“Such is the triumph of the mission of God” by Christopher J. H. Wright

“It is most unlikely that Paul lived to ever have had the opportunity to read the final prophetic book of the biblical canon, the Revelation, but if he had it would have warmed his heart and had his full agreement. For it too is saturated with Old Testament images, visions and quotations, not least in the way it envisions the completion of God’s mission for the nations and the fulfillment of all his covenant promises…

All the great covenantal figureheads are there. Noah is there in the vision of a new creation, a new heavens and a new earth after judgment (Rev 21:1). Abraham is there in the ingathering and blessing of all nations from every tongue and language (Rev. 7:9). Moses is there in the covenantal assertions that ‘they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them’ (Rev. 21:3). David is there in the holy city, the new Jerusalem, and the expansion of the temple to include the whole of creation (Rev. 21), and in the identity of Jesus as the Lion of Judah and Root of David (Rev. 5:5).

And the new covenant is there in the fact that all of this will be accomplished by the blood of the Lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:12). Purged by judgment and the destruction of all wickedness and evil, human and satanic, the nations of the world will join in the praise of God for His salvation (Rev. 7:9-10). They will bring all the wealth of their historical achievements into the city of God, as Isaiah had said they would (Rev. 21:24, 26), the city that now embraces the full extent of the whole new creation.

And the river and tree of life, from which humanity had been barred in the earliest chapters of the Bible’s grand narrative, will, in its final chapter, provide the healing of the nations which the narrative has longed for ever since the scattering of Babel (Rev. 22:2). The curse will be gone from the whole of creation (Rev. 22:3). The earth will be filled with the glory of God and all the nations of humanity will walk in His light (Rev. 21:24).

Such is the glorious climax of the Bible’s grand narrative. Such is the triumph of the mission of God.”

–Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2006), 529-30.