“Do not remember former things,
nor consider things of the past.
Here I am, doing a new thing;
Now it is springing up—
    do you not know about it?
I will surely make a way in the desert,
    rivers in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19, TLV

Doing a New Thing.  Happy Gregorian New Year! May your 2022 be a year of God’s new thing in your life!

Today’s verses are pulled from a mixed bag of prophecy God gave to Isaiah. A love letter, a reprimand, a reminder of who God called Israel to be. The thing about prophecy is that it generally has an immediate fulfillment, a future fulfillment, and spiritual symbolism. These verses are especially relevant, especially the “Here I am, doing a new thing …”

For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be ignorant of this mystery—lest you be wise in your own eyes—that a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in … (Romans 11:25, TLV)

Upon Yeshua’s ascension and the Holy Spirit fell upon the His disciples, God did a new thing. He opened His adoption through Jesus’s atonement, to the Gentiles. The Gentiles? You know those pagan people God had forbidden the Jewish people to yoke themselves with? They’re now being invited to join the family? That’s the new thing?

To us, today, this may not seem like such a big deal. After all there are over 2.5 billion Christians in the world. How many Messianic Jewish people? Those whose ancestors crossed the desert, walked on dry land when the sea parted, maybe even saw Yeshua heal the sick or walk on water? Statistics believe there could be as many as 1.7 million. That’s quite a minority compared to the Gentile Christian population.

It’s important to remember that our faith was not adapted from Judaism, it is true Biblical Judaism. The fulfillment of prophecy. The mystery of that new thing God was doing among the nations.

“I, ADONAI, called You in righteousness, I will take hold of Your hand, I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations … (Isaiah 42:6, TLV)

Thus says ADONAI-Tzva’ot [LORD of Hosts], “In those days it will come to pass that ten men from every language of the nations will grasp the corner of the garment of a Jew saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”  (Zechariah 8:23, TLV)

Is this saying for every Jewish believer in Yeshua, there will be ten people from the nations? That Christians will outnumber Jewish believers?

The New Thing, the mystery, was prophesied throughout the “Old Testament.” But the God’s timing wasn’t revealed until Yeshua prepared His disciples for His return to His Father, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Prior to that fellowship or association with Gentiles was forbidden by God — not just tradition.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh [Holy Spirit], (Matthew 28:19, TLV)

But you will receive power when the Ruach ha-Kodesh [Holy Spirit] has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and through all Judah, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, TLV)

Jesus “flipped the switch” for the fulfillment of these prophesies. He was saying, “Now is the time for this new thing.”

So, what? What does that mean to me, January 1st, 2022?

What this could mean is that we’ve been living in the status quo for some time. Things have changed this past year in the way we live. COVID. Political decisions going against Biblical principles. Families struggling with abuse and poverty. We may think this was outside what God would know would happen. It’s not.

That means, my friend, we must be watchful. God may be preparing to do a new thing in our life, our community, the world. Where we’ve only seen a wasteland of opportunities, He has already begun to redirect His Living Waters to quench the thirst of those spiritually dying. Are we ready to move when He says, “Now!”?

I think my word for 2022 is “Watchful”. In this New Year, I want to focus on His word and what is going on around me — to be Watchful. What is your word for 2022?

Shabbat shalom and blessed and watchful 2022!