"The resurrection of Jesus is the dawning of the age to come in which God will transform the entire cosmos. 'Resurrection' meant, for first-century Jews, a large-scale event that would occur at the end of history in which God would restore the whole of creation, including the bodily life of humankind. But no first-century Jew expected one man to rise in the middle of history. New Testament writers who reflect on the significance of Jesus' resurrection in this Jewish context conclude that in Jesus the end-time life of the kingdom has begun. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, the firstfruits of the final restoration. In him, God's rule over all creation has begun."

Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew, Living at the Crossroads, London, SPCK, 2008, p. 56