Celebrate Recovery
Jesus Is Making All Things New
By Lori Smith, Cultural Communities
“But there is a place where someone has testified:
‘What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
a son of man that you care for him?
You made them a little lower than the angels;
you crowned them with glory and honor
and put everything under their feet.’
In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Hebrews 2:6-9 (NIV)
I opened up my news app and there it was. Shutdown. Lockdown. Forced quarantine. Overnight, our country had gone from normal to lockdown because of a “novel” virus. Novel—new, not resembling something formerly known or used. And the hope of the shutdown was to give the medical community time to understand how the virus worked so that we could slow its spread. Fast forward nearly two years, and we are still trying to understand this “novel” virus with its many symptoms, effects, and mutations; and slow the spread. So much for that.
Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them…
We call it science, but God calls it dominion. And he intended for man to be sovereign over all of creation here on earth, and subject to him only. From the time of the fall, man has been trying to find a way back to that place where God said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28 NIV).
That was Eden; this is “at present.” And at present, what do we see with our physical eyes? At present we see death, destruction, pain, and suffering. At present we feel sadness, anger, and despair. At present our thoughts are sick, our hearts hurt, and we think we are what we aren’t. At present darkness appears to be winning.
But we see Jesus…
God knows novel. He is the author of novel. But, unlike us, he also knows how it all ends. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV). His novel is new to us, but not to him. He doesn’t need to lock us down to understand the novel. No. God’s novel sets us free.
Jesus was made “for a little while lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7 ESV). He came as a tiny, helpless, human baby in a dirty, dingy animal trough. So much for dominion. Like us, many didn’t see it. They only saw with their physical eyes. But they were looking at it wrong.
The hope is this. We see Jesus…“now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9 NIV). God’s novel is the beginning of the best and final. There’s no mutations in his plan, no unexpected symptoms or effects. Just this. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’” (Revelation 21:4-5 NIV).
The question is, do you see it?
Lord, you are making all things new, even now. When all I can see is death, sadness, and destruction, help me to see Jesus. Help me to look up and see the novelty of what you have done, and what you are doing! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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If you would like to learn how to start your own Celebrate Recovery ministry, to contact your Celebrate Recovery Rep, please visit: https://crgroups.info/. To get involved in an already existing Celebrate Recovery ministry near you, please visit: https://locator.crgroups.info/.
