Old Clothes

Today, the Lord apparently wanted me to have a ready-made illustration to ponder during my devotional time.  I had to laugh as I read today's verses, Hebrews 1:10-12 (NET).

   

And,

     

“ You founded the earth in the beginning , Lord , 

     

and the heavens are the works of your hands .

       

They will perish, but you continue .

     

And they will all grow old like a garment ,

       

and like a robe you will fold them up

     

and like a garment they will be changed,

     

but you are the same and your years will never run out .”

When I got dressed this morning, I put on some old clothes.  Although our weather is beginning to turn "Autumn-ish", we are still wearing warmer weather clothes here in the South.  I turned to an old pair of shorts and matching top that I purchased 25 years ago.  No lie.  They still fit.  They still feel good.  They are comfortable.  I have some other clothes that I still wear occasionally, from the same decade.

But, eventually, all clothes grow old.  They wear thin, develop moth holes, rip.  When that happens, we "change or exchange" them.  In other words, we either tear them up for cleaning rags.  Or, we donate them.  Sometimes we simply throw them away.

The same is true of all creation, everything Jesus Christ made in "the beginning".  It is all aging, deteriorating, "perishing".  One day, the Ageless One will "fold up" the heavens and the earth and then create brand, spanking new ones.   Yes, it will be no more difficult for our omnipotent Savior to "roll up" all creation than it would be for us to roll up a bunch of clothes to take to the thrift store.

Bruce puts it like this:
"As one man in his lifetime outlives many successive suits of clothes, so God has seen and will yet see many successive material universes, but He Himself is eternal and unchanging."
Can you even imagine that?

This quotation in Hebrews is from the Old Testament, Psalm 102:25-27.  Let's look at those verses (in the NET version) for comparison (just so you'll believe me, lol!)

In earlier times you established the earth; the skies are your handiwork.     They will perish, but you will endure.  They will wear out like a garment; like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear. But you remain;  your years do not come to an end.

Our clothes don't last forever.  Our bodies don't either.  However, our spirits are eternal and will live somewhere after our bodies are long gone.  By the grace of God, each of us gets to choose where our spirit's next (and final) destination will be.  It will either be in torment in Hell, apart from the loving God who longs to rescue us with salvation in this life.  Or, it will be with our Savior, to whom we surrender our hearts and lives while wearing this mortal body.

He is eternal.  From ages past and through ages future, He remains "very God of very God", exercising his Personhood within that extraordinary enigma we refer to as "the Holy and Blessed Trinity".  God in Three Persons....wow....Son, Creator, Sustainer, Universal Heir...Eternal God.

Oh Lord, as I contemplate Your beautiful creation, Your magnificence on display, I am stunned to realize that it is but a mere shadow of how great You truly are.  It is but a poor token of Your might, power and beauty.  How blessed I am to serve "the only wise God, my Savior, to whom be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, amen." (Jude 1:25)

Sources:

Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1990. Kindle edition.

Cockerill, Gareth Lee. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2012. Kindle edition.