Marital Union in Heaven, and in Creation, Part 7

The Perfecting Union

The difference between the Creator and the Creation is the difference between that which is unlimited (e.g., omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent), and that which is limited. The generation of limited-ness (Creation) by the Creator came with a purpose, which purpose required the Chain of Events to fulfill it. Up until the resurrection of Jesus Christ, each new link in that chain was manifested by an increased amount of limitation within the Creation. Among the most significant of these limitations were: cosmos→earth→man. The second-to-last fundamental act of limitation in the Creation was God’s making of Man, “in the image and likeness” of God, in a physical body of flesh. Gen. 1:26

The final, most restrictive of all the acts of limitation-in-Creation came about when “Christ Jesus…emptied Himself…[thereby] becoming in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:5, 7 After His death and resurrection, He began the reversal of the limitation-causing events, wherein each successive stage in the Chain is one of decreasing limitation:

• Death is undone;

• the body of flesh is transmuted, thereby being delivered from decay;

• the soul is unbound from sin;

• the spirit is freed from darkness; and

• the Presence (Parousia) of the Lord in the world restores a face-to-face relationship between Man and his Creator-in-flesh.

All of these restorations result from mankind, in its various modes of existence (body, soul, spirit), being redeemed and delivered from their sin-caused separation from God.

The following scriptures foretell of this coming perfecting union between the Creator and His Creation. Much of that perfecting will be accomplished before and during the Millennium:

Ephesians 4:11 And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints… 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a complete/perfect man… 5:27 that He might present the church to Himself in splendor…holy and without blemish.

Hebrews 11:39 And all these [OT saints], having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise: 40 God having provided something better for us, that they without us could not be perfected/made complete.

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the Creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. … 21 Because the Creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

1 Corinthians 15:25 For He [Christ] must reign [during the Millennium] until He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For “He [God] has put all things under His [Christ’s] feet.” … 28 And when all things are subjected unto Him, then the Son Himself shall also be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be everything [or, everywhere] in all things.

Following these things, and as a result of them, a perfected (re-)union will be celebrated in the new heavens, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem:

Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away… 2 And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride [9 …the Lamb’s wife] adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself shall be with them…” 22:4 And they shall see His face…

– meaning that the Creator and His Creation unto its ultimates (that is, mankind) will enter into an intimate union of a type not seen since the early days of Eden.