounded by seraphim, literally burning ones, who are ablaze with the fiery love of God. These seraphim sing the threefold sanctus, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

In fact, just for reference, Isaiah chapter 6, verses 1 through 5, it says this, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe is me, for I am lost. I am undone.

I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. I love the way Sproul describes this particular scene. He says first Isaiah had an upward vision.

He saw God. Then he saw himself in light of God. He had an inward vision. And then he saw the people outside of him. He had an outward vision. He says, Here am I, send me. So Isaiah looks up. He sees the holiness of God.

He looks in. He sees the sinfulness of himself. And then he sees other people in need of rescue, in need of contact with this God. In response to the glorious sight, Isaiah cries out, Woe is me, for I am lost.

I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Anybody relate right now? Is this not a picture of what's going on today? One of the seraphim takes tongs, grabs one of the hot coals from the heavenly altar of incense and puts the burning coal up against Isaiah's unclean lips, announcing, Behold, this has touched your lips.

Your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven. Wow. This painful burning prepares Isaiah to be a prophetic servant of the Lord, speaking his words to the people. Actually, it's Jeremiah who says, It's like a fire shot up in my bones.

But imagine hot coals touching your lips, how sensitive your lips are, and feeling that. Having experienced this burning, Isaiah can announce that Israel, too, will face such a trial and that she will be like an oak tree, burned so thoroughly that only a stump, only a remnant, will remain.

Isaiah employs the image of a stump, not only for the remnant of the people who remain faithful to God, but also for the few survivors of the line of David. Isaiah foretells that just as a tree is felled, appears dead, but will often shoot forth branches from its stump, so, too, from the stump of Jesse, David's father, one branch will survive, and from that branch will spring the Messiah, the Anointed One.

Discipline, Total Depravity, and God's Covenant Faithfulness

First, God disciplines those he loves. There are consequences for not living according to God's standard. Discipline is part of God's plan for his people. But our sinfulness does not stop God's plan. He continues to move his plan forward despite the sinfulness of the nation, of the people.

God is sovereign over all things, and he's going to work all things together for good for those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. That's not for everyone, though. Those blessings, that promise is for God's people only, not the people who reject his son.

The image of a stump speaks of the terrible chastisement of God's people, and particularly the house of David, will have to endure. The need for this, for which becomes evident during the reign of Jotham's son, Ahaz.

Much like Zemperini's story, after the fall, it looked like the defeat of the serpent might be around the corner with Abraham. Look, we've got one who's faithful. Through his line is going to come the suffering serpent, the anointed one.

But then his family ends up in slavery in Egypt. After the exodus from Egypt, God gave the people the law, the covenant, but they immediately broke it. Then God put David on the throne, and he and his son sinned against God and failed to keep the covenant perfectly.

And on and on and on it went. This is a picture of the inability of man to keep God's covenant, the inability of man to always do morally right. The T is true, total depravity is true. It doesn't mean that you are as depraved as you can be, but sin has touched every aspect of your life such that all your good works, all your good works are filthy rags before God, but for God and his grace.

But in the midst of all this, God was pointing forward to the solution to sin and death that he himself would provide. On the other side of that solution, God's people could finally look forward to returning to the blessings and joy of life in God's creation before sin crept into the picture.

The New Heavens and New Earth in Isaiah 65

So part of the new covenant is going to include a new creation, a renewed creation that is going to picture what it was like in Eden. In fact, Jesus quotes from one of Isaiah's sermons, and he says clearly that this is a direct prophecy about his listeners.

You hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men.

How often do we see Christian denominations, so-called Christian denominations, adding traditions that are unbiblical to the word of God and saying you must keep these traditions in order to get to heaven?

You need to believe that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven or your anathema. You need to believe that if you're wearing your scapula on the day you die, the Sunday after you die, Mary herself would descend from heaven into purgatory and bring you to heaven.

These are traditions that were added to the scriptures. You need to believe that Peter was the pope, and his successive line is also the pope, and you need to submit to that. You need to submit to the pope for your salvation.

These are all traditions added to the Bible that have no basis in scripture whatsoever and are rules taught by men. Reject those. So what's going on? What are we to make of these and other quotes? Here's a simple answer.

God's word is timeless. What applied in Isaiah's time is a word for Jesus' time and a word for ours also. These words are timeless. Yes, it has a specific audience that it was intended to, but we need to learn how to apply it, understand it in the context, and see how it applies to what we're doing today.

Sin hasn't changed. Salvation in Jesus hasn't changed. The old covenant people, Abraham had the gospel preached to him. The rock that was with them in the wilderness was Christ. The point is this. If you know the scriptures and understand them, you will believe on Jesus.

You will believe on the anointed one. You will believe on the one that God promised would come and crush the head of the serpent. Any questions? Everybody's tracking? We're okay? Good. To see this vision of what is in store for the people of God, we're actually going to backtrack a little and return to Isaiah's prophecies.

In the last part of Isaiah, we get a glimpse of what God promised his people once the curse is finally removed. For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

We're going to get a new heavens and a new earth. Last time, we saw that along with the new covenant, God's spirit would breathe into his people, starting with the suffering servant to give them new life.

But this new life would not stop with the human race. God promised a new creation, not just for human beings, but the entire earth. And Isaiah's prophecy paints a beautiful poetic picture of life in this new creation, the place where the wolf and the lamb shall graze together.

In other words, there will be perfect peace. No one will be at odds with one another. So who created the first earth? This is an easy question. God, okay. Thanks for responding all at once. That was terrific.

We're in church, right? Somebody, we use the Bible in the beginning, God. Okay. Who do you think can create the second earth? God. All right, you're getting better. We're following, tracking along. This is great.

But when he, God, spoke of the new heavens and new earth, God did not mean that he's going to throw the old creation out into the garbage. Instead, he promised to remake it, to renew it, to restore it.

If you remember back at the beginning of our journey, we saw God's strong commitment to his creation. It was called, when God created a thing, it was very good. Almost there. You almost had it. Very good.

Right? Genesis 1, he announced that it was very good. And even though the curse certainly changed it, the creation still reflects this proclamation in many ways. When we went out to the parade in Patchogue last week, those are image bearers of God.

They represent the pinnacle of God's creation. How dare we look down our nose or dishonor them, and in turn dishonor the God who created them? Right? We're to love our enemy as ourself. We stood in that same spot.

Maybe not their particular sin, but we each had our own. But for the grace of God, we would be parading for whatever sin it was that we hailed. Right? They're image bearers of God. Severely flawed, just like we were.

Now, in the new covenant, we're being put together. We're being molded and shaped into the image of God, the perfect Adam. Because God has such a strong commitment to his creation, we see here that he is not willing to cast it aside.

He will recreate it. 2 Peter. And this is what Peter is referring to. Right? But by the same word, the heavens and the earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

But according to his promise, we are waiting for the new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Now, there's no shortage of interpretations of this. All I can tell you is, for sure, this is not a literal fire, OK, wherein the earth is not going to be dissolved physically.

It's not going to melt and be burned. That's figurative language. When John the Baptist says, Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, that happened at Pentecost. Was it actual fire? Right?

It's the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the heart. So God's spirit is going to bring this about. This is figurative language. Now, how many of you here in this room are Christians? Everybody's? OK, good.

Are you a new creation? Yes. Were you completely destroyed first, physically? No. God took what you were and recreated it, regenerated you. Regeneration. It's the same thing with the earth. The earth is going to pass away, but it doesn't mean the entire globe physically is going to be gone and he's going to make a new one.

He's going to take the creation that he made that was very good and remodel it, which is what's happening right now. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. It's de-creation language and then re-creation language.

So what has to happen first in order for a human being to be regenerated? You need to be de-created. You need to repent of your sins, right? Have God's spirit breathe into you, and now you have a new heart and you're living for God.

Now you hate what God hates and you love what God loves, whereas previously you loved what God hates and hated what he loved. If we keep reading in Isaiah 65, we see that God's new creation will be the place where there is, one, eternal joy, two, no weeping or sadness, three, true and lasting peace, four, joyful fellowship with God.

That sounds great. That's what we're shooting for. That's why I say every weekend Long Island is Christ Island. And when I say Long Island is Christ Island, I mean it. But we have to do our part in bringing the kingdom to earth as it is in heaven.

We have to live in light of our creator, and we have to bring that message to the people around us and live a life that says thank you to God. In other words, God's people will finally experience and enjoy the covenant blessing, dwelling with God forever in its fullest.

This chapter paints a picture of what it will look like when God has fully defeated the serpent through the substitutionary sacrifice and spirit-empowered life of the suffering servant. The effects of the curse will finally and fully be eradicated.

Long before it ever happened, Isaiah's prophecies pointed forward to God's commitment to finish the work of redemption that he first promised in the garden. And we know he who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it.

He who promised he was going to crush the head of the serpent will crush the head of the serpent and ultimately cast him into the lake of fire. That's going to be the scope of history, from Genesis to Revelation to the end of history.

Notice the second part of verse 17. And the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. Like the first part of the verse, I don't think we should assume that this part is implying that the new creation will sever all ties between the world we live in now and the world to come.

It means that the pain, sin, and death that all came as a result of the curse will be wiped out. So how many of you had a broken bone growing up? Like you, you, okay, all right. How many of you still think about it today and be like, oh, this hurts so bad?

No one, right? At the time it happens, it was very painful. When is this going to end? All right, finally, after the bone gets healed and you move on, you rarely think about it. The same way, the pain and suffering and the trials that we go through here on this earth, when divided by eternity, are going to be dwarfed to zero.

You are going to be in the presence of God Almighty. No sin, no corruption, peace, in the presence of God himself. You are not even gonna think of the things that happened back here. Actually, if you do, you're gonna rejoice that God actually brought you through those things to where you are now because he's using those things all together for good.

All of the evil that the serpent did and wanted to accomplish will be cast aside. The pain of disease and death brought on as a consequence of sin won't be in the picture any longer. The new covenant promises fulfilled through the life-giving spirit will see to that.

We're gonna have new eyes. We're gonna see things through the spirit's eyes, which we do right now. As a born-again believer, you recognize that death is not the end. We're not afraid of death. We fight against it because it's the consequence of sin.

I don't wanna just say, oh, just jump into death. No, we should be railing against it because that was what the serpent brought into the world. We should be railing against it, but we're not afraid of it because we know where we're going to on the other side.

In this new creation, God's people will once again live with him in the land that he's giving them, but this new creation will not simply be a restored Garden of Eden. It will be much more. It will not just be a garden or even a nation stretching from Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Why? It will be the entire world. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. What's on the earth? How many continents? All seven and the continent of Long Island. I just renamed that. Long Island is Christ Island.

Get used to it. Don't leave. Don't leave. Stay with us. We're gonna win. In this prophecy, look, not the prophecy that I just gave. In this prophecy that Isaiah gave, it looks as if Isaiah was using Jerusalem and the new creation as synonymous terms.

What will be true of the new creation will be true of the new Jerusalem and vice versa. So here in Isaiah, the land that God promised to give his people is not just a nation, but actually the entire earth.

So God's promises get expanded. God promises Israel that they'll get the land of Israel. In other words, he promises them a good hamburger. In the new covenant, God promises you filet mignon. You get better than the hamburger.

You get more than what you deserve. We are getting the whole world, and not just the old world. We're getting a new creation, one in which peace and righteousness dwell, where God will be with us forever.

The Kingdom of God, the Nations, and the New Jerusalem

So does anybody remember way back when what God's kingdom is characterized by? I didn't think so. That's okay. All right, this shouldn't really surprise us about the earth. God promised that all of the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham.

Later, we learned that the seed of Judah would be a king who would receive tribute from the nations. Then God made clear that Solomon's temple was to be the place of prayer for the nations to come. God never intended his people to come from one family, one ethnicity, or one nation.

Revelation 5, 9, remember that. Jesus purchased from out of every tribe, tongue, people, and language, a people for himself. Adam and Eve, not Jewish. Noah, not Jewish. Abraham, not Jewish. Abraham's grandson, Israel, still not Jewish, right?

He would be one of the, he would give birth to Judah, who would be, that would become the tribe of Judah. That's how Jews are known. They are known because of the tribe of Judah. The 10 northern tribes are known as the lost tribes of Israel.

Judah was basically the only ones that survived, and they became known as the Jews, okay? So although God chose to bring the Messiah through the Jewish nation, the promise for salvation was for the entire world.

It was for people from every tribe, tongue, people, and language. So Israel is the chosen, are the chosen people for what? To bring forth the Messiah. And they were given the law, the covenants, the temple worship.

They were given all the indicators that would point them more clearly to the Messiah than we would understand. They should have known. When Jesus came, they should have recognized. This is what the prophets were pointing to.

Micah, out of Bethlehem will come one. Isaiah, the suffering servant. All of them pointed towards Jesus, and they rejected their Messiah, as we would have also had God not given us eyes to see. The last thing you wanna do is be condescending towards someone who doesn't see it, because we were blinded at one point too, right?

Pray that God would have mercy and open their eyes. Again, when we went into Patchogue, the statement I used was we're going on a rescue mission. We're not going to condemn. We're not going there to push people down and highlight their sin.

We're going to rescue them, because we were rescued by God's mercy and by God's grace, thankfully. Just as the fall of Adam and Eve plunged the entire human race into sin, God's solution to the fall also has universal effects.

The Old Testament is clear that no one nation, not even Israel, has an exclusive claim on God's promises. National borders will not contain his mercy. Even in the Old Testament, it is offered to all. In the new creation, his mercy will fill the earth as God lives among his people forever.

Anybody point me to some prominent Gentiles in the Old Covenant that were saved? Nineveh, right, the whole nation of Nineveh. Jonah's three steps into the nation, repent, the kingdom of God's at hand.

Boom, the whole nation repents, even the cows, it says. It's like, what? How about Rahab? How about Tamar, right? These are people who did not have exemplary lives. They're actually in the lineage of Jesus.

You're naming plenty of Old Testament Gentiles who were saved because they received the message and God gave them eyes to see and ears to hear. So it will be a new creation. And I know this is a little spoiler alert, but I can't help myself, right?

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Where do we hear those words in the beginning for the first time? Genesis 1 .1. It's no mistake that John starts off the first line of his gospel in the beginning.

This is the new beginning. This is the second Adam who's come to earth, okay, to begin to inaugurate the new creation. And here's how we know. In Matthew 2, Herod kills the firstborn. Very similar to what Pharaoh did to Israel in the desert, right?

And Moses survives. Jesus survives, right? He doesn't get killed by Herod. This is a recapitulation of Old Testament Israel. Matthew 3 .1 and 2. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent, for the kingdom of God is a long way off. I'm sorry. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Anybody tell me what at hand means? Now, thank you. These are not tough questions, guys. I'm not trying to trick you, I promise.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's now. Why? Because the last Adam is here. He's inaugurating the new creation and bringing it with him. He was not born from above. He came from above down, okay? Matthew 4.

Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted like Israel was led into the wilderness to be tested. Did Israel pass the test? No. Moses couldn't get into the promised land. Why? Because Moses represents the law.

John in chapter one will tell us the law came through Moses. Grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. The only way into the promised land, into heaven, and into the new creation is by grace. It's not by keeping the law.

Matthew 8. They brought to him many who were oppressed by demons and he cast out the spirits with the word and healed all who were sick. This fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.

Wow. He started casting out demons. Why? What did the first Adam not do? He didn't cast out the demon, the fallen angel that was in the garden. He was told, guard the garden. The moment Satan started talking to Eve, he should have said, whoa, whoa, get out of here.

You don't belong here. My father said, you're out. He allowed it to happen. Jesus now starts and everybody thinks, oh, he's, you know, there's these signs and wonders, ministries. They're still casting out demons.

Jesus was casting out demons to bring in the new creation. It was a sign that he had the authority to do it and the new creation, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why? Because the last Adam is casting the demons, the fallen angels out of the earth.

John 12, now this is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. Most people think that the devil is still in control of this earth. He has influence here, but he does not have control.

Why? Because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus. We go employed by Christ, empowered by Christ to go into the nations, discipling them and teaching them to do everything that he told us to do.

And guess what? He will be with you even to the end of the age. Matthew 19, 28, and Jesus said to them, truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration when the son of man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

Now, is Jesus seated at the right hand of God the father on the throne? What does that mean? The regeneration has begun. We use the term regeneration of our own salvation. We've been regenerated. So has the earth.

It's being regenerated, right? Where we have been sanctified, are being sanctified and will be sanctified. The earth has been sanctified. The spirit has been poured out on it. It's being sanctified and will one day be made new, perfect, complete, all right?

At the final consummation of all things. So Jesus brought in, inaugurated the new heavens and the earth. We're still in that process. He's ruling and reigning until his enemies have made a footstool for his feet.

Once that happens, he comes back and then it's over. Then it's the final judgment where the sheep and the goats will go to two different places. Matthew 28, and Jesus came and said, all authority, not some authority, all authority in heaven has been given to me.

Heaven and earth, all authority, all authority in heaven and not just heaven, all authority on earth has been given to Jesus. That's why we call him King Jesus. And we pray that people would one day bow the knee to King Jesus.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Revelation 21, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

So as we continue to proclaim the gospel and see more and more people come to Christ, we see figuratively heaven coming to earth. There's gonna, when Adam and Eve sinned, heaven was on earth, right? God was with them.

When they sinned, when Adam and Eve sinned, there was a split, a separation. With Jesus, he now is bringing the two together. And at a point in time, they're gonna overlap and one is gonna completely engulf the other.

That will be the consummation of all things when Jesus comes back, it's all over, okay? And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God.

Incidentally, if you're ever witnessing to a Muslim, you ask them, can God ever come to earth? Their answer is, no, he can't. Your next question to them is, well, then who was Moses talking to with the burning bush?

I am that I am. God came to earth and he promises that he's coming back. It's a big deal. As we transition from the end of the first part of our journey, from the time it's coming to the time has come, we need to step back and see the forest for the trees.

The Bible in 16 Verses: Creation to New Creation

It's been a long journey through the forest of the Old Testament, but we've seen 11 important trees that help us trace out the main story. In the pages of the Old Testament, the first 39 books of the Bible, we have the story of God's creation of all things, including the human race as the pinnacle of his creative work.

The tragedy of the fall ripped Adam and Eve along with all of their descendants out of the presence of God and brought death into the world. But God promised to crush the head of the serpent and so redeem his people and his creation from the effects of the fall.

So salvation includes not just the regeneration of human beings, but the regeneration of the entire earth. In his covenants with Abraham, Israel, and David, we see that God was committed to restoring the blessing of his presence among all the peoples of the earth.

Although sin and death kept rearing their ugly heads, the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the rest of the prophets revealed that God would finally and fully defeat sin and death through a suffering servant who would represent his people.

Then and only then would he renew and restore all creation, live among his people forever, and bring lasting joy and peace. And this is the principle of the kingdom. They ultimately would become God's people in God's place under God's rule, enjoying God's blessing.

That's a definition or description of the kingdom. God's people in God's place under God's rule enjoying God's blessing. We embrace God's law. The world looks at it as restrictive. It's not, this isn't good, this isn't fair.

Why do I have to obey? Why do I? We take God's law and we recognize that the law is based on two commandments. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

If we could do those two things, what would this world look like? We're gonna know what it's gonna look like because if you're a Christian, you're gonna be part of that. At this point in our study, we're still looking forward to those, still looking forward.