A God Revolution

“I have not come to abolish them [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them.” —Matthew 5:17b

During difficult economic times we often hear stories about the good old days. I have many treasured memories from my childhood but never thought of them as the good old days. My childhood would be better described as a time of innocence, or at least ignorance. I didn’t know how poor we were. My dad worked for a brick plant that was owned by the local clay mining company in St. Charles, PA. We did have an indoor toilet, but we bathed in a galvanized tub in the basement. Didn’t everyone? A special treat was when Dad would take my older brother and me to work and give us a shower in the company locker room.

When Jesus Christ began His earthly ministry at age 30, He proclaimed, “The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near” (Mark 1:15). Jesus began a God revolution. I am not referring to a rebellion, but a revolution. The original meaning of the word revolution is “the movement around something, one complete turn.” The earth makes one revolution around the sun every year. The moon makes a complete turn around the earth every month. Jesus came to bring the world one complete turn back to God’s original purpose in creation.

When we think of revolutions, we think of countries or peoples rebelling against the current government. They may be wishing to return to former better times, “the good old days,” but they seldom seek to return to God’s intended purpose. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Jesus did not come to throw off the rule of God but to re-establish it. Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect human life, died, and rose again to reconcile fallen humanity to an intimate relationship with God.

Spiritually speaking, if we are to return to the good old days, we must go back farther than good memories from our childhood or a boom period for the church in the 1950s or 70s. We must return to the good old days of God’s intent for creation in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had intimate fellowship with God and a carefree enjoyment of the natural world—no pollution, no recession, and no terrorism.

The New Testament describes a future where the blessings of God’s original creation are restored. The similarities between the opening chapters of the Bible and the last two chapters, Revelations 21-22 are amazing. The environment is described as a paradise. The river of God waters the land. The Tree of Life is available with an abundance of fruit to eat. God and human beings have close communion. Revelation 21:3 says, “Now the dwelling of God is with men … God himself will be with them and be their God.” Genesis describes streams watering the land and God walking with man and wife in the garden (Gen. 2:6, 3:8).

The God Revolution that Jesus brings makes it possible for you, me, and the entire world to make one complete turn back to God’s intended perfect world. Jesus Christ invites you and me to see, enter, and receive His Kingdom. Brian McClaren writes, “To see it, we need to repent and acknowledge how blind we have been, becoming teachable and ‘young’ again, like children. To enter it, we need to become a part of it, and to receive it, we let it become a part of us.”

Think about the best good old days you can remember. Wouldn’t returning to God and God’s good and perfect plan for your life be a thousand times better than anything you can imagine? Turn to God, receive His love and forgiveness. Start a God revolution in your life.