Making Broken Things New
Image: Christa Jewett, Saltwater Studies
“Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’” Revelation 21:5 (NKJV)
Disease, chaos, discord, disease, drought, famine. A perusal of current news headlines reads like a passage from prophetic texts in Scripture. While it can be easy to view our current culture with dismay, for the follower of Jesus Christ, we should view our world through the lens of hope. Not only are these happenings “birth pains” that mark the return of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:6-13), but they are also opportunities for Jesus Christ to show His nature as the great Restorer of all things (Revelation 21:5). This truth should fill us with giddy anticipation as we consider the wholesome perfection of a world that will be unmarred by the effects of sin.
See, when sin entered the world, a new law was introduced into God’s perfect environment. This is the law of entropy. In scientific terms, this law, also known as the second law of thermodynamics, states that isolated systems tend to gradually decline into disorder. Observations of our natural environment confirm this law’s existence. For example, if left unattended in a parking lot, a new vehicle will not transform itself into a better version of itself. It will not become faster or more advanced. Its paint will not become shinier, and no new coat of wax will appear if the car is left to its own devices. Instead, we will see it slowly decay as it succumbs to changes in the weather. Paint will fade. Metal will rust. Moveable parts will seize up. And ultimately, the car will stop functioning.
The law of entropy is not limited to our natural environment. We can also see a law of spiritual entropy at work in our world. God’s original design for His Creation involved order, beauty, and perfection where we communed with Him in perfect unity. But when man’s choices introduced sin into God’s perfect plan, an epic disruption was generated that was accompanied by disorder, chaos, and death. No longer would we exist in God’s perfect Eden, but we would be forced to live in an environment of decay of our own making while yearning for the perfection lost (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Can you think of a more desperate situation than longing for something that you know once was but not ever being able to attain it? And this is where we would have stayed, if it were not for God’s great mercy and the gift of the great Restorer, Jesus Christ.
In science, we have a word that describes when the natural law of entropy is disrupted or reversed; when, instead of death, we see restoration and healing. These occurrences are called miracles and are the mark of divine intervention. It is not in man’s capacity to reverse the law of sin, death, and decay. We may be able to reverse its effects for a season but ultimately, the law of entropy will have its way with us. It is only through God’s supernatural power that what has become broken can be made new.
Unsurprisingly, if we look at Jesus Christ’s mission statement declared at the beginning of His ministry on earth, this is exactly what He states He has come to do. Listen to His words:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV)
Every statement that Jesus Christ made in this pronouncement documents the reversal of the law of sin and death by the declaration of the Gospel message and His supernatural power. Through Jesus Christ what is broken will be made new. His statement is underscored through pages of Scripture that document His ministry. Wherever Jesus Christ traveled, people were restored both physically and spiritually, with visible healing and restoration offering physical examples of His spiritual power to forgive sins (Mark 2:1-12). The physical offers us tangible evidence of the supernatural.
Isn’t this also what God says about His Creation? That everything He made offers us physical examples of spiritual truths (Romans 1:20)? As we look to God’s Creation, evidence of Jesus Christ’s nature as Restorer is also on display. A favorite example is seen in marine animals known as echinoderms. This group of animals includes sea urchins, sea stars and sea cucumbers, all of whom are capable of fantastic displays of regeneration through their ability to regrow lost spines, arms, and even internal organs. We can also see examples of regeneration in forests and vegetation destroyed by fire, where through the restoration of ruined species, regrowth will eventually cover the scars of what was once violently lost.
Does your love for Jesus Christ grow as you consider mankind’s dire predicament and His heroic act of salvation? Through His death, we have become the undeserving recipients of history’s greatest rescue. The work of Jesus Christ generated a tectonic shift that reverses the effects of sin with the promise for complete restoration physically and spiritually in God’s perfect timing. Allow this truth to overwhelm you with hope and love for Jesus Christ knowing that one day soon your struggle with what is broken will end and His promise to make all things new will be fulfilled.