From Adam and Israel to the Church: A Biblical Theology of the People of God (Essential Studies in Biblical Theology)

by Benjamin L. Gladd

Imaging God on earth is counterintuitive to the world’s ideals. Indeed, it elicits hostility. Though it’s tempting to conform to the world, as that would help ensure prosperity and acceptance, we must remain faithful to our calling, to who we are in Christ.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. We are fundamentally created to worship, but the question remains: Whom will we adore?

Either we worship and glorify the triune God, or we worship false gods and give them and ourselves glory.

It’s true that all believers in Christ are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17), but they are not fully created anew until Christ returns a second time (1 Corinthians 15:20-28). Only at the general resurrection are believers consummately fashioned in the image of Christ.

As high priests in the new earth, we will first and foremost worship the triune God. We, like the angels in Revelation 4–5, praise God for his holiness, his redemption, and his unrivaled rule. Another area in which we may function as priests is taking care of the new earth.

The knowledge that humanity has acquired and is acquiring through observing the world around us may not only inform us about God’s creative power, but it may also prepare us for life in the new creation.

All believers, just like the Lamb they follow, will eventually be overcome by the world in some fashion—physically, emotionally, financially, and so on. We should expect nothing but hostility on all fronts.

Believers are not only forgiven through faith in Christ; they are also created anew by God’s end-time Spirit. We must love, serve, worship, and live righteously here and now, so that when we are raised fully and planted in the new cosmos, we will continue to do what we already started. We must develop new creational patterns of living in the present.