The People of God: The Story of the Churchنموونە

This is our last day looking in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. We have spent so much time here to understand how so many of the important themes of the church begin to emerge. Two themes that will become much more apparent as we turn into the New Testament are the themes of resurrection and new creation. Isaiah 26 talks about those who are dead rising again. There are many other passages in the Hebrew Bible (for example, Psalm 49, Psalm 71, and Daniel 12:2) that reference this. Jewish hope was not to die and go to heaven but to be resurrected to new life in a newly created world. We will see how Jesus’ resurrection comes into this in the coming days.

Then our second passage promises how God will one day create new heavens and a new earth, a new creation. We will see how this language is repeated in our last passage for the plan in Revelation 21. These two themes of resurrection and new creation do not just appear in the New Testament, they were always part of God’s plan for His people. They are two of the major themes of the biblical story. As the church, we are to become new creations in Christ as we await resurrection and the complete new creation God will make of heaven and earth.