An Exciting Vision For The New Year

Each new year brings new opportunities and new challenges. Each year is a new year for us; it is not exactly the same as any other year. Some things change and we move into different seasons of life as our age increases.

Calendar
From earliest times, days, months and years were determined by observations of the sun and moon. The average length of a year according to the earth’s motion around the sun is 365.2422 days. The International Calendar, which is based on the Gregorian Calendar, begins the year on January 1, the day the Roman Senate annually took office. During the Middle Ages, January 1 was given the name “New Year’s Day.” Prior to that time, the year commenced on March 25 or December 25.

The Jewish sacred year (in the Old Testament) began near the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, and the civil year near the fall (or autumn) equinox. On the first day (Rosh Hashanah) of the civil year (according to Judaism today) they celebrated the creation of the world; this is the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23:23-25). The Jewish New Year’s Day in 2007 is sunset September 12, 2007 to sunset September 13, 2007.

As the Islamic calendar is about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, the date of the beginning of the year changes by 11 days each year, and the cycle of twelve lunar months regresses through the seasons over a period of about 33 years. This means that important Muslim festivals, which always fall in the same month Hijri, may occur in different seasons over time. Also, over 33 years, their New Year’s Day moves steadily across all the seasons of the year.

The Chinese New Year starts on the second new moon after the winter solstice, which ranges between January 21 and February 21. For example, in 2007, the Chinese year begins on February 18.

Big Picture
It’s good to be able to see the big picture of what’s happening in our world. According to the Bible the big picture is:

Creation – In the beginning of time, God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them.

Fall Into Sin – Adam and Eve’s disobedience caused the creation to become cursed. Life now involves struggles and suffering.

Jesus Christ – He’s the One who came to a sin-filled world as our Savior, to save us from our sins.

New Creation Through Jesus – Beginning with His followers and ending with a new heaven and a new earth, God is in the business of making things new.

New Testament
When we look at the probable date of the writing of the books of the Bible, we see a gap of about 480 years between Nehemiah (430 bc) and James (48 ad). The books before the gap are called the Old Testament, and those after, the New Testament. Jesus heralded the New Testament; He came to earth during the gap between the two testaments. The word “testament” means covenant or agreement; in this case the agreement is between God and humanity. In the Old Testament there is the covenant of the Law. In the New Testament we find the covenant of grace which came through Jesus Christ.

New Things
The word “new” occurs 192 times in 174 verses in the New International Version of the Bible. Here are some new things in the New Testament.

Jesus said “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (Jn. 13:34-35).

The Christianity that Jesus brought into the world was like new wine compared to the old wine of the Old Testament Law (Mt. 9:16-17). New wineskins (traditions and ways of doing things) were required to hold this new wine; they were different from Judaism.

After the last supper Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you” (Lk. 22:20). This means that the new covenant promised in the Old Testament (Jer. 31:31-34) was based on Christ’s death. Also, after His death, Jesus was placed in a new tomb (Mt 27:60).

The gospel is “a new and living way” (Heb. 10:20). Believers have a new life like Christ’s resurrection life (Rom. 6:4). This is described as “a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Also, they serve God in the new way of the Spirit (such as, love and liberty), and not in the old way of the written code (such as, fear and bondage) (Rom. 7:6).

In heaven, believers will sing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). Christians “are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13).

John’s vision was this: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe 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!’” (Rev. 21:1-5).

What A Vision!
Let’s keep this vision before us in the year ahead. We anticipate the Lord’s return soon because it is the next event in God’s timetable towards the new heaven and new earth.

Published, January 2007