ODJ: new

January 1, 2015 

READ: Revelation 21:1-5 

I am making everything new! (v.5).

Happy New Year! It’s time again to ring in another fresh set of 365 days.

Most of us like new things, and new years and seasons are generally welcomed. I’d definitely take a new car to replace my old one. A new house would be nice. A new fishing boat would be even sweeter (Oh, how I wish!). Then there are new shoes, new books, new music, new friendships, new opportunities to serve and grow and more!

New is good. But there’s a kind of ‘new’ that the Bible introduces which takes new to a whole new level (no pun intended).

The New Testament uses two different Greek words for the English word new. Neos refers to something that has recently come into existence, such as a new year. It hadn’t existed before and is brand new. Kainos speaks of something being renewed rather than brand new. It contains the idea that there was something ‘before’ that is now coming into the fullness of its true reality.

It is kainos that raises the concept of ‘new’ to a different level. The apostle John used this word to describe the future new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1). It’s the same word he said Jesus will use to proclaim from His throne, “Look, I am making everything new!” (v.5). It’s also the word the apostle Paul used when he wrote about anyone in Christ becoming a “new person” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

In each case the idea of ‘new’ is that it’s something that previously existed and is now being recreated and restored so that it can be all it was meant to be.

As we enter another year, let’s live out our new creation that has already begun. And let’s remember that it will one day be fully revealed. —Jeff Olson

365-day plan› Genesis 1:1-2:3