At the Beginning of the New Year

If we would ask what will happen in the new year, then we will receive our answer when we consider to whom the new year belongs. Virtually every calendar bears the inscription, “The year of our Lord Jesus Christ” (A.D.).

Also this year is the year of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if the year is His, then included are the time, the weeks, day by day, day and night, every hour, every minute. Everything is His; everything is in His hand no matter what develops—all circumstances, all that happens; He directs and ordains. It is He through whom the Father rules all things; He directs and shall direct all things for the welfare and the salvation of those that are His. It is for this reason that we may be content and comforted with His guidance and the assurance of the administration of His grace, faithfulness, provision, and our welfare under His just rule.

We may know very well what this year and the future will bring us if we have Psalm 32:1, Psalm 1:1, Isaiah 54:10, or Isaiah 3:10 in our heart. Are not all of God’s promises in Christ yea, and in Him Amen? May we therefore take courage to again enter a new year with resoluteness and with rest in our soul. The year is the Lord’s; therefore, in Him lies the constant strength to look upon Him in all that overcomes us.

We creatures can know nothing more surely of ourselves than that all is vanity, that we must die, and that all that is here below is of the earth earthy and has no continuance. One thing displaces another; generations come and generations go, and the strongest bonds here upon earth are broken. In the meantime, we may, through grace, be assured that the bond which unites us to the Lord and His salvation will never be broken, that Christ lives and will never die, and that the Word of God will remain to all eternity.

“Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine” (Isaiah 43:1b). “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isaiah 40:31a). These words confirm themselves. With such words, enveloped in faith, thou shalt have the victory; and he who is the victor shall inherit all things. This is an eternal possession. They are eternal, durable riches which remain for us, in as much as we have a living hope which is placed before us as a prospect, and every enemy must acknowledge, “So Thou hast been the Victor, oh Galilean!” (Julian).

Do we consider whose year it is, whose the time; to whom we belong, those who await the Lord, and who extols His government? What is His name? His name is our Lord, it is Jesus, it is Christ, it is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Eternal Father (Isaiah 9).

What a treasure of comfort lies in this name. Oh, the fountain of God has such an abundance of water, and He gives thirsty ones of this water freely. A landowner works to maintain his dearly purchased possessions. If he has enough strength, then he will maintain his possessions, and they certainly will not become the possession of the enemy. He shall protect that which is his from all violence so that it cannot be harmed. Jesus saves His people from their sins. Christ is the Anointed One and anoints His own. This saving and anointing is a poison for death, a pestilence for hell, and a punishment for the world. This Lord is my Lord. I am not my own but belong to Him with body and soul. He shall care for me, also in this year; He is the life of my life, the death of my death, and that is not only for me; He has many brethren, and therefore I also have many brethren. He cares for us all; He strengthens and perfects us.

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today, and is the same to all eternity; He will always be the same, and since He will always remain the same, so will His Word and Truth. He is the eternal Father. Who can truly fathom what is contained in this name?

On this occasion we wish to place one meaning of this name in the forefront, one which is given us in the translation of the Septuagint which renders it in place of the eternal Father as “Father of the world to come.” What is the world to come? The Apostle Paul writes in Hebrews 2:5, “For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” So then the world to come—the passage of time from the exaltation of Christ until this year and this day, and the days which must still come—all which will overcome us in this passage of time, time itself, and the people and the things which will come over us during this time, will occur and move as they have been ordained.

This world to come, including the days wherein we are living, is the time of His kingdom and of His rule; as the time is His, so is everything His which is present in this time state as well as what will happen. It all belongs to His kingdom, and He is a Father to all of these things, as Joseph said, “God hath made me a father to Pharaoh.”

If I count the days or the hours, they are His, also the hours of my life. He counts them as a Father. When I look to the heavens, they are His; He guides the sun, the moon, and the stars through their courses as a Father, and the testimony seen in the clouds is certain. When I look upon the earth and all that lives upon the face of the earth—it is all His. We read in Psalm 8 of our Lord that He has “dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” He rules over all of these things, and He watches over all as a Father. All of this is for the benefit of God’s house; this is all for me as one of His members whom He looks upon as His child; this is all for my fellow brethren who share the same faith. The time is for His house; He directs the great clockwork of His house as the sun, moon, and stars are there to serve. The earth with her fullness and the seas with her treasures which lay in the depths, all are for His house. His house is God’s house; we are the house. In God’s house it is the Son who cares for the house. He calls us His brethren and cares for us as an eldest Son. It is He whom the Father loves who cares for His brethren; He calls us His children, and therefore He is our Father.

What can possibly harm us in this year when we as children may tell Him everything, bring to Him all our concerns, and may ask Him for everything? He has removed from us that which is old, and He shall continually remove it. As He, to say it in such a manner, gives a new sun every day, a new moon every night, gives new stars, gives new flowers every year, new fruits, new oil, new wine, and every day grants new bread—in this way He is a Father eternally. Time and again He has something new for the old Adam, the old sin, the old death, the old needs—He sends renewal upon renewal, a new Spirit, a new life, new grace, a new revelation of His help, a new deliverance from all evil, new garments, a new heaven for here and for eternity. Herewith He is an eternal Father. Now there be no need to despair while under His care. The year is His, and eternity is His so that we may inherit eternal life. Let us look away from the year and cast our eye upon Him who guides the sun in its pathway and confirms the stars in their courses.

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