At the beginning of a new year, we naturally think about new things. Christians sometimes go further and project this kind of thinking onto God, imagining that God is going to do something new just because a calendar page has turned over.

It is true that the prophet Isaiah, speaking on behalf of God, did say, “Behold I will do a new thing”. However, this prophecy was fulfilled 700 years later when Jesus took a cup of wine and said, “This is my blood of the new covenant.”

The New Covenant is God’s “new thing.” It represents a radical revolution, departing from the Old Covenant, both in form and...