#232: A New Creation

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 4, 14)

Jesus said that the story of the law and prophets were speaking about Him (Luke 24:27). At Sunday Mornings Blog, we treasure this truth tenaciously and when we read through scripture, we look through the lens of seeing Jesus revealed through the pages, just as we are doing in the study this month.

Last week, we identified God's intention to do a new thing as prophesied in Isaiah. As we understood from the text, this new thing was to make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. We identified Jesus as the fulfilment of this prophecy; because, in Him, God made a way in an "impossible" terrain. The old Testament story makes us understand the story of a Holy God who is interested in a covenant relationship with His chosen people; however, they kept falling short of His Glory; generation after generation many promising figures came up to the hill of the LORD, but because of sin, the fellowship could not be sustained. After Isaiah addressed the woes that would befall Israel because of their sin, he proclaimed a message of hope - God would come down to us (hence making a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert) and resolve the hindrance to the long-lasting relationship He yearns for with us.

When Jesus stepped in, one of the categories peculiar to the gospel was the message that He was coming to herald a new creation. In what way did Jesus inaugurate this new creation? We will study the creation narrative from Genesis and see how Jesus' coming was similar to it:

• Darkness was on the face of the deep and God's light pierced through the darkness and overcame it: This was also the scenario that Jesus was introduced to us in the gospel. Jesus, the light of the world, the same light that shone in the darkness, shone once more; but this time in a human form. He came to shine to a people sitting in darkness.

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples;

but the LORD will arise upon you,

and His glory will be seen upon you. Isaiah 60:1-2

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9:2; Matt 4:12-17)

• before the light shone, the Spirit of God was hovering over the abyss: When the gospels introduce us to Mary, we are told that the very reason why she would conceive without being with a man, and why the child in her womb would be holy would be because the Spirit of God, just like in page 1 of the bible was going to overshadow her

And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God. (Matt 1:35)

• And what would a new creation story be without breathing into man to make Him alive? When Jesus finished His mission on the cross, He was raised to life by the power of the Spirit (Rom 1:4). And now He lives in each and every believer to live out the life that pleases God - a new humanity.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)

...whosoever believe in Him will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16)

But to all who did receive him, who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

May we not lose sight of the wonderous miracle that Christ has wrought for us in inaugurating a new creation. To find out how we fit into the new humanity, visit the next article in this series. God bless you.

Shalom.

written by Faithful Ogbeche