He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making all things new!”
Having recently come across this passage from Revelation, I was reminded of the captivating scene from the film Passion of the Christ in which a bloodied, humiliated, and exhausted Jesus collapses under the weight of his cross on his way to crucifixion. As a tearful, bewildered Mary rushes to help her son, Jesus looks at her and says, “See, Mother? I make all things new again.”
Certainly, the director used creative license when filming that scene, for the Bible makes no mention of a similar exchange. Still, the scene stuck with me over the years, though I never knew why until I read the passage in Revelation and began to think more about how powerful the statement “I am making all things new” really is.
Man cannot accomplish what is written in this passage. He cannot make things new. He can make a new something, but he cannot take an existing something and make it new. What is worse, any new thing man creates immediately loses its newness.
This is not so with God. He can take an existing something, say an imperfect 26-year-old father of two, and make it new again. He not only can, but he will. What is more, the newness will never wear off.
This concept confuses the mind, but it should lead to great comfort. It reminds me of something I once read in an article concerning man’s inability to comprehend God’s nature:
“There are none like God. Nothing about which we know anything is in any relevant way like God. Therefore, our language categorically fails to touch the divine.”*
I’ll admit that at first, I was troubled by this. As a life-long student and avid consumer of literature I have a great appreciation for the power of language. I have always believed that through some combination of carefully chosen words, one can successfully convey even the most abstract thought.
But the author of the article is right. When it comes to understanding God, our language is insufficient; thus I cannot truly appreciate His assertion in Revelation that He is making all things new. Further, I cannot truly understand about God much of what I once thought I could. I have no idea what “omnipotence” or “omniscience” truly entails. I don’t know what “holy” really is. I know what it means, but I can never understand what “holiness” is in the same way that I understand “happiness” or “loneliness.”
This, of course, is not a new problem. We have wrestled with trying to make sense of God since the Fall. It became important to me because one, it is another reminder of just how far removed from God I would be were it not for his love and mercy; and two, because as I mentioned, it was at first quite disillusioning to realize how little I knew about God. Why, the very language I use to describe God in no way comes close to accurately describing him!
While I mulled this one night during the occasional bout of insomnia, I opened my Bible with no particular destination in mind. My eyes soon fell upon Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
What had given me great pause now gives me great comfort. I realized that I should be overjoyed that I do not understand God’s nature as completely as I understand other things. If I could, God would be of no use to me. His nature would be flawed, and he could do little more to save me from my sin than anyone else could.
Bringing God’s idea of love down to my level of comprehension immediately reduces the power of that love. I have two sons. Would I condemn one of them to a gruesome death to save anyone who has sinned against me? Emphatically, no! But God did. What more do I need to understand about His decision to do so? And why should I, the perpetrator, feel entitled to such understanding?
God owes me nothing, yet has given me everything. What more could I want? I should simply take His advice and take comfort in the fact that He is God. He is a power beyond my understanding and, thus, the only one capable of reversing my wretched condition-the only one capable of making me new.
*Alan Mittleman, “Asking the Wrong Question,” First Things, January 2009, 16.
