Restoration

(Journal Entry 4/11/13) For "restoration" to come there was the deliberate (on God's part) send of a preacher to 1) call people to repentance; 2) to announce the coming of the kingdom; 3) to introduce Jesus; 4) the baptize; 5) to confront Jewish leaders to come to the same humility and repentance; 6) to die and suffer. But an honest look at John's ministry shows he did all these things and no large continual following resulted at first. It wasn't until Jesus also suffered and died and rose that significant kingdom growth took place. It seems to me(and this is a hard distinction to make) that restoration is primarily a work of God. He sends Jesus. He chooses the apostles. He does signs and miracles. He teaches and preaches. He suffers and dies. He is resurrected. He ascends. He sends the Holy Spirit. He builds His church. But, where are we in restoration? We are the receivers of it, not the ones who bring it about. If God is at work to bring His people together in unity and to knock down the denominational barriers we have erected and sustain, then we must ask "are we willing to cooperate with God?" But notice what Jesus says-Elijah did come and restore all things-it happened in Jesus' day-But they did to him whatever they wanted. Where is the neat package of everything falling into place and the kingdom of God being the predominate force on earth? Where is the visible, organized, coherent successful group conquering the world under the banner of the cross? Later in ihe middle ages Christians decided to help God by taking up swords and launching the Crusades.

It seems to me the phrase "putting all things under His feet" is appropriate here. Hebrews 2:5-8 speaks to this. But verse 8 says "For in subjecting all things to Him, He left nothing that is not subject to Him. But now we do not see all things subjected to Him." There is a gap between what is and what we see. If we wait till we see fully to put our efforts as subjects of the kingdom into the kingdom what is the difference between us and those on the fringes of restoration? Restoration is continual. If we admire the reformers and restorers of the past then why have we quit working to for reform and restoration? What will it look like in our day? Hopefully it will have the flavor of John and Jesus and not some subsequent reformer.

Acts 1:6-8--The disciples had restoration of the kingdom to Israel on their mind. Jesus told them this was God's business, not to be shared with them. They were told to receive power and to become witnesses. We have our restoration task or assignment: Receive the power of the Holy Spirit and be His witnesses in the world. (Let me drive this point home. If we long for restoration of the kingdom to be what God wants it to be in our circle of influence then we must become single minded and accept the place in this equation that He assigned to us. The power of the Spirit, and all He is assigned to do on our behalf must be accepted. This will involve His work of guiding us into all truth, to testify to Jesus, and to help us understand what God has freely given each of us (John 14-16; 1 Cor.2). Secondly, we too must preach the gospel. We must teach, teach and teach some more. Kingdom restoration hangs on these two things. But don't make the mistake of going on what you can SEE, but what God's word says is real. All things are already subject to Him. We are simply going out and informing people that Jesus already conquered them and everything in their lives they are trying to conquer. They simply need to receive the Holy Spirit and become His ambassadors.)