The hope of a new year

... and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5).

What is the point of celebrating the coming of a new year?

After all, is not the marking of the new year merely a matter of an ordinary transition on the calendar? Don’t we observe a new year every year? In 45 BC, Julius Caesar, who held the position of dictator of the Roman Republic, instituted the Julian calendar to replace the old Roman calendar. The Julian calendar measured the passage of a year at 365 and a quarter days, and the leap year was instituted every four years. But the Julian calendar was eleven minutes and fourteen seconds off the actual time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun. In 1582, this temporal drift was corrected by Pope Gregory XIII, which at that time added ten days to the calendar.

The Gregorian calendar was accepted in Western Europe, but Great Britain did not come around to making the adjustment till 1752, and Russia, not until 1918. Sometimes on old graves, you will see dates rendered as “O.S.,” meaning “Old Style,” such as Thomas Jefferson’s grave. His birthdate is rendered “April 2, 1743 O.S.” on his grave at Monticello. Russians call their revolution the “October Revolution,” but the Bolsheviks took over on Nov. 7, 1917, according to the Gregorian calendar. Since they still used the old Julian calendar at that time, they marked the coming into power of the Bolsheviks on Oct. 25.

Isn’t New Year’s Day then just a matter of an observance on a contrived calendar style? To a pedantic cynic, perhaps. But for a Christian, New Year’s Day is a reminder of our hope in Christ.

For one thing, we measure our years by the birth of the Lord Jesus. True, it is now the practice of most academic historians to divide history into the categories of “Common Era” (C.E.) and “Before the Common Era” (B.C.E.), having abandoned the old classifications of A.D. (Anno Domine, or, Year of Our Lord) and B.C. (Before Christ). Despite the best efforts of secular historians who would like us to move on from such Christo-centric customs, the miraculous Incarnation of the God-Man is still the frame of reference for how we mark the passage of time (a delicious irony). Every time you write or type the month, day, and year on a page, you are observing the reality of the what the Old Testament prophets foretold about the coming of a Savior, going all the way back to the protoevangelium, the “first good news,” of Genesis 3:15—“And I will put enmity between you [the serpent] and the woman [Eve], and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

For another thing, our entry into a new year is a reminder that we still have the opportunity to confess our sins to the Lord Jesus, turn away from them, and embrace our Creator and Savior with our whole heart. Perhaps you have made mistakes that appear to be irredeemable. Maybe you have committed sins that, for all practical considerations, are unpardonable. Most of us, if we are honest, can admit that we have done wicked things that, if we take counsel of our fears, we could be persuaded that we are totally beyond cure.

Maybe there is a relationship you have destroyed by your sinful words or actions. Perhaps you have sacrificed the trust of those closest to you by your bad decisions. Possibly you feel the awful dread of your sins being discovered, or you carry the unbearable weight of guilt, and that weight has bent you down year upon year.

Take heart! Do not give in to despair. Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). Remember also the words of the Apostle John: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).

If there is breath in your lungs and consciousness in your mind, you are alive. And if you are alive, you have opportunity to turn from sin, call upon the Lord Jesus who saved you by His death and resurrection, and be reconciled to Him. Reconciliation with your Creator and Savior is the hope of the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus. And true reconciliation with your God is the first step to true reconciliation with your fellow human persons.

The hope of the gospel is that God redeems life out of death, light out of darkness, good out of evil, and joy out of despair. His mercies are new every morning, as the prophet Jeremiah declared in the face of the destruction of Judah in 586 B.C. (Lamentations 3:22-23.) The rising of the sun on a new day is a grace given by a patient God who desires all to come to Him in faith. The dawning of a new year is grace upon grace, in that He continues to hold Himself out to all who would call on Him for the newness of life. So come to Him.