“Keep silence before Me, O islands, and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.: Isaiah 41:1
What is a new beginning from God’s standpoint, and how does it come to pass? And also, why would one Christian writer declare that, “the Christian life is a series of multiplied new beginnings?”
If we truly want to see God’s ways, and patterns, with regard to new beginnings, we need to go back to the creation of the world. It is there that we discover the revelation of the “beginning,” creation as we know it, though at that time without the presence of sin. However, the creation is but the work of the One who is named, “…Alpha,” and “…the Beginning.” Behind the veil of the material world is the Designer, Maker, and Maintainer of this new beginning. It began in the heart of God, and was brought forth in His wisdom, knowledge, and love, to reveal the greatness and wonder of God. Behind Creation’s canvas is revealed the Artist, the One who has by His very nature and power being the Beginning, brought about in a most original, unique, and demonstrable way, a work that is without parallel on earth, as it extends well beyond the earth to the heavens. The One who is called “the Beginning” is the Author, Builder, and Master Designer of it all. The portrait of Him, though very incomplete in its capacity to reveal the greatness of His glory, does not stop with the creation of the world, but continues in a more glorious way in providing for the “new creation” of a soul, and this when coming into contact with the Living Christ by His Spirit. It is there, by Christ’s condescension, that the Creator reveals His nature, His Person, His love and goodness. It is there, in the littleness of the heart of the individual sinner, having become a believer in God, in Christ, that He manifests most eloquently, so beautifully, the essence of Who He is, and His great objective. The “new beginning” in example and essence is found in Christ who is the initiator of it, and the One who brings it to pass by His power, and in His love. How does this knowledge apply to the individual life, not only with regard to someone who does not know Christ, but to the one who does, and needs a fresh, new beginning in his life?
To the one who does not know Christ as Savior, Lord, and Life, comes Christ’s call to them to “…be still and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10) Or rather, stop, look, and listen carefully. Every individual on this earth is called upon to hear God’s words: “The Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.” (Hab. 2:20) Why does God say this? It is to arrest the attention of all men. We see this revealed in Jesus’ words when He says, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” (Jn. 12:32)
As for the believer, having been born again by the Spirit, and is a new creation in Christ, he finds himself living in an “old” world, one where the trajectory is downward, where sin abounds, and death is as common as life. How does the believer live in such an atmosphere of unbelief? The daily new beginning begins early in the morning, being washed afresh by faith in the precious blood of Christ, which cleanses from ALL sin. Then comes the blessed call to “put on Christ,” to be renewed in one’s spirit and heart by the Holy Spirit. This is that fresh anointing of golden oil, that blessed unction and fulness of the Spirit of God. The believer’s new beginning is his appropriation of Christ who is forever new, whose “…compassions fail not. They are new every morning.” (Lam. 3:22,23) By receiving in the morning the fresh, daily bread from heaven in the Scriptures, Life is communicated to the soul.
Dear Father, BE our freshness today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.