To read the Bible well, we must recognize its overarching story of God and his creation. It begins with creation itself and, as we have seen, then tells us how the fall of humanity swiftly changed everything. As a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s law, both creation and humanity are corrupted. The gospel hope is that humans as individuals, and creation as a whole, will be made new once again. God promises that the effects of sin and death, which placed the whole creation under God’s curse, will be undone. This future is expressed poignantly in Revelation 21:1–4,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
This is the hope of every Christian. Praise be to God!
