Blessed Assurance

Fanny Crosby got it right when she wrote that what we have now is a “foretaste” of the Father’s provision for our eternity. And at the start of yet another year it is a good thought to dwell upon. Writing about a new heaven and new earth, John wrote: “And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5 ESV).

The word “new” here means “new in quality” (Wuest), and is the same word used in II Corinthians 5:17 where Paul had the revelation of the New Creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” The Amplified Bible renders it “the fresh and new has come!” That is, something “quite different from anything previously existing, not merely recent, which is expressed by a different Greek word” (JFB). [The word is also used in Matthew 13:52.]

Interestingly, we read “the old has passed away” (II Corinthians 5:17) and “the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1). This statement is given to emphasize that in both cases, our individual life and the whole universe, the change is not just a “paint” job, a touch-up here and there to give the illusion of freshness, but there has been and will be a complete change. I find the hardest truth for Christians to believe is that “the old has passed away,” and this is because the memory of the old is still in their brain, yet the spiritual reality is that the old has gone, vanished. You are a new creature in Christ!

In the same way, the old year has passed, vanished. We will never recover the moments again. Yet ahead lies a new year of opportunity, of challenge, of growth. What will it bring? You will hear a lot about the end of the world coming in 2012, December 21st actually. That is the end of the Mayan calendar, produced by an advanced civilization wiped out by the invasion of a “Christian” nation. What will happen? The calendar will flip over and start again, just like ours will on January 1st. What does it mean to a Christian? Nothing. Our times are in His hands!

So as a Christian believer, I am going to echo Fanny Crosby and in the New Year enjoy the “foretaste” and remind myself that “I in my Savior am happy and blest.” May the coming year be a prosperous one for you and yours, in health, wealth, and happiness.