A God of New Beginnings

It’s a Process

Everything is a process. Salvation is an ongoing process (1 Corinthians 1:18). Growing in grace and holiness is an ongoing process. (Hebrews 10:14) God making all things new is an ongoing process.

Revelation 21:5 NRSV

5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

The transforming work of God from salvation to new creation is an on going process, that God will one day finish. Since the fall in Genesis 3 God has been at work making all things new.

As I encountered this text this week I couldn’t help but think of the Merrimack River. Fishing on its banks someone once told me, you never fish the same river twice. As the current winds it’s way to plumb island and into the Atlantic by Sailsbury Beach, things beneath the current are changed. The river bed is constantly changing because of the current. The river changes and is being made new with every cast. The same is true about God. He has begun a good work in you and all of creation and he will finish it.

Philippians 1:6 NRSV

6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

Making All Things New

Isaiah 43:19 NRSV

19 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV

17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

If you get nothing else out of today’s sermon get this, God is making all things new. All things includes you. God who created all things is making all things new.

God since the fall has been at work making things new. In our reading from Acts 11 today God is doing something new among the gentiles. Peter took flack from other followers of Christ who were Jewish, for going to a gentiles house. Acts 11:2–3 “2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” There’s a deeper sermon to be had here, but important for today is the new thing God was doing among non-jews. God is making things new even among people we’d rather not associate with. Peter’s obedience to God changes Cornelius household, Peter, and eventually the Jewish leadership of the early church.

Here we are at the end of Revelation, once again reminded that God will wipe away every tear, there will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. This is the finished product of the process.

We need to remember the context of the church this letter was sent. The churches of Revelation were severely persecuted churches. The early church was waiting in eager expectation for the return of Christ. Patience had grown thin for some, and got thinner with each friend or family member who died because of their faith in Christ. To the churches of Revelation, gathering together was risky, full of sorrow, morning the death of someone else in their community who had died because of their faith. Their world was one characterized by darkness. Surrounded by the four horsemen of the apocalypse, it would have been difficult to imagine or even hope for the new creation God reminds them.

John 1:1–5 NRSV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

We started this journey in Revelation chapter one with a vision of God’s throne room. We were reminded that God sits on his throne. Not you, not me, no king, queen or political leader. God is the one seated on the throne. I’m reminding you of that because God speaks from the throne when he says “Look, I am making everything new!”

God who created all things in Genesis chapter 1, is making all things new here in Revelation 21.

Trust the process

If you walk along the boardwalk in downtown Haverhill and look at the Merrimack River every day for a week, chances are good that the river will look the same. The river is constantly changing, every second that goes by new water moves through. The change is taking place slowly and most of it under the water out of sight. The same is true about God making all things new.

When things look dark around us. God is making all things new. When our lives are more characterized by sorrow, suffering, and pain. God is making all things new.

Despite what we might see around us, we can have faith that God is at work making things new. John is told to write these words down because they are trustworthy and true. They’re trustworthy not because of the evidence we see around us, but because of the faithfulness of God, who keeps his promises.

“God has already started transforming our lives, God is currently transforming our lives, and God will not stop transforming the pain, heartache, and dark places of our lives, until the moment when the transformation reaches ultimate completion in glory.”

There are two promises we can cling to in this text. We are God’s people and God is still working in our lives. God is making all things new! Come join the process and allow God to transform your pain, your sorrow, your heartache, the dark places in your life.

Glory be to the father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end. Amen and amen.