On Being a New Creation

The word “create” and its variations are used somewhat frequently throughout the Bible.  If you use some sort of Bible software (Biblegateway.com, E-Sword) you can search and you will find that in the majority of instances, it is speaking of God and His creating the world and all that is in it.  In all of these cases, whether it is in the Old Testament or New, Hebrew or Greek, there is a definite meaning to the word “create.”  We have the exact same meaning in English.  Webster’s Dictionary defines the word as follows:

“To Cause to come into existence; bring into being.”

Although there are other meanings, this is the primary meaning, and the same goes for the word when used in the Bible.  To created assumes that one is not simply changing something that exists into something else.  It is producing something where there was nothing before.  When God created the Heavens and the Earth, he did not simply rearrange what existed, he made them from nothing.  When God created the plants and animals of the world, he did not rearrange what already existed, he created them new.  When God created man, he may have produced man’s body from the dust he already created, but the soul and the human intellect and mind were brand new creations. 

One of the few cases (the only I found, not necessarily the only one in existence) in which the Bible uses create when referring to man and not God is in Romans 16.

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
[Rom 16:17 ESV]

Even in this case, those who create obstacles are creating them from nothing.  God did not give us teachings that set up Obstacles, we in our sin create them.  Even in this case, the word create means to bring somthing into existence.  To bring into being from nothing. 

That is what the word create means and we cannot get around the word create when the Holy Spirit uses through the writer’s of the Bible.  When King David says in Psalm 51 “Create in me a clean heart”  he is not saying that his heart needs to be cleaned.  Nothing in his heart is good enough to carry on, he needs a brand new one, a clean one that can only be created by God himself.  We too are sinful and our natural hearts too are not worthy of having anything to do with a Holy God.  We too need to beg God to create a clean heart in us. 

Fortunately God hears our prayers for a clean heart and is Happy to answer them. 

to 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 4:22-24 ESV]

God creates for us a new self, created after what our old selves could never match, what our old selves could not even tolerate, the true righteousness and holiness of God.  We are given this new self and the old, filthy, sinful self is given what he deserves, death.  The old self is drowned in the waters of our Baptism and our new self created by God Rises.  There is no good in our old selves, there is no way for our old self to come to Christ and work towards our own salvation.  The Old Adam’s only destiny is Death:

How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
[Rom 6:2-4 ESV]

We are told even more clearly in Ephesians 2 that in Christ we are a new creation in Christ:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
[Eph 2:10 ESV]

He made us a new creation, not because we have done good works, not because we have earned or deserved it, or even because we asked for it.  The Old Adam, he who has no future but the wages of his sin, is not capable of any of these things.  It is only the new creation that can do the good works that God has prepared for us to do.  It is only the new creation that will walk in the path God has laid out for him. 

What a blessing and comfort it is to be a new creation in God’s sight.  To know that we have been created in “true righteousness and holiness.”  The true righteousness and holiness that comes to us only from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

On the Comfort Seen in the Flood

Nearly everyone in the world is familiar with the Story of the Great Flood and Noah’s
Ark.  However, most people, even some who call themselves Christian, do not hold the story to be true.  For many it is just too terrible to imagine that God could be so disappointed with his creation that he felt the need to destroy it.  However, it did happen.  The Lord did see the need to destroy it and did cover the entire world with water for at least 150 days.  This water did kill every person and land animal that was not in Noah’s
Ark.  The Lord had shown his wrath.  There is a time coming when his wrath will be shown again.

Even in the midst of this rather unpleasant story, there are many things in which we Christians can find comfort.  The first and most obvious point in which we can find comfort is that God protected the faithful, his Elect from the punishment.  God is in control of his judgments and he will not execute them without providing for the safety of his people.  We see God providing Noah with safety in this story by giving him the exact information he needed to build the ark, and when he needed to enter it.  After they entered the ark, we find that it was the Lord himself who shut Noah and his family safely in the ark (Gen 7:16).   

This same attitude is shown by God when he rescues Lot and his family before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.  In verse 16 we see that even after the Lord sent angels to personally warn lot, he still hesitated in leaving the city.  Nevertheless, because of God’s compassion, the Angels physically took hold of them and brought them out of the city.  After it was decided that Lot and his family would take refuge in the small city of Zoar, God tells him “Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”  Even after having to physically remove Lot and his family from the cities about to be destroyed, he refuses to do anything until
Lot was in a place where he would be safe.

In Egypt, the Lord provided for the safety of his chosen people when he inflicted the Hebrew’s captors with the ten plagues.  When it was the plague causing the death of the livestock, the Hebrews were protected from the plague by God.  In the same way we are told that the Boils only affected the Egyptians.  The Plague of hail did not affect the land of
Goshen, where the Israelites were.  The Lord protected the Israelites in the same way from the darkness and the Death of the first-born.  In this time of great tribulation for the entire country of Egypt, God protected his chosen people, his Elect.  He did not need to remove them from Egypt to protect them, he simply provided safety and security to them.

 As Christians, we know that we too have God looking out for us.  In our time of great tribulation, we know that God will provide for our safety and our security, just has He has done for his people through the ages.  This does not mean that we will have an easy life, or that we will not be persecuted, we will.  However we will continue to be strengthened by the Lord and will eventually be brought home to be with him. 

The next item of comfort we see in the account of the flood is one that many probably overlook, it is simply the fact that God chose to take 40 days to destroy the world (and an additional 150 for the water to subside.  Compared to the six days that Good took to create the world, this is an extraordinarily long time.  He could have done it in the blink of an eye, but he chose to do it much more slowly.  I certainly see this as a comfort, a reminder that God is slow to anger.  It shows us that this was something that God saw as necessary to do, not desirable.  We know that God desires the salvation of all men (Eze 33:11, 1 Tim 2:3-4), the destruction of the entire world, save Noah’s family, must have been something that God would not have done if it was not absolutely necessary.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we know that the waters of the flood are a type of the waters of Holy Baptism. 

When God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. [1Pe 3:20-22 ESV]

When we look at the flood, we do see death and destruction, but we also see God saving lives through water.  This naturally reminds us of the Sacrament of Baptism in which we are granted new life through God’s Word connected with the water.  We are reborn and given new life, just as those who came through the flood started a new life after being saved through God’s promise connected with the water of the flood. 

Although on first glance we see nothing but death and destruction in the account of the flood, upon a closer inspection we also see many examples of God’s Grace being shown to his Elect.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

   

On the Magnificat

After hearing of her blessings from the Angel Gabriel, Mary goes to see her cousin Elizabeth, who was also miraculously pregnant at the time. Luke has recorded at least a part of their conversation for us. Of course, this is more than a little bit of “Girl Talk” between cousins, this is the culmination of a faithful Hebrew’s hope for the coming Messiah. These are the words of a woman who recognizes her sin and her need for a savior, and sees him coming quickly.  These are the words of a woman who, although she is “blessed among women”, gives all glory to God alone.  These thoughts are especially evident in the first five verses of the Magnificat.  These verses are most appropriate for a Christian to meditate on as the prepare to celebrate Christ’s first advent, and as we prepare for His second.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, [Luke 1:46-47 ESV]

The very first thing Mary does is give Glory to God.  She uses the events in her own life to put the focus back on the the Lord and the great things that He has done for her.  Although the great things were no doubt plentiful, the first thing she speaks of is God has her Savior.  This is where her true rejoicing comes from, the God who forgives her sins and grants her eternal life.  Even though Jesus had not yet been born, even though she may not have fully understood what his purpose was to be, she was most certainly Christ-Centered in her prayer and her thoughts.   

As we look forward to our commemoration of Christ’s birth, we too are able to rejoice in God our Savior.  And as we look forward to Christ’s second advent, to Judge the Living and the dead, we too have the privilege of rejoicing in our fate, because our Judge is also our savior and redeemer.

For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;  for he who is mighty has done great things for me,and holy is his name.And his mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation[Luke 1:48-50 ESV]

The Lord has seen us humans in the depravity of original sin.  He has seen us in our true state, as slaves to sin and the Devil.  He has seen our inability to do a single thing to rectify our “humble estate.”  He saw this long ago in the Garden of Eden when he first promised to send the Messiah.  He had compassion for us in out humble state and he did send the Messiah to save us.  The Mighty one has done the mightiest thing possible.  He has conquered death.  He sent his only son to save us and because of this, every generation will call each and every Christian Blessed.

SOLI DEO GLORIA