God is Making All Things New
Scripture — Revelation 21:5
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.”
Focus
On this day in which we celebrate a new year, may we even more celebrate the One who will make all things new. May we rejoice in the fact that we get to experience a foretaste of this renewal in our lives today. And, in 2023, may we be available to God who wishes to use us as agents of renewal in this world.
Devotion
Happy New Year!
Today is New Year’s Day, the first day of 2023. We’ll hear a lot today about newness: new hopes, new resolutions, new leaders, new diets, new relationships, new technology, new scandals, new diseases, and so on. But, in fact, there really isn’t much that’s actually new today, other than the change in the calendar. We can pretend that the new year is a big deal, but, in reality, it’s pretty much a continuation of last year. Even things that feel new will soon become familiar and routine.
Contrast this with what God says in Revelation 21:5: “I am making all things new.” Not just the year. Not just what you can buy online. Not just a few things around the edges of reality, but all things! Everything! When God engages in renewal, all things are transformed.
The context for God’s making everything new in Revelation 21:5 is the “new heaven” and “new earth” we read about in verse 1. The “first heaven” and “first earth” have “passed away” and the new is coming, by God’s power and grace. Revelation 21 gives us a glimpse of the future. But this glimpse can also inform how we live today.
I’d like to make three brief observations about God’s statement, “I am making all things new!” First, notice that God is making “all things new.” God is not obliterating all things and shooting our souls into Heaven for eternity. Rather, God is renewing all things on earth and in heaven, restoring them to what God had planned from the beginning. This is a powerful affirmation of the value of material things to God, who, after all, did once create them and regard them as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). This world and all that is in it matters to God and will one day be renewed by God. Thus, we should be sure to value this world as God values it.
Second, the fact that God will one day make everything new underscores the fact that our world is in need of serious renewal. Things are broken, tarnished, dysfunctional, and badly in need of, not just repair, but complete renovation. So, while we value this world and all that is in it, we also recognize how messed up it is. Christians should be the last people on earth to be surprised when bad things happen, even to good people. We should expect injustice, even as we seek to do justice in this world (Micah 6:8). We should anticipate mourning, even as we get to rejoice in the midst of our sorrows.
Third, and finally, God is the one who is making everything new. By implication, only God can do this. You and I can’t. This ought to give us a fair measure of humility in our jobs, our families, our churches, and our politics. Yet, the fact that God and God alone has the power to make all things new does not mean we are irrelevant, mere bystanders to God’s renewing work. On the contrary, God has chosen to make God’s own renewing power available to us through Christ. Though we can’t fix the world, we can, by God’s strength and Spirit, be channels of God’s renewal in our slice of the world. God wants to work through you and me to bring greater wholeness to our workplaces, families, communities, schools, churches, and countries.
On this day in which we celebrate a new year, may we even more celebrate the One who will make all things new. May we rejoice in the fact that we get to experience a foretaste of this renewal in our lives today. And, in 2023, may we be available to God who wishes to use us as agents of renewal in this world.
Reflect
Why do you think God chooses to make everything new, rather than obliterating this broken universe and starting all over again?
In what ways have you experienced the renewing power of God in your life?
In what ways would you like to experience God’s renewal in 2023?
How might God use you as an agent of renewal in the year to come?
Act
Ask God how you might be an agent of divine renewal in your part of the world. Make plans to do what God puts on your heart.
Pray
Gracious God, indeed, you are the one who will one day make everything new. You alone have the power to do this. You alone have the will to do this.
Thank you, Lord, for not abandoning us and our world. Thank you for making your renewing presence known, even now, however incompletely.
Thank you also for choosing to use us as agents of renewal. May we be available to you for this crucial task. May you use us to bring your wholeness to the broken places of our lives: our work and our family, our community and our church, our nation and our world.
All praise be to you, O God, because you are making all things new! Amen.
Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project’s online commentary. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Babylon and the New Jerusalem: A Tale of Two Cities (Revelation 17-22).
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Mark D. Roberts
Senior Strategist
Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a Senior Strategist for Fuller’s Max De Pree Center for Leadership, where he focuses on the spiritual development and thriving of leaders. He is the principal writer of the daily devotional, Life for Leaders,...