Pastor Frank DeFusco
Pastor Frank DeFusco
The first chapter of Genesis relates how God “created the heavens and the earth,” using a highly structured series of succinct and formulaic sentences that expressed His creative commands. Creation came to be via His word. Words are made up of letters, and our DNA is also made up of a series of letters. In fact, the longest word is found in every cell of our bodies. There are 3.4 billion letters in every molecule of DNA, and they are arranged in order. John 1:1 captures the essence of this when he alludes to the fact that Jesus is the “Word” of God, and He is God. He explains further in verse 3 that it was actually Jesus who created all things, which would make Him equal to God. And when He had finished His creation, He proclaimed that “He saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
His last creative act was the creation of man and a woman from the side of man. He gave mankind dominion over His creation. But mankind has proved, even to this day, to not be a very good steward over it. Man’s fall from grace created an insurmountable relational break with his Creator. So, the Creator, Himself, had to cloak Himself in the flesh of humanity, whereby He would then bear the sins of the world upon Himself, through the shedding of His precious blood on the cross at Calvary. The wages of sin is death. And He alone was capable of paying that price and restoring mankind’s relationship with their Creator.
Now here’s the good news: If a person accepts the fact that the Son of God, Jesus, laid down His life for that person, then he will receive forgiveness for his sins and receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And here is where we expose the theme of this essay: That person will then be set apart, redeemed, and placed on the path to sanctification; whereby, he becomes a “New Creation” (2 Cor. 5:17) to walk in “newness of life” and serve in “newness of spirit” (Rom. 4:6; 7:6) being “born again” of incorruptible seed by the word of God (1 Peter 1:23).
This is good news for those in Christ, but it only gets better for us when we pass from this existence to the next one. For this body of death will be transformed in a “twinkling of an eye” when this corruptible body is made incorruptible (1 Cor. 9:25; 15:52). We will also be joint heirs with our Lord, of a “new,” incorruptible inheritance, reserved for us in Heaven (1 Peter 1:4).
Both Isaiah and John wrote that God will create a “new” Heaven and Earth, along with a “New Jerusalem.” Jesus will give us a “new” name (Rev. 2:17), as well as write His “new” name on us (Rev. 3:12; 22:4). And through Jesus Christ, all things become “new.”
Pastor Frank DeFusco teaches Bible Studies on Tuesdays (Picacho Room) and Fridays (Pima/Toltec Rooms) both at 10 a.m. in the Sports Club.