One of the incredible results of Jesus’ resurrection is that God makes believers into completely brand new creations.
The Bible says we are completely new creations – we aren’t simply reformed or refurbished. We’re brand new.
We aren’t just the same old people who have now made resolutions to change or improve. It’s not like Jesus bought an old piece of beat up dirty furniture in a junkyard, washed it off, and is now beginning to sand it and polish it up.
No. That decrepit rotten piece of junk is gone. It no longer exists. Now there is a brand spanking new, beautiful creation in its place. God tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
When God saves us, he not only washes all our sins away, but he joins us to Christ. He makes us one with Christ. When God looks at us he sees Christ. When he looks at Christ, he sees us in him.
We aren’t just refurbished old creations – we are completely NEW.
We are nothing like we were before. We are NEW creations in Christ. We have to remember this – the old has passed away. It’s gone. The new has come.
But we don’t always feel like new creations. When I first prayed to receive Christ, I expected fireworks or goosebumps, but didn’t feel any different. I still felt like the old me. I still felt tempted to sin. I didn’t realize that for right now, while we are still in these earthly bodies, we can still be tempted to sin. We will still have desires and cravings from what remains of our sin nature in our bodies.
But we ARE new. Whether we feel like it or not.
We must believe God’s word. Early in my Christian life, I felt like it would be impossible for me not to sin. Then I heard someone teach that believers are no longer slaves of sin. As it says in Romans 6:12-14:
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Did you catch that? Sin will have NO DOMINION OVER YOU!
And why not? Because we are no longer under law but under a whole new system – we are under grace. We are new creations, no longer enslaved to sin, no longer under its dominion. We don’t have to sin. We don’t have to obey it’s urges, no matter how strong they feel.
God isn’t simply refurbishing the old us. He has created us anew and is shaping us more and more into the likeness of his Son:
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 CO 3:18
We are new creations, and God is taking us from one degree of Christ’s glory to another. We are one with Christ, and God makes us more and more like him every day.
This is incredible! Even the highest seraphim in heaven can’t claim to be new creations.
The angels around the throne aren’t being transformed into the likeness of Christ. The most glorious angels have not been adopted by God as sons and daughters. They can’t call God “Father” like we can. And they are not one with Christ the way we are.
When God gave Isaiah a glimpse of his glory, he saw the seraphim:
Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. IS 6:2
These glorious heavenly beings who had never sinned had to cover their faces – they could not look upon the infinite glory of God.
Yet look what God says we will experience:
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1 JN 3:2
We are now God’s children, and someday, we shall be like Jesus – clothed in his glory, and we shall see him as he is!
We shall gaze directly upon the face of Jesus Christ in all his infinite radiant glory.
And we will never grow tired of taking in his beauty, because his beauty is infinite. For all eternity he will show us new, amazing, astounding, breathtaking, mind-blowing, vistas of his glory and majesty.
Why? Because Jesus died for us, then rose from the dead to make us who believe in him into new creations.
Someday we all will die unless Jesus comes back first. But because Jesus rose from the dead, believers will rise from the dead. We will have new glorious heavenly bodies. We will be like Jesus and see him as he is. In the meantime, though we live in this dying world, WE are right now, new creations. We have imperishable, everlasting life. The old is gone, the new has come. Jesus isn’t just sanding and polishing up the old you. You are a brand new you.
Hallelujah! I so needed to read this, this morning. It’s so easy to get bogged down with the constant temptation I face every day, that I forget I have real hope in Christ. I must remember that Jesus is far, far greater than any temptation I face, and that He is far, far more beautiful than sinful desire I may have. I will look to Jesus, the “Author and Finisher” of my faith, and lean on His grace, to empower me to overcome! But I will do more than that; I will glory in Christ. I will seek His face, and be filled to the brim with desires for Him. I AM a new creation; I am not defined by my sin. I am defined by my union with Christ! Thank you so much, sir, for being obedient to the Holy Spirit, and allowing Him to use you to write such a great exhortation. May God richly bless you!
The truth of this reality must be continually reinforced among the body of Christ. Thank you for sharing!
Blessings 🙂