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Third Sunday of Advent
St. Stephen's Church
The Rev. Joseph P. Murphy, Ph.D., December 15, 2002


New Creation

Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11

At the north end of the Shenandoah Valley there are some mountains that are prominent from certain perspectives. From where we once lived, if you walked up to the end of our driveway, at the top of the ridge, Fairview Mountain was large and imposing. On cold, dark nights like we have been having, you could see another mountain beyond Fairview very plainly. The ski slopes at Whitetail Ski Resort are lit up at night, and the slopes are plain to see from that spot, like bright white gloved fingers resting on the mountain. They looked like you could drive there in about 10 minutes. Actually, they are in Pennsylvania; we lived in West Virginia, and Maryland is in between. Whitetail is half again as far from that spot in the valley as the first mountain, and it would take about 40 minutes to get there by car.

In our reading this morning, we hear Isaiah describe new heavens and a new earth with a number of startling descriptions. There will be great rejoicing there, and with no more weeping or cries of distress. Life will be changed. Someone who dies in infancy will be a hundred years old, and people who die prematurely due to the bad choices they make will be that old as well. In other words, the kind of life-spans that the Bible describes in the very beginning of Genesis will be back. People will live like trees, for ages and ages, not just like grass for a few years. Futility will be a thing of the past. People will eat the fruit of their own labor, and domestic life will be happy and healthy. All these things that are promised are things that humanity hungers for.

The medical profession—and industry—today is steadily advancing the life expectancy of people who can afford quality health care. Research has made such great strides in the last few decades that many believe that the secret to true longevity may soon be discovered. Old age appears to be something that happens to us, rather than the inevitable outcome of our own biological life. At the change of the millenium, seminars hosted by MIT professors encouraged business managers and personnel professionals to begin to envision an imminent business future where people would live well into their second century in an active, productive capacity. People want to live long and happy lives. A happy family life is second to none in what people want out of life. Surveys indicate that the happiest people are those who have happy, stable marriages. The desire for children goes along with that, and it is insatiable, so much so that healthy babies are only adopted at significant cost in our society.

Isaiah's prophecy, in other words, addresses not just what humans wanted over 2,500 years ago, but right now also. But, the prophecy ends with a reference to the wolf and the lamb feeding together, the lion and the ox eating straw together, and the serpent not needing any prey. In other words, the condition of life on this globe terrorizing itself to feed on itself, will be changed into a life where all forms are able to live together. This evokes an earlier passage from Isaiah, in chapter 11. This entire prophecy looks to the future for Isaiah, but how far into the future? Is it something that will be fulfilled along the way, such as by medical advances into longevity? Or is it something that will come about in a millenial kingdom of Christ toward the End of all Things, but not quite the end, as some believe? Or, is it a description of an eternal state after the End of all things as we know it? The problem for us, is that the vista that Isaiah portrays is like Fairview Mountain and the Whitetail Ski slopes. It looks imminent as Isaiah describes it, but one really cannot tell how far away it is, or if the various parts of this vista are close to each other in time, or really quite far apart in the time of their fulfillment.

That does not leave us without tremendous benefit, though, from these prophecies and many like them. The reason is found right in the first verses of our reading.

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 for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.(Isaiah 65:17-18).

The reason this is so exciting is how Jesus and His disciples, who have given us the New Testament, understood these prophecies. For instance, Peter says in his second letter which was last week's epistle reading, that

...the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up... But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. (II Peter 3:10,13)

In other words, Peter understood them to be eschatalogical—referring to the end of all things as we know them, the destruction and remaking of the universe itself. But, Paul also cites these verses from Isaiah, referring to his and our present time, when he says that

...if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come (II Corinthians 5:17).

Peter and Paul aren't in disagreement over this, for Peter also refers to the present aspect of the new creation, and Paul to the end of all things. Peter says in his first letter,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:3-5)

Peter and Paul understand the same thing, that we are now, through faith in Jesus Christ Who died for us and was raised from the dead, born all over again. We have a new life, a life outside the first creation of our biological lives. That life is the start of God's act of new creation! Just as God created the existing universe, so He is in the process of creating a new universe, but one in which evil will not dwell. Only righteousness—only the life and light of God will exist in this new creation. His creation has begun with Jesus Christ being raised from the dead, Who Paul's letter to the Colossians describes as "the firstborn from the dead."

Isaiah has given us a vision, a panoramic vista of a new creation. We do not know when these things will take place, but we know it has already begun. For if we are in Christ, we are a new creation, and the old has passed away, behold, the new has come! In Jesus' words in the Gospel of John, and Peter's words, we are born again, this time, from above, that is, born of the Spirit. So, while the physical creation remains and continues, there is something altogether new about believers in Jesus Christ—they have a spirit that is alive to God right now, and will continue to live through the change of this creation, the destruction of our current bodies in death, even the destruction of the current universe! The outcome is, as Peter tells us, a salvation that waits to be revealed to us at the coming of Jesus Christ, in other words, our resurrection, so that we will become like Jesus in eternal life. That is an awesome and amazing future for us! But the start right now is something that we can perceive, experience, and identify solidly with these prophecies of Isaiah.

Many people seem to associate new birth in Christ with a specific experience, or with a specific decision. If we decide to believe in Christ, to follow Him, then we are born again. Or, if we believe in Christ, and have an experience of conversion, of His presence, then we are born again. I don't know about you, but I can't remember when I was born. I take it on faith that I was born at 3:30 in the morning on July 17, 1953, because I have no memories of that. In fact, my earliest memory comes from four years of age! But, I can say for sure that I was born, because I have consciousness of life, a life that began earlier than I can remember. Spiritual life is much the same. The majority of Christians do not have a Damascus Road experience like the apostle Paul at which time they are converted from darkness to light. But, all Christians—all children of God—must be born again in order to participate in this new creation of God's. That is exactly what Jesus taught—one MUST be born again (John 3:7). If not, then we are doomed, because this biological life we now live and this universe, are doomed to end. But, if we did not self-consciously experience our first birth, chances are that we will not self-consciously experience our second birth. It is simply a personal act of quiet, and utterly honest belief and trust in Jesus Christ. That is why some associate it with a decision. But, if we view it as a decision, it is a decision of our hearts, that results in changed behavior, or it has only been a mental act, and not a spiritual birth at all. In Peter's letter, he mentions the sanctification of the Holy Spirit and obedience to Jesus Christ as leading characteristics of the Christian life. Being made holy—change in our behavior to be more like God. And, obeying Jesus Christ. These can only come from a deeply heartfelt metanoia, a change of mind that engages our while being, which is repentance, as the Bible puts it.

If it is a birth, we will inevitably become conscious of our new life—it is not possible to have it and not become conscious of it. Take a look at the language that the writers of the Bible use in reference to spiritual life: David says,

O taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)

Peter says,

Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.(I Peter 2:2-3)

Taste—purely experiential. All you have to do to realize how difficult it is to describe taste in words is to read a wine-taster's notes! Taste is to be experienced—description lags way behind!! When we have tasted, experienced, the kindness of the Lord in coming to consciousness of new life in Jesus Christ, then our lives are filled with experience of God, if we obey Him and seek Him. But throughout the spiritual life, from birth onward, it isn't the experience we seek, or we will miss the Lord and become enthralled with our own sensations. Peter directs us to the word of the Lord for growth. At the beginning of this section of Isaiah, in chapter 55, we read that the word of the Lord will not return to Him void, but will accomplish that which He has sent it to do. The picture of God's Word in these places is like seed, and milk, it both begins life in us, and nurtures life in us. That should be no mystery to us, because God's Word is ultimately His own Self given to us through personal communication in words.

That brings us to the one thing Isaiah mentions in our reading that we can look to for evidence of God's new creation in ourselves. In this Christmas season, when our thoughts turn to giving gifts, there is something that we all taste in however small a way, and that is the joy of seeing someone else receive a gift that they did not expect and for which they are grateful. Real joy comes from giving of ourselves.

Jesus Christ gave Himself for us. The book of Hebrews tells us that He went to His cross for one reason, for the joy set before Him. Joy is the characteristic of God's new creation, Isaiah tells us. It isn't a joy based in what we have done. It is a joy based in what God has done, for all time, for all eternity. More than that, it is a joy based in God Himself. For God has given Himself to us in Jesus Christ, opened the way for us to live His life for all eternity. He is the gift of all gifts.

What has begun in us who simply believe in Jesus Christ is a new creation. Before the day when all memory of the pains and evils of this life are forever removed, the sting of those memories is now removed from us by virtue of a spiritual life through Christ in which we become conscious of God's forgiveness, His blessing, His presence. As we merely begin to change to become like God, as we merely begin to obey Jesus Christ, what we find unexpectedly and inexplicably, deep in our hearts is joy; joy that doesn't arise out of a cause in this life. It doesn't arise out of things happening to us that we want to have happen. It arises out of the Life of Another that exists beyond this fallen and hostile universe, in a new creation. Do you know if you are a new creature in Christ? Have you seen your life change, if ever so slightly, toward the pattern we see in Jesus Christ? Have you tasted in yourself, the never-ending joy of Jesus Christ? If not, the Lord is right now offering Himself to you.

©2002 Joseph P. Murphy

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