HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW
After a year like 2020, it is only logical to assume that most people will be hoping for a better year in 2021. Yet, as Christians, our hope for the future does not come from a new year, or any of the things that it might bring, such as a vaccine, a new President, or a new job. Rather it comes from our God whom Revelation 21:5 tells us makes all things new. Although He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8), He delights in making other things new. Of course, there is nothing about Him that needs to be made new, since He is timeless, and is already, and always has been, completely perfect. However, that is not true of us or His creation, which have been so marred by sin.
The Bible is replete with reminders of the things which God makes new.
When He, in His sovereign grace, saves us, He makes us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and gives us new life (Rom. 6:4) which is both eternal and abundant. He gives us a new spirit (Ezek. 11:19) and a new heart (Ezek. 36:26), and He will renew our minds (Rom. 12:2). As Christians, we are a new people (Eph. 2:15), with a new self (Eph. 4:24), that Romans 8:29 assures us is being made into Christ-likeness. All of this happens through a new covenant (Luke 22:20), and so that we can live out a new commandment (John 13:34). According to Lamentations 3:23, God’s mercies are new every morning. Revelation 21:1-4 tells us that at the end of time, God will even make a new heaven and a new earth, and that the old things that mark life in this world, such as tears, death, mourning, crying and pain will be made to pass away. Not only that, but the best part is that God will dwell with us in a new Jerusalem.
Note, that in all of these verses, the actor in making things new, is God Himself.
It is not us, or any of the world’s systems, whether they be political, economic, social, military, legal, or even religious. It is not by our might, or by our power, but by the Spirit of the living God. This assures us that whatever God makes new will be good, righteous, and perfect, and infinitely better than what came before. It also means that God gets all the glory and praise. No wonder that (6) different Psalms (Ps. 33:3, 40:3, 96:1, 98:1, 144:9 & 149:1), plus Isaiah 42:10, encourage us to sing a new song to God.
Because our God makes all things new, we can have a hope for the future that is rooted in the very character of God Himself.
We are not prisoners of our past, or of what we have done in the past or has happened to us in the past, and our past does not define us. Because our sins have been atoned for and forgiven in Christ, our God is a God of a thousand and more second chances, and a fresh start with a clean slate is always available to us. Like the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, we can forget what lies behind and press forward to what lies ahead, which is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Our future is bright. 1 Peter 1:4 assures us that in Christ, we have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, waiting for us in Heaven. No matter what this new year brings, let us live as citizens of Heaven here below, with a living hope that is unaffected by the temporal circumstances of this world. May 2021 be a year in which new songs of praise for God rise up in our hearts.