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The New Creation
Isaiah 65: 17- 25
Top Ten Reasons to Buy a New Car:
10. Your passenger seat is on the National Register of Historic Places.
9. Instead of an air bag, there is a whoopee cushion taped to your steering wheel.
8. You lose the stoplight challenge to a 14 year old on a moped.
7. 15 minute Jiffy Lube needs to keep you car for 3 days.
6. When you gas up, the attendant asks, "Can I re-duct tape that windshield for you?"
5. Thieves repeatedly break in your car just to steal the "Club."
4. While sitting at a stop light, people keep running up to you and asking if anyone was hurt.
3. For the last five years, you've had to settle for making "vroom, vroom" noises while in the driveway.
2. You keep losing passengers on left turns.
1. Traffic reporters start referring to you by name when discussing morning tie-ups.
Now, if you are anything like me, you'll probably want to paste that checklist next to living room mirror. I don't replace my cars that often. It's partly my sentimental attachment to my old car and mostly that I that I am tight fisted Hollander and I don't like spending my money. But, I have to admit that there is a certain sense of relief that comes with owning a new car. It's kind of like starting all over again. The noisy engine and old rattles are gone. So too are frequent repairs and that certain smell you have when you get out of your car.
But, it doesn't take long and rattles are back and oil puddles, and the new car starts acting like your old one.
Life is like that. We want a new start. So, we switch jobs or we move to a new community. Sometimes it works; but, often not. The problems and stresses in the new place may not be the same, but they begin building again. And it doesn't take long and things are about as bad or maybe even worse than before.
Or, maybe you're someone who's struggled with an addiction. You went for treatment. When you got out the world seemed new and you felt free. But, stuff started happening- stresses at work in your family or just those desires and cravings came back and you couldn't fight them anymore-and pretty soon you were right back to where you started and was the same old story.
With God's people Israel it was the same old story: probably best summarized by a refrain that appears over and over again in the book of Judges,
the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD
Because of their evil the Lord would allow a neighboring people to oppress them. Then the people would repent and God would send a judge to rescue them. But, after he died the people would turn back to worshipping idol and doing evil. And things went no better under the kings. Good kings were followed by evil kings and no matter how much the people suffered, and no matter how many times God in mercy rescued them, they would always turn back to idols and evil. And that continued even after God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to conquer them and drag many of them into slavery in Babylon. God moved the heart of the Persian King Cyrus to let them return. But it wasn't long before they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. No matter how many new starts God gave them, Israel always ended up in the same place.
In Isaiah 64, the prophet comes to God in a prayer of lament. After pleading with God to come to the people's rescue, he is forced to admit verses 5- 6
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Those last words say it all. We shrivel like a leaf. The newness of life we once possessed is gone again. Have you ever felt that way?
Our scripture is God's response to those have truly repented.
17"Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
With these words God gives an answer to everything that troubles us: to our past guilt, our present problems, and future worries. For the rest of our time, let's examine that answer.
But, let's begin with where Isaiah obviously begins: the future
Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
I will create--- what is impossible for us is not impossible for the great Creator-- the One who in the beginning made something from nothing. And then took that formless mass and shaped it into the beautiful universe around us. .
Notice that verse 17 tells us that it will be a place where the former things will be remembered no more." Have you ever tried taking a vacation to deal with some the stress you were undergoing-just get away from it all? Whenever I do this, for a time I am successful. But as the vacation draws to a close the realities of life begin sinking in again. I cannot forget them, because they never went away.
No so in the new heaven and earth. Because the old earth, with all its grief and pain will be gone forever, and in its place the Creator will create a new heaven and earth.
Earlier in our service we read together the words of Revelation 21. Both in that scripture and here in Isaiah the words about new heaven and earth and new Jerusalem are used interchangeably. What is said about the one is true of the other. We should remember that Jerusalem was where the temple was. And the temple was God house. Revelation tells us that in the new Jerusalem there will be no temple, for the temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb." That is why this great city is called the new Jerusalem: to remind us that those who live in heaven and earth will live in presence of God.
Notice this beautiful way this prophecy points to the end of the realities that cause so much grief in this world. Look at verse 20
Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed
In contrast to the way it is in this world, a 100 year old person would be considered a mere youth. And the reason for this is that all those who live in the time of the new heaven and earth will live forever. There will be no dying there. As the hymn Amazing Grace proclaims, "When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God praise than when we first begun."
Verses 21 and 22 points to another reason why there is pain and suffering in our world.
They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the works of their hands.
In Deuteronomy 6: 10- 11 God tells his people, the houses and vineyards that they would possess would be those that God was taking away from the sinful Canaanite who had been living in the land. Because of their sin they lost the fruit of their labor. But in Zephaniah 1: 13 and in some of the other prophets we God applies this same curse to his people Israel, because of their sin and idolatry, "Though they build houses they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.
This is a truth in our world. The ground has been cursed. I think that especially those who are farmers recognize this fact. They often have gone through years where you have not reaped the results of your labors. But in the new heaven and earth the ground will be blessed and our labors will be blessed. And all that we seek to accomplish will be accomplished.
In verses 24- 25 God promises that in new heaven and earth there will be no more violence or killing or war. Hatred will cease. Justice will prevail. Lions will lie down with lambs and leopards with oxen.
This is a beautiful hope that God the great Creator and re-creator will bring. And that certainly gave his suffering people then and now something to look forward to. Yet, those who trust in Jesus today have something that God's Old Testament people could not yet know Listen to these from 2 Corinthians 5: 17,
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Not only do we have a wonderful future, some of that future has already begun in us today. How?
The old has gone. In Jeremiah 31: 34, we a startling verse that's later quoted in Hebrews 8: 12,
No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD, 'because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
What does it mean that God will remember no more? That's quite different than asking what Dave Dykstra will remember no more. You all know by now, I forget a lot of things. Now maybe you're memory is better than mine, but I bet all of us forget something now and again. But, how can all-knowing God forget anything?
Just a couple weeks ago in Canadian mill worker from Vancouver British Columbia by the name of Michael Seifert was convicted by Italian court being a Nazi war criminal. The lower courts in Canada have refused to block his extradition and unless the Canadian Supreme Court does so, he will be sent to Italy where he will face punishment. Although he had live a quiet life as a law abiding citizen in Canada and even though he is 83 years old and in frail health he will probably spend the rest of his life in prison. Nonetheless, the Canadian Jewish Council hailed the decision of the Canadian courts, saying through their spokesman Bernard Farber that his age and health are irrelevant. Said Farber, "You have to look at him as he was: A brutal young thug."
Now imagine if Siefert had already died or if he dies before he reaches Italy. What would happen? Everyone would have to forget about it. Yes, they could remember the awful deed. But the person who did it would be gone. And the case would be over.
Now, listen to these words from Romans 6: 4
4We were therefore buried with [Christ] through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
God doesn't remember our sins, because the old person we once were has been buried with Christ. That old person is dead and gone. And our guilt died with him.
Obviously that doesn't mean we don't still struggle with sin. We still struggle with the behaviors and thoughts that were part of the old dead person we once were. But, we can know that because of what Jesus did God sees us as new people-indeed he views us as his very own children. And so, our past guilt is gone once and for all. And God remembers it no more. And neither should we..
The new is come. The fact that God has given us a new future and that he has taken away our sad past shapes our present reality. We can know today that God will never leave us or forsake us. Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 5: 4- 5
4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
As we live in this world, God is living here with us. His Spirit is in our hearts. The Bible refers to the Sprit as living water that gives new life. Remember the words of Jesus, (John 7: 39)
8Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.
Now that doesn't mean that there aren't times we don't feel dried up like a leaf. It means that during those times the Spirit keeps us alive-gently calling to us, until by faith we can again know his presence.
There's a buzz in the media right now about Mother Theresa and some of her letters, in which she expressed her doubts about God
"Where is my faith?" she wrote. "Even deep down... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness... If there be God - please forgive me."
And her letters reveal that such doubts persisted for years. Yet Mother Theresa continued her work and in the her faith and work inspired millions. How was that possible? Only by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, who the deposit guaranteeing what is to come.
In 2 Corinthians 4: 16, we read,
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light an momentary troubles are achieving for a us a glory that far outweighs them all.
Though Mother Theresa's faith seemed to be wasting away, the deeper truth was that the Spirit was renewing her. Today, she enjoy a glory that far outweighs her struggles.
And that Spirit who hold us fast in spite of our doubts is our guarantee that we are a new creation and that in spite of what we see all the promises of God are true. Beloved, do you have that Holy Spirit? If not, then it's time for a new you. It's time for old you to die and the new you to be born. If you do already have the Holy Spirit, then let us pray that the Spirit will renew us in faith and prepare us for the day when our faith will be sight. Let us pray.
"O Lord, sometime we know your presence; sometimes we feel all shriveled like dead leaf. No matter where we are assure that the promises we heard are true. O Holy Spirit, please our dry souls until that day when we will drink by the river that comes from the throne of the Lamb." For Jesus sake Amen.