I suppose man has always had an infatuation with the new (cf. Acts 17:21), partly because he gets bored with the old. Christianity is now old. The “New” testament is only new by comparison with the Old testament. Israel departed from Moses and headed off into new directions and Jeremiah counselled them to seek the “old paths” (Jer. 6:16) . We are heading toward a future we cannot see. In 1932 Aldous Huxley brought out his “Brave New World”, in which he spoke of a world 600 years in the future which would be dominated by scientific technology. Alvin Toffler coined an expression, “future shock” to speak of the premature arrival of some of what was science fiction before we were ready to receive it. Certainly we are well past George Orwell’s 1984. What does the future hold for us? Its the only way we can head but what will it be like? What holds true anymore? Have all the old rules been overturned? More importantly, is Christ sufficient for today and will He be relevant in the world of tomorrow?
How can you go forward by doing as Jeremiah said – seeking the old paths wherein is the good way?Years ago I worked on a seismic crew in the desert looking for oil drilling sites. A bulldozer would carve out a line for others to follow with equipment which would map the subterranean features. The desert was featureless with no visible landmarks to aim toward. So the driver went forward by looking back. He drove two white stakes in the ground a reasonable distant apart and on the appropriate compass heading. He then drove forward toward the featureless horizon looking in the rear-vision mirror to keep the two stakes in perfect alignment, knowing that he would end up where he needed to.
So do we. This is not the same as living in the past. Jeremiah wanted the people to look back some 900 years to Moses as they went forward. When Moses gave the covenant they were a nomadic people living in tents, being sustained by God in an inhospitable wilderness. By Jeremiah’s time they were a sophisticated people with fine cities and towns, and a capital city boasting a temple that was a wonder of the world. Gadgets and circumstances change, but God’s covenant was immutable. It was their failure to hold to those immutable principles of God’s word that resulted in them losing their fine cities and towns along with their beautiful temple, and going into exile.
Christ died to ratify a New Covenant some 2000 years ago and nothing has changed. It was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and you only lay a foundation once – if the foundation is destroyed the whole edifice is destroyed. The gospel is the everlasting gospel (Rev. 14:6), not the ever-changing gospel (Gal. 1:6-9). If the gospel be changed – if the old rugged cross has been replaced by a new teflon-covered smooth cross – who had the authority to change it? What needs to be changed?
When did Christ present His sermon on the mount? 2000 years ago. When did Christ die? 2000 year ago.When was Christ raised? 2000 years ago. When was Christ buried? 2000 years ago. When did Christ select His apostles? 2000 years ago. When did these same apostles write down the terms of the New Covenant? 2000 years ago. Now this all has an “old” ring about it, but who has come down the pike in the last 2000 years who can compete with Christ? As the agnostic historian Toynbee observed, Christ fills the whole horizon of the vista of history. What has changed in man in the last 2000 years? – we commit the same sins, have the same hang-ups and foibles, the same dreams and aspiration and die the same death. We change our toys and gizmo’s but what can replace the goal of Heaven? When you think about it, God is ‘old’ – even from everlasting (Ps.90:2). Christ is ‘old’ – even from everlasting (Micah 5:2), and it is their eternal nature that stands them apart from any ‘johnny come lately’s’, and makes them the Rock of stability
Many things are ‘old’ but continue to serve us well. Eating, drinking, breathing and sleeping are as old as man but have not been dispensed with and continue to do yeoman and irreplaceable service. Because something is old does not mean it needs to be thrown out or can be replaced. In reality, we have no more options than the ancients – the ‘new morality’ is nothing more than the old immorality. Solomon was right when he said there is nothing new under the sun. The gods of this age are nothing but the old gods reconstituted and refurbished. Judging by the injurious effects of alcohol today, Bacchus still has a lot of followers, as does Aphrodite and Appollo with the modern infatuation with sex, beauty and the flesh. Those who come with a call for a new religion for a new age have nothing new to offer, but simply resurrect false beliefs which were weighed in the balance, found wanting, and consigned to the scrap-heap of history. By the time the world had worked its weary way to the time of Christ, philosophy had worn itself out trying to find the ‘good life’, and even a true religion that taught righteousness had not attained the goal for man. But this is as it was designed to do – teach man, not only for then but for all time, that the solution for man’s dilemma was only solved in Jesus Christ, the One God sent into the world to bring salvation for all who would. Man is not capable of saving himself by his wisdom or his works.
When you think about it, the truth must be old, for if what is new is truth, then what is old must have been false. If what is new is truth, how long before it becomes old? And when it becomes old, then by the mantra, it must become false. If that is so, what then is truth? Nothing but a fad! If Christ is false today, He was false yesterday, but if He was the truth yesterday He is the truth for today.
One thing that hasn’t changed, even in an inflationary world where values drop, is the wages of sin. It is still eternal death. But the remedy is still the same – the blood of Christ.