A New Song Because of God’s Seed of New Life

A New Song Because of God’s Seed of New Life.

“Let the upright sing for joy to the Lord; it is fitting for the pure to praise Him. Praise the Lord with melodies on the lyre; make music for Him on the ten-stringed harp. Sing a new song of praise to Him; play skillfully on the harp, and sing with joy.” (Ps. 33:1-3).

“Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, praise His name. Each day proclaims the good news that He saves. Publish His glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things He does. Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! (Ps. 96:1-4).

“Sing a new song to the Lord, for He has done wonderful deeds. His right hand has won a mighty victory. His holy arm has shown His saving power! The Lord has announced His victory and has revealed His righteousness to every nation! He has remembered His promise to love and be faithful to Israel. The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.” (Ps. 98:1-3).

“I will sing a new song to you, O God! I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.” (Ps. 144:9).

“Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song! Sing His praises in the assembly of the faithful. O Israel, rejoice in your Maker. O people of Jerusalem, exult in your King. Praise His name with dancing, accompanied by tambourine and harp. For the Lord delights in His people; He crowns the humble with victory. Let the faithful rejoice that He honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.” (Ps. 149:1-5).  

“Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing His praises from the ends of the earth! Let the whole world glorify the Lord; let it sing His praise! (Isaiah 42:10, 12).

The Endless Quest, the Final Frontier. When it comes to singing a new song to the eternal and almighty Lord, there will always be fresh material for a new composition. Every believer is on the endless quest to discover as much about the character and goodness of God as He is willing to reveal. There is always more to the Lord than we can understand or appreciate, so there is always something new to discover about Him and more to sing about. There will always be new ways to express our praises to God.

“People conceived into life by the Father don’t make a habitual practice of sin. How could they? God’s seed (“sperma”) is deep within them, making them who they are. His principle of life is at work in them. It’s not in the nature of the God-begotten to deliberately and knowingly practice sin. After all, they are children of the Father! They have His nature permanently within them! Whoever has been born of God will refuse to keep sinning, because they have been fathered by God Himself, and contain His nature. Here is how God’s children can be clearly distinguished from the Devil’s children: Anyone who does not demonstrate righteousness does not belong to God, nor does the one who refuses to love fellow believers.” (1 John 3:9-10. This is a weaving together of different authorized versions, including the Message, the New King James Version, the New Living Translation, the Passion Translation, the Amplified Bible).

“God’s Seed” in 1 John 3:9 – (Greek word “sperma“) – The seed of divine life introduced into a believer by the Father through the Holy Spirit; the provision of a new family name and identity; the miraculous infusion of the Father’s DNA, a new spiritual genetic framework within a believer; the transmission of new characteristics from the Father with a new heredity as a child of God; through His spiritual seed, God “fathers-forth” a new race in Christ.

“Oh, but I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now.” (Bob Dylan, My Back Pages).

The Creation-Power of the Spirit. Maybe our newness looks something like this… In the beginning, the Spirit hovered over the chaos and darkness, and then finally breathed life into His creatures, allowing them to live into their new beings. And now in our new beginning, the same Holy Spirit hovers over the darkness of sin, and seeks to breathe new life into humanity once again, producing people born from above, creating a whole new creature. Only the breath of the Spirit is capable of creating those who can be progressively renewed from one degree of glory to another, providing a new hope and destination of eternal glory with the triune God. Our newness is utterly dependent on the Spirit’s creation-power.

The Father’s Seed. In many ways, the human father’s sperm is an interesting picture of the Father God’s seed. Maybe that’s what God had in mind in the first place. There is something embryologists all “active disposition,” which means that at conception when the sperm protonucleus fuses with the female protonucleus, a one-cell zygote is produced. This zygote, at the moment of conception, is instantly programmed with everything necessary for the new life to continue within itself. The human zygote has unique DNA, the genetic framework for the new person that has been created. The zygote miraculously already has a distinctive identity, it is already one of a kind, and will develop itself into maturity the way it has been programmed by the DNA, assuming the right conditions of protection and nutrition. Assuming full health, the new very “little one” is full of momentum for the new life to grow, to mature, to move forward in development from one stage to the next. The parents’ DNA provide the building blocks for this new life, and it’s all systems go.

New spiritual life also has to be kick-started with a seed, God’s seed, in order for the Holy Spirit to bring new spiritual life to a person. God’s seed has an active disposition as well, full of life and wired to develop according to God’s plan. This new creature has become a partaker of God’s nature, by receiving the seed from God Himself. When we are born anew from above, we are conceived according to the plan of God, and the Father’s very nature is passed on to us as new creatures. The Lord of new life has enabled each of us to share family characteristics, as His children, and God considers us His true sons and daughters. As the Orthodox Church puts it, “We become by grace what God is by nature.”

“Behold! What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! What an incredible quality of divine love the Father has given us! The Father has lavished us with marvelous love.” (1 John 3:1).

Attend! Notice that significant word at the beginning of John’s passage above? There are some individual words and short phrases in Scripture that need to be highlighted as they are read, words or phrases that are significant or point to something meaningful. Some phrases might be: Fear not. Here I am. Woe to you. One another.   And maybe some single words are: Amen. Hallelujah. Blessed. Abba. Come.  The word Behold! is one of those significant words, an exclamation that is intended to get our attention. Listen, people, this is something you need to hear! “Behold” says to the audience, Look at this and take note! You would be wise to remember these words and think about them! Careful now, don’t be deaf to what I am about to say! Stop what you’re doing and listen up! As the Eastern Orthodox Christians say before they read the Gospel in the Liturgy… Attend!

Family Resemblance. By being welcomed into God’s family through rebirth, we partake of God’s nature. We receive all the privileges of God’s household, including love, the Holy Spirit, a new life now, eternal life with God. By being children of God, we become His heirs, not only of God’s glory, but also of Christ’s suffering. And by being welcomed into the family of God, God’s broken image we inherited from the old Adam is restored into the image of the new Adam, Christ. We develop a family resemblance to Jesus and are gradually transformed into His glorious likeness.