December 31, 2012- Revelation 21:4-5

"New"

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:4, 5 NLT)

This seems the appropriate way to end a year full of Bible reading & blogging through the Chronological Bible. The hope in these two verses cannot be overstated. Anyone looking for hope and reading this passage has to be overwhelmed with promise. Consider the reality of the future of those that know Jesus. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, 'Look, I am making everything new'!”

People who know Jesus have the promise of no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death, no more cancer, no more loss, no more depression, & on & on it goes.

This is hope.

This is the hope of Jesus.

But God does even more than this. The whole world & all of mankind was marred through sin. And from that point on decay, aging, death, & destruction has reigned. We get older, we break down, we die. The world is groaning, quaking, & experiencing turmoil all because of the fall. But God is making all things new. The old earth will pass away & he will create a new heaven & a new earth. He will renew all things & everything will be made new.

On this New Year's Eve this is good news. We love new. We are obsessed with new. Tim Keller says that in our obsession with the new, that almost all exercise, diet, anti-aging efforts, plastic surgery, etc. is an attempt to be new. We have plenty of used things that work fine but day in & day out we buy new. Why? We love new.

And this truth comes out not only in our behavior but echoes in our hearts. We not only want new we need it. We need to be made new. We need to be redeemed, reconciled, & restored. We need to be repaired on the inside from our brokenness. And the only way we can be made new is in Christ & the gospel. We can get better on our own & in our own efforts but we can only be new in Jesus.

This new year, we have the chance to begin new, to be made new. We have this chance not just in the future but now. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."

Have we been made new? How do we know we need to be made new? How have we looked to other things for being new that haven't resulted in our newness?