Latest / Reformed Thinking / Providence Consummated: Resurrection Glory, Renewed Creation, and Eternal Joy in God

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Providence Consummated: Resurrection Glory, Renewed Creation, and Eternal Joy in God · Reformed Thinking

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Picture looking at a massive jigsaw puzzle, like 10,000
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pieces just dumped out all over a table.
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Oh, man, yeah, that is a nightmare scenario, right?
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Yeah. And you do not have the box top,
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you have no reference image at all.
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So you're just staring at a sea of cardboard.
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Pretty much. And when we look at human
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history, I mean, that is typically the operating
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assumption for most people. There is just this expectation
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of chaos. Yeah, from a purely secular
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vantage point, the progression of time just feels random.
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It does. You look at the news and you see
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the rise and fall of nations or these endless cycles of
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conflict, economic collapses, natural disasters.
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And the secular historian just points to the scattered pieces
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and says, well, it is where it is.
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Right. It feels like a series of
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accidents and reactions. There is no overarching picture
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to put together. It's unpredictable, it is messy,
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and frankly, looking at it that way can induce a ton of anxiety.
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Oh. Absolutely.
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It creates a lot of anxiety for people because human beings
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naturally crave direction. You know, we want things to be
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purposeful. We do.
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We have this innate desire for a grand design, some reason behind
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the sequence of historical events.
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When the prevailing cultural narrative says that history is
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just an accident heading toward heat death, well, that removes a
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massive layer of meaning from daily life.
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But then you step into the world of sovereign grace and biblical
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eschatology, and suddenly that box of scattered puzzle pieces
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is revealed to be a meticulously designed blueprint.
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Spot on. The pieces are not scattered by
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accident. No, they aren't.
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We're looking at a historical landscape that is highly
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orchestrated by a sovereign hand.
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Welcome to Reform Thinking. Today we are taking a deep dive
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into two staggering theological texts you provided for us,
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Providence, consummated resurrection, glory, renewed
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creation, and eternal joy in God, and the climax of sovereign
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grace. 5 Works of Providence at the Second Coming.
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Two very weighty texts. Very heavy.
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So our mission for this deep dive is to analyze how these
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specific authors define the end of history, because as we
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establish, we are not looking at a sequence of random chaotic
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events today. Far from it.
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We are looking at a highly orchestrated climax by a
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sovereign Creator, so we are going to unpack the specific
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events these texts argue will close out human history,
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bringing unending gladness to believers and absolute glory to
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God. It is the absolute definition of
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a sovereignly directed climax. I mean, the end of history is
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not an accident, it is an appointment.
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An appointment. I like that.
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OK, so let's unpack this. Before we can even look at how
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history ends, I think we have to establish how these authors view
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the current state of the world right now.
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That is the necessary starting point.
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If you do not understand the present diagnosis, the future
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cure makes no sense at all, right?
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So both of these texts lean heavily on Chapter 5 of the
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Westminster Confession to define the concept of Providence, and
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the secular world often hears that word and thinks of blind
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fate. Or karma maybe?
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Yeah, karma or some cool impersonal mechanism.
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Or perhaps they picture the classic deist view, right?
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The cosmic watchmaker. Oh yeah, the watchmaker who
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wound up the universe at the dawn of time, set the physical
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laws in motion and then just walked away.
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Exactly. Wait, yes, precisely that.
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Leaving it to tick down on its own without any intervention.
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But the authors here completely reject that definition.
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The watchmaker analogy is nowhere to be found in this
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theology. They absolutely reject it.
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They define Providence as God's wise, holy government over every
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single creature and every single action.
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Every action. Yes, from the movement of entire
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galaxies down to the falling of a single Sparrow, everything is
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upheld, directed, disposed and governed by the Creator.
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It is an incredibly active, hands on governance.
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The universe is definitely not running on autopilot.
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OK, so if God is actively governing or everything right
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now we have to talk about the current state of things because
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a skeptic would look at the world and say, well if a holy
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God is governing this, why is it so broken?
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The classic problem of pain, yeah.
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And the authors highlight the 8th chapter of Romans to
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describe the present age and the specific where they focus on is
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groaning. The text says creation is
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subjected to futility. Which means frustration, decay,
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thorns, disease, natural disasters.
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The world is heavy. It is.
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But what is fascinating here is this specific metaphor the
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Apostle Paul uses, which the authors spend a lot of time
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unpacking. This groaning, this futility in
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the natural world, is not described as the rattling breath
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of a terminal. Illness.
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Oh, that's interesting. It is described as the pains of
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childbirth. Which is a massive distinction.
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I mean, a terminal illness is a progression toward death and
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defeat. Yeah.
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Every single day you just get closer to the grave.
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Yeah. But childbirth involves intense,
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agonizing pain. Yes, but it is directed toward
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life. It has a productive goal.
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The. Pain has a purpose, and to grasp
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the weight of that metaphor, we really need to look at the
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historical context of Paul writing the book of Romans.
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Let's do that. The 1st century believers
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receiving this letter lived under the massive imposing
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shadow of the Roman Empire. They were dealing with the
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Emperor cult, which demanded they declare Caesar is Lord and
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offer a pinch of incense to a human ruler.
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Right, Which they couldn't do. No, they couldn't.
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So they faced brutal persecution, the confiscation of
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their property and horrific martyrdom under leaders like
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Nero. They were quite literally being
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thrown to lions in the Coliseum or lit as human torches to
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illuminate imperial gardens. I mean that is a reality they
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were living in when they read about groaning.
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Precisely so when Paul writes to them about suffering and the
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futility of the present age, it is not some abstract
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philosophical theory discussed in a comfortable university
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classroom. No, it's their daily brutal
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reality. Yeah.
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But the authors point out that the doctrine of Providence means
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this suffering is not random. It is judicially ordered by God
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as a consequence of the fall. But with a built in unshakable
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hope, the groaning has a destination.
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The pain of the present age is producing something.
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I like to think about the world's view of suffering as
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being in a chaotic car crash. OK, a car.
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Crash. Yeah, it's random, it hurts,
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There's twisted metal everywhere, and there's no
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overarching reason for it. It's just a tragedy, right?
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But the biblical view presented in these sources is much more
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like the painful, abrasive friction of a master sculptor
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working a block of marble. You know, oh, I see where you're
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going. The chisel hurts the stone, the
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friction is real, but every single strike is intentional.
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Designed by the artist to produce a masterpiece.
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The suffering is productive. That's a great way to frame it.
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But here's my question. If God is orchestrating
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everything and the suffering is baked into the present age by
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divine decree, how does this theology prevent a believer from
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just becoming fatalistic or emotionally numb to the pain
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around them? Like if God willed it, shouldn't
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you just accept it without emotion?
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That raises a critical point, and the texts address it
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directly by bringing in the role of the Holy Spirit.
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Paul refers to the Spirit as the first fruits, which is an
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agricultural term referring to the initial taste of a coming
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harvest. OK.
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The presence of the Spirit actually makes believers more
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aware of the brokenness, not less.
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Wait, really? You would think having the
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Spirit of God residing within you would make you float above
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it all, like it provides a sort of divine anesthesia against the
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pain of the world. Well, the opposite is true.
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According to this theology, the spirit creates A wholly
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dissatisfaction with the current state of decay.
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It is not Stoic apathy. A stoic tries to suppress
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emotion right detached from the pain and accept fate with a
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stiff upper lip. Exactly.
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That's right. But the believer indwelt by the
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Spirit feels the pain of the world acutely because they have
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a taste of the coming glory. They know what the world is
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supposed to look like. Oh I get it, they have the first
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fruits of the new creation inside them, so the contrast
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between that purity and the current decay is just jarring.
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Yes. So the groaning of the believer
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is actually a sign of spiritual life, a sign of intense
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anticipation. OK, so that sets the stage
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perfectly. We are living in a present age
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marked by hidden internal glory and very visible, palpable
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suffering. Which means, according to the
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logical progression of these authors, the interruption of
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this age cannot be subtle. If the suffering is visible and
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physical, the end of this age must begin with a massive visual
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disruption. The invisible king has to become
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visible. And that introduces the first of
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the major climactic events. The texts outline the unveiling
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of the triumphant King. The text references the book of
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Titus, chapter 2, verse 13, where believers are described as
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looking for the appearing of the glory of our great God and
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Savior Jesus Christ. Yeah, and I noticed the source
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material makes a very specific grammatical argument here
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regarding the absolute deity of Christ.
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They call it the Granville Sharp Rule.
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Yes, the Granville Sharp Rule is a vital Greek grammatical
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principle that protects the orthodox understanding of who is
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returning. Basically, the rule states that
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when 2 nouns of the same case are connected by the Greek word
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Kai, which translates to and. OK, track and leg.
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And the first noun has the definite article the, but the
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second noun does not. Both nouns refer to the exact
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same person. So it is not saying we are
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waiting for God the Father to show up and then also separately
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Jesus the Savior to show up. Correct.
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The phrase our great God and Savior is not talking about two
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different entities. The grammatical structure
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explicitly demands that Jesus Christ is the great God.
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The authors use this to fiercely reject any theology, ancient or
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modern, that diminishes Christ's divine nature.
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This is not a subordinate Angel returning.
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This is not a highly elevated human prophet.
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This is the creator of the cosmos stepping back into the
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timeline. The contrast the authors draw
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between the first Advent in Bethlehem and this second Advent
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is incredibly sharp. I mean the first time the
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arrival featured a feeding through absolute poverty and
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veiled weakness, the eternal Word became flesh as a
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vulnerable infant. Yep, very hidden.
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But the second time features blending Trinitarian glory and
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the visible battle scars of penal substitutionary atonement.
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Let us unpack the specific Greek word used in Titus for this
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appearing Epiphania in Greco Roman culture.
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This was not a casual word for someone dropping by for a visit.
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It was a highly technical loaded term.
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How is it used? It was used in two main ways.
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First, to describe the awe inspiring sudden manifestation
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of a deity to aid mortals in battle.
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Second, it was the official vocabulary for the triumphant
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state visit of a Roman emperor to a province.
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When the emperor arrived, the whole city stopped.
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It was an epiphania. Wow.
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So Paul is taking imperial vocabulary, the very propaganda
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of the empire that was persecuting them, and completely
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hijacking it. He is using it subversively.
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By applying Epiphania to Jesus Christ, Paul is telling the
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Roman Christians that the true sovereign is not the man seated
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on the throne in Rome. The true sovereign is seated at
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the right hand of the Father. Yes, and his arrival will
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completely over shadow any earthly empire.
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The pomp and circumstance of Caesar is nothing compared to
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the sky splitting. You can imagine how terrifying
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this epiphany a concept would sound to the Roman authorities.
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Reading over the shoulders of the early church.
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Here is a marginalized, heavily persecuted group boldly claiming
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that a cosmic king is going to arrive and shatter the kingdoms
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of men. It is a direct challenge to the
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ultimate authority of the state. It really is.
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We also need to know the dispensational aspect mentioned
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in the second source text. This author outlines A distinct
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timeline regarding how this return unfold.
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Right, the order of events. They differentiate between the
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pre tribulational rapture where Christ comes for the Saints in
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the air to rescue them prior to a period of global wrath, and
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the subsequent millennial Kingdom where Christ returns
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with the Saints to sit physically on David's throne in
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Jerusalem for a literal 1000 year reign.
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So it's very structured. Very it underscores the non
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accidental nature of the climax. It is not just a general wrap up
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of history. It is a sequenced execution of
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divine promises made to both the Church and the nation of Israel.
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So the sky splits. The true king arrives in
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absolute, undeniable glory. But this visual arrival does not
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leave the onlookers unchanged. If the Creator steps into the
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creation, the creation reacts. Oh, absolutely.
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The site itself triggers a massive physical and moral shift
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in the believer. The visible return causes an
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instantaneous transformation of the Saints.
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The texts point to the First Epistle of John, chapter 3,
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verse 2. We shall be like him because we
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shall see him as he is. This is where the mechanics of
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this theology get really interesting.
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This event is the definitive end of what theologians call
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progressive sanctification. Yes, the long process of growing
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in holiness. For the believer, the daily
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grueling struggle against sin, the constant cycle of failure,
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repentance and trying again is permanently over, and it happens
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in an indivisible fraction of time.
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The Apostle Paul calls it the twinkling of an eye.
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The causal link the authors highlight in that verse from
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First John is fascinating. It says because we shall see
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him. Right.
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The sheer unfiltered vision of the glorified Christ is the
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actual mechanism that alters the believer.
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It is not a secondary process. The sight of absolute perfection
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incinerates the remaining presence of sin in the
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believer's nature. It makes me think of an old
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photographic plate. OK, let's hear it.
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Imagine this plate sitting in a dark room that represents the
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present age we discussed earlier.
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It is developing slowly, painfully, in the shadows, but
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the moment it is taken outside and exposed to the absolute,
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unmitigated brilliance of the sun at high noon, which
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represents Christ's return, the image is permanently and
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instantly burned into the plate. The exposure to the light causes
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the final transformation. Yeah, exactly.
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I mean that is the mechanism. That captures the mechanics of
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it perfectly. The light of His glory finishes
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the work of salvation, and the texts are adamant about what
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kind of change this is. They fiercely reject ancient
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Gnosticism and modern mysticism. Which teach what exactly?
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Well, those belief systems treat the physical human body as an
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evil, cumbersome disposable shell that the enlightened soul
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needs to escape. They teach that the material
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world is inherently bad and the spiritual non material world is
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inherently good. Right.
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The idea that the ultimate goal of religion is to float away as
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a disembodied spirit playing a harp in the clouds.
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Will the authors insist on the redemption of our bodies, not
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redemption from them? The physical body is a good
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creation of God. It was declared very good in the
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book of Genesis. So God's plan is not to scrap
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the physical body, but to resurrect it and make it
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perfect. Precisely.
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Christ's own resurrection was physical.
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He ate fish. He could be touched.
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The Believers glorification follows that exact pattern.
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But I have to push back here on behalf of the listener because
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the wording is so strong. If we are made perfectly sinless
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and we are given glorified immortal bodies specifically
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because we see the Divine King, does this mean human beings
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become little gods? Like does humanity cross the
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line into divinity? The texts anticipate that exact
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question and use precise theological categories to answer
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it. They maintain a strict creator
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creature distinction. Humans sins do not become
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divine. OK, good to clarify.
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We do not acquire the incommunicable attributes of God
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like omnipresence, which is being everywhere at once, or
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omniscience, which is knowing everything.
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We remain finite. So what do we receive?
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Believers receive a glorified human nature, entirely free from
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sins, presence and penalty. We become perfect reflections of
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His moral character, possessing the communicable attributes like
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perfect love and justice, but we remain distinctly human
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creations. We will always be the creature.
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He will always be the Creator. That makes a lot of sense.
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So we have perfected physical bodies and absolute moral
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purity. The conversation in the sources
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then logically shifts to what that existence will actually
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feel like. If the struggle against sin is
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over, what replaces it. The impartation of everlasting
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increasing gladness. The texts based this concept on
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John chapter 17, where Christ prays for his followers the
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night before his crucifixion, and Psalm 16, which speaks of
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pleasures forevermore at God's right hand.
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The argument presented is that Christ prayed for the very love
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the Father has for the Son to be placed into the believers.
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That is a staggering concept, to possess the identical joy that
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has existed within the Trinity from all eternity.
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And this directly attacks a very common secular stereotype.
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Which one? Well, a lot of people, when they
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hear phrases like eternal holiness or heaven, they picture
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a sterile, boring, endless church service.
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They picture sitting on clouds, bored out of their minds for 10
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trillion years, secretly wishing they could cease to exist just
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to break the monotony. The authors completely dismantle
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that stereotype. Their logic is based on the
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nature of God himself. Because God is infinite in his
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perfections, discovering his riches will literally take
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eternity. You can never reach the bottom
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of an infinite well. Right.
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If God were finite, you would eventually figure him out and
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then you would be bored. But because He is infinite, the
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joy of the redeemed will never become stagnant.
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It will perpetually increase as they discover more facets of the
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Creator's glory every day. An eternity will be better than
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the previous one. So what is the mechanism behind
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this? How do the author's connect this
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infinite, ever increasing joy to the historical event of Christ's
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work on the cross? Like, is this joy just a free
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bonus thrown in at the end of the timeline because God is in a
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good mood? No, not at all.
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The texts root every single ounce of this future joy in the
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cross, every pleasure in eternity, every perfect taste of
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food, every breathtaking sight, every harmonious sound was
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purchased by the penal substitutionary atonement.
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Let us define that phrase for the listener, Penal
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substitutionary atonement, meaning Christ taking the legal
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penalty for sin as a substitute for His.
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Correct. The theology here argues that an
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infinite offense against an infinite God requires an
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infinite payment. Humans, being finite, could only
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pay that debt by suffering eternally.
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But Christ, being infinite, could absorb the eternal wrath
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of God in a finite amount of time on the cross without Christ
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absorbing that wrath in the place of sinners.
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The text argue that the return of the King would bring
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unmitigated terror and judgement, not gladness.
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Wow, this eternal pleasure is entirely a blood bought joy.
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It is completely unearned by the creature, but it was paid for at
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the highest possible price by the Creator.
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So we have perfected people experiencing infinite,
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increasing blood bought joy, but perfected people with physical
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bodies need a physical habitation that matches their
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state. You cannot put a glorified
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immortal human into a decaying, groaning, cursed world.
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No, that would be a massive contradiction.
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The environment has to match the inhabitants, which brings us to
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the liberation of the physical cosmos.
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Romans chapter 8 verse 19 is the anchor for this concept.
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The Apostle Paul uses a valued Greek compound noun to describe
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the natural world, apocaradochia.
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Apocaradochia. I love how descriptive ancient
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Greek can be. What is the literal translation
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of that it? Paints a picture of creation
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craning its neck or stretching out the head in intense
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anticipation. Craning its neck, yeah.
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Think of a crowd at a parade standing on their tip toes
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looking down the street, straining to see the guests best
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of honor arrive. They are looking away from
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everything else to watch for a specific event.
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The physical universe itself, the trees, the mountains, the
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oceans, is eagerly waiting to be set free from its bondage to
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futility. This is a huge paradigm shift
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for a lot of people. The Earth is not annihilated.
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It is not thrown into a cosmic dumpster or abandoned, the texts
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argue. It will be purged by fire to
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cleanse the stain of thin, and then it will be resurrected in a
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way that is directly analogous to the human body.
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The New World becomes an unfallen, pristine theater
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designed specifically for the display of divine glory and the
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joy of the redeemed. And this theological stance
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directly confronts two major modern extremes regarding how we
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view the planet. What are they?
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First, it confronts certain forms of modern environmentalism
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by insisting that creation is not God, it is not divine, it is
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not a mother goddess to be worshipped.
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OK. And the second.
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Second, it confronts careless corporate exploitation by
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insisting that creation is not disposable.
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It is not just raw material to be used up and discarded.
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It is God's handiwork slated for glorious restoration.
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It is like a master Craftsman inheriting a historically
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beautiful but vandalized and ruined estate.
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He does not bring in bulldozers to level the land, pave it over
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and build a Scarrell concrete box.
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Right, he restores it. He painstakingly strips away the
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rot, he repairs the foundations, he cleans the stone, and he
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restores the estate to a magnitude of beauty that goes
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far beyond its original blueprint.
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He honors the original design by perfecting it, removing every
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trace of the vandalism. That is a highly accurate
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representation of the author's view of the New Heavens and New
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Earth. The material order will not be
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abandoned. It will become the perfect
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unfallen theater of divine glory, a physical universe for
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physical resurrected humans to live in.
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Now this brings us to a critical juncture.
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In our deep dive, we have covered these massive cosmic
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concepts of the future, the return of the King, resurrected
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bodies, infinite joy, renewed planet.
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But how do these texts say these future realities should dictate
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how people live right now? They make some very strong
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connections, they do. The authors make aggressive
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applications of these doctrines to our current culture and
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listener. As we shift gears into how the
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authors apply these ideas to modern culture, I want to
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clarify something for you. Listening, we are going to look
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at some highly debated topics. Our role today is to hold these
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texts up to the light and show you what the authors argue, not
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to endorse a specific political or cultural side.
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We are acting as a mirror to the source material.
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Yes, the texts we are analyzing apply this eschatology by
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aggressively critiquing several modern movements and ideologies.
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We are simply reporting the author's written arguments.
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So, holding that mirror up, what are the author's attack based on
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this specific view of the end times?
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First, they reject the prosperity gospel.
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They argue that this movement cruelly demands future Kingdom
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benefits like perfect health, immunity from tragedy and
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immense financial wealth in the present cursed age.
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Right, asking for the crown without the cross.
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Yes, because the texts teach that creation is currently
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groaning and believers will endure the pains of childbirth.
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Promising a pain free wealthy life right now is seen by the
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authors as a severe theological distortion.
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It promises the realities of the new Earth while we are still
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living on the cursed Earth. They also go after certain
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modern church growth models, right?
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They reject seeker sensitive church models.
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The authors demand unvarnished, direct preaching of these heavy
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theological truths. Instead of relying on marketing
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algorithms, psychological tactics and concert style smoke
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machines to gather a crowd, they argue, the church should be
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preparing people for the sky to split, not entertaining them.
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Then the texts move into overt political and cultural
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territory. The author of the second Source
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explicitly attacks critical race theory, intersectionality, and
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the broader secular social justice movement.
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The author labels these frameworks as Marxist
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derivatives. The argument presented is that
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these movements attempt to divide humanity by worldly
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categories of privilege and oppression and try to
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manufacture a utopian justice through human grievance,
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activism and government policy. And additionally, the author
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argues this theology demands a rejection of what they term
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egalitarian rebellion. Instead, they advocate for
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strict biblical complementarianism, distinct,
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non interchangeable roles for men and women in both the
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leadership of the home and the governance of the church.
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To understand why the authors make these massive leaps from
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future physical resurrection to present day sociology, we have
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to examine their underlying logic.
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Their premise is that perfect justice, perfect societal
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structure, and the removal of the curse will only arrive when
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the king splits the sky. So we can't do it ourselves.
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Exactly right. That's their point.
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Therefore, any human attempt to create utopian equity now using
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secular sociological frameworks is viewed by the authors as
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arrogant, structurally futile. And it did not of God's
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appointed timeline. You cannot engineer the new
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earth before the king arrives to purge the old one.
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I want to ask you to notice the sheer weight of these claims.
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You can see how the author is using a vision of the end times
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to draw a hard line in the sand regarding modern cultural
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debates. We're not weighing in on the
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validity of these conclusions, but we have to recognize how the
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author connects future physical resurrection directly to present
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day sociology and church structure.
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For these writers, eschatology is not a dusty academic subject.
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It is the engine that drives their worldview.
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It is entirely integrated. For these authors.
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What you believe about the end of the world dictates your
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politics, your church governance, and your household
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structure today. If the future is sovereignly
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orchestrated, then the present must submit to the sovereign's
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design. OK, we have moved through the
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visual return of the King, the instantaneous human perfection,
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the impartation of universal joy, the liberation of the new
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cosmos, and the strict earthly applications the authors draw.
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This brings us to the absolute apex of the source material, the
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final reality, God All in all. This is the crescendo of the
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texts. They point to the first letter
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to the Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 28, which speaks of a time
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when the Son delivers the Kingdom to the Father that God
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may be. All in all.
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This establishes the absolute supremacy and centrality of God
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in the new creation. The texts use this verse to
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argue fiercely against any man centered theology.
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The universe in its final perfected state does not exist
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simply to make human beings comfortable.
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It is not an anthropocentric universe.
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No, it exists to magnify the creator.
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The spotlight is entirely on him.
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Yet, and this is a crucial distinction, the authors quote
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the theologian John Piper to ensure this does not sound like
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God is a cosmic tyrant crushing human happiness for his own ego.
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The quote is God is most glorified in his people when
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they are most satisfied in Him. That right there, resolves a
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massive philosophical tension. For centuries, thinkers have
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wrestled with this dilemma. If God demands all the glory,
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does that mean humans are just miserable slaves feeding his
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vanity? Or, on the flip side, if humans
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get to be totally happy and fulfilled, does that mean God's
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glory takes a backseat to human pleasure?
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Right, but this text argues that the glory of the Creator and the
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gladness of the creature are not competing interests.
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They are not in conflict, They are the exact same event.
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It is a stunning synthesis of duty and delight, the infinite
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joy we discussed earlier, the ever increasing gladness in the
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new heavens and new earth. That very joy is the mechanism
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by which God is glorified. Think of it this way.
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You praise what you enjoy. You cannot help but praise a
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beautiful sunset or a spectacular meal.
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You have to talk about it. Yes, the creature's absolute
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delight in the Creator is the highest praise the Creator can
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receive. Therefore, God's absolute
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supremacy and human beings ultimate happiness perfectly
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aligned at the end of history. We have covered a staggering
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amount of ground today. We started in a groaning,
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decaying world, waiting in the intense pains of childbirth.
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We examine the sky splitting visible arrival of the true king
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that triggers the instant physical and moral perfection of
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believers. And we discussed the impartation
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of an ever increasing blood bought joy.
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Followed by the physical resurrection and liberation of
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the entire cosmos from its futility.
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We looked at how these authors aggressively apply these future
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realities to critique modern cultural debates, and we ended
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at the absolute apex, the glory of God and the joy of humanity
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merging into a single eternal reality.
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It is a meticulously structured vision of history's climax,
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entirely driven by the sovereign Providence of the creator.
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The puzzle pieces form a flawless picture.
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Before we sign off, I want to leave you with a concept to Mull
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over based on the sources we analyzed today.
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Think about the most beautiful physical thing you have ever
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seen. Maybe it is a snow capped
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mountain range at dawn, or a vast turning ocean during a
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storm, or completely clear starry night away from all the
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city lights. According to these texts, that
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breathtaking site is just the ruined, groaning, cursed version
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of the universe. It is the vandalized estate.
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What will it look like when the curse is lifted and the
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restoration is complete? Next time you step outside and
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see something beautiful, ask yourself, what if the physical
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world around you right now is just the rough draft of
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eternity? Thank you for providing the
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material for this deep dive into reformed thinking.