The Long War & the Final Victory
Notes
Transcript
Genesis 1–2; Revelation 21–22
This morning, we’re beginning a new sermon series that will carry us all the way to Easter—and it’s one I’ve been especially eager to walk through together.
The series is titled From the Garden to Glory.
Each week, we’ll open the Scriptures and trace the deep and intentional connections between the opening pages of the Bible and its final chapters—between Genesis and Revelation.
These two books are not distant bookends. They are intimately connected. And for one to understand the redemptive story of God, and embrace the gospel, an understanding of this connection is critical.
Genesis tells us….God created Day and Night
Revelation tells us…there will be no more night.
Genesis tells us…the world is made.
Revelation tells us….the world will be made new.
In Genesis God created the Tree of Life
In Revelation it continues
In Genesis God dwells with His people
In Revelation God dwells with Hie people again.
In Genesis man begins to fight with one another
In Revelation there is no more fighting
In Genesis satan destroys
In Revelation satan is defeated
Genesis shows us what we have broken.
Revelation shows us what Christ has restored.
Genesis introduces a world created good and then fractured by sin.
Revelation reveals that same world healed, renewed, and brought to its intended glory.
In short, God created it, we broke it, Christ is fixing it….that’s the gospel!
And every page in between Genesis in Revelation is telling THAT story.
So over the next several weeks, we’re going to consider the world as it was created in Genesis—and the world as it will be recreated in Revelation.
we’re gonna travel each week from a garden…to glory.
And we’re going to start today at the begenning:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The bible that you hold in your hands, contains 31,171 individual verses! That’s a lot.
So, when we consider that fact, it’s worth acknowledging that out of all those verses, God chose one to be first.
This, is not random, the first verse in the bible lays an important foundation, through the use of three key words:
Begenning
Heavens
Earth
In other words:
Time
Space
Matter
The term “beginning” tells us something fantastic.
In this single word, we witness the creation of time itself.
Perhaps there is nothing more perplexing and concerning to the human mind than the concept of time.
I remember, as a young boy, growing fearful and anxious as I tried to wrap my head around two realities:
that God had always existed without beginning… and that my soul would live in His presence forever, without end.
I heard these truths preached with the intent to encourage—but they unsettled me.
I could play video games for hours.
I could build forts all afternoon.
I could lose myself in any number of things I enjoyed.
But eternity?
I couldn’t imagine doing anything forever.
But this fear was born from a fallen understanding of time: I didn’t yet understand the grandeur of Genesis 1:1.
You see, God did not wait around for a certain amount of time before creating, He didn’t set an alarm for the right day.
Time itself was part of what He created.
“In the beginning” does not describe a moment inside time—it marks the moment time came into existence.
Before Genesis 1:1, there was no ticking clock.
No passing seconds.
No yesterday or tomorrow.
There was only God.
We struggle to understand how God has always been, and how we will always be, because our minds only know reality within the confines of time. We think in terms of starts and finishes, schedules and seasons.
But God exists outside those confines.
He is not bound by time.
He speaks it into being.
In the book Confessions, Augustine wrote:
“Since then, God, in whose eternity there is no change at all, is the Creator and Ordainer of time … the world was made not in time, but simultaneously with time.”
And then Moses tells us what God created in that beginning:
God created the heavens
God created the heavens
When we hear “heavens,” we often think immediately of the place where God dwells, the eternal home of the redeemed.
But the Hebrew word shamayim carries a broader meaning.
In the context of Genesis 1:1, “the heavens” refers to everything above and beyond the earth, the entire cosmic expanse.
The skies.
The atmosphere.
Outer space.
The unseen realms.
The vast, stretching universe.
It’s Moses’ way of saying:
God created everything that is not earth.
Together, “the heavens and the earth” form a Hebrew expression called a merism, a figure of speech that means everything.
Like when we say “from top to bottom” or “from A to Z.”
Genesis 1:1 is declaring that God created all reality.
Not just land and stars.
But space and matter.
Energy and motion.
Light and life.
Time and territory.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
Everything that exists finds its origin in this single sentence. Which means:
Your world did not emerge randomly.
Your story is not disconnected from purpose.
Your existence is not a cosmic coincidence.
The God who stands outside time stepped into history and spoke the heavens into being.
And that same God created you to be part of this eternal story.
So when Scripture says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” it’s not merely opening a book…it’s opening a vision of reality where God is first, God is sovereign, and God is the source of all things.
And in such a reality, eternity doesn’t feel so frightening.
Because eternity is not endless monotony.
Eternity is endless God!
And the eternal God not only the heavens, but —the earth.
The place beneath our feet.
The Hebrew word for earth, eretz, refers to the land, the ground, the physical world—the place where life happens.
Dirt. Soil. Fields. Rivers. Mountains. People.
God creates the far away…and the familiar.
He forms galaxies…and gardens.
He speaks stars into existence…and shapes dust with His hands.
Genesis 1:1 tells us that the same God who governs the universe also cares for and sustains the ground we walk on each day.
And there’s something deeply comforting about that.
Because while the heavens remind us how big God is, the earth reminds us how near He has come.
He doesn’t just create a universe and remain distant. He creates a world. A place. A home for His children.
And Scripture tells us that humanity was formed from this earth—crafted from it’s dust.
Which means from the very beginning, God’s plan wasn’t just to display His power, but to create a space where He could dwell with His people.
The heavens declare His glory.
The earth becomes His dwelling place.
For from the earth, God created the most sacred of His creation:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
When we come to Genesis 1:26, the creation story slows down.
Up to this point, God has been speaking worlds into existence, light, land, seas, skies, creatures, each formed by the simple and powerful word of God:
But now, something changes in the creation account…things slow down:
This is not rushed language.
This is deliberate.
This is intimate.
Humanity is not an afterthought in creation—we are the intended climax.
“Let Us Make Man in Our Image”
“Let Us Make Man in Our Image”
The language here is striking.
God speaks in the plural: “Let us…”
From the very beginning, creation bears the marks of divine relationship and community. God is not solitary. He is eternally relational, Father, Son and Spirit.
And humanity is created to reflect that.
To be made in the image of God means that humans are designed to represent God in the world, to reflect His character, His authority, His creativity, and His care.
This is why human life carries such weight and dignity.
Not because of what we can produce.
Not because of what we achieve.
But because of who we reflect.
And we are to reflect that in the work God has given us, as God continues:
“…and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth…”
God gave man dominion over the earth beneath our feet, but not dominion as we know it post fall. Not domination, but stewardship that reflects God’s care for us.
Humanity is entrusted with God’s good world—not to abuse it, but to cultivate it, protect it, and help it flourish.
Adam is placed in the garden to work it and keep it. Humanity’s authority is always meant to mirror God’s own—life-giving, ordered, and generous.
To bear God’s image is to care about what God cares about.
And Adam, man, couldn’t accomplish this in a way that reflects God on his own, thus we were created:
Male and Female: Equal Image Bearers
Male and Female: Equal Image Bearers
Verse 27 says:
“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.”
Both male and female are equally created in the image of God.
Neither is more divine.
Neither is more valuable.
Together, they reflect the fullness of God’s design for humanity, relational, complementary, and communal.
This is the foundation for human dignity. The way in which you were created, male and female, is not a divine mistake, it’s divinely intentional.
And verse 28 says of man and woman:
“God blessed them.”
Before God gives humanity anything to do, He gives them something to receive.
Only then does He say:
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it…”
Humanity is invited to partner with God in expanding the goodness of creation.
Life is meant to grow.
Beauty is meant to spread.
God’s glory is meant to fill the earth through image-bearing people.
However, this work is intended to flow from relationship with God, not independence.
From trust, not autonomy.
From obedience to the Creator, not self-determination birthed of pride in self.
Before there is a mission to fulfill, there is a garden to dwell in.
Genesis 2 slows the story down and shows us the shape of this partnership.
“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
The work itself is good.
Cultivating the garden is part of the blessing.
But notice Adam does not begin by creating.
He begins by receiving.
God plants the garden.
God provides the trees.
God causes everything “pleasant to the sight and good for food” to grow.
The task, is to steward that which God has already done, to partner with Him in sustaining His life giving work.
And at the center of it all are two trees.
“The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
These trees reveal the heart of the partnership.
The tree of life represents dependence, life received from God, on God’s terms.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents autonomy, the desire to define life, good, and wisdom apart from God.
Now God says: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden…”
There is abundance in the blessings of God.
But one boundary is given—not to withhold joy, but to protect it.
Because the partnership God designed was never about humanity working for God without God.
It was about humanity working with God, under His word, sustained by His presence.
But instead of embracing this gift of abundance, man bought into the lie of the dragon, and chose to seek the one thing that God warned against.
And the moment that boundary is crossed, the partnership fractures.
All of creation changes:
Work becomes toil.
Fruitfulness becomes frustration.
Dominion becomes domination.
Time becomes fleeting.
And blessing gives way to brokenness.
All that was meant to flow from trust now becomes driven by fear.
And from that moment on, the story of Scripture is God pursuing His image-bearers—working to restore what was lost, heal what was broken, and renew the partnership that began in the garden.
Which is why Revelation doesn’t end with escape…
It ends with restoration.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. 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.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
On Saturday, we had a family movie night, and if I describe the plot, you’ll surely know the movie.
It begins with a hero who must overcome impossible odds to save humanity from destruction. Among those in danger is the one he loves—captured by evil, longing to be rescued. At one point, it seems like evil has won. The hero’s death feels certain. But somehow, he overcomes what looks like death itself, defeats evil, rescues his love, and rides off into the sunset to be with her forever.
Obviously, you can name that movie, right?
Of course you can’t—because that’s basically every movie ever made.
So we have to ask the question: why is that?
Why is this story so deeply embedded in the human experience that we can’t help but tell it again and again? (story of my young mom…bread and sticks…why? )
This text tells us why…because the story is ours. The people of God had long awaited a Savior, and He came! And He defeated death and sin, He paid the cost of our rebellion.
But now, we wait for the completion of the restoration He purchased…and the vision given to John on the Isle of Patmos, is a vision of what’s to come, that God has given us to assure us that Christ will finish the work He began at the cross. John continues this vision in the next chapter writing:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Revelation 21 told us that “the sea is no more.”
But then, here one chapter later, Revelation 22 says that “the river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the city.”
That contrast is intentional.
For a first-century reader—and for anyone paying close attention to the imagery of Revelation—the meaning would have been unmistakable.
In the Bible, the sea is not a neutral image.
It consistently represents chaos, threat, and the source of evil.
In Revelation 13, the beast rises out of the sea.
In Revelation 17, the waters are identified as the nations in rebellion against God.
In the Old Testament, the sea is the realm of Leviathan, the place God must restrain and conquer.
Even the Exodus story frames the sea as a place of death—until God makes a way through it.
The sea represents everything untamed, unstable, and opposed to God’s good order.
So when John says, “the sea is no more,” he is not saying there will be no water in the new creation.
He is saying there will be no more chaos.
No more threat.
No more source of evil rising up against God’s people.
And yet, water does not disappear from the story.
Instead of a dark, restless sea, we are given a river.
A river that flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
A river that brings life, not fear.
Healing, not destruction.
Order, not chaos.
This is Eden restored.
What we did in the begenning — God will undo in the end.
What we did in the begenning — God will undo in the end.
Creation → New Creation
Genesis opens with God forming the heavens and the earth.
Revelation closes with a new heaven and a new earth.
Creation isn’t discarded — it’s renewed.
Garden → Garden-City
Genesis begins in a garden.
Revelation ends in a city with a garden at its center.
God’s purpose was never just paradise — it was a populated, cultivated world where He dwells with His people.
God walking with humanity → God dwelling with humanity
In Genesis, God walks with Adam and Eve.
In Revelation, God lives with His people forever.
What was intimate but fragile becomes permanent and unbreakable.
Tree of Life lost → Tree of Life restored
The Tree of Life is guarded after the fall.
In Revelation, it stands freely in the middle of the city, offering healing to the nations.
Work without toil → Work without curse
Adam is given meaningful work before sin enters the world.
Revelation doesn’t remove work — it removes frustration, decay, and futility.
What Sin Breaks — Jesus Restores
What Sin Breaks — Jesus Restores
Everything introduced in Genesis 3 is systematically undone in Revelation 21–22:
Death is undone.
Tears are undone.
Pain is undone.
Separation from God is undone.
The curse is undone.
Revelation 22:3 says plainly: “No longer will there be any curse.”
That’s the thread holding the Bible together.
Genesis shows us God’s design.
Revelation shows us God’s determination.
Paradise isn’t abandoned.
It’s reclaimed.
The story of Scripture isn’t escape from earth — it’s restoration of earth.
Not God removing us from creation — but God returning creation to it’s intended state.
All of us live our lives in the midst of two realities. Paul was preaching this truth when he said to the church in 2 Corinthians 4:18:
we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
We live amidst the unseen. We can see a fragment, some more more than others, but John’s Revelation is unique in that he is allowed to see so much more!
The Greek word for the title Revelation, is: Apokalupsis.
It literally means "an uncovering" or "laying bare."
God is “laying bare” the two worlds we live in, and the divine collision that will take place when God pulls back the veil:
In 2 Kings 6:17: We see this sort of “veil" moment.
Elisha’s servant is terrified by an army surrounding them. Elisha prays, "Open his eyes, Lord, so he may see." The Lord opens his eyes, and he sees the hills full of horses and chariots of fire.
The scripture makes clear, they were already there; the servant just lacked the "sight" to see them through the veil.
At the Transfiguration (Matthew 17): When Jesus is transfigured, he doesn't travel to a different location. Rather, his true glory, his "unveiled" state, becomes visible to Peter, James, and John right there on the mountain top, the Tree of Life rises before them.
In Colossians 1:16-17: Paul writes that in Christ "all things hold together." Suggesting that the spiritual reality is the "glue" of the physical world, rather than something separate from it.
And in Hebrews 12:1, which I preached last weekend at Barbara’s funeral, the mention of being "surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses" implies that the departed aren't in a distant waiting room, but are able to see through the veil and they root for us as we run our race toward Jesus.
C.S. Lewis captured this beautifully when he described our present world as the “Shadowlands.”
In The Great Divorce and The Last Battle, moving closer to God does not mean drifting into something less real, but into something more solid, more vivid, more substantial. “Further up and further in” is the phrase he uses, not to depict an escape from reality—but an entrance into the truer one.
The Celtic saints echoed this instinct through their language of thin places. Certain moments, locations, or experiences that feel uniquely powerful—not because heaven was visiting earth, but because for a moment, the veil is “thin.” Not because God came closer, but we see clearer.
Friends, the Kingdom of Heaven is “at hand.” God’s reign is not merely postponed or distant. Yes, the full events of Revelation have not all taken place, but God’s kingdom is as close as the air we breathe.
The problem is not access, it is attentiveness to the things “unseen.”
We live constantly immersed in God’s kingdom, yet the enemies desire is to continually impress us more with the world he influences.
Everything designed to keep our eyes on the temporary, is strategic, but the Spirit empowers us to see!
Closing:
Closing:
As we close this morning, I want to challenge you as to how we are to understand life in light of this Revelation:
Story of woman who was waiting at my office…
Beyond the veil of our day-to-day tasks…
Beyond the technology that constantly demands our attention…
Beyond the anxieties that quietly consume our thoughts…
There is another reality at work—one that drives all of it.
From the very beginning, Scripture shows us two competing visions of life.
On one hand, there is the goodness of God, reflected in Eden through the Tree of Life—life rooted in trust, dependence, and communion with Him.
On the other hand, there is the pride of self that first consumed Satan and then humanity, reflected in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the desire to define life on our own terms, apart from God.
Though Christ has decisively won the war—defeating death by passing through it—the battle for the human heart is still being fought.
Every day, we still choose which tree we will live from.
Last month, we began this year by talking about gospel stewardship, how we invest our time, talent, and treasure.
So this morning, in light of everything we’ve seen, I want to ask you encourage us today, to invest our time in the eternal!
Time, like matter and space, is something God called good.
We saw that it’s part of the created order.
Seasons, days, growth, rhythm—all of it belongs to God’s design.
And when we reach Revelation 21 and 22, notice something important:
God does not discard creation.
He redeems it.
Just as our bodies are resurrected, not replaced, and the earth is renewed, not abandoned, it makes sense that time itself is not erased, but healed.
In the new garden, there are nations.
Kings bringing their glory to God.
A river flowing.
And Trees bearing fruit every month…Every month!
Months require sequence.
Sequence requires time.
Revelation quietly assumes a redeemed kind of time—not driven by death, but by life.
Not ticking clocks and deadlines—but rhythm.
Not time that steals from us—but time that serves communion with God.
Augustine called this aevum—a created, ongoing duration distinct from both fallen time and God’s eternal timelessness.
Genesis begins with time created.
Revelation ends with time healed.
What disappears in Revelation is not time—it’s death.
“There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain.”
Those are the tyrannies of fallen time.
But growth?
Joy unfolding?
Life expanding?
Those remain.
Which means eternity is not static. It is dynamic life with God.
Not endless boredom.
But endless becoming—without loss.
Endless worship—without weariness.
Endless joy—without expiration.
So the question before us is not whether time matters.
The question is: what story are we letting our time tell now?
Perhaps, that is the question for christian during this short, momentary time we spend on the earth. (time as milliseconds)
So today we must ask:
Am I living from the Tree of Life…
or still reaching for the other one?
Am I seeking communion with God, or the comfort of the world?
Am I investing in what reveals His glory, or in what makes successful by the standards of Babylon?
Friends, all is not as it should be…but it is becoming what it will one day be (share the gospel)
Eden is no longer merely a place we long to dwell in, but it now dwells in us through Christ’s Spirit, and He is going to bring His renewing work to completion, and we are part of that.
For the dominion we were charged with by God in the begenning, is still our task today…though now a cursed creation fights against us, and spiritual armour is required.
So today, might we labor with hope, stand with faith, and press on with confidence, because the garden is returning, the King is reigning, and glory is closer than we think.
Will you pray with me, that our lives would reflect the glory of a better land, and evoke homesickness in everyone we meet.
Communion - The Thinned Veil
