In Genesis the story begins. God creates everything and he creates it all good. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good,” and that included the pinnacle of creation which was mankind created in the very image of their creator. In Genesis 3 mankind represented by Adam rejects the sovereignty and rulership of God and goes his own way bringing about great pain for all of creation. Sin and death enter the picture and now creation becomes marred and tainted. It is no longer very good. And so God’s work to bring about a reversal of the curse, sin and death and all that came with it, begins. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” But then a downward spiral of wickedness begins from Gen. 3 to Gen. 11. It seems the movement of Genesis 1-2 from darkness to light is now reversed and moving back towards utter darkness.
The creator God had a plan though and he sovereignly calls a man to leave his home and go to Canaan and suddenly there is a small flicker of light—hope—which enters the story. Then comes a promise—a promise to reverse the curse. Curse which dominated the language of Genesis 3-11 is now overwhelmed by the language of blessing in Genesis 12.2-3. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” From barrenness and deadness—the womb of Sarah—life comes. A nation is born—the nation to spread the light of the glory of God to all the nations. But they fail, miserably, and it appears as though the curse is once again winning the day. Sure there are ups and downs. The days of King David are quite glorious at times but never as God intended for the nation. Finally the nation goes into permanent exile for hundreds of years and hope seems all but gone. But the hope of Messiah and eternal blessing remains. Why? Because the creator God always fulfills his promises. When will the Messiah come? When will the kingdom come? When will curse finally be reversed? When will God fulfill his promise to bless the world?
Now we all know where the story goes from there. But I want us to think about it in the way that John presents it to us in his gospel. He starts at creation. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Interesting. What is John doing? He takes us back to creation. But not just with how he starts his gospel but also the imagery that is evoked by the language. The vocabulary as well as themes of light and darkness scattered throughout the gospel create a fragrance of creation for the reader. He also carefully chooses events from Jesus life to show that he is sovereign over his creation. He is the creator God. And then the final miracle that John records for us, before the account of the cross and the final week of Jesus life, is a miracle which begins to strike at the heart of the curse. Lazarus is dead and Jesus brings him back to life. “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” So then John takes the last half of the gospel to spell out the final week of Jesus life. And on the sixth day of that week Jesus is brought before the crowds and Pilate announces “Here is the man.” I don’t think it is a coincidence that John just happened to select these words from Pilate on this occasion. John has been sitting on and thinking about the story of Jesus now for 50 plus years. So everything is carefully chosen and intentional. The sixth day of creation was marked by the creation of mankind the first Adam. The sixth day of the Passion Week is marked by Pilate’s presentation of the one true Man—the second Adam, the Son of Man—to the world. And the decision of the world is to crucify him. Now interestingly, John does not include a lot of details about Jesus actual death on the cross. But, there is one statement by Jesus that John was sure to include—“It is finished.” The echoes of creation from Genesis 1 are unmistakable. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from al his work.” And now Jesus would also rest on the seventh day after his work was completed. John makes it very clear that it was the Sabbath—“A special Sabbath.”
And then we come to chapter 20—John’s chapter where his account of Jesus resurrection is contained. And how does he begin his retelling of the resurrection story? “Early on the first day of the week…” And then in the middle of the chapter when the scene in the narrative changes, but it is obvious to the reader that it is still the same day, John once again punctuates this idea—“On the evening of that first day of the week.” He does not want his readers to miss it. Jesus resurrection is marking something major. It is the beginning of something new. Jesus has conquered death. Death no longer has the upper hand. The curse has been reversed and new creation is on the horizon. Jesus resurrection is the firstfruits of what is to come. New creation has been inaugurated. And so He commissions his people to go out and live in the reality of what the new creation will bring for the world. “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” But his people are not left alone for the task. The one who is the guarantee of what is to come in the future is given to the disciples—“he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit.”
And so this is where we find ourselves in the story of redemption. We are in the overlap between the resurrection of the Messiah, the Son of God, and what it initiated, and the final outcome of what the resurrection means for all believers and for the world—the inheritance of the New Heavens and New Earth. And so we look forward to that day and anticipate that day with the way we live our lives. Fittingly John pens for us in the book of Revelation what that day is going to look like, and interestingly it is a wedding scene. What is being wedded? Heaven and earth. What the fall and curse ripped apart is once again joined. God’s realm and man’s realm is once again reunited and becomes one. “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…He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
