GOD has promised in His Word to one day make all things new. All old things will pass away; all sin, all sorrow, all pain; and new things will take their place for ever.
There is a very beautiful sense in which God is even now continually making all things new. Each morning the dewdrops are new ones. Our food is new, our health, our strength, our daily mercies. “They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.” Each week brings a new day of rest, fresh and sweet. Each returning springtime sees a renewal of the face of the earth; and as we advance in life, we cannot help the feeling that each spring is sweeter than any that went before.
It is usual for those who write for others to refer at this season of the year to the fact that it is a new year that is dawning upon us. This year, however, has a special feature. It is the commencement of a new century. I suppose that no person, certainly not more than one or two, will be likely to read this page who was living when the nineteenth century dawned; and it is less likely that any who read this will be living upon earth when the next century shall open.
It is quite right, and very profitable, for us to mark the lapse of time; and there are reasons when it is especially timely to do so. In that touching psalm written by Moses, the ninetieth, the writer refers to many divisions of time in a striking manner. He names a thousand years, generations, eighty years, seventy years, single years, days, nights, yesterdays, mornings, evenings; and very beautifully addresses the Lord as the dwelling-place of His people at all times and seasons. It is indeed a great favor to realize that, though all things change, and fade away, and die, we have a Friend who never changes, and who never fails those who trust in Him.
We may therefore profitably, at the opening of a new century, think of some new things that are spoken of in the Word of God. Most persons, even young ones, like new things. We remember some of the new garments made for us when young. We have not forgotten new school-terms, new copybooks without blots, or new grammars unexplored. We think at times of that new situation, when the world looked very fair; and we love to remember taking the loved one to a new home, and the joy caused by newborn babes. Nor may we forget the mingling of new griefs and sorrows, new temptations and trials, very bitter and very painful. But if these black clouds had never formed, we should not have seen such beautiful rainbows. It is a comforting thought that each rainbow that God makes is a new one.
One new thing that God creates is a new heart. And this is indeed an entirely new creation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” I could not desire for my readers a greater favor than this. Everything in this new creation is new; and “all things are of God.” The subject of it finds new principles at work within him; new powers are moving in his soul. He has new hopes, new desires, new longings, never possessed or felt before. He even chooses new companions; and no longer desires to be with his old ones. I have even heard persons say that, when this great change took place within them, they felt they were in a new world. This was exactly my own feeling, one bright spring morning. The very trees, and fields, and flowers seemed to share my joy, as if they were trying to help me praise the Lord, the God of grace.
A man who finds himself the subject of this new creation finds new pursuits. He forsakes his sins, and enjoys a sacred holy pleasure in serving God. His new friends are more pleasant to him than his old ones; and the new songs he sings are far sweeter than any old ones could ever have been. He is, in fact, a new creation, a marvel of mercy, a wonder of rich and free grace.
I could not frame a better wish for my readers than that they might be made partakers, by the grace of God, of the new things I have named, and thus become “new creatures.” That is the great blessing of all blessings, and to enjoy this is to be rich and happy indeed.
We may expect, if spared to see some years of the present century, to witness many important events. Science will doubtless reveal to us more of the wonderful works of our Creator’s hand, and make them more useful to us. We may also expect to see the declarations of the Word of God verified. “Perilous times” will come, and men will follow sin and vanity, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. But those who, love God will have the sweetest pleasures; and they will escape the evils that will come upon the earth. Whatever shaking of nations, wars, tumults, and other calamities, they are safely hidden in their “dwelling-place”; and no evil shall ever hurt or destroy them.
And the best for them is all to come. They will have all their sorrow in this life. And when all the centuries shall have passed away into eternity, they will enter a state whose duration will not, be measured by years or centuries; for it will be eternal. O may the reader seek to possess and enjoy these new things, real things, gospel things, eternal things; for the promise to all real seekers is that they shall surely find.
W.W.