“Behold,I am about to dosomething new;even nowit is coming.Do you notsee it?Indeed,I will makea wayin the wildernessand streamsin the desert.”Isaiah 43:19

Isaiah 42:9 “Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."

Isaiah 48:6 “ have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not acknowledge it? From now on I will tell you of new things, hidden things unknown to you.”

Isaiah 65:17, ”For behold, I create new heavens  and a new earth,  the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here”

Ephesians 2:15  (ESV) “by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace”

Hebrews 8:13 (ESV) “speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”

Revelation 21:5 (ESV) “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Looking at this present crises and how it has affected the church, there is no doubt that we all are now turning to new way of doing things; a new way of living called THE NEW NORMAL. This new normal has also brought A NEW WAY OF DOING CHURCH which I suggest as the way church used to be for the first century churches across the world. This new way may be a call for RETURN TO ITS ROOTS. RETURN TO HOW CHURCH WAS DONE. RETURN TO THE LORD’S WAY OF DOING CHURCH - THE HOUSE CHURCH.

In Acts 7:47-49, Stephen's Addressed the Sanhedrin on the subject saying, “47But it was Solomon who built the house for Him (God’s) 48However,theMost Highdoes notliveinhouses made by human hands.Astheprophetsays:49‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or where will My place of repose be?…”

Stephen was referring to Isaiah 66:1which says, “This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?”

Other Scriptures in support if this is found inActs 17:24where Paul argues to the Greeks that, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.”

Also in 2 Corinthians 5:1he says, “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

I will like to propose that doing a new thing is not RECONSTRUCTION BUT A CONSTRUCTION. It is destroying the old and building something new. Jesus unveils thus spiritual truth through a parable to His disciples saying, “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one. Whoever does such a thing, will only worsen the case because they will end up tearing the new garment as well, and the patch from the new will not match the old (Luke 5:36). To illustrate this further, Jesus says, “ no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined.” (Luke 5:37) So the remedy is to pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Luke 5:38-39 (NIV)

38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

New Wine, New Spirit Manifestation and New Life

To this mindset, we understand that if God is about to do a new thing - if God is about to pour new wine, new life, new Spirit, upon His Church, surely he is not going to pour it into an old wine skin which I take to be “ the body of Christ” - The Church, on the former ways in which the Spirit moved in the churches, since wine is symbolic of life and the Holy Spirit. 

New Wine, New Blood

God offered a new “wine skin”, a blood wet skin - a NEW cloth to Adam and Even only after the Fall when they were NAKED. If God promised to do A NEW THING. To offer a new cloth in 2020, then it is only because because the church is naked or will be made naked - stripped of all..

Luke 5:36-39  (NIV)

36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

GOD ALLOWED THE TEMPLE TO BE DESERTED AND FINALLY DESTROYED

Lamentations 1-5 (CEV), Lonely Jerusalem; The Prophet Speaks:

4 The roads to Zion mourn because no one travels there to celebrate the festivals. The city gates are deserted;  priests are weeping. Young women are raped;Zion is in sorrow!

Lamentations 2

He shattered his temple like a hut in a garden; he completely wiped out his meeting place,

and did away with festivals and Sabbaths  in the city of Zion. In his fierce anger he rejected

  our king and priests. 7  The Lord abandoned his altar and his temple; he let Zion’s enemies

 capture her fortresses. Noisy shouts were heard  from the temple, as if it were a time    of celebration. 8 The Lord had decided to tear down the walls of Zion  stone by stone. So he started destroying  and did not stop until walls and fortresses mourned and trembled.

9 Zion’s gates have fallen facedown on the ground; the bars that locked the gates are smashed to pieces. Her king and royal family are prisoners  in foreign lands. Her priests don’t teach, and her prophets don’t have  a message from the Lord. 10 Zion’s leaders are silent.

 They just sit on the ground, tossing dirt on their heads and wearing sackcloth. Her young women can do nothing but stare at the ground.

JESUS WARNS THE CHURCHES TO REPENT LEST HE DESTROYS THE CHURCH

Revelation 2 Contemporary English Version (CEV)

The Letter to Ephesus

2 This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: I am the one who holds the seven stars in my right hand, and I walk among the seven gold lampstands. Listen to what I say. 2 I know everything you have done, including your hard work and how you have endured. I know you won’t put up with anyone who is evil. When some people pretended to be apostles, you tested them and found out that they were liars. 3 You have endured and gone through hard times because of me, and you have not given up. 4But I do have something against you! And it is this: You don’t have as much love as you used to. 5 Think about where you have fallen from, and then turn back and do as you did at first. If you don’t turn back, I will come and take away your lampstand. 6 But there is one thing you are doing right. You hate what the Nicolaitans[a] are doing, and so do I. 7If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will let everyone who wins the victory eat from the life-giving tree in God’s wonderful garden.

Part 2 continues next week as we take a detailed look at the second letter to The Churches in the book of Revelations.

DIANA ADU [APOSTLE & TEOLOGIAN]