IN these two apparently contradictory assertions you have the verdict of sense and the verdict of revelation; the cry of despair and the exclamation of faith and hope. Can both be true? Yes, both are perfectly true in the sense spoken. The first is true in the natural sphere, the second in the spiritual. To the natural man there is nothing new, to the spiritual man all things are new; and it is only those who know the spiritual that truly understand the natural.
The first scripture asserts that under the sun there is nothing new.
THE LAWS OF NATURE continue the same in all generations. “The sun ariseth, and the sun goeth down.” There is a constant succession of day and night. The wind continues to whirl about. Water continues to flow, and fire to burn. There may be fresh discoveries respecting those laws, and new adaptations of them, but the laws themselves are the same in all generations.
THE MORAL NATURE OF MAN is the same today as in the ages past. Men are still alienated from God and at enmity with Him, as in the days of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles. There may be more refinement, and in many things more intelligence, yet, left to themselves, men still choose the evil and hate the good. You have only to look at human life to see that, notwithstanding all the improvements of modern times, unbelief, pride, selfishness, sensuality, ill-will, and love of God-forgetting pleasure continue to bear sway in the hearts of men. God is still forgotten by the world, His claims denied, and His mercies abused. The root of human nature became corrupt at the fall, and as the root so the branches. “A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit.”
THE EVIDENCES OF THE CURSE are the same now as in the generations past. Labor and toil are yet the portion of men. Disappointment and vexation, more or less, sooner or later, attend every enterprise. The pursuit of knowledge, wealth, fame is still found to be vanity, just the same as when Solomon wrote these words; while sickness and disease invade every home, and death cuts down its thousands every day. Yes, the curse rests upon all flesh, nor can men, however wise and powerful, take it away. Under the sun there is “nothing new.” Such is the sad picture the first scripture presents to our view. How awfully sad to be left here without any hope of change, except a change only from bad to worse! Yet such is the condition of all without interest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Consider now the second scripture. Here the fact is announced that in Christ there is a new creation. Men in Christ while here below are still connected with the old. They bear about a body of sin and death; they feel and suffer the results of the curse in sickness, pain, and bereavement, yet in Christ they are a new creation. To them all things have become new.
IN CHRIST THEY HAVE COME INTO A NEW RELATION TO GOD. Once they were under deserved condemnation, but in Him full forgiveness is theirs, and the sentence of condemnation forever revoked (Rom. 8:11There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)). By nature they were far from God, but now in Christ made nigh by the blood of His cross (Eph. 2:1313But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)). Once they were slaves, but through Christ they have received the adoption of sons, and by the Holy Spirit cry, “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:5-75To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:5‑7)). Their relation to God in Christ is altogether new. God Himself has become their God, their Father, their portion, and their all.
IN CHRIST THEY HAVE A NEW LIFE. They have been born again of the Spirit. They have been quickened into newness of life. The change in them is vital, deep, and radical. They are no longer darkness, but LIGHT in the Lord. In the light of His Spirit they see the evil of sin, the vanity of the world, and the absolute necessity of an interest in Christ. The current of their affections is changed. Sin once loved is now hated; God once hated is now loved. To commune with God, and obey Him, is their most earnest desire. The motive by which they are prompted is new. The love of Christ constrains them not to live to themselves—the idol they once worshipped—but to Him that died for them and rose again.
Hence it follows that THEY LIVE A NEW LIFE. The change shows itself in their daily conversation and pursuits. They no longer walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. They no longer live to gratify the lusts of the flesh, but to do the will of God. They no longer sit in the seat of the scornful, but in the assembly of the upright. In the most practical sense, to those in Christ all things are new.
IN CHRIST BELIEVERS HAVE NEW PROSPECTS. The future is no longer dreaded. It is bright with hope, and they no longer seek to banish the thought of it, but dwell upon it with delight. “We look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,” we long for His coming to receive us to Himself that we may share His rest, His joy, His glory forever and ever. Should His coining be delayed, we expect to be victorious even in death. Death will be but going home, departing “to be with Christ, which is far better.” Come what may, in Christ all is well.
Such is the believer’s relation to the future; it is that of a well-grounded, lively hope. On the other hand, to be without Christ is to be exposed to the wrath of God, to everlasting shame and contempt, to the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched.
In which state are you? Are your hopes, desires, motives, and pursuits bounded by time? Are you occupied only with things under the sun? Or can you say that in Christ old things have passed away, and all things become new? Your present and eternal welfare depends entirely upon your relation to and interest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
O. T.