This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

What Does God Want – God Pursues His Human Family – Daily Wisdom

Wisdom Nuggets – What Does God Want? – God is With His Family Forever – Daily Wisdom

What Does God Want? -  God is With His Family Forever 

Last week, we continued our series with the overall theme, which is to answer the question: What does God want? The answer we discovered over the past five weeks was that God wants you and everyone who will ever live. In other words, God wanted a human family. God wants co-workers to take care of His creation. God wants you to know/ who you are/ and why your life has value to him. /He loves you /and desires that you also love Him. So, in last week’s message, we explored how “God Pursues His Family through the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This week, we will extend that thought and see that “God is With His Family Forever” throughout all eternity. 

I ended last week’s message with a firm grasp of some apparent points. Christ is risen. All those who have put their trust in what he did on the cross and his resurrection as the only means of salvation will have everlasting life. But while we are already members of Christ’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13), that kingdom has not yet come to its fullness and finality. 

45 The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”[a] But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like[b] the heavenly man. While this is terrific, we must remember that while we are still here on earth, we have evil adversaries influencing those who have not yet become citizens of God’s kingdom. Ephesians 2:2 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. On earth, the evil ones are the entities at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 

Likewise, the powers of darkness have been dethroned. But they have not surrendered. They resist, fighting a losing battle. Every person who embraces the salvation God offers through Jesus is not under his control. Colossians 1:13-14 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. As the kingdom of God grows, the kingdom of darkness diminishes. 

It’s easy to get lost in the still-present evil and suffering of the world instead of looking to the future. Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that Jesus has already rescued us from the evil ones, as we are told in Galatians 1:4. 4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. 

The Story’s Exclamation Point (Bulletin Insert) 

The Bible doesn’t condemn that we are perplexed and sometimes anxious about the evil and suffering we observe. Instead, it’s honest about it. Romans 8:18-25 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[a] including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope[b] for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently). We will obtain our resurrected bodies when Christ returns to finalize God’s kingdom and restore the global Eden.  

Today is the final portion of our story narrative of this series of messages, and I want to focus on the amazing ending—the finalization of God’s kingdom, the restoration of the Global Eden. Every great epic has a memorable ending, you know. The biblical story is no exception. (If you expect harps and clouds, you will be disappointed). 

We tend to process the final act of the Bible’s story in terms of what we get. So, for example, we’ll have everlasting life, not death. That’s exciting, but “everlasting life” doesn’t say much. It’s just a description of duration, not quality. 

Quality of everlasting life emerges more in our minds when we process the end of the story as life in a new, global Eden. The book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, completes the story with Edenic imagery (Rev 21-22). God is there. Heaven has returned to earth. Jesus is there. The tree of life is there. This Eden is better than the original Eden. Evil has run its course. There is no rebellion waiting to explode into the world. Creation is, therefore, perfectly optimized. There is no disease or death anywhere in the plant, animal, or human experience. There is no killing or violence. It’s like nothing we’ve ever experienced. 

The “Eden angle” gets us closer to what the Bible emphasizes at its story’s climax. The passage from Romans 8 I read above adjusts our thinking to bring the absolute pinnacle of God’s plan: “the revealing of the sons of God.... the glory of the children of God.” Yes, the creation groans to be remade new, but that deliverance is linked to the glorification of God’s human family. 

In other words, we are the end game to what God has been doing. Our status as his children permanently fit for his presence and present with him forever is at the forefront of the Bible’s story. Where we live for eternity is just scenery (no doubt spectacular). The book of Revelation’s final vision of the new Eden makes this point for me when it begins the final scene this way in Revelation 21:1-4: 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. (been remade) And the sea was also gone. (no more chaos) 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.[a] 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 

(Globe) 

Everlasting Identity 

The “the revealing of the sons of God. . . . the glory of the children of God” is a way of saying that we will someday be transformed and made like Jesus. As the apostle John said in 1 John 3:2, 2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. The same thought is expressed in several other verses. Romans 8:29: 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn[a] among many brothers and sisters. Philippians 3:20-21 

20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. 2 Corinthians 3:18 

54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,[j] this Scripture will be fulfilled: 

“Death is swallowed up in victory.[k]

55 O death, where is your victory?

    O death, where is your sting?[l]” 

56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. 

My favorite passage about our final destiny and glorification is slightly more obscure. It’s a scene in the book of Hebrews (the book we will study after Easter) where Jesus introduces us to God and God to us. Jesus stands before God and “the congregation,” the heavenly sons of God, the heavenly court. He confesses boldly that he feels no shame in having us as siblings in the family and then says to God and the supernatural members of the family in Hebrews 2:11-12: 11 So now Jesus/ and the ones he makes holy/ have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters.[a] 12 For he said to God, 

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.

    I will praise you among your assembled people.” 

This is your ultimate destiny—becoming a permanent, legitimate member of God’s family. In the end, you belong in God’s family. It’s what he’s wanted from the very beginning. That is what the whole creation is yearning for. 

Everlasting Partnership 

Have you ever had a conversation about what life in the new creation, the new global Eden (heaven), will be like? Many people describe it as a continuous worship service, an endless Q&A session with Jesus, or a glorified church meet-and-greet. (That last one frightens introverts like me). 

While we could infer some things by imagining what life in a perfected Eden might entail, the Bible doesn’t say much about the experience. Moreover, what it does say defies the sorts of guesses listed above. For example, Revelation 2:26  To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end, To them I will give authority over all the nations. Revelation 3:21 21 Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.  

1 Corinthians 6:2-3  Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? 3 Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life. 

What do these phrases mean? We can start by asking who rules the nations now. The answer is the fallen sons of God allotted to the nations at Babel. In other words, the nations at this moment have not yet been entirely (or even mostly) reclaimed by God. As we’ve noted, expanding the kingdom of God is a gradual process that is “already” begun but is not yet “complete.” When the process is complete at the end of the days, believers will “judge angels”—we will pass judgment on the fallen sons of God by replacing them. We will rule the nations with Jesus our king—and brother. 

Whenever I speak about this idea, I get certain inevitable questions: What tasks will we have? Will some believers have more authority than other believers? Will I be another believer’s boss? How can we all be rulers? Do our good works on earth dictate who is over whom? 

These are all understandable questions from people living in an imperfect world. The flawed, damaged world taints the perspective we experience. But the Bible doesn’t portray our final destiny as a boss-employee relationship. Instead, it’s a father-child relationship. We, God’s children, work with him alongside our siblings, whether human or divine. We image God together now the way we were intended to do. And the “brother” we all look up to most is Jesus. All of God’s children have been made like Jesus, the ultimate imager of our Father. 

The point is that our rule in the new Eden isn’t about hierarchy; it’s about family partnership. The need for a supervisory hierarchy disappears when all the family members are glorified. 

(Bulletin Insert) 

To be honest, we just can’t conceive anything like this. We live in a corrupted world. God wants us—he wants you—to experience life with him the way he intended it to be. And someday we will. As the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9: 

9 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, 

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,

    and no mind has imagined

what God has prepared

    for those who love him.”[Isaiah 64:4] Iris of Eye 

Over the past six weeks, we have gone through an overview of what the Bible is really about. It’s an amazing story. You’re probably wondering where we go from here. There are some important concepts to think about in light of the story. 

Early in the story, I spoke about Abraham: 

The apostle Paul used Abraham as an example of believing loyalty (Romans 4:1-12). Abraham believed and was accepted by God before he obeyed any rules. The rules were about showing he believed. They did not replace belief. Belief (faith) was the one essential thing. Loyalty to that belief—to that God—is something we’ll talk about later. Today, we call it discipleship. Belief and loyalty are two distinct things. They are related but not interchangeable. The same is true of salvation and discipleship. 

The phrase “believing loyalty” will be our road map or guide during the remaining three messages of this series. Let me illustrate: 

“BELIEVING” 

Next week, we’re going to talk about the gospel. We’ll talk about what it is and isn’t. We’ll learn what it means—what the gospel’s content is according to the Bible. That’s important because believing the gospel is how we become members of God’s family. It’s how we are saved. Salvation is by faith. It is how God has provided salvation, the path he created for joining his family. That all centers on what Jesus did. 

“LOYALTY” 

In the final couple of messages, we will learn about discipleship. “Disciple” is a term that means “follower.” Being a disciple of Jesus means following him—imitating him. Jesus said in John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! ” Jesus lived in a way that showed he loved God—that he was loyal to his Father and His plan. Discipleship is how we show we love Jesus and love God. It’s not about earning God’s love. It’s how we thank Jesus for accomplishing God’s plan to save us. It’s not about replacing or supplementing what Jesus did for our salvation. That would be impossible. It’s how we show we believe in what he did for our salvation (James 2:14-26). Works show our faith; Loyalty shows our belief. 

As I said earlier, belief and loyalty are two related, but distinct things. They are not interchangeable. The same is true of salvation and discipleship. We believe the gospel for our salvation. We show loyalty to our Savior by being his disciples. 

In today’s message, we see how God is with His Family Forever, and a glimpse of what eternity may be like; it is our responsibility through believing loyalty to be an imager of Christ as He was the imager of God the father. Next week, we will build the Foundation of the Gospel, “Good News,” and in the following two weeks, we will explore What is Discipleship? and What Does a Disciple Do? Please read Romans 1:1-5, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, John 14:6, John 3:16-17