Behold, The New Has Come!

I desire newness, don’t you?

 I read these words from St. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians in my prayer time this past Sunday and after reading it once, I had to read it again. And again. There was something so hopeful, so secure and so compelling in this proclamation. Something that felt like an answered prayer.

My prayer times recently have been some of the most consoling, hopeful and freeing conversations I have ever had with Jesus. It has been pure grace, and moving me forward with an urgency and deep sense of groundedness. Jesus keeps saying over and over again to look at Him, to run forward with Him and to not look back.

“Behold, the new has come!”

For the last year or so, this promise of newness started popping up often in my prayer time. “Sing a new song to the Lord” (Ps 98), “See, I am doing a new thing, do you perceive it?” (Is 43), and “See, I will create a new heaven and a new earth” (Is 65). The truth and promise of these scriptures have come up time and time again in the last 10 months. 

But newness doesn’t just come. Something has to happen first.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come!”

The nature of our human world and the great mystery of our Christian life hinges on this reality of life and death. Heaven and hell.

In our free will as humans and in God’s permissible will, He permits trial. And sorrow. And pain. And death.

And yet. And yet.

“Behold”. 

To call attention to. To look. But not just looking to “see”. Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines the word “behold” as to “gaze upon”. 

Today, Jesus is calling your attention, and urgently. He has something He wants to not just tell you, but show you.

He wants to show you a promise fulfilled.

Today.

Not “he will be a new creation”. Or “the old will pass away”. Or “the new will come”.

Affectionately, lovingly, earnestly and urgently, Jesus has been speaking these words to my heart.

 Jesus said to me, “Emma. Behold. TODAY, you are a new creation. TODAY, the old has passed away. TODAY, the new has come.”

My friends, the choice is yours to behold. 

Behold the healing Jesus is working within you.

Behold the path He is opening up in front of you, inviting you to leave the past behind.

Behold the promises being fulfilled in your life that you have been waiting for.

Behold the newness Jesus is offering you.