New Creation

"Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt,
O virgin of Israel!
You shall again be adorned with your tambourines,
And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice."
~ Jeremiah 31:4 (NKJV)

Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with [idols of] stone and wood.
~ Jeremiah 3:9 (NIV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
~ 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

The Bible's metaphors are often truly outrageous. When God refers to Jerusalem as "virgin of Israel," He does so as He pours out punishment for her spiritual adultery with idols. The title seems as ridiculous as putting a robe over a harlot and then calling her pure and chaste.

The Lord was speaking to her in the way He yet intended to bring to pass. He was looking to the future, when His adulterous people would again be pure and virginal. This work is fully completed in Christ, who makes us a new creation, restoring to our souls the purity of sinlessness.

I personally know many people (myself included) who continue to wrestle with the stain of past sin. Even if our mind embraces the Word of God which says we're made new, we're painfully aware of all the old.

It is so important to distinguish between temporal and eternal consequences, between feelings and truth, between the way we see ourselves and the way God sees us. If He has the audacity to call an adulteress a virgin, it is within His right to say so and within His power to make it so.

If He says anyone in Christ is a new creation—born again as pure, sinless, and holy—then it is so.

Lord, thank You, thank You, thank You for cleaning away the stain of sin with Your own blood. Thank You that the debt of past sin is paid in full and nothing more need be done to wipe it away. Please make the truth for our souls also true in our hearts and heads. Please increase our faith and ability to believe You, that we may go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.

And we know that all things work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose...
Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called;
whom He called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us? ...
Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?
~ Romans 8:28,30-31,33-34 (NKJV)

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