April 3: A New Thing
Read: Isaiah 43:16-21; John 12:1-8
Today’s passage from Isaiah opens with a description of God’s work on Israel’s behalf in leading the people out of Egypt. He opened a way in the sea, he enticed the armies of Egypt to follow the Israelites into the path. He closed the water over them that they would lie down and not get up again.
It was a magnificent act by God, but in verse 18 he says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.” This undoubtedly sounded odd to a people who kept the same feasts for generations – and still do. Why shouldn’t they remember God’s grace in the past?
Verse 19 reveals the answer, “Behold, I am doing a new thing”. Isaiah is giving the people a hint that God is going to do something on the level of parting the Red Sea; of delivering the people from Egypt.
And yet, it’s a new thing. In fact. it’s a reversal of what he did in the past. In the days of the Exodus, he parted the sea so the people could walk through on dry land. Now, he will turn the dry land into rivers, the waterless desert will flow with life and explains his reasons for this: “I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”
Written at a time when Judah was in exile, the promise of return, of this new thing, brought hope. These verses invite us to find encouragement despite the current realities we face: Pandemic and war; inflation and uncertainty. In these words, we’re invited to look beyond our circumstances and to wonder what God will do next. What new thing might he do for his people as they wait for Christ’s return?
It also reminds us that our current circumstances are temporary. They are part of our journey toward a time and place when our hearts will find their true home with God. He is the one who made us and redeemed us and loves us and calls us to himself.
When God sent Jesus, he also did a new thing. Instead of pointing people back to the Law, to the sacrificial system, to the old ways that only worked temporarily, God sent his son. God intervened dramatically. God reversed the condition brought on by Adam’s sin. We know, the one man, Adam, brought sin into the world and through his sin, death. But Jesus, in his life, death, and resurrection, does a new thing that brings life, life that lasts forever.
This is our hope! It is a hope rooted in reality. It is a hope that God has done amazing things and continues to do amazing things. There is no challenge too hard or desert too wide for God to give deliverance and hope. And it is a hope that one day in the not too distant future, Jesus will come again and bring a new heavens and a new earth and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord!
Questions for Reflection
In these days do you find yourself more or less hopeful than a year ago? What, if anything, has changed?
Isaiah gives us an image of God making streams in the wilderness and rivers in the desert showing how he will do a new thing and transform the situation. Have you ever experienced God doing something new like that in your life?
This week, share this message of hope with a friend who could use it!
Readings this week:
April 4: Exodus 40:1-15; Hebrews 10:19-25
April 5: Psalm 20; 1 John 2:18-28
April 6: Habakkuk 3:2-15; Luke 18:31-34
April 7: Isaiah 53:10-12; Hebrews 2:1-9
April 8: Isaiah 54:9-10; Hebrews 2:10-18
April 9: Leviticus 23:1-8; Luke 22:1-13
April 10: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Luke 19:28-40