Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Paul said that "If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are made new."
Think about that. If all things are made new when you are baptized into Jesus Christ, then ALL THINGS are made new. This includes YOUR PAST. When you come to Christ, you are given a New Past! When you come to Christ, your past becomes the history written in the Bible. THAT is your earthly past, in Christ. God's family is now your family. The old man is crucified with Christ ALONG WITH HIS PAST!
If you have the holy Ghost, your name was in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. God had first claim on you. When you, as a lost sheep, heard the voice of your shepherd and came to Christ, you were finally getting in touch with your real "roots". Your roots are in Christ, not in the world. That's why we call our conversion "coming home" instead of "leaving home".
Do not deceive yourself any longer. There is no excuse for any one in Christ to worry or complain about lingering bad influences of our sinful natural families; in Christ, THAT FAMILY DOES NOT EVEN EXIST, nor does its influence. In Christ, there is no natural family. In Christ, wrote Paul, "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or freeman, rich or poor, male or female." ALL THINGS are made new in Christ Jesus. For those of us who still look back for comfort or excuses at the old man's family tree, the message is simple: "GET OVER IT!" In Christ, that tree is not even there!
In Christ, you have both a new future and a New Past. Get used to it. You are free. Act like it. You have been "translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son." There is no sin in your blood line because there is no sin in your Father's blood. There is no bad influence in Christ; you have to go outside of Christ to get a bad influence. You have to ask for it. You have to leave your peace and the promises of God behind and go shopping among the Philistines to get a bad influence because in the Spirit of Christ, it doesn't exist. It isn't even on the shelf! Have you been influenced to sin since you have been in Christ? If so, what were you doing out there among the Canaanites to start with? Stay home in the Spirit, and stay clean!
The "New Past" that Jesus offers everyone who trusts in him is what Paul referred to in 2Cor. 5: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, ALL THINGS are become new." If we have the faith to believe it, one of the most important of the "all things" that become new in Christ is our "old past", that is, our genealogical history before Jesus took us in.
The "New Past" is also what Paul referred to in Romans 11, where he told the Gentile believers that they had been "grafted" into the olive tree of Israel by the power of God. Now, when we are grafted into the olive tree of faith, the history of that olive tree becomes our history. That olive tree's sap is our sap; its root is our root, and its future is our future. This "New Past" which becomes ours includes the testimony of Abel, Job, and of Noah, Abraham, and David, and of Daniel, Jeremiah, and the prophets, and of all the righteous, wise men and women of all time. Our past includes the testimonies of Paul, and of John, and of Peter. It includes (praise God!) the testimony of the Lord Jesus "who witnessed a good profession before Pilate". The men and women of faith are our ancestors now, and Christ Jesus is our elder brother.
The phrase "New Past" confuses the unbelieving because the "New Past" is in faith, and faith is not in their hearts. It confuses the rebellious because the "New Past" is in obedience, and they do not obey God. The message of a "New Past" troubles the trouble-makers in the body of Christ because the New Past is in peace, and peace irritates those who irritate God. What does it mean that "old things are passed away", if our old habits, our old complaints, and our old sins still cling to us, confusing and discouraging us? Are they passed away or are they not passed away?
Some years ago, as a sister in the Lord was in the midst of a sad visit with her elderly, unbelieving mother, the Lord spoke to her and said, "You are not a product of that union any more". We who are in Christ are "born of God" and are no longer "debtors to the flesh". That is, we do not owe our existence to the human beings who produced our physical bodies. God had our names written in His Book of Life before the world was created; He had claims on us before our natural parents even met each other. In Christ, we are no longer a product of that physical union of two human bodies; we are the product of the will and Word of God. It was His choice first, not theirs, that we are here. If our natural parents had tried to prevent our birth, the stones themselves would have brought us forth! We are the offspring of a race of men created by the power and love of God, beginning with "the new man Adam" who was nailed to a tree in ancient Judea.
There is no unbelief in our "New Past" because the New Past includes only men and women of faith. There is no confusion in our New Past because the New Past includes only men and women with the knowledge of God. There is no grumbling and ill will in our "New Past" because our New Past includes only the men and women who trusted God and loved people. The testimonies of the upright become our history when our history itself becomes new. When our father becomes Abraham, then our history includes leaving Babylonia behind! When our high priest becomes Christ, then our new history includes the Levitical priesthood that foreshadowed his work. In Christ, our forefathers built the ark out of gopher wood and waited for the rain, our forefathers crossed the Red Sea in faith, looking toward the Land of Promise, our forefathers trembled before God at the base of Mount Sinai, our forefathers willingly brought gold and silver to David for the building of God's temple, our forefathers waited for the Promise of God in an upper room in Jerusalem, and our forefathers proclaimed the truth of Jesus to the ancient Roman world. In Christ, they were also our forefathers who were despised by men, who wandered about with no shelter, who were stoned, who were imprisoned and persecuted. And for those in Christ, it was our brother who was crucified for the sins of the world.
This is what the "New Past" means. In Christ, there is nothing that we fear because our forefathers were fearless, and holy courage is all that runs in our veins. There is nothing that can discourage us because in the blood of our new family runs nothing but faith that we "can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." There is no sin of the old past that can drag us back into darkness because in our veins runs a holiness that terrifies Satan himself. We cannot be overcome with confusion because the knowledge of God infuses our spirits. No weapon formed against us can prosper. All things are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God because the love of God created and fills both our history and us.
God created our New Past for us, had that New Past written down, and encourages us to read it every now and then. Do you doubt God? You're living in the old past. Do you hold a grudge against a brother or a sister? You're trying to resurrect a dead man. Do you fear the future? You are believing a lie, as if the old past still has any power over you. Are you not free to praise the God of the whole earth? You are digging into God's trash can to eat rotten food of your old carnal nature. Our forefathers "danced with all their might" before the Lord. Our forefathers drove away the armies of the enemies of the Lord who exalted themselves against the saints.
It is beneath the dignity of our New Past to remain in the quiet, smelly death chamber of Christianity. That abomination is NOT a part of our New Past in Christ. And for that reason, the holy Ghost is pleading with the children of God to "come out of her my people!" Our old past is in bondage. Our New Past is "free indeed" because the Son has made us that way!