“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…” Revelation 21:1
It has been said that the Christian life is a “…series of multiplied new beginnings.” This is true, as God’s mercies are new every morning, the blood of Jesus cleansing us from all sin, and the eternal Holy Spirit ever quickening and enabling us to appropriate the living Christ as our life. The question is whether we live in this reality or not? Have we truly grasped something of what it means to have been placed in living union with the Son of God, by virtue of the Holy Spirit’s work, at the point of the new birth?
We know from Paul’s writings to the Corinthian believers, that God placed every one of them IN CHRIST, sealed them forever in Him, and “…blessed them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.” (Eph. 1:3) But what we fail to grasp so very often in order for us, as believers, to experience this victorious, resurrected life, by the Spirit, is that there is a very clear, and powerful distinction between the flesh and Spirit. The Lord Jesus made this so very clear when He said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which of the Spirit is spirit.” (Jn. 3:6) The Lord’s application of this truth is seen by His following words: “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.” (Jn.6:63) When a person comes to Christ, and is born of the Spirit, he knows a new beginning in the sight of God. In fact, a miracle occurs whereby a new creature is born. Paul writes: “If any man is IN CHRIST, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17) What does the Lord mean by this? In the eyes of God, and according to the revealed and confirmed work of Christ on the cross, God has wondrously worked, not only in the saving of a soul from sin and death, but the creation of a new person. The old person, or “old man,” has been dealt with on the cross. All that pertained to sin, self, and Satan, in the old life, is represented by what is called, “the old man.” When Jesus died on Calvary, that old man died with him. Every trace of him, past, present, and future, was crucified and buried. This is why the Apostle Paul writes: “I am crucified with Christ…nevertheless I live.” (Gal. 2:20) The first thing that the believer needs to know and become convinced of, taking his stand by faith concerning it, is that the “old man” of that person has died. Paul again puts it so very clear in his letter to the Colossians, “…for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3) But this is only one half of the truth concerning the great “new beginning” of the believer. The other half deals with what the believer is now, in Christ, according to the word of God. What is it about this “new life,” this new creation in Christ, that distinguishes it from the old?
The Lord Jesus speaks of this new life in so very many ways. He taught that He was, “…the way, the truth, and the life.” (Jn.14:6) He went on to say that eternal life was, “…that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” (Jn. 17:3) Christ is true Life. To know Him is to truly live. Life eternal is not just existence, but the experience of the very life of Christ by the Spirit. Paul wrote of the very essence and means of knowing this new life. Christ is known in the pursuit of Him: “…that I might know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” (Phil. 3:10)
To know this life, we begin every morning believing in the mercies of God. We choose to forget the old things, living by the new rule of “a new creation.” (Gal. 6:15)
Dear Father, We take Christ as our life today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.