Revelation 21:5
God has never been satisfied with the status quo when it did not meet with His purposes. He has always been the God of change and new things. The creation was something new. Never before had anything existed outside of the godhead. (Here I am speaking of all things that were created. See Col 1:16.) God brought into existence a host of living things, including man, to accomplish His purposes.
When the sin of mankind became so great in Noah’s day, God chose to do something new. He destroyed the earth, its creatures and human kind except for Noah and his family who began a new repopulation of an earth which itself had been significantly changed by the catastrophic forces of the great flood.
Within a few generations God began to do something new with a man named Abraham. He chose him, blessed him and made promises to him that all peoples of the world would be blessed through his descendant. But the Hebrew people were always in a state of flux. A descent into Egypt with eventual enslavement. A rescue and a covenant with the Lord at Sinai. A settling in the promised land. Judges ruled first; then a king, the first of which was removed. Then a line of kings through David. But their drift away from God was substantial and continuous.
Finally, the kingdom of Israel is removed; then Judah goes into captivity. They return. A rebuilt temple. At last, the Christ comes. He brings in a new covenant and a new law of grace. Those who believe in Him are born again and become a new creation.
What does all this mean for us His people? We should never be satisfied to meander along in mediocre ministry and “rut religion.” We are to be ever renewed and renewing ourselves through the Holy Spirit to reach new levels of service and the knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ. Within the boundaries of holy scripture, let us move forward and upward in 2018 to new ventures and loftier vistas in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.