The Bible tells one great story.
It is the story of God’s purpose to bring His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Scripture begins with creation and moves toward new creation. It begins with God forming the heavens and the earth, and it ends with God dwelling with His people in a renewed heaven and earth.
That story begins in Genesis.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Before sin entered the world, before Israel was called, before kings ruled, before prophets spoke, and before Christ came in the flesh, God created with purpose. From the beginning, He knew what He was after. He made the world by His Word, filled it with life, called it good, and ordered it according to His design.
At the center of that created purpose, God placed humanity.
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…” (Genesis 1:26). Male and female were created in the image of God. Humanity was made to belong to God, reflect God, and represent God within His world. We were not created as accidents in a random universe. We were created as image-bearers within God’s good creation.
This is where the kingdom story begins. God’s kingdom is His rule bringing His good purpose into effect. In Genesis, God creates a world under His rule and appoints human beings to represent that rule on earth. Humanity is blessed and commissioned to fill the earth, subdue it, and exercise dominion, not as selfish owners, but as servants of the Creator-King.
From the beginning, God’s purpose was that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
But the story does not stop in Genesis. The image is marred by sin. God’s kingdom purpose is resisted. Humanity rebels against God’s rule, yet God does not abandon His purpose. The rest of Scripture tells the story of God working to restore what was established in the beginning, until that purpose reaches its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Christ is the true Image of God, the faithful Human, the last Adam, and the risen King. In Him, God’s original purpose is not abandoned. It is fulfilled. Through Christ, God is bringing creation toward new creation.
So as we begin this journey from Creation to Christ, we begin at the source in Eden. God created. God blessed. God commissioned. And in Christ, God is restoring His kingdom purpose until the whole creation is made new.
-Jacob Brunjes
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