Reigning with Christ: Humanity’s Restored Vocation in the New Creation

The ultimate destination of believers is not our immortal souls experiencing disembodied bliss among the angels in some kind of cloud-like cathedral where we sing “10,000 Reasons” ten thousand times. If that’s your view, then you need to read Revelation 21–22, 2 Peter 3, and finish off with a dose of N. T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope and God’s Homecoming. In biblical perspective, the ultimate destiny of God’s people is for God to dwell with them in the new creation, the marriage of the new heavens and new earth, the day when God fills all things in every way (1 Cor 15:28). A place, I imagine, where God’s holiness radiates like the sun, joy fills the atmosphere like oxygen, and wondrous anthems of praise will forever bless and celebrate the Lamb who took away our sins and made all things new. What will we do there? If the book of Revelation is anything to go by, then worship will be a huge part of life in the new creation. However—and I’m thinking here of children who are terrified that eternity sounds like one long church service—we will do more than worship in song. If we are attentive to the testimony of Scripture, we learn the saints will “reign” with Jesus over the new creation!...