Bible Verses for That Was Then, This Is Now

It is clear from the Bible that we are transformed when are saved through faith. There are three types of transformations for the believer. I like to call them the three tenses of salvation 

• Justification - All that happens the moment that a person believes the gospel. For believers, this has happened in the past (and continues to be true).
• Sanctification - The ongoing process by which God works in us to make us more and more like Him. For believers, this is present.
• Glorification - The final transformation when our bodies are changed and we are free of our sin nature. This is still in the future.

This song is about the transformation that takes place when we are first saved. We are made new and changed. Here is my favorite Bible passage about the transformation that takes place in believers at the moment they believe in Jesus and His death for their sins:

Ephesians 2:1-10 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

That Was Then, This Is Now

by Josh Wilson and Ben Glover

Verse 1:
We used to hide from the light.
We made friends with the night.

John 3:19-20 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 

We were headed the wrong way on a one-way track
Going nowhere fast.

God says in Isaiah 65:2 “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,”

Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Verse 2:
We got used to the dark,
We thought this is who we are,

Matthew 6:23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

And we figured that we were just too far gone,
But we were wrong.

David speaking to God, in Psalm 139:11-12 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

Pre-Chorus: 
‘Cause love came running like a river

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And we got washed in the water 

Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

Then He said you're forgiven

Luke 5:20 Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.”

Your sins are gone.

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 

Chorus: 
That was then, this is now.
You're bought by the blood, saved by the Son the saints all sing about.

Acts 20:28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

1 Peter 1:18-19 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

 John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

That was lost, this is found.

Jesus said in the parable about the prodigal son, in Luke 15:32 “‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

Jesus said in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

And it's time to say goodbye to the old you now.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

So go ahead, put the past in the past.
Box it up like an old photograph.
You don't have to go back,
‘Cause that was then and this is now.

God says in Isaiah 43:17-18 “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Ephesians 4:22-24 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 

Verse 3:
We've been remade by grace,

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 

We've all got new names,

Revelation 2:17 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’

And nothing we do could ever change
What He did that day.

John 10:28-29 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Pre-Chorus: 
When love came running like a river

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

We got washed in the water

1 Corinthians 6:11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Then He said you're forgiven

Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

And you belong.

1 Corinthians 3:23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

Chorus: 
That was then, this is now.
You're bought by the blood, saved by the Son the saints all sing about.
That was lost, this is found.
And it's time to say goodbye to the old you now.
So go ahead, put the past in the past.
Box it up like an old photograph.
You don't have to go back
‘Cause that was then.

Bridge: 
If we turn and confess every unrighteousness,
He is faithful and just to forgive.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Oh, so turn and confess every wrong and regret
And see what it means to live.

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

Chorus: 
That was then, this is now.
You're bought by the blood, saved by the Son the saints all sing about.
That was lost, this is found.
And it's time to say goodbye to the old you now.
So go ahead, put the past in the past.
Box it up like an old photograph.
You don't have to go back.
‘Cause that was then and this is now.