As we approach Christmas and the new year, we are delighted, filled with hopes of improvement in every aspect of our lives. It is the time of renewal, revival and restoration. The New Year also brings the cheerful feelings of rejuvenation spiritually, emotionally and physically. We are open to to accept all things new.
‘Hakol chadash’ is a part on the declaration: ‘hi•ne•ni o•se ha•kol cha•dash’ (I am making all things new) that John quotes directly from the Almighty Himself:
‘He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”
This powerful vision signifies a change of enormous and dramatic magnitude where the new earth and new sky are presented at the same breath with the New Jerusalem:
‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.’
This declaration of renewal echoes the same promise God Himself made in the Old Testament:
‘For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.’ And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.’
And here is a point to ponder upon:
The word ‘cha•dash’ new, comes from the word ‘cho•desh,’ month. The relationship between the two is obvious if we look at then from astronomical point of view. A new month in the Jewish calendar which is a lunar calendar is marked by the appearance of a new moon after being completely out of sight the night before. Obviously, it is the same moon that was here since the Creation, but still we call it a new moon. Likewise, as we discussed yesterday the New Testament is more so a renewed testament because it has the identical two parties of the old one. The ‘new’ for us is not an absolute ‘new’ since it is not necessarily ‘new’ for God.
This seemingly conflict is well described by Ecclesiastes:
‘That which has been, is what shall be; and that which has been done is what shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.’
Recent Comments