It’s Not The Matrix

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”  Revelation 21:5

New – There are two words for “new” in Greek.  One of them is neos.  If you are a movie buff, you will recognize the name “Neo” from the movie, The Matrix.  That movie is filled with Greek symbols and Greek words.  It is a Greek world.  But it is not God’s world.

This verse uses a different word.  It uses the word kainos.  In fact, the Greek text puts this word first (kaina panta poio), literally, “new everything I am making.”  Why use kainos and why make it first?  John uses kainos because neos is about what is new for the moment (temporally new) but kainos is about qualitatively new.  We would say, “Brand new, never seen before.”  God is not re-making the world.  He is not in the remodeling business.  He is creating again everything from scratch.  Keep that in mind.

Why put kainos first in the sentence?  Because it is the newness of this creation that is the most important concept.  Jesus made everything once before (John 1:3).  The act of creating is not new to Him.  But what He will create at the end of this time will be completely new.  It never existed before. 

There is absolutely no reason to try to hang on to anything from this creation.  Not one single atom of it will make it into the next creation.  Everything will be started over.

The human way is the way of re-creation.  The human way is to try to take the best of this world and carry it forward into the next.  The human way is to rescue what is of value and push it forward.  That is not God’s way.  All of this will come to an end.  None of it is fit to continue.  The only thing you will carry into the next world is the relationship you enjoy with the Lord and the character He has constructed through your obedience.  So let me ask you:  is that enough?  If it all came to a screeching halt right now, would you happily enter into the everything new creation with only your love of Jesus and the character you have?  Or would you be trying to bring just a little something extra with you, something that you are relying on now to get you through the day?

If relationship and character are the only kainos packages, why aren’t you putting all your effort into them?  Did you think God planned a neo-creation?