Daily Devotionals for Difficult Days [76] The New Creation

Our Local Nature Warden

Last Saturday I mowed the lawns. A solitary yellow flower stood on the front lawn. For some reason I do remember mowing it down as I cut the grass.

Later that day our local nature warden (one of my sons) confronted me with my crime! He complained that this lonely flower - which he had individually watered earlier that day! - was now no more.

What a Wonderful World

By God's grace, we brought up our children to love God's beautiful world, so I was delighted with his protective spirit and apologised for my reckless deed.

It is hard to imagine a world of creation more beautiful than the one we now enjoy:

The purpleheaded mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

The Lord of creation has opened our eyes to see beauty and wonder invisible to unbelief:

Heav'n above is deeper blue,
earth around is sweeter green,
Something glows in ev'ry hue
Christless eyes have never seen.

We can see beyond the astounding wonder of our creation to the Glorious Creator God who made it all, and to his Son, through whom all things were made.

The fly in the ointment 

And yet for all her beauty, this present creation is flawed. Scripture tells us that it is under a curse; a curse placed on it by God in Genesis 3 because of Adam's sin.

According to Scripture, the fate of creation is intimately connected to the fate of human beings. We are all catching a glimpse of this truth with global warming: our thoughtless and greedy lifestyles are destroying this pale blue dot.  

When mankind fell, so did creation.

And when God's final redemption is unfurled, creation's glorious future will also be unveiled.

In the now, writes the apostle Paul, creation is groaning (Romans 8:22), but one day, once we enjoy the full experience of our adoption as sons and daughters of God, then creation will burst forth into glorious and final bloom.

The beauty of that world

Scripture gives us only hints and glimpses of that glorious world to come. We know something about our own new bodies: they will not age or die, they will be be glorious, they will be powerful and they will be in some new way "spiritual." (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

We know that creation will be at peace with itself, "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them." (Isaiah 11:6).

We know that there will be nothing in nature to harm us, no more thirst, hunger or scorching heat (Revelation 7:16).

The very highest of this world's joys will be but a crusty bit of mouldy bread, compared to the banquet of heaven.

And then some more.....

The physical creation of that new world is the setting for the best part of all.

Heaven is a wonderful place

filled with wonder and grace

I'm going to see my Saviour's face

Oh heaven is a wonderful place.

But we are never to think that the material dimension of heaven is unimportant, for we are made with bodies and will spend eternity in bodies.

There is a strand of mystical Christianity that is almost gnostic in outlook. (The gnostics despised the material world and only valued the invisible, the spiritual). This unbalanced strand looks forward  only for the new relationship we will have with the Lord and his people and disregards the material dimension of the new heavens and the new earth. But that is a distortion because our new relationship with Christ will be an embodied one, just as his presence will be a bodily one.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God now has a renewed human body in heaven, even as we will one day have.

Our new walk with the Lord, unclouded by sin and selfishness, will be the highlight of that new world. As Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden, so the dwelling of God will be with us. God will love with us. We will be his people and he will be our God. He alone will be our God. (Revelation 21:3)

This present creation, made by the Word who became flesh, is meant to be a signpost not only to the glory of God now, but to the glory of heaven to come. As we ponder the beauty - and the beast within that beauty - we look forward to the day of ecstatic, eternal and unspoiled joy.

And with the exiled apostle John, we cry Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus. Come Quickly.

A SONG FOR THE DAY

I have chosen a song which exalts the God who made creation. We might have added a final verse which moved on from the signpost to the God who welcomes sinners into his kingdom of grace, but no song is ever written to say it all.

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
You are amazing God

Chris Tomlin

You can sing along HERE.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our loving Creator God,

We praise you for the beauty and wonder of your handiwork. Truly, there is none like you.

We thank you for the beauty of our present world, bursting forth in glorious spring. We thank you that you have opened our blind eyes to see beyond the beauty to the one who made it all.

We pray for those who do not know you. We pray for those who witness this beauty but refuse to acknowledge the Creator. We pray that by the power of the Gospel you will open their blind eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We thank you that one day we will enjoy a new heavens and a new earth, and we thank you that in that new world we will see the Lord Jesus, who loved us and gave his life for us, face to face.

We pray these things in his Almighty Name

Amen

Photo by Dlanor S on Unsplash