““This theme is central to the gospel: our future hope is for that day when the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord;13 when God brings all things into subjection under Christ’s feet;14 when the earth is flooded with the glorious presence of God as the waters cover the sea;15 when creation is delivered from its groaning under the weight of sin into the glorious freedom of the righteous reign of God.16 God’s purpose is not to get us out of earth and into heaven; it’s to reconcile heaven and earth. God has given Jesus authority, as his resurrected King, to establish this kingdom reality on earth as it is in heaven. Upon his resurrection, Jesus declares: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”17 God’s reason for giving Jesus this authority is, in the words of Paul, to “bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”18 In Christ, God’s purpose is to reunite that which sin has torn asunder, to thread the ripped fabric of creation back together again. Jesus’ resurrection brings the earth back from exile into the glorious, heavenly presence of God. Jesus reconciles heaven and earth.””
