With the New Year approaching I have been thinking a lot about newness, in fact, newness is a major theme throughout the Bible. At every New Moon festival the holy offering and the sin offering were presented before God for the house of Israel as a sign of a new beginning (Numbers 10:10; Ezra 3:5; Nehemiah 10:33; Ezekiel 45:17, 46:1-7; Hosea 2:11). The Israelites saw signs of blessings in the harvest of new crops and wine, as well as the birth of new animals and children (Deuteronomy 7:13; Psalms 4:7; Proverbs 3:10). With each new birth or harvest Israel was to offer first fruits to God as a sign of thanksgiving for what he had provided (Deuteronomy 12:17). In the book of Psalms the Psalmist sings a “new song” to the Lord as a special sign of worship to God for the things he has done (Psalms 96:1, 98:1, 144:9, 149:1) In the prophetic books the tension between what is typical and what is new signifies either a curse or blessing brought against Jerusalem or Israel by the prophet through the metaphor of “new wine drying up” or “new wine” being brought forth (Isaiah 24:7, 36:17, 62:8; Jeremiah 31:12; Hosea 2:8-9, 4:11; Joel 1:5, 1:10, 2:19; Haggai 1:11; Zechariah 9:17). It is in the prophets that we first read the phrase “a new thing,” “new covenant,” and “new heaven and new earth” (Isaiah 43:19, 48:6, 66:22; Jeremiah 31:22, 31:31).
In the New Testament newness is strongly tied to the Kingdom of God (Matt 13:52, 26:29; Mark 1:27, 2:22; Luke 5:36-39, 22:20). Paul picks up on the theme of newness being tied to the Kingdom of God connecting Christ’s coming, death, and resurrection to the concept that his followers are made “new” (Romans 6:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15, Ephesians 2:15, 4:23-24; Colossians 3:10). Others, as well as Paul, interpret Christ’s actions as a coming of what the prophet of Jeremiah speaks of in 31:31 as the “new covenant” with the people of God (1 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Hebrews 8:8, 9:15). In Luke 22:20 the gospel writer tells how Jesus interpreted his own action as a sign of this “new covenant,” spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah. Christ’s actions ultimately will bring forth the coming of the “new heaven and new earth” originally spoken of in apocalyptic texts such as Isaiah 65 and 66, Ezekiel, Daniel, and further developed in the New Testament by Jesus in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 and by other New Testament writers in passages such as 2 Peter 3:12-14, and the book of Revelation.
When one does a quick study of newness in the Bible, what emerges is not a picture of destruction as some have thought, but a picture of recreation and redemption. This recreation is not the end, or death, of something or someone, but salvation from death. In the gospel of John Jesus speaks about this rebirth, which is identified as a birth from above in a stricter translation from the Greek text in chapter 3. As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:17, all who confess Christ are a “new creation, for the old has passed away and the new has come.” In fact, within the Christian faith baptism signifies the metaphorical death of an individual’s past and the rebirth of their new life. Ultimately, this sacrament is not a sign of death, but a sign of redemption; in the same way we are not destroyed but recreated and redeemed.
What has recently struck me about God’s redemption is that it is found in God’s “new creation,” not in the destruction of it. In God’s own way, with the coming of his Kingdom in the ministry and life of Jesus, God is building on what is currently been created and being done in the lives of his creation by the power of his Spirit in hopes of redeeming it all. This is not to say that God is monitoring our past sins or hardships in hope of punishing or destroying us so that he may one day put everything back together again better then before. Instead, he is working within our current world and lives in order to redeem them and make both anew. Christ died so that we God’s creation would not have to, but that it could be resurrected to new life. Upon Christ’s resurrection he was not brand new in a way that no one could recognize him, but his body was resurrected in an eternal form. In the same way this heaven, this world, and our bodies will be resurrected in their eternal form upon Christ’s final return.
As the New Year approaches and the 2000 decade comes to an end, I would like to think that God will continue to work in the same way he has throughout all of history, to redeem his creation. God is not looking to condemn, but rather to redeem his people. Therefore, my prayer is that in the next years and decades I will not condemn myself for my past actions, but I will be redeemed and made prefect by the one who died and resurrected so that his creation would not suffer the same fate.
So in the New Year may you not look to condemn your past, or the past of others, but to redeem it, for redemption does not stop at death, but continues past death through to resurrection. Therefore, my hope is that you look to find redemption from your past and that you begin to participate in the redeeming work of God who hopes not to destroy, but resurrect his creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment