The "new thing" is the same old Jesus...

The "new thing" is the same old Jesus...

People love to quote Isaiah 43:19 when they are attempting to package some new program. That verse says, "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (ESV)

The "new thing" God was talking about was sending One to deliver His people from sin, death, condemnation, and hell.

When God gave Israel exodus from Egypt, it was a deliverance, but it was not THE deliverance. Consider all those stories in the Book of Judges; each and every time God raised up a judge, it was to work a deliverance. Whether it was from the Maoites, Amalekites, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines, or whoever was up to bat, God would work a deliverance.

These weren't THE deliverance. God worked that when He sent THE Deliverer. The "new thing" is Jesus, and if anyone gets a "new thing" these days, it will be through that same old Jesus. Sure, it might be a new story, and it might happen in a fresh way, or for the first time to a person or family or people, and, YES, God may send many deliverances, but if it's THE deliverance, it will come through THE Deliverer.

I'm not hating on new things, but I am exalting the same old Jesus, because He is THE answer, even in the midst of many answers. He is THE Deliverer, even if many deliveries are made.

Or maybe we can think about it in this way: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." (Colossians 1:15-20 ESV)

He is THE Deliverer. Point blank. Period. He's the new thing God is trying to do in me and you today, even though He's the old thing God's been doing for thousands of years.