All Things New

'Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new...”'

(Revelation 21:5)

     Hello again! Happy new year to you all and I hope it was a blessed time of celebration for everyone. Coming into 2015 got me to think about the new year and newness in general. We serve a God who is not only the eternal unchanging God but one who delights in the “new.” From His perspective of course nothing is 'new' but we really mean new from our perspective. He will not leave things as they are but will, in His time, remake them so they shine anew.

     The world is old, very old, not nearly as old as some people think but compared to the average human lifespan it's darn old! The earth was formed many years ago and like your dad's old Buick, time has not been kind to it. Everything we see is in a gradual state of decline and breakdown that if given enough time would lead to nothing more than a cloud of disparate particles floating through space. The curse of sin has brought death to more than man. God however, sees a work unfinished, a canvas with only a few rough sketches and brushstrokes just waiting to be completed.

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

(Romans 8:20-22)

At the end of days when the sons of God are glorified we won't be living on this same old dusty ball. The whole of reality will be renewed right along with us into a glorious new future that we can't even imagine! How lovely is nature now while burdened by sin, how beautiful will it be when freed from those bonds and renewed by the master artist of creation?

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

(Revelation 21:1-2)

     We as well will find ourselves remade in God's final design; still ourselves and still human but glorified into a form that will last for eternity. The life of a Christian now is a struggle, a battle against the ongoing sin the beguiles and attacks us. We are freed from sin's price and it's power but in those moment we will be freed from it's presence as well! The church will never sin again and never fail their King, from that moment to eternity the relationship between God and man will never be hindered again.

“So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.”

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

“For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified.”

(Romans 8:29-30)

     All of this newness is yet to come but now, at this very time, we have access to another new thing, the new covenant between God and man. The covenants of the Old Testament were primarily between God and the nation of Israel. The prescribed how man could be obedient to God and thus demonstrate their faith. Unfortunately they did nothing for the state of man's soul. That all changed when Christ came to earth. He first showed us how the old law was meant to show us our need for God. The rules seen as impossible to follow really were impossible and that was the point! We could never measure up to the perfection of God and are thus in desperate need of Him and of the grace and mercy only He can give. When Christ died on our behalf and rose again a new covenant was made; Christ had paid a price so much greater than the cost of our sins that His one sacrifice was enough for all time!

“When he speaks of a 'new' covenant, he declares the first one obsolete. And what has become obsolete and has grown old is close to disappearing.”

(Hebrews 8:13)

“For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance”

(Hebrews 9:13-15)

“Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that of ourselves we are qualified to take credit for anything as coming from us; rather, our qualification comes from God, who has indeed qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.”

(2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

     We look forward to a day when all thins are new, when the sins of old and the crimes of the past are no longer even a distant memory. We eagerly await that coming dawn when the glory of God lights our day and we need never fear the darkness. God is from forever and will never change nor come to His end but still He brings the joy of newness into the lives of His creations. How I long for the time when the new sun rises and we find ourselves in the never ending peace and joy of a glorious new day.