Beginning

In the month of January, I am going to preach on 4 B words ... beginning, belonging, blessing and bride.  The first of these words, beginning, really will begin at the end.  The end of the Bible is where Jesus makes what I believe is one of the most beautiful and hopeful statements in Scripture.  Jesus, sitting on the throne in heaven, says, "Behold, I am making all things new! (Revelation 21:5)"  

Let's start our reflection today with that little word "new."  We, in the west, have a habit of reading Scripture and thinking it is written in modern-day English.  We think it is all about our little part of the planet, our needs/wants and our perspective.  As the Apostle John writes these words he has received from God, living in exile on a Greek island, near modern-day Turkey, seeing visions from God, I wonder if he is thinking about the context of America?  Probably not!  So, how does John hear these words?  That will give us some clarity about their meaning!

First, John hears, "Behold!"  It is God saying, listen up ... something important is about to come next, so stop what you are doing and listen!  My dad would say "Alright!"  When my dad said, "alright" all was not right.  We were about to hear something we had better get right the first time, because we wouldn't get a second chance to get it right.  When God says, "Behold" I think it is worthy of our time, attention and focus.

Second, let's get into our heads who is taking action here.  It is Jesus!  He is doing something that is very Jesus-like ... He is creating.  John 1:3 says, "Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made!"  Jesus is creating something.  And when Jesus creates, He doesn't stamp out widgets that are part of mass-production.  Jesus creates with intention.  Psalm 139 says, "You knit me together in my mother's womb (Psalm 139:13)."  Jesus is creating something worthy of our attention and of our respect.  What is He making?

The passage says Jesus is "making all things new."  Here is where we must be careful in our interpretation.  I have people tell me (as we get through and past COVID) "I just want us to get back to normal!"  My answer has always been, "I want us to finish this chapter better, stronger and more Christ-focused."  I don't want things back like they were!  Neither does Jesus!  The little word, new, is kainos. It can mean two things ... renewed like the original creation (in this case back to the Genesis creation where God said, "it is good") or qualitatively new.  Jesus' new things are of the quality, design and function that He intends.  They are not the cheap copies we have made.  They are not the fallen world that resulted with our father Adam leaving the garden in shame.  I think the best English version of this word is "redeemed to God's original intent."

In Revelation 21, all of this happens at the end of all things, but I believe God has another reason for giving us this information.  I don't think that His intent is for us to sigh and pine for the "land over yonder" or trudge through a fallen world waiting for God to eventually "zap" us into newness.  I think our clue is that prayer we pray every Sunday in worship ... "on earth as it is in heaven."

We are exiting Christmas, 2021.  While I have encountered a fairly large group of schmucks during the holidays, I have seen glimpses of intentional good behavior.  Some people let me out in traffic.  I saw a woman being kind to a flustered cashier, saying "It's all right ... I can wait."  The cashier was almost in tears seeing the kindness and patience of the woman, and she was grateful for a reprieve from the chaos.  I saw people helping a couple with a dead battery.  With the usual impatience and snarky behavior, there are glimpses of goodness, kindness and, can we says it, heaven?  Francesca Battistelli sings a song called Heaven Everywhere.  One line on the song says, "Maybe there's a little more of love, and maybe there's a little less of us."  I wonder if the newness, described in Revelation 21:5, is all about us being renewed or recreated into beings that are focused on God ... not self!  I wonder if God wants to make us new so that we can bring a little bit of heaven to earth?  I wonder if that is how we (His Church) shows the world the beauty, newness, grace, power and love of God?  I wonder if this is how we teach redemption? Randy