The Beginning Is Coming

Hindsight - looking back to see more clearly - there was a reason for … that I understand now

Foreshadowing
curiosity, anticipation, intrigue, clarity

In creation, the Glory of God was revealed and shared
People were created in God's Image and given dominion over His creation (Gen 1:26, Psalm 8:4)

In the fall, the Glory of God was ignored, the Glory of Man was tainted, and Separation from Glory was the consequence (Romans 3:23)

In Christ, the Glory of God is restored as we are conformed into His image (Romans 8:29) and are transformed back into His glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18) Restoration has begun but much more awaits us

TRANSFIGURATION
Matthew 17:1-9

It is the glorified humanity of the God-man that the disciples caught a peek of on the Mount of Transfiguration — the glorified humanity that all believers will share in when we are fully glorified in the new heavens and new earth

The Beginning is coming!

We will not just see the transfigured Jesus, but be transfigured with him.

“We will be like him,” says the apostle John, “because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2)

The glory that the fallen creation aches for is “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). The already-glorified God-man, for whom we await as our Savior, “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20–21)


so we look back, in order to look forward so that we can persevere through the darkest moments and see that “light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

TAKE SOME HOME
1 what have you started to understand a little better the older you get?
2 how have you seen transformation happen in your life?
3 how can thinking of eternity shape the decisions you make today?
4 what part do you want to play in the mission of God in the world?