Jesus and climate change XII

Jesus’ resurrection: Renovation
But that’s not all, because Jesus didn’t stay dead. The heart of the good news on which Christians base their lives is that God raised the crucified Jesus from the dead. As crazy as it sounds, that is what the Bible clearly says, it’s what Christians really believe.

Imagine: what if it were true? Although it would be an amazing biological miracle, there are more important consequences. Yes, it would mean that the guilty verdict passed by Pilate has been overturned by God. Yes, it would mean that the disciples who abandoned Jesus in his hour of need could have a second chance, a fresh start. Yes, it would mean that Jesus’ amazing claims to represent God to us in word and deed have been vindicated. Yes, it would mean that God has publicly appointed him as his special king. But it would mean something even more exciting. If Jesus is not only God’s representative to us but also our representative to God then if God raised Jesus from the dead, that is a picture, a promise, a precedent of what God intends to do with his whole creation. God's plans for the creation have been revealed in what he did to Jesus.

God hasn’t given up on us or on his world, despite all our problems. We don’t need to be afraid. He is not the kind of builder who walks into a house, notices the shaky foundations, peeling paint, broken windows, leaking pipes and says "tear it down, let’s start again." God is not a demolishing developer. He is into transformative renovation. To renovate something is to make it new and amongst the last words spoken by God in the Bible is the wonderful promise: “Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21.5). If God raised Jesus from the dead, he has started to keep this promise.
Series: I; II; III; IV; V; VI; VII; VIII; IX; IX(b); X; XI; XII; XIII; XIV; XV.