March 1 – Introduction to God’s mission for His glory
This month’s meditations will be about God’s mission for His glory. God created the world for His glory, that humanity and creation would reflect His life-giving, light-giving, and loving presence by being people and places where heaven and earth meet. As such, God would be praised by both humanity and creation. Because this changed with the fall into sin, God embarks on a mission to make all things new in a world where His people and His creation would once again abide in His loving presence and be people and places where heaven and earth meet (Genesis 3:15). However, from the end of Scripture, we know that that the end is better than the beginning. The beginning of creation is only the beginning of the life of glory, while the new heaven and new earth are the perfection or consummation of the life of glory. In other words, right from the beginning of God’s good creation there was room for growth to reach the perfection and fullness of living in God’s life-giving, light-giving, and loving presence.
The biblical covenants made or cut in Scripture are designed with a view to advancing and guaranteeing God’s commitment to His goal for creation and to having His people participate with Him in the achievement of this goal. Covenants regulate an existing relationship. Covenants often deal with a problem that causes uncertainty in this relationship. A new covenant often updates an earlier one to the new situation that the new covenant is facing. Because of space restrictions, these mediations only focus on the biblical covenants mentioned in the book of Genesis. That’s why I have entitled these meditations: God’s Mission for His Glory and His Covenants with Noah, Creation, and Abraham.
I look forward to continuing this series some time in the future and deal with God’s mission for His glory and His covenants with Israel, His covenant with David and the promise of a new covenant. But that will have to wait for some other time.
I enjoyed writing these meditations. I was edified in doing so. I hope and pray that you will be too.
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“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.’" – Revelation 21:3.
Scripture reading: Revelation 21:1-8
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived in the loving presence of God. As such, they participated in His life, light and love and reflected this to one another and throughout the Garden. This made Adam and Eve people where heaven and earth meet. And it made the Garden of Eden a place where heaven and earth meet. As such, Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden reflected the glory of God, His life-giving, light-giving and loving presence.
With the fall into sin, all of this changed. Because Adam and Eve lived outside the Garden of Eden, they no longer lived in God’s loving presence nor participated in His life, light, and love as they once used to. Moreover, they no longer lived in a place, nor were they people where heaven and earth met, who could give each other and those around them an encounter with God’s presence, His glory.
However, God had no intention of leaving things this way. He immediately declared His intent to embark on a mission for His glory. All things would be made new, where His people and His world would once again dwell in His loving presence and be people and places where heaven and earth meet (Genesis 3:15). Throughout Scripture we encounter God on this mission for His glory. At the end of Scripture, we see that God achieves the goal of this mission for His glory. What a beautiful and encouraging mission this is!
Suggestions for prayer
Ask your heavenly Father to show you how He is on a mission for His glory in your life.
Rev. Dick Moes is pastor emeritus of the Surrey Covenant Reformed Church in Surrey, BC. He and his wife Elsina have five children and 14 grandchildren....
