By: Fred Kosin

“Behold I make all things new.” The older you get the more “old things” are treasured. For young people the new is better.  It is hard for the young to think of going back to the “good old days” that are so cherished by the old. So, generation after generation have looked back rather than forward because the collapse of the present is so formidable in their eyes. Even this New Year we have a tendency to be peering at the rearview mirror instead of through the windshield. 

Basically, the New Testament challenges us on every front to be occupied with that which is “new.” There are exceptions but even they are couched in a context of looking forward. The Old Testament is not to be forgotten. In almost every study you will come across references to that which will be new as the centuries progress. The old covenant for Israel (Mosaic Law) has been set aside and anticipation of the New Covenant (Jer. 31) should fill the mind of every Jew. The Lord’s Supper is a remembrance (look back) feast but at the very heart of its occupation and repetition is the reminder it is to be practiced only “until He comes.” Most of the types of the OT are for the purpose of getting the reader to see beyond the present and look for the other half of the type. Those who take a desultory trip through the life of Joseph in Genesis miss the amazing picture of our Lord in almost every scene drawn by the divine artist. Joseph in Genesis is a graphic picture of Jesus Christ in the Gospels and Revelation. There are other exceptions; Israel’s departure from Egypt, the goodness of God to Israel etc. 

Perhaps the best summary of “old and new” is explained succinctly in the conversion of the sinner into the family of God and into the body of Christ. “Old things pass away, all things become new.” II Cor. 5:17. God’s command by the pen of Paul in Philippians also is instructive for life. “Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press…” Many believers have made shipwreck of their lives because they, as seaman on the ocean of life, are habitually focusing their binoculars on where they have been instead of where the ship is heading. 

So, in this “New Year” I trust you have thrown out the old calendar, the reminders of past failures, etc. Now, look into the New Year and know the identical Lord who has superintended your life over last year will do the same in the new year. The best use of looking back is to promote a spirit of thanksgiving. So often we write our failures in marble and our victories in the sand by the shore. Rather let us now engrave our victories in granite and our failures in the shifting sands of time.