An Anthology of New Creation
The place is forsaken,
the populous city deserted. (Is. 32:14a cf. 2:11; 5:21)
In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places, there will be desolation.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
though you sow and toil,
yet the harvest will flee away
in a day of grief and incurable pain. (Is. 17:9-10 contrast Ezek. 47:1-12)
Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field. (Is. 32:15a)
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. (Is. 32:16, 17, 18a)
The nations shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. (Is. 2:2 cf. v. 3b, 4)
In that day the LORD will say, “Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.” (Is. 19:25 cf. vv. 21-25)
The LORD will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us.
This is the LORD; we have waited for Him;
let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” (Is. 25:8-9)
For the LORD comforts Zion;
He comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song. (Is. 51:3)
Our Messiah brings good news to the poor,
binds up the brokenhearted
the Anointed proclaims liberty to the captives,
opens the prison to those who are bound
He gives beautiful headdress instead of ashes
the oil of gladness instead of mourning
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. (Is. 61:1-4)
“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. (Is. 65:17-19 cf. 4:2-6)
There shall be no more a brier to prick or thorn to hurt. (Ezek. 28:24a)
Before My people call I will answer;
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all My holy mountain. (Is. 65:24-25)
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you. (Is. 62:3-5)
Zion’s righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a burning torch. (Is. 62:1)
The name of the city from this time on shall be, “The LORD Is There.” (Is. 48:35)
For, the LORD is King. (cf. Is. 33:22)
The government shall be upon His shoulders,
and His name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over His kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Is. 9:6-7 cf. 42:1-4)
Every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance. (Is. 45:23 cf. 49:7; 66:23)
You shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (Is. 60:16)
Our LORD says,
“Come, everyone who thirsts.” (Is. 55:1a)
“Hello, my name is _____ and I am transformed”
The Bible does not deny that we were various things—addicts, homosexuals, angry, prideful, pornographic masturbators—but that is what we were (past tense). The emphasis in Scripture is on what we are and what we are called to be. The Christian does not say, “Hello, my name is _____ and I am a X Y or Z.” The Christian says I was dead but now I am alive. The Christian says I am a struggling sinner yet I am a saint. The Christians says I am a new creation; I am transformed. We must remember however that we are “simultaneously saint and sinner.” This is the biblical balance. We are holy in Christ and yet we are progressively becoming holy (see 1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 10:14).
Paul wrote a letter to a church back in the day. The people had their own struggles. Many of them use to worship various false gods and perhaps were even involved in cult prostitution. But you know what Paul called them when he wrote to them? He called them “God’s beautiful creation” (Eph. 2:10). He didn’t say, “Now church, make sure that you are constantly reminding yourselves that you were part of the occult. In fact, when you meet together say, ‘Hello, my name is _____ and I am an occultist.’”
In a different post we are going to explore whether or not addiction is a disease. Suffice it to say that addiction is “a complex habit;”[1] I would say a complex sinful habit. However, one of the problems in claiming the identity of “addict,” “alcoholic,” or “overeater” is that we deny that addiction is a habit that can be finally overcome. I am not saying it won’t be a struggle. I am not even saying that it will even finally be overcome in this life. Yet, the Bible teaches the freeing and empowering truth that in Christ we are currently a new creation. It says we are adopted children of God. We are even God’s beloved; His treasure.
Labeling may not seem like a big deal but it is. In hospitals it is important for people to be labeled correctly. If someone has a gunshot wound on their leg they should not be taken to a cardiologist; and someone that has the flu should not be lifeflighted. Labels are important for treatment.
The Bible talks about sin. Actually, quite a lot about sin. It talks about the deceitfulness of sin, the sin that sticks so closely, our sin natures, and various specific sins among other things. But it does not talk about us now being identified as sinner; addict, overeater, alcoholic, or otherwise. Instead, our identity is in Christ and Him alone.
Truly,
The scope of recovery is… radically extended within a Christian view of addiction. Indeed ‘recovery’ does not sufficiently name the Christian hope in the face of addiction. Instead the Christian hopes for ‘discovery’ and ‘new creation’—not a return to some maintainable equilibrium between who we are and what we want but rather a transformation of the self that brings who we are and what we want… into perfect coordination and harmony.[2]
The Bible doesn’t primarily keep us from sin by reminding us what we were when we were dead. And for that I am glad. That seems depressing. The Bible instead says things like this:
“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-23)
“Be imitators of God” (Eph. 5:1)“
“At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8)
The Bible says that we are progressively being transformed into the image of God. The Bible says that eternal serenity is available to us in Christ.
The Bible has taught me to say, “Hello, my name is Paul and I am transformed.” I was a lot of things. But now I am a new creation in Christ.
___________________________________________________________
[1] Kent Dunnington, Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice, 88.
[2] Ibid., 183.
The Cosmic Comedy
Ironically, though the Bible covers every type of literature, in its final form the Bible is a cosmic comedy. And all throughout the biblical story there is one main character, even if not always on the scene. The story of Scripture is a story about God’s only Son, Jesus the Christ. I was reading the other day in the book of Ezekiel. I read the words “there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them,” in Ezekiel 28:24. I began thinking about all the edenic language in Scripture and began to sketch a few lines to the poem below that recalled some of that biblical language. I have tried to show through this poem that Jesus is the hero of the story because He fixes what is the cosmic problem by restoring a way to Eden and fellowship with God.
Just a word and all wonders wrought
God announced, and behold, it was all good
Creation had communion with the Creator
God walked in the Garden
Yet with Adam the serpent did conspire
And brought the world into mire
Beckoned to the grave
Everything disarranged
The curse burst upon the scene
But in the midst a seed of hope was seen
Many men came and went
Was the hope of promise spent?
Many lambs, prophets, priests and kings
Yet none with true salvation in their wings
Darkness for a time
No prophet’s voice was heard
Yet in the darkness I Light it shone
And it would overcome the darkness
Behold, O’ world, your Prophet, Priest, and King
Jesus the Promised Seed and Lamb
The curse brought in shall be expunged
Yes, replunged upon the Son
Christ was crushed as promised
But in His crushing, crushed Satan, sin, and death
He was cursed to reverse the curse
He felt our plight to set all things right
The lion to lay down with the lamb,
Because, the Great I AM, was slain
No more brier prick or thorn to stick
All shall be made new
When our King all subdue
All shall be made new
All foes to be forgotten
Forever banished now
That serpent of old will receive its last scald
And be the god of the pit
We shall walk in the Garden again,
Because God walked Gethsemane to Golgotha
The true Temple, Tabernacle, Eden restored
Communion with the creator in the New Jerusalem
The ground will be paved with gold,
For gold will have no glory,
The only glory will be the story of God’s unfailing love
All shall be made new
Victory through the Son!
All shall be made new
Victory through the Son!
Come, Lord Jesus, come!
in X 