The New Life (Part 2)

In part 1 of this blog post we looked at new things. We all love new things. We looked at the creation story and saw how God had created the earth. In the creation story, God pronounced everything He made good. Man and woman were created to reflect God's likeness in the world and to dwell in the garden with God in an intimate friendship. When God creates humanity he pronounces us very good.

Genesis 1:31a
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. 

However, sin enters the world and starts to corrupt everything good and very good that God has created. Sin results in a divide, a rift, a separation. As humans, we have fallen out of touch with God. Originally created by God to know and reflect God's character to the world, we have become a people who do not seek God, and do not honor him.

We see this pattern of rejecting God time and time again throughout the Old Testament. However, there is also a glimmer of hope given by the Old Testament prophets. Despite the corruption and ruin that sin has brought into the world, God speaks through the prophets to declare that a time will come when He will make all things new.

Isaiah 65:17-19

“For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in that which I create;
for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
and her people to be a gladness.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and be glad in my people;
no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
and the cry of distress. (ESV)

The problem we saw over and over is that people reject God. Even Israel, who was delivered out of the house of bondage in Egypt and had God's presence dwelling in their midst in the tabernacle, and later the temple, turned from the Lord. There is no point in God creating 'new heavens and a new earth,' if people will still reject Him.

God needs to create a new humanity. God needs to create a humanity that loves Him from the heart. The prophets speak to that day to come when new humans, new creations will love the Lord God:

Ezekiel 11:19-20

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. (ESV)

Joel 2:28-32

“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.


“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. (ESV)

The prophets point to a future day when by the Holy Spirit, God will create new humans to live in His new heavens and new earth. "And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." God himself is going to change people from the inside out. God is going to make people "new creations" and create a new humanity that loves Him and lives unto Him.

This new humanity will consist of people reborn of the Holy Spirit into the kingdom of God. 

Why do we need the Holy Spirit? Why do we need to be new creations?

We have to be saved. Our sin has separated us from God and we require an intermediary to bring peace.

We don't have peace with God for two reasons:

1) God is holy, and our sin cannot dwell in His presence. Therefore, we are under his wrath -- we cannot be near to Him.
2) We do not give thanks to God or honor God, but worship other things -- we reject God.

This leaves us with two problems:

1) Someone has to pay the penalty for our sin so that we can know God again.
2) We need to lay down our idols and desire to know and love God.

But as we remember from the prophet Ezekiel, it has been God's plan all along to make things new.
"you shall be my people, and I will be your God." (Ezekiel 36:28b ESV)

God is going to turn rejection into reconciliation. God does this by sending His Son, Jesus into the world. 

Jesus fixes our two problems for us:

1) Jesus lives the perfectly holy, spotless life. Jesus never sins, therefore he is under no condemnation. Jesus maintains a perfectly loving and dependent relationship with God throughout his life, and he does it in human flesh. Jesus is the God-man who fulfills the greatest commandments by loving God and loving neighbor perfectly. Then, in his greatest act of love, Jesus goes to the cross to become the sacrifice that can take away our sin. Despite being holy and not under the condemnation of death, Jesus dies for us. Jesus dies in our place so that God's wrath for our sin can be satisfied.

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, the penalty for your sin was paid on the cross. Jesus has paid your debt, forever. 

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18 ESV)

2) Secondly, Jesus is raised from the dead by the power of God.

This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:32-36 ESV)

Jesus is exalted and becomes God's King. Jesus has received the promised Holy Spirit that we say foretold in the prophets and he is able to pour out the Holy Spirit to any because God has made him Lord and Christ.

Jesus makes it possible for all of us to repent and believe and receive the Holy Spirit -- Jesus and only Jesus makes it possible for us to be the new creations that God wants us to be. 

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (Acts 2:37-39 ESV)

Now is the favorable time. Now is the day of salvation. Everyone who by faith calls upon the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins receives the gift of the Holy Spirit. By faith, we become new creations. God is looking for people who have put their faith in Jesus and been born again of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is the dividing line, Jesus is the only way to eternal life. 

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 
(2 Corinthians 5:14-17 ESV)

This brings us to our current place in the story. God has made the way for people to be reconciled to Himself. Jesus has made peace for us by the blood of his cross. Jesus has been raised from the dead so that we too, who have died to ourselves and been raised with Jesus can be new creations.

The Bible story can be broken into four parts:

Creation - Fall - Redemption - Restoration

God is in the process of making new people in Jesus Christ, but that will not last forever. The redemption phase of God's story only lasts so long, and then restoration will begin. God is in the process of completing His story, His plan for the fullness of time in Christ Jesus.

Revelation 21:1-8

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

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.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (ESV)

God's story starts as a perfect world, with man and God dwelling in a perfect relationship. Humans perfectly reflect God's love and character to the world. Then the Bible portrays all the ways in which we abandon God through sin, which results in war, strife, bloodshed, depression, enmity, and pain. However, through it all we see a picture of a loving and interested God. God himself enters creation and dies for sinners. Sinners are now able to be joined to God by faith in Jesus Christ and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

We were created to be in God's image. Through faith in Jesus Christ we begin the process of being renewed to God's image. God will complete this process when He makes all things new. God will restore all those who have trusted in Jesus fully to His presence forever. Those who have not received the Holy Spirit will be cast out of God's presence forever. God's story will be resolved with Him making all things new, and sin will be out of the picture once and for all. 

If you have not put your faith in Jesus Christ, you are on the outside looking in. You are not saved, you are still in your sins and facing the just punishment of God. God is looking for those who by faith in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit have been made new. God has made the way for you to be reconciled to Him, to know Him, and to live unto Him. Do you have peace with God?

John 3:4-7


Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ (ESV)

In the beginning, the Spirit of God created everything. Through faith in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God creates new humans to live in His kingdom with Jesus as King. The end of God's story is the restoration of all things in and through Jesus Christ. You are either in, or you are out. 

Now is the favorable time, now is the day of salvation. I urge you to "repent and believe the good news." I urge you to "be reconciled to God." I urge you to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God is inviting you with open arms to be born again, to become a new creation, to have a second chance, and to know Him.

John 17:3

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (ESV)

Do you see yourself in God's story?

Do you want to become a 'new creation?'