(Rachel Joyce)
All of the members of the Langstaff assembly were asked to do a ten-second video clip about what the resurrection meant to us and initially, I was stymied. Really? Ten seconds - to tell what the greatest event in all history meant to us.
Impossible!
As I thought and prayed, words chased around in my head. Because Jesus rose again, we have eternal life. Our sin and shame are obliterated. True life is ours.
But amid the glorious truths, one word kept surfacing in my mind: new.
Jesus makes all things new. He takes our past and redeems it. There’s no sin, no shame, that His cross cannot purge. Every wound, every sorrow, every single thing we thought would be the end of us, He is able to transform into something that works for our blessing and His glory.
The patriarch, Joseph, recognized this truth. Even though his brothers had contemplated killing him and decided instead to sell him to slave traders, when he met them years later as second-in-command to the king of Egypt, he could say, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20). He understood that his God was able to turn curses into blessings. He knew that God was working in his life to use even the hard and painful circumstances for glory.
Our God can take what is meant to harm and turn it into blessing. There is no wounding in our past that is beyond the reach of God’s power. He can make all things new.
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel…I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King…Behold, I am doing 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” (Isa. 43:14,15,19).
Our God is the One who has done a “new thing.” He has provided eternal redemption for us in the person of His beloved Son. When Jesus died, He bore all our sin and shame, and gave us new life, new righteousness, and new hope.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, we have been made new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). When we trusted Jesus, we were changed from children of the darkness into children of the light (1 Thes. 5:5). And that transformation continues on, day by day as He works within us, making us more and more like His blessed Son (2 Cor. 3:18).
And because Jesus lives, we have a new future. He has secured for us “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4). This is something that no one and nothing can ever steal from us.
The resurrection is our guarantee that there is coming a day when 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” (Rev 21:4-5).
No matter how difficult our current struggle, despite our deepest heartache, the resurrection promises hope beyond all hope.
Because Jesus lives, our past can be fully and completely redeemed. Because Jesus lives, we can be transformed daily into the image of our glorious Lord. And because Jesus lives, our future is brighter and more beautiful than we can possibly imagine.
The resurrection testifies that our God makes all things new. Praise His glorious name!