The Old Has Gone, the New Has Come!

By Victor Knowles

Today is New Year”s Day, the first day of the year and the first Sunday of the year. What a good way to start the New Year! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Communion is a weekly reminder that in Christ we are a new creation. The old is gone. I remember singing a chorus in youth camp many years ago. “Gone, gone, gone, gone, yes my sins are gone!” The crimson cup reminds us that the old has gone. Jesus told his disciples, “This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

The Lord”s Supper also reminds us that the new has come. The apostle Paul declared, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord”s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Communion commemorates the death of Christ. But we know the story does not end at the tomb. To quote the old hymn, “He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!”

Our own baptism reminds us of the truth that “the new has come.” “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:4).

What a privilege to partake of the bread and drink the fruit of the vine on this Sunday, the first day of the New Year! Let us resolve to be faithful to “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) each Lord”s Day in the New Year. Let us never forget that in Christ “the old has gone, the new has come!”

Lest I forget Gethsemane;

Lest I forget Thine agony;

Lest I forget Thy love for me,

Lead me to Calvary.

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Victor Knowles is founder and president of POEM (Peace on Earth Ministries), Joplin, Missouri; www.poeministries.org.