Behold, I Make All Things New … (January 2023 Update)
There is something satisfying about taking an old, worn-out piece of furniture and restoring it to its original condition. Furniture restoration brings new life to what previously appeared to be a lost cause. It’s exciting to see how beautiful a restored piece of furniture can be.
But that is not the kind of “newness” that the Bible usually refers to when God says, “Behold, I make all things new.” It uses a word that indicates something that is wholly new, something that is newly created. When God takes our sinful lives and gives us new life, He does not refurbish or restore our old lives. He makes us new! That’s why many translations of 2 Corinthians 5:17 say, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation ….” God is doing something new – He is not simply restoring or patching up our old life. God is creating something new – both now and in eternity.
In Revelation 21:5, God says that, at the end of time, “Behold I make all things new.” What does that mean and what does that look like. Well, first of all, it means that we will be made new spiritually. That’s where this “newness” begins. Newness begins with a person coming to faith in Christ. While we do experience newness immediately when we receive Christ, it is not completed in this life. Now we are in process. But in eternity we will be made completely new!
In fact, in Revelation 21:2, John speaks about the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven as a “bride adorned for her husband.” In verses 9-11, he tells us that this bride will be radiant and full of the “glory of God.” He is not talking about simply remodeling our lives but about making us so new that we will radiate the glory of God. We will be pure and holy just as He is pure and holy. John captures this in 1 John 3:1-3: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” In other words, we are made new spiritually but not completely – at least not yet. But that time is coming! Then we will see the newness that He has made for us.
Second, it means that we will be made new physically. We get a hint of that in Revelation 21:4 where God says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” There will be no more death, no more suffering, no more tears. Even in our best condition, we all struggle with the pains of life, physically and emotionally. But then, we will be made completely new. The paralyzed will be made new; the mentally handicapped will be made new; the fragile bodies we now call home will be made new! We will be made new – physically!
Third, we will be in a new place. In Revelation 21:1, John says that he saw a “new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away….” Not only will we be made new spiritually and physically, but we will also be in a new place – a new creation that will make the beauty of our present world seem pale by comparison. Paul speaks of this in Romans 8:21: “creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Right now, we groan with the difficulties of life. But we are not alone, Paul says the whole of creation also groans with us awaiting the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:22-23). We will be made new but so will all of creation too.
Fourth, we will have a new relationship with God. In Revelation 21:3, John tells us: “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them.” Right now, we often struggle in our relationship with God, but then we will see Him face to face.
Finally, we remember that this newness begins with becoming a new creation in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul tells us about this: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Not remodeled, not restored, not just refinished. But made new – in Christ.
Teaching in January and February …
I’m still grading papers from all my classes in November. Since I had over 100 students in 4 different classes, I have a lot of papers to grade. I’m getting close but still have a lot to grade.
Our class at Ukrainian Baptist Seminary (Lviv) received such high reviews from students in the 3 programs that took the class on Prayer and Worship in November that another program director asked if we could teach the class to his group in January. So, we are getting everything ready to teach the class on Prayer and Worship again January 23-26, 2023. This was not on our original schedule so we are trying to squeeze it into an already tight schedule. But we hope it will be helpful for the students in their ministries. Be praying for us and for the students as we teach this class.
In February, I am planning to teach Theology 1 online at Kyiv Theological Seminary. I will be teaching the 3rd week in February. So, I appreciate your prayers for all the preparations and also for the students. In my classes in the last 3 months, the students have had many difficulties with electricity and heat often being out and also with air raid sirens going off at times during the class. Please pray for these students as they continue to be equipped for their ministries even during this time of war.
House Plans…
As we mentioned a couple months ago, we purchased 2 acres of land here in the Fayetteville area and are planning to build our house in the coming year. The work finally got started today (Friday) with the excavator scrapping the land in preparation for the footers and the slab. Even though he just started, we are amazed at all the dirt that is being piled up from the excavation! It is kind of funny – we are so excited to go to the property and see dirt and a hole in the ground! But the hole means progress and so that’s why we are so excited about our “hole in the ground!” 😊 Hopefully we will see a lot of progress over the next few months.
Our plan is still to do most of the work ourselves. We will be starting work next week on the footers, slab and rough-ins. We also continue to buy used materials from others who remodeled their homes so that we can save money. This has already saved us a lot of money. But we also have a lot of new materials we will need to buy as well. Pray that we can keep finding materials and other items that we will need for the house and that we will have the necessary finances to finish each stage of the house. Our goal is to try to get something in the dry by spring so we can then begin the interior work. Hopefully the walls will be up by the end of February or early March. Then we will work on interior framing and the roof. We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do while I’m still trying to teach classes. But this seems to be the least expensive way to provide a home for us here in the US.
Ministry Directions …
As we mentioned last month, I will continue to be teaching online at least through 2023. We are hoping to make a trip to Ukraine sometime late spring or early summer. We also continue to pray about helping with a mission agency by providing training and pastoral care for missionaries. If we do this, we will need to continue to raise our own support for at least a few years more until I decide to retire. We are planning on having some meetings in the new year to explore some of these needs and to see if this is something that the Lord would have us do in ministry. Be praying as we seek where the Lord will be leading us in ministry for the future.
Family …
We continue to be so blessed by being able to stay at Hiding Place Hollow. We will be here through the spring, and it is a great blessing and has given our family stability in a very uncertain time. You can check out their website and see how God is using this ministry to bless many others!
We had a great Christmas together in Arkansas. My older children rented a house on Beaver Lake here in NW Arkansas so we could all be together for Christmas. In spite of sickness (we all took turns with a stomach bug), we had a wonderful time together. We enjoyed meals together, opening presents, and playing games. It was one of the best Christmases ever for us!
We were especially blessed with snow for Christmas. Even though it was very cold outside, we always had a fire and plenty of activities to keep us warm. And the kids loved making Christmas cookies and drinking minty hot chocolate too!
Even Katya’s mom was able to join us. She came for a visit in mid-December and has been able to stay through the New Year. She is heading back to California, and we will miss her. We are hoping she can come for a visit again in the Spring and our plan is for her to live with us once we get our house built – hopefully this summer.
We also love being in Arkansas. There is so much to do outdoors here. So, we have been able to take hikes just minutes from where we live. And the girls continue to enjoy doing Homeschool. Our last unit was on Ancient Greece and the Olympics. So, they finished the week with some Olympic competition and received “gold medals” for their participation. They loved it!
Please continue to pray for Katya’s documents. She still does not have her documents for immigration. She needs them especially so she can start to work on getting her driver’s license. That would help us out a lot.
Pray for Ukraine …
Please keep praying for Ukraine. It looks like this war will be a long one. Russia continues to claim its “territorial right” to the lands it has occupied, even officially annexing 4 provinces that that they do not completely control. This means they will continue to fight even though many in Russia are becoming weary with the long war. Pray that the people of Russia will see what Putin and his government are doing to Russia. Pray for a change to the Russian government.
Also, keep praying for the people of Ukraine. Most are without heat and electricity most of the time and it is winter now in Ukraine. Please pray that the Lord will protect the people of Ukraine and bring an end to this war soon. Pray for the churches which are often the only ones providing much needed humanitarian resources and pray too that they can continue to share the gospel in Ukraine. We pray too, that out of this terrible war, many people will come to experience new life in Christ! And we pray that Ukraine itself will emerge stronger with a new vision to be a leader in the democratic world.
By His Grace,
Jim, Katya, Kristina and Nadia
If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .
Also, some have asked about how to support us. You can send checks to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 1025, Cabot, AR 72023 or pay through PayPal on our website. Just put “#1000 Ehrhard” in the memo so our treasurer knows where to allocate the funds. If you want to help with our relocation fund or building efforts, put Relocation in the memo.
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