A Resurrected Cosmos: The Drama of Revelation as the Unveiling of New Creation

By Brayden R. Brookshier

What if Revelation was not about the end of the world? Too often, eschatology (the study of "end times") has been hijacked by controversial theories and timelines of when Jesus will return. Some have even seen the topic as divisive and irrelevant. A Resurrected Cosmos offers a vision

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fontes Press
• Release date: Aug 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781948048927

Book preview

Less Like a Home, More Like a Train

Go back? he thought. No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!¹

—J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit

It is fascinating to me how obsessed everyone is with purpose ; yet hardly anyone can answer the question that precedes it, the question of meaning. We cannot understand what God intends for us to do until we first understand what we mean to Him. Yes, meaning, properly comprehended, fuels purpose like blood flowing through veins. And so, if we truly want to gather the most from our study on eschatology, we have to start by getting a grasp on some key things regarding protology (first things). Here is where the question of meaning is answered (at least in part), and where we also discover the moment humanity’s meaning went awry.

Why Did God Create Everything?

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1)

What is the first attribute of God we glean from this verse? Every time I ask this, I get the same answer: Creator! God is Creator! Yes! That is a true statement; but it is the wrong answer to the question. That is not the first theological truth we learn about God. Let me help you by inflecting a part of this verse.

In the beginning, God—Stop there! God simply is. Before there was anything (well, at least in terms of how we understand anything), God exists. If you claim to have quite the imagination, I dare you to try to picture what everything was like before there was anything. Imagine the life of God before creation as we know it.

The starting point for all theology is the foundational understanding that God is. The book of Exodus plays on this truth when God reveals to Moses what His name is. God’s name is Yahweh, which probably clarifies nothing for you on a purely cursory read. But the Hebrew name is a play on words. Yahweh etymologically means to be. That is why we sometimes refer to God as the I AM, because that is what His name means. He is who He is, and He is the only one who can make such a claim! He is self-existent; dependent on no one; unrivaled; unique in every way. He is the source of all else. Yahweh is the I AM. Therefore, God simply is.

We need to understand this because God does not need anything—He is self-sufficient. On the contrary, humans are used to actions being derived from some sort of self-gratifying motivation. Hardly ever—if ever—are we motivated purely by altruistic motives. This is not a knock against your character, it is just the result of our lack of self-sufficiency. We have needs, and that is okay. But God is without needs, and whatever He does He does from a completely different motive.

Are you starting to see how amazing this is?

So, what did this self-existent; self-sufficient; completely satisfied being do with His infinite power? He created the heavens and the earth, which is a somewhat cumbersome way of saying, He created everything! From the most microbial life on earth to the most distant star, He made it all! The Hebrew verb created (bārāʾ) highlights God’s unique creative power and His creatio ex nihilo! Consequently, in the Gen 1:1 bārāʾ refers exclusively to God as the agent of creation.

The creation of the heavens and the earth simply means the creation of the cosmos. (The reference to the creation of the cosmos will be important later in our study; for now, consider this a foreshadowing of future events). I would argue that Gen 1:1 functions as a summary statement for the events of Gen 1–2. It is undoubtedly part of Day 1 of creation, but it is also a succinct affirmation of creatio ex nihilo. God creates everything, and then begins to form everything.²

Here is where we are so far: creation presents a wise Creator who gives ontological existence for no other purpose but to love and be loved. Yes, that is the purpose—love. We love out of necessity; God loves out of liberty. He does not receive our love to fulfill a need He is otherwise void of. We receive His love because we have a void a billion galaxies could never fulfill without His love. This is essential to the conversation of meaning.

God’s creation is an act of love evidenced by Him needing absolutely nothing. Since He is utterly perfect, the only possible outcome that can occur come from creating everything is the possibility of frustration. However, what if God knows something we are not privy to? What if creation was an act of sharing what He has within Himself? What if He wanted to create creatures that in some way reflected or imaged Him, while being able to be in relationship with Him? It is questions like these that only Christian theology, with its articulation of the triune nature of God, can adequately