From Creation to New Creation

Introduction

What I want to do for you this evening is to give you a kind of overview of the whole Bible.

Like some of you, I’m sure, I grew up knowing many of the stories in the Bible: stories about Noah’s ark and the flood; and David and Goliath; and Daniel in the den of lions; and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace; and the story of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem and the miracles he performed. Lots and lots of stories about all these Bible characters. And they’re exciting stories. Thrilling stories. Amazing stories. And, of course, they’re true stories. They’re not made up. They’re not fiction or fantasy. These are true stories about things which really happened. And they’re important stories, because — in one way or another — they’re all about God.

So, I grew up knowing these stories. But it wasn’t until I was older — and began to read the Bible more seriously and began to read other books to help me understand the Bible — that the penny dropped for me. The penny dropped and I realised that, although the Bible contains many stories, the Bible as a whole is really one big story. So, from ground level, it’s lots of different stories. But when you take a bird’s eye view of the Bible, then you can see that it’s one big story from beginning to end. So, it opens with God creating the heavens and the earth; and it ends with God re-creating the heavens and earth. It begins with this world and it ends with a new and better world to come. And that means, of course, that the Bible tells us about what happened in the past; and it tells us about what will happen in the future. So, it’s one big story and it’s the story of the world. And I want to tell you the story for you briefly.

Creation

Let’s turn to Genesis 2 which we read a moment ago. The opening three verses are really the conclusion to chapter 1 which tells us how God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. And so, after chapter 1, we read in verse 1 of chapter 2: ‘Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.’ God made the heavens above with the stars and planets; and he made the earth below with all that it contains, including all the vegetation that grows and the birds that fly and the fish that swim and the animals that roam the earth; and, last of all, he made us. God did all of that.

And having finished his work of creating the heavens and the earth and everything else, God rested from his work. He rested, not because he was tired and needed a break; but because he had finished the work of creation.

And we read that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. Whereas many ancient nations regarded the seventh day as an unlucky day — like our Friday 13th — God’s people looked forward to it, because God had set it apart from the rest of the week to be a day of rest. So, after a busy week of hard work, God’s people were able to put down their tools and rest all day long on the seventh day each week.

That’s verses 1 to 3 of Genesis 2, which, as I’ve said, is really the conclusion to chapter 1. In the verses which follows, it tells us what happened once the world was made. We’ll not worry too much about verses 5 to 7. But if you’re curious about them, it’s telling us that in the very beginning, the world was a dry, barren wasteland, where nothing grew. But then God transformed the world by watering it and by creating a man to work the ground. That’s verses 5 to 7 in a nutshell.

And, according to verse 8, God placed the newly created man, whose name was Adam, in the Garden of Eden. And God filled the garden with all kinds of trees which were pleasing to the eye and good for food. So, God filled the garden with plants which looked good and which produced good food for Adam and his descendants. And if you glance down to verse 15, you’ll see that God took the man and put him in the garden to work it and to take care of it.

And right at the end of verse 9 we’re told about two specific trees. And these were no ordinary trees. One was known as the Tree of Life. The other was known as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

I’ll say more about the Tree of Knowledge in a moment, but let’s focus on the Tree of Life, because this tree symbolised something. In fact, it symbolised something special. This tree symbolised or represented God’s promise of eternal life in his presence. You see, when God created the heavens and the earth, and when he placed Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, in the Garden of Eden, he provided them with all that they needed for life in this world. And that was good, because life in this world in those days was good. In fact, life in this world in those days was very good. If you read through Genesis 1, you’ll see that God declared all that he made to be good, even very good. But God had in mind something even better for us than life in this world. God was prepared to give Adam and Eve (the first man and woman) and their descendants (us) eternal life in his presence. So, we would be with God, who is the source of that is good, and the source of all blessing and the source of all happiness. We would be with this God forever. Adam and Eve didn’t have eternal life in God’s presence yet. But the Tree of Life in the centre of the garden held out to them the promise that one day we would receive eternal life and eternal peace and eternal happiness in the presence of God.

And so, what did Adam and Eve have to do to be able to eat from the Tree of Life and receive eternal life in the presence of God for themselves and for us? Take a look with me at verses 16 and 17 of Genesis 2. God placed the man in the garden to work it and to take care of it. And then God commanded the man that he was free to eat from any of the trees in the garden, but he must not eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why not? Because when you eat of it, you will surely die. He may not die immediately, but he will die. Instead of receiving eternal life in the presence of God, he would suffer death. And so, while the Tree of Life held out the promise of eternal life in the presence of God, the Tree of Knowledge held out the threat of death.

And so, Adam was under probation. That is to say, he was under trial. And this is the trial: would he or would he not obey the word of the Lord? God had said to him: do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. So, would he or would he not obey the word of the Lord? Would he refuse to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, as God had commanded, or would he eat from the Tree of Knowledge? One way would lead to eternal in the presence of God; and the other way would lead to death. What would he do?

And if you’re wondering what this has to do with you, then think about this. Just as children will benefit if their father becomes rich, and just as children will suffer if their father becomes poor, so whatever happened to Adam affects us, because Adam was, in a sense, our father. He represented us. And what happened to him affects us all. And so, if he obeyed and received the right to eternal life, then we would receive the right to eternal life. And if he disobeyed and forfeited the right to eternal life, then so would we. And so, our fate was in his hands. What would he do?

The Fall

And this is when we turn to Genesis 3, because Genesis 3 tells us about the serpent. And the serpent was really the Devil in disguise. And the Devil came up to Eve, who was the first woman, and the Devil tempted her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. He asked her: Did God really say you must not eat from any tree? And she replied that no, God didn’t say that, but he did forbid them from eating from the Tree of Knowledge. If we eat it or touch it, we will surely die, she said. And the Devil said: ‘You will not surely die.’ And he went on to say that God knows that if they eat from the Tree of Knowledge, then they will become like God; and God doesn’t want you to become like him. In other words, the Devil was saying to her that you can’t trust God; and God is being mean to you, because he’s trying to prevent you from becoming like him. So, don’t listen to God; listen to me.

Of course, it was the Devil who was lying. But Eve listened to the Devil; and she took and ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. And she gave some to Adam. Now, Adam should have chased the Devil out of the garden. When it says in Genesis 2:15 that he was to work the garden and take care of it, it means in part that he was to guard it. He should have guarded the garden by keeping the Devil out. And he should have reminded Eve that she was meant to obey God. But he did neither of those two things. And instead he took the fruit and ate it.

And maybe you think, ‘What does it matter? It was only a piece of fruit.’ But by eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve had, for the very first time, disobeyed God. They disobeyed God who made them and who gave them life; and who had filled their life with good things to enjoy; and who had held out to them the promise of eternal life in his presence. And all they had to do was obey him. But instead of obeying God, they took the forbidden fruit.

And everything changed. Everything changed, because it was as if they opened a door and sin and misery came into the world and spread like a disease so that everything was changed.

Sin came into the world. That is to say, disobedience came into the world. You see, Adam became a sinner when he disobeyed God; and all of us inherit his sinful nature, so that sinning against God — disobeying God — comes naturally to us. And sin leads to misery, doesn’t it? Sin leads to misery, because instead of loving one another, which is what God wants us to do, we now hurt one another and we’re unkind to one another. And we upset one another by the things we do and say. And perhaps we make one another afraid, because we can get so angry. And what we do to other people, they do to us, don’t they?

And then, we’re also miserable because of our guilty conscience which accuses us, because we know that we keep doing wrong. And as well as suffering a guilty conscience, we’re afraid, aren’t we? We’re afraid because we know deep down inside that we deserve to be punished for what we have done wrong.

And then, because everything changed after Adam’s disobedience, the whole world is now full of other kinds of misery, because the world is now full of sorrow and sadness and sickness and disease and tragedies and evils and mourning and death and weeping. Because of God’s mercy, the world is still full of good things; and we still have joy and happiness; and we’re still capable of loving one another. But as well as joy, there is so much sorrow and sadness in the world. And it often seems that the world is just broken.

And finally, our troubled life in this broken world ends in death. And after death, what we deserve for a lifetime of disobedience is to be condemned by God, who made us, and sent out of his presence to be punished forever in hell. The Tree of Life in the garden held out to Adam the promise of eternal life in the presence of God for Adam and all his descendants. But whenever Adam disobeyed God, he forfeited the right to eternal life in God’s presence. He lost that right for himself and for us.

And some of this comes out in chapters 3 and 4 and 5 of the book of Genesis, because when Adam and Eve stood before the Lord as guilty sinners, he said to Adam and Eve at the end of chapter 3 that all of us will suffer pain and frustration at home and at work. For instance, having children and bringing them up will be hard and difficult. Married life will be difficult and husbands and wives will try to rule over one another. And work will be difficult and frustrating and hard. And then, in the end, we will die and return to the dust.

And in chapter 4, we read of Adam and Eve’s two sons, Cain and Abel. But Cain killed his brother, Abel. Instead of loving his brother, he hated his brother. And then we read of a man named Lamech who boasted that he had killed a man who had hurt him. So, instead of forgiving the man who hurt him, he took excessive vengeance. And then in chapter 5, we have a list of Adam’s descendants. And the same words are repeated over and over and over again: and then he died, and then he died, and then he died, and then he died.

God warned Adam that he will surely die if he disobeyed God. And because of Adam’s one act of disobedience, sin and misery came into the world and it has spread to all of us. And if you want to know how far we have fallen from being the kind of people we should be, think about the ways we hurt the people we love the most. So, husbands and wives, who are meant to love one another most of all, hurt one another by the things they say and do. And children who are meant to love and obey their parents, who brought them into the world and who provide them with all they need, disobey their parents. Our homes, which should be the happiest places of all, are often the saddest places of all. And instead of loving and worshipping the God who made us and who still fills our lives with good things to enjoy, instead of loving and worshipping him, people disregard him and they do not give him the honour he deserves.

And so, everywhere we look, we see the consequences of what happened in the garden when Adam disobeyed the Lord for the very first time. And so, the Bible helps us to understand why the world is the way it is. Why is there so much trouble in the world? Why do people hurt one another? Why is there so much misery? The Bible tells us why the world is like this. And it tells us why we are like this. And it’s because of what happened in the beginning when Adam opened the door to sin and misery. And it’s because of what we ourselves do, because disobeying God comes naturally to us.

Redemption

But the good news is that God, who is merciful and gracious and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast, was unwilling to leave us in our sin and misery. And so, even in the Garden of Eden, he gave Adam and Eve hope for the future. He announced to the Devil that someone would come from Eve who will crush the Devil’s head. He was speaking about the Saviour who would come into the world to destroy the Devil and deliver us from our sin and misery. And over the coming generations, God spoke to his people about the coming Saviour, who was sometimes depicted as a Mighty King, like David, who would destroy his enemies. And sometimes the coming Saviour was depicted as a Suffering Servant, who would suffer for doing the will of God. But God promised his people that the Saviour was coming.

And sure enough, when the time was right, an angel was sent to Mary and Joseph to announce to them that Mary would give birth to a boy and they were to give him the name ‘Jesus’ which means ‘Saviour’; and he will save his people from their sin and misery in this world. And so, the Lord Jesus was born.

And the Lord Jesus is actually God. He’s God the Son. And so, the God whom we disobey every day of our lives was prepared to come into the world to save us from our sin and misery. And in order to save us, he came into the world as one of us, so that we say that he is God and man in one person, fully God and fully human. And as one of us, he obeyed all of God’s laws and commandments perfectly. And then, having lived a perfect life, he took the blame for all that we have done wrong when he died on the cross outside Jerusalem. The wages of sin, the penalty for sin, is death. And so, he died for us. And after he died and was buried, he was raised from the dead on the third day. And he ascended to heaven to sit enthroned as King over all. And so, he is both a Mighty King and a Suffering Servant.

And because of his perfect life among us and because of his death on the cross to pay for our sins and because of his resurrection afterwards, three things happen when we trust in him for salvation. Firstly, God forgives us for all that we have done wrong. God is able to forgive us, because Christ took the blame for us. Secondly, God regards us as right in his sight. God is able to regard us as right in his sight, because the Lord Jesus shares his perfect obedience, his perfect goodness, with us; and though we may have done everything wrong, God treats us as if we’ve done everything right. And thirdly, God promises to give us eternal life in his presence. Because of Adam’s disobedience, we lost the right to eternal life in the presence of God. But because of Christ’s obedience, we receive the right to eternal life in the presence of God. We receive the right to eternal life in the presence of God in the new creation to come.

New Creation

And we read about the new creation to come right at the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation. The Apostle John was allowed to see into the future. And what did he see? He tells us in Revelation 21 that he saw a new heaven and earth. The first heaven and earth — this heaven and earth — had passed away in John’s vision. It had come to an end. And God made a new heaven and earth. And John saw what he describes as the Holy City and the New Jerusalem. He’s referring to all of God’s people, the church of Jesus Christ. So, God’s people are there. And God is there, because it says that the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with him; and they will be his people; and he will be their God. And look: he will wipe the tears from their eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, because the old order — all the sin and misery of this life — has passed away and is no more. And God, who is seated on his throne, said, ‘Behold, I am making everything new!’ So, he’s making a new heavens and earth. And for those who believe, he will make us a new body, or a renewed body, without all the aches and pains and weaknesses and problems of this body; a body which is perfectly suited to eternal life in the presence of God.

And in Revelation 22 John tells us that he also saw a river. It’s called the river of life. And on each side of the river, there’s a tree. And it’s the Tree of Life, which symbolises God’s promise of eternal life in his presence. Adam lost the right to eternal life for us. But Christ our Saviour has won the right to eternal life for us. And everyone who believes in him can look forward to coming into the presence of God in the new creation to come, where God will dwell with us and we will live with him forever. And it’s a perfect world, without sin and without suffering. No more sorrow or pain; no more mourning or death. It’s the kind of world we all want to live in. And we can live in it, because of Christ the Saviour who has won it for us. You can live in it; and you will live in it so long as you trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins.

Conclusion

And so, there’s my overview of the Bible, which is really an overview of the history of the world from creation to new creation. The world God created was good, but it was spoiled because of Adam, when he disobeyed God and sin and misery came into the world. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, sent his Son into the world as one of us to live for us and to die for us and to rise again for us so that whoever believes in him is pardoned and accepted by God and can look forward to eternal life in the presence of God in the new creation to come. And to reassure us that this is true and will happen, he gives us his Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. So, he fills his believing people with his Spirit who reassures us that one day we will have eternal life in the presence of God in that new and better world to come, which is what God always intended for his people.