{"id":1003,"date":"2026-01-16T00:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/?p=1003"},"modified":"2026-01-19T17:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:00:39","slug":"the-god-of-new-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodspringsfgc.org\/?p=1003","title":{"rendered":"The God of New Beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Year\u2019s Day marks a new beginning\u2014a new day of a new month of a new year. We serve a God of new beginnings that He wants us to experience and enjoy. Cartoonist Bill Keane said,\u201cYesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.\u201d Some people look backwards and cling to the past for comfort, others look forward in hope and expectation for better days in the future, but the God we serve is a right now God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of God\u2019s many names He revealed to Moses at the burning bush is \u201cI AM WHO I AM\u201d<\/em> (Ex. 3:14). This name of God is a form of the verb \u201cto be\u201d in Hebrew. It expresses God\u2019s self-existence and the unchangeableness of His character. He transcends the past, the present, and the future. He always has been God, He always is God, and He always will be God!Notice He didn\u2019t say, I Was Who I Was or I Will Be Who I Will Be. No, He is I AM Who I AMright here and right now in the present tense. He\u2019s the great I AM who can breathe life and a brand-new beginning into our dead situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passover was a new beginning for Israel. It was their national Independence Day or New Year\u2019s Day. God said, \u201cThis month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you\u201d<\/em> (Ex. 12:1-2). God changed their calendar and their lives forever. Their condition went from slavery to freedom, their master changed from Pharaoh to Jehovah, their position changed from bitter bondage in Egypt to pursuing the promises of God in Canaan Land. Passover in the Old Testament is symbolic of salvation in the New Testament. Now we have an even better blood covering\u2014not the dried blood of a dead lamb but living blood of the resurrected Lamb of God. Just like Israel received a new beginning at Passover, we receive a spiritual new beginning in Christ via salvation. \u201cIf any man be in Christ, he is a new<\/strong> creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new<\/strong>\u201d<\/em> (2 Cor. 5:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number eight in the Bible signifies a new beginning. God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh day, thus our seven-day week. The eighth day starts a new week and indicates a new beginning. Furthermore, eight people were spared on Noah\u2019s ark (Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their three wives). So, God started the entire human race over with just eight people. Circumcision was a token of God\u2019s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:10-14). By Mosaic\/Levitical Law, all Jewish males were circumcised on the eighth day after their birth (Lev. 12:2-3, Ac. 7:8). This continued even in New Testament times. Even John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul were circumcised on the eighth day in keeping with the law (Lk. 1:59, Phil. 3:5). This was not just some random number God pulled out of thin air. Spiritually, it speaks of a new beginning by establishing a covenant relationship with God. Medically, on the eighth day, Vitamin K levels peak in infants for better blood clotting, less bleeding, less pain, faster healing, and lower infection rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Sunday\u2014Mt. 28:1, Mk. 16:9, Lk. 24:1, Jn. 20:1). Sunday is also the eighth day from the first day of the previous week. In Old Testament times, the Sabbath was always observed on the seventh day (Saturday). After Christ\u2019s resurrection, the early church began celebrating the Sabbath on the first day of the week (Sunday\u2014Ac. 20:7). That is why most Christian churches now have services on Sundays to commemorate Christ\u2019s resurrection (a new beginning).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Year of Jubilee, which occurred every fifty years, was also a new beginning for Israel (Leviticus 25). Jubilee was a fresh start when debts were forgiven, slaves were released, many prisoners were freed, and land was restored back to its original owners. It was like God hit the reset button every half century. Jesus referred to Jubilee when He read Isaiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue in Nazareth, \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach . . . the acceptable year of the Lord<\/strong>\u201d<\/em> (Lk. 4:18-19). Another version renders it \u201cthe year of the Lord\u2019s favor\u201d (a reference to Jubilee). The Message reads, \u201cThis is God\u2019s year to act!\u201d<\/em> I believe 2026 is going to be a \u201cGod did it\u201d kind of year. The good news is we don\u2019t have to wait fifty years for Jubilee. Jesus is our Jubilee and every day is a new beginning in Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of Jesus\u2019 titles allude to a spiritual new beginning. He is called \u201cAlpha and Omega,\u201d \u201cThe Beginning and the End,\u201d <\/em>and \u201cthe First and the Last\u201d<\/em> multiple times in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13). Alpha<\/em>,of course, is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega<\/em> is the last letter. That\u2019s a poetic way of saying Jesus is A to Z and everything in between. He is the source from which the river of grace flows (every spiritual benefit originates in Him). Just like there is nothing before Alpha<\/em> and nothing after Omega <\/em>in the Greek alphabet, Jesus was here before anything else and He will still remain when everything else is gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another related title of Jesus is \u201cThe Dayspring from on High\u201d<\/em> (Lk. 1:78). \u201cDayspring\u201d means \u201cthe sunrise, the dawning of a new day, the first filtering sunrays that stretch across the horizon.\u201d The Living Bible reads, \u201cHeaven\u2019s dawn is about to break upon us.\u201d<\/em> 2 Peter 1:19 calls Christ \u201cthe Day Star\u201d<\/em> and Revelation 22:16 calls Him \u201cthe Bright and Morning Star.\u201d<\/em> We now know this refers to the planet Venus<\/em> (AKA \u201cthe herald of dawn\u201d). Earth\u2019s closest neighbor, Venus is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon. Before the days of radar and GPS, sailors charted their course across the oceans to its light. Venus (the Morning Star) is the last star visible before the dawn, indicating a new day has come. Jesus brought a new day, a new age, a new era, a new kingdom, and a new beginning for all! After all other stars have faded from view, the Morning Star shines on. All the \u201cstars\u201d of this world will one day fade (celebrities, singers, musicians, athletes, movie stars, entertainers, politicians, presidents, and kings), but Jesus will outshine them all! He will shine so brilliantly, power plants will be obsolete and there won\u2019t be any man-made lights in heaven\u2014\u201cThe city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light<\/strong>. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light\u201d<\/em> (Rev. 21:23-24).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Jesus is the Alpha, the Beginning, the First, the Dayspring, and the Morning Star, every day is a new beginning with Him and we don\u2019t have to be prisoners of our past (2 Cor. 4:16, Phil. 3:13-14). We all like new things, right? Did you get some new stuff for Christmas? New clothes, new toys, or new gadgets? Well, John the Revelator disclosed several new things we will receive and experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n