Dr Greg Bahnsen - New Year's Messages: Preservation and Progress (Revelation 21:1-5) (Part 1)

A break from our series in the Gospel of Luke to preach on a more topical subject this morning, that of the new year. And we'll take as our text for this morning's Message, Revelation, the 21st chapter, where I'd like to read for you verses 1 to 5, Revelation 21, beginning at verse 1. Hear the word of God. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth are passed away, and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things are passed away. And he that sitteth on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he saith right. For these words are faithful and true. And thus far, the reading of God's word. We've just celebrated the beginning of a new year with the beginning of the new year in our particular culture, we come to the month of January, and it seemed appropriate this morning to address you on that subject, to look at the new year, this whole idea of being in the month of January, and see what we as Christians from a biblical perspective might say about the flow of time, about the new year in particular. But as I reflected on how I might do that, I ran into an obstacle at the very outset. I want to give a Christian interpretation of the new year and the flow of time. I have to deal with the fact that January, the name of the month in which we celebrate the inauguration of the new year in January, comes from the name of a Greek, excuse me, of a Roman pagan God, Janus. J A N U S what are we to make of that? Janus? Well, I don't know how much you remember of this Roman God. It's the Roman God of beginnings. Janus looks over time and looks over space in terms of the Roman pantheon. And the symbol for the God Janus was a bearded face. Two bearded faces, each looking opposite directions and meaning back to back. Perhaps you've seen that symbol sometimes in literature drawings. Janus looks backward. Janus looks forward. Being the God over time. I started thinking about that, you know, for all of the fact that January has this pagan background, the idea of looking backward and looking forward is a very Christian, very biblical concept, in fact, an essential way of understanding the flow of time in a biblical perspective. We as Christians, using the Bible as our standard, are exhorted in the Bible, are encouraged in the Bible, are shown in the Bible how to see history past and history future as being related to one another. So the title of this morning's address is Preservation and Progress, Looking backward in Time toward the covenant of preservation that we find in Noah. Looking forward in Time, seeing the progress God is making in bringing about a new heavens and a new earth. To begin our considerations, perhaps we should know something about the Hebrew understanding of the calendar and time. This is a very fruitful subject for critics of the Old Testament. For you see, the difficulty is that the Hebrews seem to have had two ways of reckoning their calendar. And so higher critics of the Bible like us to believe that what happened is later on in the history of the Hebrew nation. After its founding, the Hebrews had some kind of a crisis, internal cult of revolution, if you will, that brought about a new calendar, or they submitted to the Babylonian imposition of a calendar, a pagan calendar. And so this gets mixed with their religious calendar. And on and on the speculation and hypotheses go, none of which is very spiritually nourishing for you. And so I won't dwell on it this morning. But nevertheless, the critics have enjoyed the idea of seeing two calendars in the Old Testament. I'd like to show that to you for a moment or two. Be patient with me as we look at a few technical details, because in the end, I think the value of this is going to be very great to understand the significance of the two ways of reckoning time in the Old Testament. In the first place, we see in the Old Testament that there were two major seasons enjoyed by the Jews, and they would correspond to what we would call winter and summer. If you look at Genesis 8. 22, we see a long series of parallel expressions for those two seasons. Genesis 8:22. This at the time of the institution of the Noah covenant. The promise is, while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and then another designation, day and night shall not cease. The Jews enjoyed summer and winter. In fact, you'll find that expression used also in Psalm 74, 17, where the emphasis is upon the fact that God himself makes the seasons what they are. Psalm 74, verse 17. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth. Thou hast made summer, winter. So as the season begins, it's appropriate for those of us who are Bible believers to thank the Lord for this new season, God has made the winter. You remember that from yesterday and last night when it was so cold. God made the cold. God has made it winter. And when summer comes around, we'll praise him that the summer comes. And we praise God also that they come in the right order. When we're preparing for summer and for harvest, we have summer and harvest. And when it's winter and time to plant, then it's winter and we plant. God doesn't fool us. God doesn't get us thinking that something's going to come and then say, ah, I've got you there. I'm going to have two winters this year, or two summers this year. No, it's always winter and summer in regular succession. And that regularity is something we shouldn't take for granted. That regularity is not something we have coming. The ability to rationally plan our lives and to look ahead into the year and to see the change of seasons is something that is a provision of the grace of God. For you see, all of earth should have been wiped out in the flood. The world could have been totally destroyed at the fall of man. The fact that the earth continues, that God preserves this world and makes it an inhabitable place, a place where we can count on heat and cold, and in that order is a provision of God's grace. He is preserving the earth for the sake of accomplishing his will. In Amos 3:15, we read of the winter and summer palaces of a king. So again we see how the Jews reckon time in terms of two major winter and summer. Now, if you're paying attention and thinking about our own culture, you say, well, what happens to spring and autumn? Well, so happens that the change of seasons takes place so quickly in the Promised Land that there was very little recognition of an autumn in a springtime. We enjoy that in this country because we have a more equitable climate year round. But they have a very cold season and quickly changing to a very warm season. Now, when did the year begin? Did the year begin in the winter or. Or did the year begin in the summer or. I'm going to use now from now on our common designations, although it would have been winter and summer for them. Did the year begin in the autumn for them, or did the year begin in the spring for them? Interestingly enough, there's evidence in the Old Testament that the year began at both times. Let's look at a few of those indications in Exodus 23:16. They're given some hint as to their understanding of the calendar and the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou sowest in the field, and the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field. We know that autumn, our harvest, was the end of the year for them. Now if that was the end of the year, then it only stands to reason that it was the beginning of the year as well. The year ran out at harvest and it began in the autumn. Then for another cycle of months, the same indication is found if we look at Exodus 34:22 and here more explicitly we are told it's the end of the year, Exodus 34:22 and thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. In Hebrew, at the year's revolution, when the year turns over, it is autumn for the Jews. The return of the year is spoken of in 2nd Samuel 11. 1. And here the return of the year means in the Hebrew expression, when the days start to turn around, when we've had this long season of cold, and now it begins to begin to be warm, that is at the mid cycle of the year. That's the return of the year as things turn around and that turns out took place in the spring. If the return of the year or the half year point was in the spring, then obviously the conclusion is that the beginning of the year, as we've seen already, was in the autumn. Alright, so one line of evidence. Pay attention now class, we have to stay with the details for a few more minutes. The year began in the autumn for the Jews. But on the other hand, if you turn to Exodus 12:2, we'll see that the year also began in the spring. Exodus 12:2. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the 10th day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb according to their Father's house, and a lamb for a household. And then the instructions continue for the passover. The passover, of course, takes place in the spring, in the feast of unleavened bread. It was at Passover season that Jesus was crucified. So in March, April of the year. You have to remember, the way they designated months is not the way we designate them. And so we get these mixed indications between March and April, when Passover is held, was to be for them the beginning of the year. In Jeremiah 36, verse 22, we won't take time to turn to. We see that the king is in his winter palace. He's warming his hands, in fact, at the stove because it's so cold. And it's said to be the ninth month of the year, which assumes that the year began in spring and has now come 3/4 around to the cold season in Israel. In 2nd Kings 25:8, we. We read of an indication it being the fifth month of the year. And we know that was August when the events of that passage took place. So we have to conclude that the Jews began their year in the spring as well. As I've said, the critics love that. They love to see that kind of contradiction and say, well, there must be two traditions, two ecclesiastical cults in Israel. There must have been a time when the Babylonian culture made its in way or what have you. I'm going to suggest that's not it at all, that there was a very important theological reason why the Jews enjoyed what we might consider two New Year's. You think about the way our culture celebrates New Year's and you say, oh, horrors, how could we have two New Year celebrations? That would be just terrible. It takes long enough to recover from the one we now have. But the Jews didn't see the new year as a time for excess and indulgence. The Jews saw the new year as a time of consecration. I think we can understand the two calendars of the Old Testament if we say that they had what might be called a religious calendar and a civil calendar. The hesitation I have in using that designation is that that suggests that their civil calendar was not religious. As a matter of fact, and that's going to be the point of this morning's message, their civil calendar was very religious. It the beginning of the new civil year took place at a significant point in the progress of Jewish symbolism throughout the year and their feast cycle. But anyway, two calendars. One begins the cultic service that at Passover in the spring, and the second begins the civil service of God. And that in the seventh month of the religious year, or the first year of the civil year. The spring calendar began in the month of Aviv or Nicen. That was the ecclesiastical year, March, April. For us, the silver year began in the month of Athanim, or also it's called Tishri. And that would be the fall, September, October. Now, it's very interesting if you look at these two beginnings. The first month of the ecclesiastical year turns out to be the seventh month of the civil year. That's because there's a six month difference between them. So if you begin counting in the civil designation, the seventh month will turn out to be the first month of the year from, if you will, the cultic or religious standpoint. On the other hand, the beginning of the civil calendar is what? The seventh month of the religious calendar. There are cycles of seven throughout the Bible, and it's not without significance that each calendar begins in the seventh month, which of course, from a New Testament perspective, now our minds are thinking ahead. We remember the sabbatical season, the cycle, the fact that Christ has brought in the Sabbath rest of the people of God, and yet we look forward to a Sabbath rest and the eternal day that will be established. Well, the Jews were enjoying in typological and symbolic fashion, that cycle of sevens in the Old Testament already. Let's look for a moment here at the beginning of the civil year in particular, because I think that corresponds in their mentality most to what we would call the 1st of January, the beginning of our year. In our own culture, the first day of the seventh month, or the first day of the first month, depending on which calendar you're using, would have been called Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, the beginning of the year for the the Jews. That was their new year's feast. And it turned out to be one of the major feasts that the Jews enjoyed. In fact, the Jewish Mishnah, which comments on the Old Testament religion, the Mishnah, devotes an entire special treatise just to the Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the year celebrated on the first day of Tishri, or as I said, the seventh month of the religious year. And on that day Ram horns were sounded and hymns were sung throughout the day. We read of the Feast of Trumpets, as it comes to be called by the Jews in Leviticus 23, verses 24 and 25. Turn with me, if you will, to Leviticus 23, 24 and 25, and we'll read that. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, in the seventh month, on the first day of the month shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. The Jews were to observe the beginning of every month, every month. New Moon was a feast day for the Jews, but the seventh month was particularly important. Remember that symbolism of seven, the sabbatical cycle. In the seventh month, something in particular is to take place, a holy, a solemn Convocation with the blowing of trumpets was to take place in Numbers 29. 1, 6. We have more information given about this holiday. Numbers 29, beginning at verse 1. And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work. It is a day of the blowing of trumpets unto you. And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savor unto Jehovah. One young bullock, one Ram, seven he lambs, a year old without blemish in the meal. Offering fine flour mingled with oil. 10, 3, 10 parts of the bullock, 2/10 parts of the ram, and 1/10 part with every lamb. Of the seven lambs and one he goat for a sin offering to make atonement for you. Besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and the meal offering thereof, and the continual burnt offerings, and the meal offerings thereof, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. This is a day of acclamation, a day that goes beyond the new moon feast, the day that goes beyond the ordinary burnt offering. There were to be special offerings on that day. There were to be a blowing of trumpets throughout the day. Back throughout Jerusalem, the trumpets would blow all day long. The symbolism of a trumpet, of course, is that of a new era, a new day beginning. God accomplishing some mighty work in their midst. The Feast of Trumpets. I think it's interesting to look in the Old Testament at the symbolism of that. 7. As I've mentioned, in the seventh new moon, the month of Tishri, we are to have the Feast of Trumpets, the blowing of trumpets announcing that God has accomplished some great new thing for his people. The first day of this month was a day of rest. We've read about that. But what you need to remember is that the 10th day of that month was the day of atonement, the day celebrating expiation of sins, when God was reconciled to his people, when blood covered their sins so that he would no longer be wrathful toward them. The 15th day of that month was the feast of Tabernacles, the celebration that God dwelt in the midst of his people, in the tabernacle in the temple, the celebration of the Emmanuel principle of Scripture, God with us for the sake of our salvation. Moreover, Tishri was the month of sowing. This is when the Jews ordinarily would seed their fields, remembering that God was the God of creation, that he was preserving the earth with this regular succession we've already spoken of, so they could count on their crops to grow, the God of creation. And yet the God of Re creation celebrated in the seventh new moon of the year. It's celebrated in the month that has also the day of atonement and the celebration of tabernacles. All of this is just. It's a shame, really, that more of us don't know our Old Testament enough to appreciate the rich symbolism of that. That in the Sabbath month, the Sabbath month of the year, God was reminding people of his preservation of the world as well, reminding them of the progress that is being made, not only in some empty sense through time, but the progress being made in the accomplishment of their redemption as he comes to dwell, to forgive their sins and to be their God in Nehemiah, chapter seven and eight. If you're interested in this, you might pursue this. When Ezra renewed the people after the exile, and he read the law to them for half a day, and to consecrate them to God, he chose the day, the first day, day of Tishrei. It was New Year's Day when Ezra consecrated the people to God In Ezekiel the 40th chapter, when Ezekiel received the vision. Remember, Ezekiel is in exile. Ezekiel remembers the glory of the temple of God, and he receives the vision of God rebuilding the temple, bringing about a glorious eschatological temple in which he and his people will dwell together. Ezekiel receives that vision on the 10th day of the month in what he calls Rosh Hashanah. The only time you find that expression in the Hebrew Old Testament, at the beginning of the year, in the new year celebration, on the 10th day. I've already told you what the 10th day of the month meant. That's the day of atonement. And so at the beginning of the new year, on the day of atonement, Ezekiel is reminded that God is going to rebuild his temple, and that in a glorious eschatological way. Well, let's stand back and see what we've learned from this study of Old Testament calendar, the Old Testament calendar and the Jewish symbolism thereof in the context of the yearly cycle, month after month after month, winter and summer, 12 month cycle, the Jews had a Sabbath of months, not just the Sabbath of days, and not just the Sabbath of years, which we often talk about in our circles, but they had a Sabbath of months as well. In the seventh month, the holy convocation was a special convocation because it was a day of blowing of the trumpets, a celebration of the new creation that God allows us to sow in the earth, makes atonement for our sins, will dwell with his people and bring about a new creation. So the first month of the year, Passover, remembers the deliverance of God that He passes over their sins. And in the seventh month after that, we remember God is going to consummate his work. He's going to bring about a re creation throughout this world. There are really three outlooks on culture in time. There's what I might call the reactionary outlook, the revolutionary outlook, and the recreational outcome outlook, what is also called the recreational outlook, but that's misunderstood in our day. The reactionary outlook says time shouldn't move on. We need to resist the movement of time. We need to preserve, we need to hold on to our traditions. We need to guard the status quo and hope that what good there might have been in history can be preserved for our day. The revolutionary outlook on culture and time the revolutionary outlook on history says, cut with the past. Just forget it completely. We need a completely new beginning, a new start. Every revolutionary movement has tried to date their revolution as the beginning, of course, of the new age for mankind. Revolutionaries don't want to be reminded of the past. They don't want to preserve. They want to break down and start anew. They want to be new creators of you will. The Christian outlook is not reactionary, nor is it revolutionary if you understand the Hebrew calendar. Even in the infant days of God's people, back in the days of foreshadows and symbols, you could already see that there was this continuing cycle of New year and New Year, the religious New year of deliverance, the civil New year of new creation. And round and round that cycle went, as the Jews were reminded. God preserves the creation of while he makes progress in the establishment of his kingdom. God is not reactionary, holding on just to the past, not allowing the future to develop. But God is not breaking with the past just so that we might have a brand new future. He is recreating the heavens and the earth. Our calendar proclaims that this is a new year. Perhaps the noise of the New year celebrations have faded for us, but the impacts of that event, this still felt, this being only the third day of January, added to the festivities of Christmas just a little over a year ago. The new year often leaves men too exhausted to think, I think. But it's time for Christians to think about the significance of the beginning of a new year for us. No time of the year should be an occasion for deeper reflection, in a sense, for the close conjunction of Christmas. The New Year celebrations should powerfully suggest to those of us who see all things in the light of God's word, that eternity is moving in upon time, that God's consummated kingdom is coming in history, that things are progressing toward the consummation of God's plans. The Bible records for us not only that Christ came to Earth 1900 years ago, it records for us just as assuredly the cloud Christ is coming to earth again, and that when he comes again, when he finally comes in glory, time will be consummated and God's kingdom will see its eternal realization. And so the remembrance of Christ's first coming, together with the coming of another year, should cause us this morning to reflect on the second coming of Jesus Christ, when He will consummate all things. What is the surest thing about history? Future what is the one thing we know for confident? We know the United States will be part of world events 100 years from now? Do we know that our family line will continue? Do we know that a certain disease will be wiped out like smallpox seems to have been? Do we know who the world leaders will be throughout the future? Do we know what nations will dominate? No, we don't know these things. We don't know about the political future, the medical future, the familial future, the economic future of our earth. The one thing that we know for certain is that Christ is going to return. In Second Peter, chapter three. This is the theme of that particular chapter, as Peter writes, this is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you. And in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets in the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lust, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water, and amidst water by the word of God. By which means the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens that now are, and the earth by the same word, have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but as longsuffering to you not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy consecrated living and godliness looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. But according to this promise, we look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. All the mockers are among us today. Oh, we can't take seriously these promises that history will end and and that Christ will return. The mockers tell us that everything remains the same. We'll always have the uniformitarians in our midst. But for that, Peter says they willfully forget. They suppress the truth that God once destroyed the earth by water, and God is preserving this earth until the day of fiery judgment. And since that is true, since we remember a new heavens and a new earth is coming, what manner of people should we be? He says consecrated people. The Feast of Trumpets in the Old Testament was a feast of consecration. This day, this month, this year, this land, this people belong to God. For God's promises will be fulfilled. His kingdom will come. The second coming of Christ is set forth in the Bible as the blessed hope for us who are Christians. Last week we were remembering the first coming of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of promise. How much more now in New Year's do we remember that Christ will come again to fulfill his promises? Christ's own teaching concerning his second coming radiates the enthusiasm of a promise to be fulfilled. The Apostle Paul comforts bereaved believers when he writes of the return of Jesus Christ in glory. And the very last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, is especially given as comfort to the church, to admonish the church to avoid worldliness and to be prepared for God's accomplishing of his purposes in history, to be consummated at the return of His Son. The world is shown that the Christ of Bethlehem, the Christ of Calvary's cross, is now for preparing all things for his glory, is now directing all events of history for his own glory, and that he will bring to completion his entire work of redemption. This theme of preservation and progress is in fact at the heart of Revelation 21, which is our text for this morning John says that he saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the earth have passed away. Indeed, the sea is no more. And in this he sees a new holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband. And then he hears a great voice out of the throne saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. Everything that the seventh month of the year in the Jewish calendar celebrated is being celebrated in this declaration. Behold, a new creation, full atonement for sin in God's tabernacling with his people. We have to remember, of course, that the voice that John hears is a voice from the throne. Not all of you will perhaps enjoy the book of Revelation as much as I enjoy it, or perhaps will have immediately suggested to you what is suggested to me by that. What is about the throne of God that's so significant that from this throne should be the declaration all things are made new. If you turn to Revelation, the fourth chapter, verses two and three, you'll see the description of the throne of God in heaven straightway. I was in the spirit, and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne, and he that sat was to look upon like a Jasper stone in a sardius. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon. God sits upon a throne that is adorned with a rainbow. A rainbow, the sign of the Noah covenant. You look in Genesis 8 and 9, you see that when God promised to Noah that seedtime and harvest, winter and summer, heat and cold, would follow one another in regular succession, he said, and this will be the sign of the covenant. This will be the proof of my steadfast love. This will be the symbol of my faithfulness to you. When you see the rainbow in the clouds. Every time we see a rainbow, we're to be reminded that earth is preserved only because of the grace of God. The rainbow shows us that. And now John sees the throne of God in heaven, and and round it is the Noahic rainbow, the sign that he is preserving creation, that God is not a God who just cuts off and lets the past go, but God preserves all things and keeps his promise to his people. But it's from that same throne of preservation that God declares, I make all things new. I'm not only preserving the earth, there is progress in history. I'm going to consummate my kingdom. I'm going to recreate the heavens and the earth. And that's why we see the declaration of new creation, the sign of Progress in Revelation 21. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. John says the end of verse four. He says, the first things have passed away. In verse five, he that sitteth on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. We don't have simply a new year that we celebrate as Christians. We celebrate a God who is going to make everything new. He's going to make our society new. He is going to make our bodies new. He is going to make our churches new. He is going to make our social relations new and our economic systems new. God is making everything over again, and that according to the pattern of righteousness. For in the new heavens and the new earth righteousness dwells. Peter tells us in the second Epistle. And because righteousness will dwell in the new heavens and in the new earth, John could say, he will wipe every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. The wages of sin is death. But in that new heavens and new earth, when we in resurrected, glorified bodies enjoy the presence of God, there will be no death, and there will be no suffering. And there will be no mourning nor crying nor pain anymore. For all those first creation things will now be gone. And how is it that that will be accomplished? John says, because the tabernacle of God is with men. God will then dwell with his people and our minds race back to the Garden of Eden. When the voice of God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. But after they sinned, they fled, fled from the voice of God. They didn't want the presence of God. And we think of the promise of the Old Testament, how that God would come, God personally would come and save his people. Emmanuel. God with us would eventually arrive. And we think of Jesus Christ who came to be with his people. And as Jesus goes back to heaven, he promises, I don't leave you alone. I send another comforter, a Holy Spirit that will be with you to the end of the age. And at the end of that age, we are reminded that God will dwell with men. The original plan to dwell in the midst of his people will now be consummated. The tabernacle of God will be theirs, fulfilling every covenant promise of God. So you see that what John is saying in Revelation 21 is for the fulfillment of the symbolism of the seventh month and new year of the Jewish calendar. A God of preservation is yet a God of purpose, progress. What do we celebrate this new year? We celebrate that, in fact, we have a new year that God hasn't destroyed the earth, but we celebrate that it's a new year and another step closer to that day in which Christ will have made everything new in Bible times. Every new year, in fact every new month was in some form a festival and a holy day. Each one of these festivals of time was announced at the beginning by an authority who declared, according to the Jewish accounts, it is consecrated, meaning the day was now consecrated, the month was now consecrated to God. Everywhere we look in the world, we'll find people who celebrate new years and new moons, new months, and they'll regard them as important. But there are two important reasons, two different and important reasons for the celebration of new beginnings, new months and new years in the pagan world, which is pretty much the world in which we live. If I look around me and see correctly. In the pagan world, days were marked as divisions of time and important because of the change of nature or the change of social and political events. Pagan religions were forms of nature worship and the worship of the king. And therefore such days as the winter solstice and the summer solstice were important because they mark changes in time, changes of day, changes of sun, changes of moon or year. People worshiped nature and for that reason were bound to regard natural events as the most important things in their lives. But the Hebrew festivals were not geared to nature. They were geared to a God who preserved and made progress in history. They celebrated time changes in relationship to God. The Passover was their day of salvation. Their thanksgiving celebrated the goodness of God to his people. The new month marked a natural change, but all the more praise God for his sovereignty. And each new year was numbered in terms of the creation of God. The Christian calendar is the same way. It's dated ad anno Domini, the year of our Lord, the year of Jesus Christ. It continues the long biblical tradition of honoring time and observing it. Because the Bible views time as being under God and is serving the purposes of God. You look at the French Revolution and to a certain degree, the Russian Revolution also both attempted to abolish the Christian calendar and to begin dating time from the revolution. Because man would take control of his history, the change in sociopolitical events would be the most significant. The Soviet regime and other socialist governments, you'll remember, have introduced many plans, five year plans and all the like, whose purpose was to make time in the future an area of state planning and state controls, rather than control by God and his word. But man isn't a God over time. Man is a subject of time. In fact, man is not a God in any form, form whatsoever. Man's not the maker of time. Man is but the creature of God. And God alone is the Lord over time. Well, that much is taught to us, it seems to me. If we look at the Old Testament calendar in the Book of Revelation, chapter 21, we celebrate, as Christians, festivals of time. We celebrate the new year. We celebrate the coming of winter and summer and spring and fall in their regular succession. We enjoy the new moons and the new weeks because we have a confidence in the God who is the Lord of history. The future is not in the hands of nature. The future is not in the hands of status planners. The future is in the hands of God. That's why we celebrate New Year, because we celebrate the God who is unfolding his purposes and plans, who will frustrate the ungodly ambitions of men and will yet consummate his kingdom. In the future. Time will continue to work against the ungodly and for the sake of the godly. Time will continue to unravel the hopes of ungodly men and to cast down the kingdoms of godless builders. Time will continue to erode the foundations of the towers of Babel. And in the same time, time will continue piece by piece and month by month and day by day to build up the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Jesus Christ. Time will continue to serve the Creator and the Redeemer and the Judge of all men, God made time. And time can only serve God. What does the New Year hold for you? I don't know. But I know what it holds for us as God's people. Individually, some of us may have greater joy this year. Some of us may have greater sorrow. Some may have greater occasions than thank God. Others may have more occasions to plead with God to relieve their suffering. I don't know individually what this year will bring, but I know that this year will continue to be anno Domini, the year of our Lord. And in Christ, in His Word we can see that God will preserve this world and at the same time make all things new. He will, having been the Creator, prove himself to be the recreator. All things. Back in 1956, you will all remember how Jim Elliot, one of a number of missionaries, landed in South America in an attempt to be a first contact for the gospel with the Auca Indians. These men, for a number of days before their landing on that sandy portion of beach they use as their Runway, had dropped gifts to the Alka Indians, who were known to be headhunters and cannibalistic. They had dropped gifts to them in an effort to show them they were a friendly visitation. They had nothing to fear. And the day finally came when Elliot and his cohorts landed their plane. And it was only a few weeks later that it was finally discovered why no contact with the outside world was made. They were slaughtered by the Auca Indians as they left their planes. In Jim Elliott's remains, his diary was found and written in the page of his diary for that particular day, he wrote those now famous words. I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. We praise God that we celebrate the New Year as people who know a God who holds the future. Let's praise. Lord, we thank you that you are Lord of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things, the one who is true to his promise to preserve the creation, to make our seasons come in regular succession, that we might live with prosperity, we might live with joy and provision for our tables, even because of your grace. Lord, we thank you also that you're a Redeemer, Redeemer of men. And that you have intended not simply to preserve this world, but to make a new world in which righteousness dwells. We thank you. That hasn't come about through some revolutionary radical change, but it comes about through your preservation and works of progress. We pray that you would open our eyes to see that same vision of the throne set in heaven that was granted to the Apostles John. That we might see the rainbow around that throne and be assured of your preservation, your faithfulness to promise, but that we might open our ears to hear what you declare. That you make all things new. Lord, we consecrate ourselves in this new year to you. Not knowing what individually we may enjoy or suffering, but knowing that since you hold the future, all things work together for good. For it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and grant you peace. Amen.