Behold, He Makes All Things New!

Happy New Year!

A time for a fresh start, because frankly we need one.    Last year didn’t go the way we wanted, because it never does and as we look toward the New Year we look at the things in our lives that we feel would make our lives better.  More health, physical and financial typically.  Goals for career advancement or accomplishment, then maybe improving your relationships come in next.  All of it though because the old has gone away, and it wasn’t all we hoped for or dreamed about.  So we start the New Year with a renewed hope for a better year, a better life.  As a result we make New Years resolutions, which is a curious tradition, and just echoes more so that we need a new beginning.  I was talking with someone before Christmas, about how they need to have a better year, 2011 wasn’t that great, and they need 2012 to be their year.  So they were making their New Years Resolutions hoping that they could improve on 2011 in 2012.

Again I think they are funny, New Years resolutions.  I think they are funny because like I said most of them have to do with better finances and better fitness, and yet we just come through Christmas when a large number of people who need to be more fiscally stable have been fiscally irresponsible in an effort to buy the happiness of Christmas.  In addition, those who are needing to make that step towards fitness, myself included, have spent the last week trying to eat all the baking, sweets, chips, and bad food that is in their house.  Doing this in large amounts because there is lots of it and it all has to be gone by January 2, because the first is still a holiday after all!  The best day of a diet is the day before, you know, when you eat like crazy because you are never going to do that again.

New Years resolutions are funny too, because it is pretty well known that you are going to be making the same ones in 2013. Which means you probably made the same ones in 2011, and well that didn’t go so well.  In fact this is such a true phenomena, that the CBC radio had a motivational speaker on the other day to tell people how they could keep their New Years resolutions, lose weight, make more money, quit smoking.  She said to set smaller goals, and to mentally prepare and all of this, and I thought to myself I don’t think I will buy her book.

In fact her advice brought me to an entirely different frame of thought.  Rather than set smaller goals and write it down and all of that.  My thoughts went a little deeper for us this New Years Day.  I started to think how truly every New Years is s reminder of how badly we need the Good News of Jesus.  Because really when we reflect on the year, there were good things and bad, and we want the bad to change.  We want things to be truly new, we want things to be different, brand new, not a tweak on the old, not a slight improvement but actually brand new.  What we are really longing for is for the One who in Revelation 21 says, “Behold, I am making all things New.  Verses 5 and 6 say, And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

That phrase, Behold, I am making all things new was where my mind went when the CBC was trying to service the world with a motivational speaker.  I thought that is so hopeless, trying to change the world on your own.  What you really need world, what you really need Church is the One who not only says, but actually has the power to make all things new!  On your own you are powerless to affect real change, but with Him everything can change.

Even think of the context this is being said in.  This is in the context of what we are really longing for, what our soul craves this year and every year.  Jesus is saying, behold I am making all things new in the context of talking about the New Heaven and the New Earth.  He is talking about eternity, He is talking about what we are really longing for.  In the verses leading up to this John writes, ” Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

See I think this is what we are really longing for in the New Year.  We are really wanting the good news of what Jesus provides, and for what He provides in eternity, when all of this truly passes away, when this is all truly done with, behind us. That is what we want isn’t it?  And who doesn’t long for what is described here.  The dwelling place of God is with man, we are finally,  completely His people.  Every tear wiped from our eyes, every hurt turned into pleasure, no more death, no more ending, no more sad good byes, no more pain, no more crying.  Now we are talking about what we are really longing for aren’t we!

I was asked last night again by my son, Caleb, what was the big deal about New Years?  His question had to do with why we celebrate it, because all the good holidays have to do with Jesus, how does New Years fit?  There is no obvious answer, it isn’t like Christmas and Easter even though we make a pretty big deal about it.  But for me, and my household, I think it is a perfect time to think about Heaven, to think about the day when the Jesus we worship in all His glory comes down and says, Behold I have made all things new!   We don’t think enough about Heaven, but maybe we should a little more, it is where we are going to spend eternity if we have been saved by Jesus, it is where we want those we love and care about to spend their eternity.  So today I would invite you to go through today and think about Heaven, make your resolutions, but make them in light of Heaven.  It is what we truly long for, it is good news and it will keep you focused where you need to be focused, on Jesus, the One who will make all things ultimately new.

Daddy, why is there New Years?

God Is At Work

As I was reading through the Bible again at the beginning of this year, I was struck by the story of Abimelech. If you recall, Abraham is sojourning in the land, and as is becoming his bad habit, once again he lies about his wife, telling the local king that she is his sister and not his wife. As a result, Abimelech takes Sarah as his own wife. However, what is curious about this, is he doesn’t touch her. He doesn’t consummate the marriage and is totally innocent with her. God shows up in a dream and tells Abimelech that he is a dead man. This is a surprise to Abimelech, as you can imagine. A God who he likely doesn’t really know, shows up in a dream and tells him he is dead. That is a scary dream.
However, at this point Abimelech pleads his innocence. Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
Then God says, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Now what gets me about this, is how God can work in whoever, however he wants for His purpose and glory. Imagine Abimelech. He is rich, and powerful, and likely hasn’t refrained from anything he has ever wanted. Now he is has this new bride, a woman who he is attracted to, in his house, and I am sure in his mind, should be in his bed. However, for some reason, he is in bed by himself, for reasons he can’t explain. He has no idea why he isn’t having sex with his new wife. Then he has a dream, and it all makes sense.
At first he takes credit for his own innocence. It isn’t too long though and God straightens him out. This has nothing to do with you, I saved you from yourself. Not because of anything you have done, but because of who I am and what I have done. Abimelech is saved from himself, by God.
This is good news, and obviously points to what Jesus does for us. What is amazing to me though is how God intervenes in the life of someone no one would have expected. He saves a pagan king from himself and makes him innocent, even though Abimelech had no idea what was going on or why he was doing what he was doing.
I am encouraged by this to know that the Gospel of Jesus is powerful and that God is at work in places I may not have thought possible. Jesus is doing His work in ways that are surprising, and He will bring the Kingdom, He will build the Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. He is at work, He is speaking, He is healing, He is moving independently of us and preparing the way.
The cool thing is though; He invites us in to work with Him. By His grace, He invites us in. Just the way He invited Abraham into the healing of Abimelech. Abraham has blown it, he is without excuse. This is the second time he has given his wife away, yet God invites Abraham back in to work with Him, so that he could experience the blessing of partnering with God in an amazing miracle. Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
God is at work, have you joined in it with Him by His grace for His glory and your joy? What are you asking God for, what are you trusting Jesus for, and this new year are you looking for ways to join God in what He is already doing?