Reformed Wisdom

“According to the Bible, the kingdom of God is the creation renewed and brought to its intended end.  Through His redemptive work in Christ, God will bring the world to a condition of cosmic peace, of shalom, of harmony among God, man, and the creation.  Adam’s sin spoiled the harmonious goodness of the original creation, but, through Jesus, the Last Adam and Prince of Peace, God intends to put things in their proper place.  The renewal of the creation is to be understood in the eschatological ‘already-not-yet’ framework that shapes New Testament theology as a whole.  The gospel of the resurrection means not only that the dead Jesus came back to life (though it means that) but also that Jesus has entered the realm of life, of the new creation and of the Spirit.  In him, the new creation has already begun and the Kingdom has been established, though the creation is not fully renewed, restored, or transfigured into a news heavens and a new earth.  Only by faith does the believer know that, through his death and resurrection, Jesus fundamentally renovated the world but his resurrection and ascension guarantee that he will in the end bring the world to its destined fulfillment.” – Peter J. Leithart, Blessed Are the Hungry:  Meditations on the Lord’s Supper, 166-167.