As we anticipate the New Year in just three days, many of us look forward to what God is going to do in our lives in the New Year. We even try to cooperate with God by making New Year's resolutions. And there's nothing wrong with that. Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the greatest American theologian of all times, was well known for making resolutions. But the Scriptures say nothing about New Years. You will scour your Bible in vain looking for it. If we're looking for God to do something new in our lives, we need to look to a much smaller increment of time than a year. Lamentations chapter 3 promises that God's mercies are new every morning. For believers, every morning, not every New Year's, every morning ought to be a time to repent of the sins of the past. A time to claim those new mercies by faith. A time to yield our members as instruments of righteousness to God. God stands ready to renew us in the inner man every day, Paul teaches us. in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. So any day of the year is the right time to make resolutions to do right by the grace of God. Now, while I did not find anything in Scripture about New Year or New Years, as best I can tell, the Bible mentions God doing a new thing three times. And I think as we look forward to the new year, it's a good time to consider these three passages. This morning, I intend to weave them into a meditation for the new year. And we begin with a passage here in the Old Testament that's unfamiliar to most of us. And so I'll spend a little bit more time with this passage here in Isaiah chapter 3. So let me take a moment and just kind of explain the larger context here. Around 600 B.C., the Babylonian strongman Nebuchadnezzar carried the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity. He actually attacked Judah three separate times. beginning in 605 B.C., ending in 586 B.C. On Wednesday evenings, we're studying the book of Daniel right now. Daniel was one of the first prisoners of war captured by Nebuchadnezzar, carried off to Babylon. But here's what I want you to get. Isaiah wrote his prophecies over 100 years before Nebuchadnezzar reigned. Over 100 years before Nebuchadnezzar attacked Judah. In Isaiah chapter 39, we find the record of Isaiah's prophecy to King Hezekiah that Babylon would conquer Judah. And then beginning in Isaiah 40, and for the remainder of this book, this book addresses that coming Babylonian captivity. In fact, in the chapter before us here, Isaiah chapter 43, this chapter looks at that captivity as if it's a done deal, already an accomplished fact. And in fact, it looks beyond and through that captivity to speak comfort to the Jews by promising that their Lord, Yahweh, will bring them back to their own land from captivity in Babylon. So with that context, let's read a paragraph now. here in Isaiah chapter 43, beginning in verse 14. Our text will be verses 16 through 19 with a special focus on verse 19. Isaiah 43, beginning in verse 14. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I will send to Babylon and bring them all down as fugitives, the Chaldeans who rejoice in their ships. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters, who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power. They shall lie down together. They shall not rise. They are extinguished. They are quenched like a wick. Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people I have formed for myself. They shall declare my praise." Though Yahuwah was going to send Judah into captivity because They forsook His covenant because they practiced idolatry for centuries. He would not abandon them. In verse 14, He calls Himself their Redeemer. In verse 15, their Creator, their King. So let's focus now on the core of this paragraph in verses 16 through 19. These four verses are split into two halves. Verses 16 and 17 focus on the past. Verses 18 and 19 focus on the future. So verses 16 and 17 teach us to remember the mighty works God has done in the past. Remember. what God has done in the past. These two verses are a poetic recounting of the work that God did in delivering Israel from Pharaoh in Egypt. They explain that the Lord made a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters, the waters of the Red Sea. You remember this story, some of you from your Sunday school days, when God sent that tenth plague, that final plague upon the nation of Egypt and killed the firstborn throughout the land, Pharaoh finally let the Hebrews go from their bondage. But after they departed, Pharaoh thought better of it and he pursued them with his army in their chariots and hemmed them into the Red Sea. They were trapped. But as these verses explain, Yahweh parted the Red Sea. He made a way of escape. He made a path through the mighty waters. But it didn't end there. Pharaoh and his army on their chariots pursued Israel through the Red Sea. And verse 17 tells us what happened. God destroyed horse and chariot, army and power when he released the waters of the Red Sea and extinguished their lives like the wick of a candle. Now, God, through Isaiah, recounting that at this point is very important because for centuries after that event, Israel looked back at God parting the Red Sea and delivering them from Egypt as their salvation. I use that word very deliberately. Just like we, as New Testament Christians, look back to the cross and what Jesus did there as our salvation, Israel looked back to the parting of the Red Sea and their deliverance from Egypt as their salvation. There is something good and right about looking back on the great things that God has done for us in the past. In fact, we did this just last Sunday, didn't we? We had a table out here, a communion table. Why? Because Jesus said, do this in remembrance of Me. He commanded us. We call it an ordinance. We call it an ordinance because He commanded us never to forget what He had done for us. We gather here on Sunday. Why do we gather on Sundays? Because we don't work on Sunday? Is that why we gather here on Sunday? No, it's the other way around. We don't work on Sunday because we gather here on Sunday. Why do we gather on Sunday? Because it's the day that Christ rose from the dead. Every week we remember what Jesus did for us when we come to this place. And I would encourage you, you ought not forget the providence of God in your own life. What's God done in your life in the last year? I encourage you, you ought to write it down. Next year you need to go back and review it. What has God done? You ought to review it for yourself to give praise and honor to God. You ought to review it with your children and your grandchildren. This is the great thing that God did for me. It's good and right to look back on the great things that God has done for us in the past. But verses 18 and 19 go on to make a further point, a different point. Look forward to the new thing that God will do in the future. Now, our English versions make verse 18 a bit too strong. Do not remember the former things. We would be better to paraphrase it, you should not remember the former things. I mean, living only in the past can hamstring us, can hamper us. And this would particularly be the case for Judah when they were in captivity in Babylon, remembering the gory days, remembering the good old days of King David or King Solomon. That wasn't going to do them any good in the bewilderment of Babylon. And I think sometimes we as Christians can fall into this trap. I think it's particularly easy when you get to be my age You know, when you get to be retirement age, you know, so for some people retirement is a lot like the Babylonian captivity, especially if you're in a nursing home, if you're in assisted living. It can be real easy for us to live in the past, to always be talking about the good old days. Even the Apostle Paul, Am I up, brother? There we go. Even the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3 says, brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You know, if we're always talking about the good old days, we have a problem. Now, again, there's a balance here, right? I don't mean to contradict what I just preached to you a moment ago. The prophet had just reminded Judah of the great works that God did in the past in delivering them from Egypt. And we literally are commanded by our Lord and Savior Jesus not to forget what He has done in the past. But at the same time, Isaiah here calls Judah to look to the future. Verse 19 is a wonderful promise. Behold, I will do a new thing. I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. God promised to do a new thing for the captives in Babylon. In the past, God had made a road through the Red Sea so that the captives could flee from Egypt. And now God's promised to make a road through the desert and to provide rivers of water so that they could travel that road through the desert back to their homeland, back to Jerusalem. Take a look at that map. You see where Babylon is? You see where Judah is? Do you see what's in between? That's called the Arabian Desert. And God promised to make a road through that wilderness and to provision his people with water to be able to get back to their homeland. And a few chapters later, in chapter 45, he details how that will happen. The Medo-Persian ruler Cyrus will make it happen. This was hundreds of years before Cyrus. And God says, I will do a new thing. I will make a way through the wilderness. So that is the new thing that God promised to the Jews in captivity in Babylon. Now, if we're not to get stuck talking about the good old days, What's the new thing that God has promised to us as New Testament believers? How are we supposed to get our eyes focused on the future? Well, that question points us to the second text in Scripture that speaks of God doing a new thing. So flip over a few pages in your Bibles now to Isaiah chapter 65. Isaiah chapter 65. I'll begin reading in verse 17. Isaiah 65, beginning in verse 17. This is God speaking through Isaiah. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, And the foremost shall not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days. For a child shall die 100 years old, but the sinner being 100 years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people. and my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble, for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them. It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food, They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, says the Lord." So what do we have to look forward to? Well, first of all, God will create the New Jerusalem where Christ will reign. God will create the New Jerusalem where Christ will reign. So here's another passage written by Isaiah. Again, it's not familiar to many of us. Most of us don't spend a lot of time reading Isaiah, let alone studying it. And on top of that, this is a confusing passage. Verse 17 speaks of God creating the new heavens and the new earth. The new heavens and the new earth are the eternal state, right? This is where we're all hoping to get. And yet v. 20 speaks of sinners. And v. 20 speaks of dying. And v. 23 speaks of bringing forth children. And v. 24 speaks of answered prayer. None of those things are part of the eternal state. Are they? The solution to this confusion is found in realizing that we find a prophetic viewpoint often in the Old Testament prophets. The Old Testament prophets often saw future events from more than one time period and they would write of them side by side. We can picture it like this. You see in verse 17, Isaiah sees the new heavens and the new earth in the far distant future. And then still in the distance, but not as far in the future, closer in time, is a description of the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ on earth in verses 20-25. During that thousand-year reign, Christ will reign on earth, sit upon the throne of David in Jerusalem. Now, I also believe that based on this passage, and this is going to, those of you that are still with me, you're going to raise your eyebrows here. I also believe based on this passage that it will be during the millennium and not during the eternal state that the new Jerusalem will descend from heaven and be the seat of Jesus reign on earth. Verses 18 and 19 here focus on the place of the new Jerusalem during the millennium. And so I can add another line here on our chart. These verses are a bridge that connect the new heavens and the new earth with the millennium. Now, let me ask you, where are you going to be during the millennium? What? Where? This earth? We've already been glorified in resurrection bodies, absent from the body, present with the Lord. We're going to be on earth. I believe that there's going to be a new Jerusalem in between heaven and earth. a place of interaction between those of us who have been glorified and live in glorified resurrection bodies and those who live on earth who are not in glorified resurrection bodies. Now, I don't insist upon this interpretation. I'm not dogmatic about it, but this is one of several passages in scripture that seem to call for this interpretation. So, here's my point. As we forget those things which are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead, here's the first new thing that God will usher in through the second coming of Jesus Christ. The 1,000 year reign of Christ in the New Jerusalem. And whether you believe it's the New Jerusalem or just Jerusalem, here's the first new thing. When Christ was on earth, He used rewards to motivate His disciples to be faithful. Rewards that would be enjoyed during the thousand year reign of Christ. Many of us are familiar with the parable of the talents in Matthew chapter 25. That parable begins with this sentence, the kingdom of heaven is like. You see, in this parable, Jesus was explaining what his earthly kingdom would be like. And I don't have time to exposit the whole passage right now. But do you remember what the Master said to the faithful servants? Well done, good and faithful servants. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. See, this parable isn't about eternal rewards. This parable is about the place we will have in the reign of Jesus Christ. I understood this when I was just a teenager. This was one of the reasons that motivated me to say, I want to give my life completely to ministry. Because whatever reward I have for a thousand years, it's going to outweigh anything that I might enjoy for 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 years. You and I need to focus forward on the new thing that God is going to do. When Jesus Christ returns and sets up His kingdom here on earth, what place will you and I have? See, what I'm trying to get you to understand is that Christian life is like coming to a road where you have to look both ways at the same time. You know what I'm talking about? Every Sunday when I come to church, I come up Rogers Road until I hit Midway Road. And when I get there, I'm on an angle like about that, and I have to look way behind me down Midway, and then I have to look where I'm going, and then look back, and where I'm going, and back, So I can finally pull out. That's what this passage in Isaiah chapter 43 is telling us. Part of the Christian life is always looking back. Looking back to what Jesus Christ has done for us. Looking back to our salvation. But it's just as much looking forward looking for the new things that God is yet going to do. The first of those comes in the millennium, in the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ, in the New Jerusalem if you believe me, or just in plain old Jerusalem if you don't. But are you looking for that new thing that God is going to do? But we're not finished. There's one more text in Scripture where God tells us that He will do a new thing. We've already glimpsed it here in Isaiah chapter 65. So I want you to turn with me now to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. Revelation 21, I'll begin reading in verse 1. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea than I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it is done, or it is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." This passage teaches us that God will make all things new in a new heaven and a new earth. This paragraph pivots on that sentence in verse 5. God says, I will make all things new. Now, how will God make all things new? Will He just snap His fingers? Will He just speak and it will be so? And that's what He did when He created. He simply spoke and it was. But no, that's not how it will be. See, we're given a full explanation of how God will make all things new in 2 Peter 3. I won't ask you to turn, but these verses are on the screen. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Notice that final verse in this paragraph ties this passage back to Revelation 21, to the new heaven and the new earth. I've explained this passage to you before. The word elements that's used twice in this passage is a very accurate translation. The word in the original language is accurate for referring to the chemical elements in the periodic table that you might have learned about in chemistry class in high school. The word that's translated fervent heat is a word that was used in medicine in ancient times of the burning heat of a fever. The usage of the word seems to point to internal heat. Heat coming from the inside out. And that's the kind of heat that will attend the destruction of these chemical elements. The word that's translated melt literally means loose. It's translated loose numerous times in the New Testament. Literally what Peter says here is that the chemical elements will be loosed with internal heat. When this event occurs, the Creator will remove the power that holds the atomic structure of the universe together. Proton will repel proton in the nucleus of every atom of the universe. The elements will be loosed at some atomic level. obviously with great heat from an internal source. And at that point, every atom in the universe will be transformed back into pure energy. And then God will use that energy to reconstitute the universe, the new heavens, the new earth, and I believe the new New Jerusalem. But what's interesting is that this passage here in 2 Peter also tells us why it's so important for us to keep looking for these new things, to keep looking for the day that God will make all things new. First, Peter says without even explicitly saying it, we do not want to invest in that which does not last. Men build buildings out of granite and marble and steel and reinforced concrete, but at that day it will all disappear like children's sandcastles on the beach when the tide rolls in. There is not a thing in the world in which we can invest that will survive that day. to get our lives wrapped up in this world, in the things of this world, is to get entangled with that which is perishing. 1 John 2 says, Do not love the world or the things that are in the world, for the world is passing away. There's nothing we can invest in in this world. except other human beings that will survive that day. Second, notice the final statement Peter makes at the end of this paragraph in verse 13. He describes the new heavens and the new earth with this phrase, new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. And one of the modern translations uses this translation and I really like it. New heavens and a new earth where righteousness is at home. The new thing that God is going to finally do, that time when He makes all things new, in that new heavens and that new earth, That's going to be a place where righteousness is at home. And my friends, if we are not pursuing righteousness, if we are not pursuing holiness in our lives, we will not be at home there. That's why Revelation 21.8 concludes that paragraph. by saying, but the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable, and the list goes on and on, says they will not be in the new heaven and the new earth. They will not find a home there. And so by keeping our focus on the new thing that God will do, We are spurred to live holy lives so that we will be at home in the new heavens and the new earth. And then as I meditated on these truths this week, another text came to mind from Romans chapter 8. There Paul says, for I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Keeping our eyes on the new things that God will do in the future helps us to keep our balance when we suffer in the here and now. I've been thinking a lot about our friend Raymond these past few weeks. how much he is suffering right now. Paul kind of pictures a pair of scales here. He says you can take all of the suffering in this life and some people just suffer a lot. Some people suffer for years. He said you can take all of that suffering and put that on one side of the scale. He said, then you take the new heavens and the new earth, you take the new things that God is going to do, and you put them on the other side of the scale, and there's no comparison. Paul uses another phrase, the eternal weight of glory. You and I need to be looking back down the road. We need to be remembering what Jesus Christ did for us. But we also need to be looking to the future. We need to have that future focus on the new things God is going to do in the millennium, and the new heavens, and the new earth, and the new Jerusalem. We sometimes simply call it the blessed hope, but sometimes I don't think that captures our imagination enough. This is the new thing that God is going to do. This is when God makes all things new. And so looking to the past, to the great things God has done, that's something we must do, we must remember. But at the same time, we need to be looking beyond the new year to the new things God is yet going to do. Look up for your redemption draweth nigh. 2025 may be the year that Jesus Christ returns. See, the greeting for this time isn't, have a happy new year. The greeting is, even so come Lord Jesus. We don't keep our souls focused on the future, on the glory, on the new things that God is going to do. We don't do it enough. and our Christian lives suffer from a lack of motivation because of it. Now as I close, if you've not put your trust in what Jesus Christ has done in the past, well then the future that I'm talking about is not yours. You've got to put your trust in what Jesus Christ did when He died on that cross to bear your sins, when He rose again to give new life. And if there's a person who's hearing my voice, whether it's here in our auditorium or through the webcast, and you have not trusted Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins once and for all, then trust Him today. for God still has many new things for us yet in the future. Heavenly Father, encourage our hearts, I pray, not with just a new year, but with the new things that you have promised. The reign of Jesus Christ on His throne in Jerusalem The millennium, the 1,000 year reign of Christ, when we will rule and reign with Him, and then beyond that, when you make all things new. Inspire our hearts, I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.