Newness

The old year is passing away, and the new year is beginning. We all know what the secular world is saying about the difficult year that has past, and the deadly projections they have for the near future. Hope for deliverance is being placed in the hands of man and science. However, what should we be saying: the same thing as they are, or something different? There is a promise in scripture that comes with the appearance of the New Jerusalem, which is arrayed as a Bride: "And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them, and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these things are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and he shall be My son...." (Rev. 21:1-7). These words are very powerful. The promise contained within them is so great, that we can only humble ourselves and bow our heads before its magnitude. These words reflect the glory of God, and remind us all that our deliverance comes from God, not man, and not ourselves. These words cause us to repent before such a loving promise that we could never earn or deserve by our own righteousness. You may say that the verses written above are for a future time, after some terrible things have come upon the earth, even the great tribulation, which will be a time of severe testing and judgment. However, Jesus described Himself above as, "I am...", not "I will be". This has already been spoken, and it has already been written, as John was instructed to do. "It is done!" is the promise, not "It will be done". We can say this prophetic promise in the same way that we say, "Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus." (Rev. 22:17, 20). In another part of scripture, Paul explained, "...from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh...Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. Now all things are of God who has reconiled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation..." (2 Cor. 5:16-18). It is not wrong to declare the merciful, miraculous deliverance of God, even in the middle of judgment, is it? I don't think it is. We are a prophetic people. Our Lord is the Spirit of prophecy. The Lord wanted John to write the prophetic promise of Rev. 21 for our benefit with the assurance that it was true and faithful. As often as we speak about how things "are", perhaps we should consider the powerful effect that is created by saying the same thing that Jesus is saying here, especially in times of death, sorrow and destruction. This is the essence of faith. Scripture describes God this way: "God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did..." (Rom. 4:17). In another place it is written, "Now faith is the substance (a setting or placing in order; the substantial quality of) of things hoped for, the evidence (proof, that by which a thing is proven) of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1). It is by faith that we are all here to begin with. God believed for our creation and spoke us into being, before we were seen. We became receivers of the sanctifying blood of Christ and written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundations of the world were visible (Rev. 13:8). We were prophetically created, prophetically called, and prophetically assigned the "homologia", or "speaking the same as" (see Heb. 4:14). The Torah and haftarah readings for this Sabbath, the first Sabbath of our new solar calendar year, illustrate a similar principle. These readings are titled, "Va'yechi", meaning, "And he lived". However, these readings deal with, you guessed it, death. Jacob is about to die. He calls Joseph's two sons to him, and tells Joseph that these two grandsons, Manasseh and Ephraim, are now HIS sons (Gen. 48:5). Although Jacob is passing away, he will impart a transformative prophetic word over Ephraim, even though he was the younger son. About Ephraim Jacob prophesied, "...but truly his (Manasseh's) younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations." (Gen. 48:19). In Hebrew, the words used here and translated as "a multitude of nations", are "m'loh ha goyim", which can also be translated, "the fullness of the Gentiles" (Rom. 11:25-26, Lk. 21:24). With this prophetic blessing pronounced by one who was passing away, Jacob called the Gentiles into the people of God, and set in order the time when all Israel shall be saved. Jacob then called his other sons before him, and began speaking over each the prophetic word regarding "what shall befall them in the last days" (Gen. 49:1), as they would each represent a tribe of Israel. Over Judah, the dying man proclaimed, "Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up...The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (he whose it is, that which belongs, tranquility; at rest, prosper) comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people...He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes." (Gen. 49:8-12). As we know, this prophecy spoken over Judah by the passing Jacob is also prophesying the coming and rule of the Messiah from the house of Judah. These are not the kind of words that the worldly man would be saying as he faces his death, but these are the words of a prophetic man of God speaking into being those things that are not yet seen in the natural, but are clearly seen through the eyes of faith. In the haftarah reading, David is getting older, and he announces that Solomon will be his successor, and the builder of the house of God that David had desired to build. In this pronouncement, David cites the prophecy of Jacob regarding the tribe of Judah. Judah is David's tribe, and as David says, God declared through Jacob that it is the tribe of kings (1 Chron. 28:4). In these examples, those who were passing away, spoke not what was, but of what was to be. They spoke things that would directly affect Gentiles, Israel, a future prophetic revelation of Ezekiel (Ch. 37), and the coming of Christ, the King, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. May we speak those things that not only are a relevant part of the natural events of this current time, but more importantly, those life-giving, and life-changing prophetic promises that are not yet seen, but are true and faithful nonetheless. Our Father has called us to be and to declare the passing away of old things and the newness of all things. If you would like to experience the newness which is in Christ, you can pray: "Lord Jesus, You are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I believe that You died for me, and that You rose again from the dead, and that You are the King as Jacob had prophesied long ago. Come into my heart and my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. Make me new, as You have made all things new in Your Father. I speak these words of faith in prayer, in Your name. Amen."