Some Things are Better when they are Old
“And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.” – Revelation 21:5-6.NLT
Do you really want God to make everything new? Aren’t there some things you like better when they are old? Isn’t that warm coat, with the familiar colours and the fraying threads in the collar, better than the latest fashions, with the colours that don’t quite suit you and the lack of features that you just can’t live without? Doesn’t that bald husband have features that you just wouldn’t trade for a new model? Have you ever bought a new car that just didn’t feel as right as the old one? Sometimes old is better. Old things can be reliable and practical. The known is often better than the unknown.
But I take comfort in the knowledge that in the new earth “I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1Cor.3:12.) When God makes all things new, He will preserve the best of the familiar. We will recognize the ones we love. Our surroundings will be perfectly suited to our needs. In heaven, the new will be constantly renewed, yet the familiar will be preserved.
The flaws will be gone. The joy will be complete and I won’t miss anything.
V:6 Our God is the Greatest of all givers. In Jesus Christ, He gave the greatest gift that has ever been given to the human race. On account of the cross, the water of life is freely available to all who recognize their thirst (John.7:37-39). Sin, however, makes many of us deeply unwilling to accept the gifts of God. To receive a gift is to some degree to lose control of our lives. This makes vulnerable people reluctant to accept gifts, even the great gifts of God. Faith is the hand that reaches out and accepts the gift.
John is now witnessing the restoration of the creation that had been under attack for millennia. He sees the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven like a spaceship. What a sight! Unquestionably, it is the most glorious construction John can imagine! However, its setting at the culmination of this book demands that we ask ourselves whether this is a literal city in which we will spend eternity. Or, as we have discovered in the rest of the book, is it rather a symbolic outline of God’s promise, another revelation of Jesus Christ? Let’s explore that possibility.