All things new
The renewal of everything
From the throne comes a declaration that sums up the goal of all God's work: Behold, I am making all things new. Notice the precise wording — not I am making all new things, as if the old were simply scrapped and replaced, but I am making all things new, the existing creation itself redeemed, restored, and transformed. God's final purpose is not to destroy the world but to renew it.
This is a richer hope than mere escape. The Christian hope has never been that we flee a doomed world for a disembodied heaven, but that God will renew all things — heaven and earth made new, the whole creation liberated and restored to what it was always meant to be. The groaning creation, which has waited so long, will not be discarded but redeemed and made gloriously new.
And the One who makes all things new is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. The God who began the story will finish it, and finish it gloriously; and he declares it done — so certain that it is spoken as already accomplished. These words, he says, are faithful and true. The same God who has been making you new throughout this whole journey of formation will, at the last, make all things new — and the renewal he has begun in you is a foretaste of the renewal of everything. Behold, he is making all things new.
“He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.”
— The One on the throne — Revelation 21:5 (WEB)
Hope not merely to escape a doomed world but for God to make all things new — the whole creation renewed, your own renewal a foretaste of it.
“It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.”
We can reduce the Christian hope to escaping a doomed world for a disembodied heaven, missing that God's purpose is to make all things new. The interior work is to grasp the richer hope — that the existing creation will be redeemed and renewed, not scrapped — and to see that the God who has been making us new throughout our formation is the same One who will make all things new, our renewal a foretaste of the renewal of everything.
This week, enlarge your hope from escape to renewal: dwell on the promise that God will make all things new, see your own ongoing transformation as a foretaste of it, and let that hope shape how you treat the world God intends to renew.
It is tempting to shrink the hope to a getaway, an escape from a doomed world, until you neither love the creation God means to redeem nor see your own renewal as part of anything larger. But the One on the throne is making all things new, not all new things — and the soul that knows the God remaking it will remake everything is anchored in a restoration nothing can spoil.
From the throne comes the declaration that sums up all God's purposes: Behold, I am making all things new. The wording matters — not making all new things, scrapping the old for replacements, but making all things new, the existing creation itself redeemed and transformed. God's final purpose is not to destroy the world but to renew it.
This is a far richer hope than mere escape from a doomed world. The Christian hope has never been to flee creation for a disembodied heaven, but that God will renew all things — heaven and earth made new, the long-groaning creation liberated and restored to what it was always meant to be. And the One who declares it is the Alpha and the Omega, who began the story and will finish it gloriously, speaking it as already done. The same God who has been making you new through this whole journey of formation will, at the last, make all things new — and his renewing work in you is a foretaste of the renewal of everything.
- Is my hope merely to escape a doomed world, or for God to renew all things?
- Do I see my own renewal as a foretaste of the renewal of everything?
- How does it change things that God makes all things new, not all new things?
Lord, I shrink my hope to escaping a doomed world, when you declare, Behold, I make all things new. You who began the story will finish it gloriously. Let my own renewal be a foretaste of the renewal of everything, and fix my hope on the day you make all things new. Amen.