Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I 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 the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

What a vision! What a thought! Making all things new sounds exciting. We like new. We like new houses, new cars, new clothes, and new adventures. “New” gets our attention. Even if we prefer older things, vintage things like cars or houses, we really like them if they have been restored to “like new” condition.

New excites us. The really exciting thing about this particular passage in Revelation is that the “all things” includes you and me. We can be made new. In fact, in order to be a part of this grand vision that John shares with us, we must be made new.

We hear that from Jesus all throughout his ministry. In Matthew 4, at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus we read:  From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This indicates that the way in which we operated prior to being called into the kingdom has to change. The way we thought, the way we viewed the world around us, the way we dealt with people around us will all have to change. We will live in a new way and see the world completely differently. The language of losing our lives in order to follow Jesus (Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35) makes that same claim.  John’s account of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus makes this incredibly clear.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:1-3)

A new birth, a fresh start, has a wonderful sound. It is something that we have all wanted. It is something we find ourselves desiring. We want to be restored to “like new” condition. Thanks to God, this can happen.

The description of this change as a new birth reminds us that this is not something we accomplish on our own. Think of our first birth. You and I didn’t decide to be born. We didn’t choose it. We didn’t cause it. We were only the beneficiaries of it.  

God is ultimately the one who makes us new. He is the only one who can. He has done so much to make it possible. He sent his Son so that we could be made new. But he does this with our cooperation. Unlike our physical birth, we decide to participate in the new one.

Being born of water and spirit, as Jesus describes this new birth to Nicodemus, is a reference to baptism. It is in baptism where person we once were is buried and a new life begins. It is in baptism where we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit who leads, guides, and makes us holy.

Baptism is not the end of the story, but only the beginning. From that new birth, we are continually being made new due to the gift of the Spirit. That also is not done without our cooperation. We must continually submit to the lead of the Holy Spirit. We spend time in studying God’s word. We spend time in prayer. We gather with the church and worship. We spend time getting to know Jesus and how he would have us live.

We all long to be made knew. We all look forward to the time when God will make everything new. We look forward to being with him, seeing him face to face. To do that, we have to be willing to follow the lead of Jesus. We have to be willing to cooperate with God. We do that because we know it will be worth it.