The Beginning of Months By Mark Ross
from a measure of media hype, I had a sense that at midnight on New Year’s Eve, something truly amazing would happen, something that would totally transform things, something worth celebrating in the biggest way. My parents would be watching the TV as things unfolded in Times Square. Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians would be playing, as they claimed, “the sweetest music this side of heaven.” We watched with excitement as the ball began to drop down the pole. But as the stroke of midnight approached, I would run to the far end of the house where, from a darkened room, I could peer out into the night sky with eager longing, expecting that something quite magical would happen. I could hear from the TV the cheers that went up from the crowd in Times Square as the new year dawned. But to my surprise and disappointment, nothing ever happened in the night sky. There were no meteor showers or com- ets. Supernovae did not suddenly appear. From where I was looking, one could become new. The cosmos, it appeared to me, was oblivious to our new year, and it stood unyielding against all our hopes for something really new. You might Preacher of Ecclesiastes discusses: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (1:9). I do not know just why I had this childhood expectation that a new year might bring a new beginning. But in myself as well as in others, I have often found that same hope emerging when something new is going to happen: a new car, a new house, a new job, a new therapist, a new spouse, or even just a new diet and exercise regimen. Almost as often, though, I have found that the cosmos remains unyielding to our hopes. The ball may drop and the crowd may cheer, but what has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun — or so it seems. We recently marked the beginning of a new year, and probably for all of us
I
there is that longing for things that are new, for a life that is new. Our hopes are kindled high by the promises of the gospel. But looking back on previous years, we have known that hunger before. Where can we go for satisfaction of that desire? Where can that which is new and lasting really be found? The exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt marked a whole new beginning for them, one that would deserve annual commemoration in full. It stood at the head of the new year: “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It
January/February 2021
recall quite vividly from my early childhood a curious impulse that I de- veloped at the closing of one year and the coming of the next. From the anticipation and excitement that I saw in others around me, and perhaps
you” (Ex. 12:2). It marked the transi- tion from slavery to freedom, from days of oppression in a foreign land to life as possessors in the Promised Land. At the heart of this great de- liverance was the promise of God to Abraham, the blessing to him and to his descendants after him that they would become exceedingly numer- this promise was advancing. Time, as it were, began there. It was the birth of a new day, a new era, a new nation. So pivotal was this event in God’s
is tied to the exodus (6:2–8). In those great acts of love and deliverance, ways that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never knew (v. 3). By those acts, Israel 7). By those same acts, Egypt would - ses would later exclaim that nothing like this had ever happened before (Deut. 4:32–40).
Though the course of the ages after-
ward, and Israel’s repeated failures, seemed to mock the new beginning made in the exodus, yet the events of those days truly did mark a new beginning, or perhaps we might bet- ter say, foretold a new beginning. The Passover feast prophesied a greater exodus. It spoke of the Lamb who, in future days, would take away the sin in Christ, who transformed that feast childhood longing lives on. It was no futile hope. Thanks be to God. Dr. Mark Ross is the John R. de Witt Professor of Systematic Theology at Erskine Theological Seminary. He is also a retired ARP Minister in Catawba Presbytery.
From Ligonier Ministries. © Tabletalk magazine. Website:
www.ligonier.org/ tabletalk. Email:
tabletalk@ligonier.org. Toll free: 1-800-435-4343.
31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
