This will be a shorter post,but lately I have been thinking of N. T. Wright’s view that when the Kingdom of God comes in its fulness there will be a recreation of this world. If this is right,and I’m in the school of thought that thinks it is,then what will that look like?
Isaiah 35:5-10 (ESV)
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals,where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools,they shall not go astray. [1]
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away
I bring this up because my passage for preaching 1 this semester is Acts 3:1-10,where a lame man is healed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth outside the gate of the temple. The verb used to describe the manner in which the man “leaped up”is rare,and it is also found in Isaiah 35:6,“then shall the lame man leap like the deer….”All I can say in response to this is that if the kingdom looks thus,then Let your kingdom come…