The Trumpet Call
Introduction
The sweet smell of the new blossoms on the trees and the powerful rich and organic aroma of each one of countless billions of plants now sprouting forcefully and yet gracefully through the soil or producing fresh shoots filled the early spring air. It seemed rightly as though all of creation had been touched by the finger and blessing of God. Not the hardest hearted bully could walk to school on a morning such as this and miss the distinct aroma of life. Weeks earlier, the snow had been thick and heavy. We had joyfully missed school that day. But now it seemed as though the heat of the sun was baking off the lifelessness of a long and cold winter. But there was something even sweeter in the air, at least for most kids on their way to school on mornings such as these. Just as each sunny morning brought a seemingly more invigorated nature, so too each morning brought with it the excitement that soon, no matter how much homework Mrs. Baxter wanted to give us, she couldn't. We were to be set free. So even homework took on an air of joyful anticipation as the days quickened to meet the summer break. I spent much of my time day dreaming about my grandparents' cabin in the mountains west of Denver. We would be there soon. It seemed sitting there at my desk that I could smell the wonderful aroma of coffee, bacon and an early morning cigarette. It seemed as though I could see the smiling face of my grandmother as she was preparing breakfast for us. And I could hear deep in my heart the joyful gurgling and babbling of the creek behind the cabin.
Dominion Marred
You will recall Genesis chapters 1 – 3. God makes covenant with His creation, with Adam and Eve. God implements between them what has been termed: the covenant of works. In this covenant God granted Adam and Eve dominion, or rule and authority over the garden of Eden. The Lord grants provision to them. He says: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden” (2:17) The Lord grants dominion when Moses tells us: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (2:15) It is impossible to separate the created order from man and his dominion. Adam was as the father of mankind also the caretaker and the ruler over creation. For instance, the Lord assigns to Adam the task of the naming of all of the creatures. David referring to this dominion in Psalms 8 says: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” The Bible tells us that this dominion was first given to Adam in the creation.
For those of us who have never worked or lived on a farm we find it difficult to understand the significance of the dominion that man was given. In part due to the advancement of our civilization we have lost such a close relationship to the earth. We don’t typically work in the fields to bring home the food and provision that we need to live. So it is very difficult at times for us to see that there really is a relationship between man, as caretaker and the created order.
So it is that Adam was given this order. But as the Bible makes absolutely clear and as we have discussed previously, Adam violates the covenant. He disobeys God’s command to him in the garden. This wickedness would plunge mankind and as we’ll see all of creation into the curse of sin and death: “because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man” Romans 5:17 and again: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” - Romans 5:12
Read Romans 8:16 - 30
Two Adams Compared
We must see Adam as the father of all of mankind. We MUST see that Adam and the covenant cursing that he bore was handed down from generation to generation. We must also see that the first man Adam was NOT divine in nature. And the Bible describes for us two primary characters as rulers of mankind and of creation. The first is Adam, he’s the father of all mankind. Paul says: “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust” – 1 Corinthians 15:47 He brought sin into the race of man. We all, like it or not, bear his genetic markings and bear the weight of the curse. The Bible describes him in prototypical form. That is to say, that he is the prototype for all of his descendants. Adam is the one from whom all subsequent generations have inherited all of their characteristics. We must see this.
We must also see that in the same way that Adam was the prototype for all of mankind in the fall, so Jesus, in His resurrected humanity is the prototype for all who have been born again into and under His dominion. “The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit” – 1 Corinthians 15:45.
Resurrection is About The Image of Christ
We also have to see, as we did in week 1, that we are being transformed and the objective of the resurrection is to transform us into the image of Christ. We were the image of Adam. Now, we are being transformed, and this transformation will find its completion in the resurrection. To our text:
“And those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (8:29a)
If our prototype was Adam and among the inheritance that we received from Adam were death and sin then what Paul here speaks is critical for the believer. We were predestined to be REMADE or conformed (to take from one state and bring to another) into the image of Jesus, the second Adam. The end result is that what will define us in the resurrection is the image of Christ. We will have inherited the distinguishing characteristics of the second Adam. If you are in Christ today, despite your struggles and your failings, you will one day be transformed fully into the image and likeness of Jesus.
Firstborn among many brothers
We will be conformed to Jesus image. This: “in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (8:29). We will be conformed so that Jesus will be the first born of the resurrection, the prototype of all who are to come. This verse speaks to the purpose of our transformation and our conformation in Christ. The reason for this is that the human attributes of Jesus, in His perfected state must be transmitted to all who have been adopted as sons by the Father. Jesus was the first to be resurrected to everlasting glory. His resurrection is to be followed by the resurrection of all who are adopted sons of God. “you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"” (8:26). In Colossians 1:18, Paul says: “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Jesus becomes the first one in the order to come: the final restored consummated kingdom. Not only is Jesus the first in order, but He is the preeminent one, the one with highest significance. Just as Adam was the preeminent figure in our earthly linage, Jesus becomes the defining member of the church. He is the “beginning” and this word here means the originating source. It is as though Jesus was the single drop of water that breached the damn that is the created order in its current cursed state. And it will be on that day when He returns, that the damn of sin and death will burst giving way to an absolute flood as our bodies take on the immortal and glory filled image of our older brother.
We will share as Heirs
Paul says (16) “if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him”. Jesus was resurrected and ascended to His state of glory. In the same way if we, by the salvation of Jesus have been given the destiny of the image of Jesus so too we will be resurrected and bear His glory. Paul continues “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (18) So the “Glory” the dignity, or the inherent honor that is in Jesus resurrected humanity will also be given to us. It will be given to us, because now that we are in Christ we are heirs with Christ, receiving full benefits as sons and daughters of God. If you are in Christ today, you are an heir with Christ and on that last day a glory awaits you in Jesus, that He enjoys even now in the presence of the Father.
Creation Groans
But it wasn’t only mankind that was subjected to the curse. All of creation was likewise subjected. Paul says: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (20). Paul makes it clear that it was God who subjected the creation to the curse, when he says: “but because of him who subjected it. Paul also makes it clear that the restoration of all of creation is directly bound to the resurrection and the glory that will be bestowed upon the sons of God. That as the end of this current order occurs, in that twinkling of an eye, all of creation will be restored. It is of profound significance that Paul refers to the glory of God as freedom” to us. It is significant because once all is made right, we will be truly free. Free from bondage to the flesh, free from all bondage to temptation and free to live an existence completely in accord with the holiness of God. We will be free from Adam’s limitations and so too will nature be set free from the limitations of the curse.
It is almost impossible for us to imagine what creation would be like free from the friction of the constant presence of disease, death, predation and the sufferings that so characterizes creation in this order. Paul says “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” (22). It’s not that creation has an awareness of the glories that await as Jesus makes all things new, it is that the very order of nature itself in death and birth and suffering could be described metaphorically as a woman who is in the travails of labor. Each contraction brings intense and unimaginable pain. Each contraction proclaims the eminent birth, but the eminent pain as well. When Lori would give birth, she would reach a point of suffering where she would just wish that it would all stop. She would wish that we could turn off the labor and just go home. So too creation has been undergoing the brutal and painful suffering that the curse brought from Adam and will until the day that Jesus raises His people from the dead. And the cry of all of creation in disease, suffering and death, much like the travails of labor proclaim and sound out the longing for the return of Christ in glory to restore all things.
“and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (23) In the same way Paul says, we who have been given the first fruit of the fullness that is to come in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, also groan inwardly as we suffer. That is to what Paul is referring. That this life of suffering, this life of brutality of struggle and strife is driving us like labor towards the eminent birth, the redemption of our bodies. And we have been given the Holy Spirit as He has taken up residence in us, as a foretaste of the glory to come. We behold Christ as glorious. He reveals to us Jesus as Lord and Savior. So it is that He, the Spirit proclaims to us these truths, and creates in us this longing. But He’s the first fruits of the relationship that is to come. It tells of the glorious truth, that God will dwell with His people “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. – Revelation 21:3. Just as we have become the temple (same word as dwell) or the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit, so too He will dwell with us, just as He did with Adam.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. – Revelation 21:4
On that day all of death and the curse of death, both on man and creation will “pass away”. Indeed all of the former things will pass away. All suffering and sadness will be done away with.
The Lord’s Return
So it is that all of creation, including us, groan and long for the day when that sky opens up and Jesus returns. The Lord, on that day will say: “Behold I am making all things new.” – Revelation 21:5
Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. – Matthew 24:31
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. – 1 Thessalonians 4:14
Oh what joy will fill the hearts of those who will be raised on that day. Imagine, as the trumpet blast is sounded and the Lord appears with power and His great glory. Imagine as the sound of the horn draws the dead from the ground. Imagine as all of creation is restored and He gives life to our dead and dying bodies. Imagine as we rise to meet Him in the air. Imagine as the war against sin in our flesh is won once for all. Imagine as all suffering and shame is done away with. When I think of the trumpet blast, I imagine it sounding like the clearest sound. Unencumbered by the frailties of human fashioned trumpets the sound will be the most magnificent and pure sound that has ever befallen our natural ears.
The Consummation of the Kingdom
Not only will Jesus do away with all suffering and pain, but all dominion, will be given to Jesus. The writer of Hebrews says: of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. (1:8)
The glory of the resurrection is most clearly seen in Jesus seated upon His throne as Lord and king over all of creation. As all of the creation that was at one point in such rebellion to Him are now made completely subject to Him. Jesus victory over sin and death accomplishes the dominion that Adam could not accomplish. In this way, Jesus name is lifted higher than any other in all of history. The name and legacy of Adam fade quickly as what Paul spoke of in Philippians 2:9, comes to pass: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. In that final day, the name which the Father bestowed upon Him, Jesus (God saves) will be lifted high. Paul calls it the name above all names. The name which is highest in honor and privilege that name alone will cause all of the sons and daughters of Adam to fall on their knees and to confess, that Jesus is Lord and king.
Again the writer of Hebrews says: “Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, "What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet." Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” (2:5-10)
Here the writer of Hebrews is quoting Psalms 8 in regard to Jesus. So it will be that all things will be placed under Jesus’ feet and under His subjection. And that even though we don’t see all things in the created order under His feet in complete dominion currently, we will one day see all things placed under His feet. This is absolutely hopeful for us. First, in that He tasted death on our behalf. Second, that in Christ’s kingdom and order, there will be nothing wicked whatsoever. There will no longer be the consequence of human sin. And because Jesus’ work was completed on the cross, he says: “should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.” He will one day bring many sons and daughters to glory. If you are in Jesus, this is true of you. And as Jesus, the founder of the church, the glorious Savior, Sanctifier and Restorer of all things leads His people to final victory, we will see Him crowned and at the center of all things. The one to whom all glory and honor will be given. In our current day, so many would like us to believe that we are the center of our Christian experience. But if the work that Jesus began on Calvary is driving to a restored order in which He is directly at the center of all things, to be worshipped and lifted high, then shouldn’t our focus be on Him and what He has done and what He will do? Since, as Paul said earlier, we have the first fruits of the Spirit, shouldn’t we His people seek His glorious throne by faith? Shouldn’t we His people take up the holy cry “Maranatha” “Our Lord Come!” 1 Corinthians 16:22? And again, Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
It is then that we see that the every cry of our heart is not entirely directed to His return in glory, to the resurrection and His completion of this age of suffering. So we should seek the forgiveness of the Lord as we are perpetually allowing the things of this earth to cloud our heavenly view. We should seek and know that His completed work on the cross; that His blood is sufficient to cover over even these sins.
Maranatha!
