God Brought Order Out of Chaos in the Beginning. He Is Doing It Again — and Will Complete It.
In the beginning, God created. He brought perfect, glorious order out of what was formless and void — light into darkness, life into lifelessness, cosmos out of chaos. It was very good.
But then came the rebellion. And with human sin came God's curse — and disorder entered a world that had been perfectly ordered. The chaos that has marked human history ever since, the brokenness we see all around us and feel within us, is the consequence of that ancient rebellion against the God who made everything good.
And yet — God has not abandoned his creation to chaos. He is restoring it. Through Jesus Christ, who has already begun to shine light into the darkness, order is returning. And one day he will come again to bring peace, order, and restoration to his creation once and for all. From chaos to cosmos — perfectly, permanently, forever.
In From Chaos to Cosmos: Creation to New Creation, pastor-scholar Sidney Greidanus traces this breathtaking theme from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22 — showing how God's plan for the restoration of his creation is the great unifying narrative of the whole Bible, and how Jesus Christ is the one through whom that plan is accomplished. With discussion questions at the end of each chapter and a fourteen-session reading plan, this book is as practically useful as it is theologically rich — ideal for small groups and individual study alike.
What This Book Covers
Sidney Greidanus traces the chaos-to-cosmos theme through the whole of Scripture:
- Creation and cosmos — Genesis 1: How God brought perfect order out of formlessness and void — and what that original goodness reveals about God's purposes for his creation
- The fall and chaos — Genesis 3: How human rebellion against God introduced disorder into a perfectly ordered creation — and the curse that still marks the world today
- Chaos in the Old Testament — How the theme of chaos appears throughout the Old Testament — in the flood, in exile, in the lament of the Psalms — and how God's people cry out for restoration
- God's promises of restoration — How the Old Testament prophets proclaim God's coming restoration of his creation — pointing forward to the one who will bring cosmos out of chaos
- Jesus as the chaos-defeater — How Jesus' ministry, death, and resurrection begin the restoration of God's creation — shining light into darkness and reversing the curse
- The new creation already and not yet — How Christians live between the first fruits of new creation in Christ and the complete restoration still to come
- Revelation and the new cosmos — Revelation 21–22: The breathtaking vision of the new creation — God's final, complete, and permanent restoration of all things
- Living in the light of new creation — How the chaos-to-cosmos theme shapes the way Christians understand their lives, their suffering, and their hope
What Readers Will Learn
- How the theme of chaos and cosmos runs as a unifying thread through the whole of Scripture — from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22
- Why human sin introduced disorder into God's perfectly ordered creation — and what the curse means for the world we live in today
- How God has been working throughout history to restore his creation — through his promises, his covenants, and ultimately through Jesus Christ
- What Jesus' ministry, death, and resurrection accomplish for the restoration of creation — and why the resurrection is the firstfruits of the new cosmos
- What the new creation is — the perfect, permanent restoration of all things that awaits God's people at the return of Christ
- How to live faithfully between the already and the not yet — holding the reality of present chaos and the certainty of coming cosmos in biblical tension
- Why the vision of new creation in Revelation 21–22 is not escapism but the most realistic and hope-sustaining truth a Christian can know
How to Use This Book
From Chaos to Cosmos is structured, accessible, and immediately usable:
- Small group Bible study — The fourteen-session reading plan and discussion questions at the end of each chapter make it an ideal resource for a small group working through the biblical theme of creation and new creation
- Individual study — Rich enough for personal study, with questions that prompt genuine reflection on the text and its implications for faith and life
- Church groups and adult Bible classes — A reliable, engaging resource for any church wanting to study the biblical theology of creation and new creation together
- Personal devotions — A book to read slowly, chapter by chapter, allowing the chaos-to-cosmos theme to reshape the way you understand your life and your hope
- Sermon preparation — A valuable biblical-theological resource for pastors wanting to preach on creation, new creation, or the restoration of all things
Who Should Read This Book
This book is for you if you are:
- A Christian wanting to understand the Bible's big story — and to see how one breathtaking theme of chaos and cosmos runs through every part of it
- A small group leader wanting a well-structured, biblically rich, and practically useful guide for a group study on creation and new creation
- A Christian living with suffering, disorder, or confusion — who needs the biblical assurance that God is restoring his creation and that chaos will not have the final word
- A pastor or teacher wanting a reliable, Christ-centred biblical theology of creation and new creation to inform preaching and teaching
- Anyone who has ever looked at the brokenness of the world and wondered: Is God doing anything about this? And will it ever be made right?
About the Author
Sidney Greidanus is a pastor-scholar and emeritus professor of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of several widely respected works on preaching and biblical theology, and is known for his Christ-centred approach to the Old Testament and his commitment to making rigorous biblical-theological scholarship accessible and applicable for the church. Sidney brings to From Chaos to Cosmos both decades of careful scholarly engagement with Scripture and a pastor's genuine concern for God's people to understand the great story God is telling — and to live in the light of its breathtaking ending.
