In this chapter we have quoted many verses from the Scripture. They all contain a basic principle of the truths in the Bible, that is, death and resurrection. In the universe, from the viewpoint of God’s economy, God has two creations: one is the natural creation which is the old creation; the other is the resurrected creation which is the new creation. God’s natural creation came about through His speaking; He called things not being as being. When God speaks, things come into being; when God commands, things come into order (Psa. 33:9). Originally, there was nothing; but when God spoke, things came into being. God did not use any resources; God only used His speaking to call things not being as being. This natural creation of God is just temporary, not eternal. It is something that God used as a means and an instrument to arrive at another creation, the new creation.
The new creation is accomplished by the old creation passing through death and resurrection. Our salvation as believers is an example of this. We were originally men of the old creation. When God created Adam, millions of men, including you and I, were included in this Adam. After we believed into the Lord and were organically joined to Him, we were in Him and were crucified with Him; moreover, through the power of God’s life, we were resurrected with Him. Dying with Him causes us to be delivered from the old creation of Adam; living with Him causes us to enter into the new creation in resurrection. This is the death and resurrection revealed in the Bible.
God does not want anything of the old creation; God only wants the new creation transformed from the old creation. This is why in the Bible God usually does not care for the first but for the second. There are many examples of this. For instance, God did not want Abraham’s first son Ishmael, but his second son Isaac (Gen. 21:12). Isaac’s first son Esau was hated by God, while the second son Jacob was loved by God (Rom. 9:13). Furthermore, Hebrews 8:7 says, “For if that first covenant was faultless, no place would have been sought for a second.” The first covenant here refers to the old covenant, and the second covenant refers to the new covenant. “In saying new, He has made the first old. Now that which is becoming old and growing decrepit is near to disappearing” (v. 13). All these speak of the biblical truth concerning death and resurrection.
The same is true with our human birth. Our first birth was of man, natural, and of the old creation. The second birth was of God; it happened when we were saved and regenerated, and is of the new creation. Today, God does not want anything that we do by our natural life. Not only does He not want the bad; even the good He rejects. God only wants what we do by the life of God. God does not want anything natural; God only wants what is resurrected. God does not want anything of the old creation; God only wants what is of the new creation.
The first two chapters of the Bible show us the first creation, the old creation. The last two chapters show us the second creation, the new creation. Revelation 21:1 says, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away.” Actually, the new heaven and new earth come about by the old heaven and old earth passing through the burning, renewing, and transforming work of God’s fire of judgment (2 Pet. 3:10-13). This is similar to the new man being formed by the old man being renewed and transformed (Col. 3:9-10; 2 Cor. 3:18). From this you can see that there is a basic principle in the Bible: whatever is of the old creation will have to pass through death and resurrection to become the new creation.