Happy New Year! Does entering into a new year, excite you? The time of new beginnings, new resolutions, and new opportunities? We were hopeful that 2021 would have brought us relief from the current pandemic. Maybe that hope will be realized in 2022! Anything is possible going forward into a new year, a new 12-months, a new 365-days!
The Bible is chock full of new times, new items, and new places. In fact, “new“seems to be a theme throughout all scripture. Let’s look at some examples.
In the first 3 chapters of Genesis, as God spoke everything into existence, it was created new. Nothing used. Nothing recycled. Nothing handed down. It was all new! Abram is called to leave all that he had known in Genesis 12 to become the Father of a new nation. That nation would be the Jewish people, from whom Jesus, the Messiah, would come.
Joshua and Caleb led the Hebrews into a new land, the promised land, recorded in the book of Joshua.
Turning to the New Testament, we are met with one new thing after another. When John the Baptist appeared on the scene, he was announcing the advent of a new era. None other than the opportunity to know God personally, in the flesh. Emmanuel “God with us.”
Jesus walked and taught among us explaining that his teachings were like new wine that needed new wineskins (Matthew 9:16-17). He was about to blow their minds. The Messiah and his reign would be like nothing they had anticipated. Instead of vengeance and punishment, he preached love and forgiveness.
Jesus’ followers would be given the chance to become “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17). They would be free from sin, filled with the Holy Spirit, and promised a future in the presence of God.
The Bible speaks of a new heaven and a new earth in the book of Revelation. This is the eternal home for anyone who takes on the new name of Christian (Acts 11:26) on earth and will be given a new name in the future (Revelation 2:17).
Disciples will drink the Lord’s Supper new with Jesus in God’s Kingdom (Matthew 26:29).
We’re left with these words of Jesus from the last book of the Bible – “Yes, I am coming soon!” His reward is with Him and we’ll be granted access to the tree of life once again (Revelation 22). Everything will be made new and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
May your 2022 be filled with blessings, joy, and peace!