God’s plan has always been to have for himself a people (Genesis 17:7; Exo. 6:7; Ezekiel 34:24, 36:28; Jeremiah 7:23, 30:22, 31:33). This is a Gospel-driven church made up of Gospel-driven people who are passionate and driven to share the good news of God’s work. The church is an embassy — the colony of heaven — to which the victims of Satan’s tyrannical reign flee to escape this present evil age. There is no other name of any other king upon whom we may call to deliver us from our most dangerous foes but this one, who has descended and ascended and will come again for his own.
When Adam sinned, God cursed the ground because of him (Genesis 3:17-19), which created a need for the restoration of all things that God had created. This curse affected not only Adam and Eve but the entire created order. But, in Romans 8:21, the Apostle Paul promises a full and final restoration that God will bring in the form of changing death and decay into glorious life and liberty.
Paul explains that this will happen when we receive our resurrection bodies. In fact, he says the creation is somehow longing for that day:
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God...We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only creation but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” — Romans 8:19, 22-23
And then there’s this from famous Theology professor and author, Michael Horton:
“God’s eternal Son is present at the beginning of the story of creation (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-20). He was the rock struck for Israel’s sins (1 Corinthians 10:4), and in the Bible’s closing book He is God’s last word, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’ (Revelation 1:17-18).”