Emmanuel Evangelical Church Chippenham

Background

God’s plan is to (re-)establish the Kingdom of God - the Bible is the account of what God does to bring that about. We can now see that God’s plan involves a new creation or regeneration. The pattern is shown to be:

‘Creation’ -> ‘de Creation’ -> ‘re Creation’
Kingdom Pattern ->          Fall       -> Kingdom Fulfilled

The Kingdom of God means that God, mankind and the rest of creation all relate perfectly. Last time we saw that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the Kingdom. He said the Kingdom of God was near, because he was here!

Summary: The Old Testament reveals the future kingdom as a re-creation. This first comes about in a representative way in Jesus Christ, who is true God, true human being and true world in which God meets his people - all perfectly related.

Jesus Christ is the new creation and the new temple. But it is of no use to us if the new creation remains only in the person of Jesus Christ. How can we participate in this new creation, the Kingdom?