Yes! There is Good News! 10.7.21

YES, THERE IS GOOD NEWS!
by Bill Rollins
original post date: Oct 7, 2021

The first thought I have today, in the realm of good news, is that we once again have a community newspaper to enjoy!! Thank you Linda Goos for the many years you labored to produce the weekly Danish Villages News. And now we have a new beginning.

The concept of something new causes me to think of a verse in scripture, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isa. 43:18-19) What is this new thing that God says He is doing?

In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon says that there is “Nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). What shall we make of these two verses? Maybe we should take a closer look?

I believe the problem here can be solved by noting Solomon’s words, “under the sun”! This phrase is used by Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes some 29 times and it appears to be his catch phrase for the place where mankind resides without God. It  concerns the things mankind does without any use for God in their lives. In chapter 1 verse 14 Solomon says, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Let me state emphatically here that nothing God does or has His hand in is meaningless or a chasing after wind. We’ll talk about this enigmatic book of Solomon’s in a future article. But for today, let’s consider the new thing God is doing.

I would like to take us all the way back to the days of Abraham. You see, there was a promise made to him in Genesis 12 that gives us a clue: “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” I see here a seven-fold blessing given to Abraham. In many ways, this man Abraham began the lineage of the one we call Jesus Christ.

Some people consider the nation of Israel to be the chosen of God; many consider the Jews to be the chosen; but really the story of those chosen of God begins with Abraham long before the nation of Israel existed! And even the Gospel of Matthew sheds some light upon this by beginning with these words, “Thebook of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

But why would we be looking all the way back to Abraham to understand this ‘new thing’ that God is doing? Well, that is a long and interesting story, but ones that is integral to our desire for Good News.

Hope you’re here next week – it is good to be back!