All Things New

Revelation 21:5 – “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.'”

If the Mayan calendar conspiracy theory was true, we would not be here today greeting this new year of 2013; instead, we would be swimming with the fishes literally due to a global flood, breathing in the last bits of clean air not contaminated by ashes from a super volcano explosion, or fighting for food and shelter from the zombie apocalypse awaiting outside our doors. Fortunately, none of that was true, but the year certainly ended on a much sadder note for a lot of people. Some were still cleaning up their homes after the devastation brought about by Hurricane Sandy in late October. Some were mourning the loss of sons, daughters, and/or friends in tragedy Newton, Connecticut tragedy. Some were fearing the loss of jobs as the US Congress continued to debate the economic bill that would keep us from falling off the “fiscal cliff.” The year 2012 definitely did not end on the happiest note for all. For some of us, it might have just been a few unfulfilled resolutions, some things left undone, and some regrets of missed opportunities. I don’t know how the year went for you personally, but whether or not it ended well, I have some good news for you – Every 365 days, you are given another chance to start the year over again. You get another chance to correct mistakes, another chance to see a new day, another chance to hear some good news that can turn a current frown upside down. You get a whole new year. It is comforting to know that every January 1st, you get something-like a “reset” button for the year; but even more comforting is the knowledge that God provided us a “reset” button spiritually, as well, in the form of Christ.

In the beginning, God created the world and man perfectly. There was no sin, no tears, no hardship, no wrong. There was no need to water or fertilize the plants to make sure that it would produce fruit. There was no need to worry that animals would become feral and attack. There was no need to pay the bills. There was no empty hole in the heart that needed to be filled. There was no need for guilt, remorse, or regret. Everything was perfect. We had a perfect relationship with God that included conversations while strolling in a garden in the cool of the day. But one day, man sinned. Adam and Eve chose to partake of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3). They chose to deliberately disobey God’s command for them not to eat of that fruit and in turn also distrusted Him for provision, protection, and what was best for them. From that point forward, man and the world was cursed. Food now needed to be worked hard for, in that, toil had to be put in just to make sure that plants would grow. Child-birth would become a pain, in that, although a bundle of joy would be delivered a struggle would have to occur first. And worse of all, our relationship with God would be ripped asunder, creating a hole in every heart that could never be filled materially but only spiritually with God. There would no longer be walks with God, but a need for a mediator to intercede between us. Life was ruined. Game Over! No chance to start again.

But God provided us with a “reset” button – a chance to have all things made new once again, a chance for all things to be returned to their proper place and condition. He sent this “reset” button in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. He came to this earth to give us a brand new life, another chance to experience a correct and close relationship with Him. Jesus Christ came to this earth and died on the cross for our sins to provide us a chance to have this new correct relationship to Him. He wanted to give us a chance to have a restored relationship with Him. It is interesting that the beginning of the Bible in Genesis starts with the fall of man and a destroyed relationship, but the end of the Bible in Revelation finishes with the phrase, “Behold, I am making all things new.” In the last days, when Christ returns, we will have a new heaven and a new earth – a place of no tears, no pain, no sorrow, no sin, and no death. We will have a new place to live in where lion and lamb can lie together without bloodshed, where all men are seen the same in the eyes of God, and where all worship the one and true God. Most importantly, we will be able to experience a new aspect in our relationship with God, where we will be in the presence of God physically worshiping, praising, and communing with Him. It is described in the book of Revelation that there will be no need of sun or light, since our source of light will be God Himself. He will be that close. It is amazing to think about how God will make all things new when He returns.
One thing we must not forget though is that Christ when He enters our lives begins to make all things new in our hearts right at that moment. In our passage today, Christ specifically says, “Behold, I am making all things new.” The verb making is in the present tense, meaning that right at this moment, Christ is already making things new. Now, Christ certainly could not have been making a reference to the things we are yet to experience in the new heaven and earth which are not present yet. Instead, He must have been making reference to the hearts, lives, and relationships of His disciples. Those who follow Christ are made into “new creations,” old things have passed and behold all things have become new. He is turning our wicked, hardened, sin-filled hearts into pure, soft, Christ-centered sources of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He is turning our self-gratifying lives into lives that seek to honor, worship, and glorify Him. He is turning our broken relationship with Him into a close-knit personal relationship where we can be free to talk, pray, and hear from Him directly through His Word. All things are made new.

Just like we have a new opportunity to retry our resolutions every new year, Christ has given us an opportunity to have a new relationship with Him. For those who have yet to receive Him, turn to Him today and begin the year with a new life. But for those who have received Him and are already being made new, let us make it one of our resolutions this year to live out that new life in Him. Start by beginning each day this year communing with Him through daily Bible reading and prayer. Continue by living out your life in obedience to Him throughout the day, showing that new life to the world. And finish off each day by praying that this year may be one in which He brings new life to your unsaved family members and friends. Let’s live out the new life we have been given in Christ this new year. God Bless and have a Happy New Year that will be filled with many spiritual blessings in addition to the material.

What Will You be Resurrected To?

Daniel 12:1-3 – “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.  And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.  But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” 

In 2009, a movie called 2012 starring John Cusak was released depicting a world that was falling apart due to environmental disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis caused by shifting magnetic fields in the earth’s core.  This movie made quite a bit at the box office feeding off of our desire to watch disaster films with their realistic effects without having to worry about it ever touching us.  The inspiration of this movie likely came from the theory that the world is supposed to end on December 21, 2012, because the Mayan calendar all of a sudden stops on that date.  Some people believe that the Mayans were trying to prophesy the end of the world.  Do I personally believe in this conspiracy theory?  Nope, because I know that nobody knows the day of Christ’s return, so how could they possibly ever make a prediction like that?  But could they be right?  Maybe.  We’ll just have to wait till the 21^st to see won’t we?  Even if the world doesn’t end on that date, many people have been making these types of predictions for centuries.  For example, in the 1800s, a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller predicted that Christ would return before 1843, creating a national movement that resulted in what is known as the Great Disappointment.  Even just a year ago, a pastor at a church here in California made that prediction causing many of the members in his congregation to go into financial difficulty; in the end, he had to come out and apologize, remembering that Christ said that no one knows the date of His return.  The truth is that when Christ returns and the world will end is irrelevant.  What really matters is whether you are ready for Christ’s return.

In Matthew 24, Jesus describes what the world will look like before He returns – “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”  Many Christians today say that this describes the day and age we live in today meaning that we are nearing His return every day.  I definitely would agree, but I would be careful to remind them that this has been what the world has looked like from Jesus’ time until now.  Christ gave His disciples this description to remind them that they needed to be ready at any time for His return, because He could come at any time.

Our passage today comes from Daniel 12:1-3, which follows up Daniel’s prophecies about the end times in the preceding chapters.  In these verses, we are reminded that in the end, there will be a time of judgment in which all people will appear before the throne of God to be judged, both the living and the dead – “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”  Nobody escapes.  Revelation 20:11-15 describes it in more detail – “¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Everyone will eventually die until the time of Christ’s return, so the question that is presented to you today is “Which group from Daniel 12 will you appear in before the judgment seat of God – the group that is awoken to everlasting life or the group that is awoken to shame and everlasting contempt?”  Is your name found in the book of life or are you going to be thrown into the lake of fire?”

The first group that Daniel presents is the one that is woken up to everlasting life.  This group represents all the people that have placed their trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior.  These are the people who are experiencing the joys of Christ on this earth already and will be experiencing endless joys when Christ returns with His new heaven and earth, where there will be no more tears, pain, or sorrow.  They will be able to walk the streets of gold, pass through the pearly gates, taste the fruits from the tree of life, and refresh themselves with the river of the water of life (Rev 21-22).  These are the people, whose names are found in the book of life, who will spend eternity worshipping the Lord their God.  For those who have experienced this new life, I need not go into detail any further about the joys already being found here and awaiting them in the future, so instead our focus should be placed on the subgroups in this category:  those who are wise, those who turn many to righteousness, and those who are rescued but do nothing.

Although all people who have placed their faith in Christ will be part of this group that receives everlasting life, Daniel goes further in vs. 3 to describe the glory and honor given to those in this group who go further to become wiser and turn others to righteousness – “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”  The first subgroup is those who are wise.  Wisdom is not only knowing what is good and right but also applying that knowledge practically.  Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so those who desire to be wise must begin at that point.  Are you as Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ living in a way and manner that fears the Lord, that respects Him?  Are you living in a manner where you are keeping His commandments and following His way?  Just skim through the book of Proverbs, a book filled with wisdom written by the man who is the wisest person that ever lived, and you will find countless of things to put on your New Year’s checklist to apply to your life to become wise.  I truly recommend that if you want to be a part of this group that will “shine like the brightness of the sky above” you should invest some time in God’s Word, seeking His will, and doing it, for it is through obedience that knowledge that you gained from reading becomes wisdom.  The second subgroup that is spoken of is those who turn others to righteousness.  This is a grand and huge calling that we are once again reminded of in Matthew 28:19-20 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”  This group that turns others to righteousness does not just represent those people who are passively trying to enforce good and evil on the world through knowledge of the Bible, but it represents a group of people that are persistently going out and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for no one can be found as righteous before God.  Psalm 143:2 states that “no one living is righteous before you [God].”  That means that nobody on this earth no matter how good they are can be considered righteous before God, for all have sinned.  The only way that anybody can be found righteous before Him is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, which only comes when one receives Christ as his Lord and Savior.  We as Christians who desire to become part of this subgroup that will be like “the stars forever and ever,” like the stories forever remembered in the constellations that we see above, must go out and share the Gospel.  We must drive people to not only live righteously but become righteous by bringing them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We need to bring them to the cross where Christ died for our sins.  We need to bring them to the empty tomb, where Christ rose again, proving that we all will have this new resurrection and that we all already have this new life in Christ, one where we are found righteous before God.  Then, we must disciple them to become part of this subgroup as well.  The third and last subgroup is one that is not spoken of by Daniel, which I call the silent majority, which is where I feel a lot of Christians are today.  We are a passive group that have been saved by Christ but are not living it out in our lives.  We preach and teach that Jesus Christ transforms lives, yet we continue to live in our sin.  We are saved from the depths of hell and the lake of fire, but we continue to live enslaved to sin.  This subgroup I feel fails to realize what Christ has truly saved them from.  They recognize that when Christ died on the cross, He died for our sins and saved us, but they forget what from.  Christ did not come to save us from hell.  He did not come to save us from our problems.  He came to save us from sin – from sin’s dominion over our lives, which means that foremost He saved us from sin’s enslavement as well as its penalty.  This subgroup needs to wake up and realize that if it continues to live this way, it is doing nothing but discouraging others from turning to Christ driving others into the next group mentioned by Daniel.

The second group mentioned by Daniel, whom I hope nobody will be in by the end of today, is those who will be raised up to shame and everlasting contempt.  This group is represented by those whose names are not found in the Lamb’s book of life; instead, when Christ returns, and they are brought before the judgment seat, they will only experience shame for they will realize that they had missed their chance, they had missed their opportunity to be saved by His blood, they had missed their chance to experience everlasting life and will be bound to everlasting contempt and mourning in the lake of fire.  I cannot describe the horrors of hell, for I know not what it is like, but I will try to give you a picture.  This lake of fire is a place in which you will hear the screams and agony of countless people worse than the sound of nails on a chalkboard.  It is a place where you will feel like you have burned your pinky on the hot oven over and over throughout your whole body.  It is a place where you will feel eternal separation and loneliness like the time when you fought with your very best friend or lost a loved one.  Here you will continue to live with the regret and guilt knowing that you gave up the free gift that was given to you to escape all of this trouble in the first place, the gift given to you this Christmas.  I wish that I will not see any of you in this group, when Christ returns.

But for those that are still in this group today, you need not be in it for long, for this is the reason we celebrate this Christmas season.  All of us were in this group before, we all deserved to be brought back on the day of judgment to shame and everlasting contempt, but due to God’s wonderful love, grace, and mercy, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.  During this season, two thousand years ago, Christ willingly came down from His glory in heaven to be born of a virgin who could not even afford a room in the inn.  The King of kings who deserves all glory and power and honor was instead given swaddling clothes (clothes used to clean animals) as his birth clothes and a manger as His crib.  In that manger, He humbly sacrificed His glory for us.  But we must not stop there and only look at the miracle and graciousness in His birth, but we must remember that from that point forward, He worked His way to what He ultimately came to do, to die on the cross for our sins – to experience the shame and contempt we deserve to feel at the end of time.  On that cross, He willingly sacrificed His life for us.  But the story did not end on that sad note, but He went further and resurrected showing us that for those who will put their trust in Him, death no longer had power over them.  In that garden, He triumphantly brought victory and life to us.  Christ did all of that for us so that when all mankind is brought before His throne on the day of judgment, He would find us in the group that is woken up to everlasting life.  God does not want any of us to perish but for all of us to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:9 states it best, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”  He has been waiting for you.  He holds up His return for you.  Will you not give your life to Him?

Consider which group you are in today and before this day ends, for those in the latter group, give your life to Him.  For those who were in the former group that will already be waking up to everlasting life, be determined to be found in the subgroups of the wise and those who turn others to righteousness, for how can you live any other type of life if you just consider how much Christ gave to you this Christmas season?  And how can you do anything else but give yourself fully to Christ and to others just as He did this Christmas?