Restoration of all things 8

MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 1 When our spirits resonate with truth we will discover that there are many wonders beyond those specifically mentioned in the Bible We are walking with God on a relational journey to discover more about Him and ourselves and what our role is in restoration We have the Holy Spirit of Truth in us and with us as our guide We have Jesus, the way, truth and life, in us and with us to disciple us We have our loving Father in us and with us to Father us into sonship Agape love should be what we use to measure and test everything against If you don’t resonate with anything on the journey, park it and continue to pursue the truth with God directly There are many things that I don’t yet fully understand cognitively but that does not necessarily make them wrong There have been many things that I was convinced were true that I now realise were merely man’s opinions and ideas The 4 streams of thought that are converging into one mighty river are: Mystic sonship, Realised eschatology, Universal reconciliation, Energy frequency healing We are going to cover the other 3 streams in this module as the mystic stream is the focus of the whole EG programme How does the restoration of our creation mandate relate to our expectations for the future? Eschatology is the study of the last things. How does it relate to restoration? How did Jesus link eschatology and restoration? If people are expecting failure and rescue, they are not motivated to participate in restoration There is little point stewarding a planet that is doomed to destruction Futurist eschatology relegates restoration to an event linked to Jesus’ future return, not a present process When people link Jesus’ prophecies in Matt 24 with the distant future rather than with that generation, they also link the prophesies of Gehenna / “Hell” with the future; and restoration is then irrelevant, as everything will be destroyed and only restored by Jesus at His coming There are many doctrines linked to eschatology that can side track us from the goal of restoration Fruit of the poisonous tree of Brethrenism The second coming as a future rapture rather than a past event How do we know for sure the judgment of Jerusalem would indeed be the ‘coming of the Lord’? We know this because of the significant question the disciples asked Jesus, right after He announced God’s wrath over Israel in Matthew 23. The disciples heard about all the horrible things that would happen to Jerusalem, and they asked Jesus: MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 2 Matthew 24:3 ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ To the disciples it was obvious that the destruction of Jerusalem would happen at ‘His coming’ but they wanted to know when. Matt 24:3 ‘When will these things be and what will be the sign of Your coming?’ Being religious Jews, the disciples of course knew the Scriptures where the coming of the Lord to judge Jerusalem had been predicted. For example the prophets Isaiah and Micah had said: Isaiah 66:15 ‘For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.’ Micah 3:12 ‘Zion shall be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest.’ Apocalyptical language of judgment The coming of the Lord on the clouds of heaven was repeatedly announced all throughout the Old Testament. It was a basic message of the prophets, who warned Israel to stop breaking the covenant. Prophet Zechariah went into great detail about this coming of the Lord with His holy ones. He is the prophet who said the Lord would stand on the Mount of Olives. Futurists often refer to this verse, to claim that we – Christians in the 21st century – will all see how Jesus Christ will stand on the Mount of Olives, when He comes. But what does this verse truly say, when we read it in context? Zechariah 14:1-5 ‘I will gather all the nations AGAINST JERUSALEM to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled… IN THAT DAY His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; THEN the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!’ First of all the Lord announces that He will gather the nations against Jerusalem to battle. In that day His feet would stand on the Mount of Olives. Then He would come with all His holy ones. When did that happen? Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, indeed during the generation of the first believers, as Jesus Christ had said. MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 3 The Lord said He would stand on the Mount of Olives, and come with His holy ones, on the day when Jerusalem would be destroyed. That actually, as well as symbolically, happened in 70 AD. How did the Lord stand on the Mount of Olives? The Bible teacher Ernest L. Martin mentions in his book ‘Secrets of Golgotha’ that a Jewish rabbi named Jonathan – an eyewitness of the destruction of Jerusalem said: The presence of God left the temple and stayed for 3½ years on the Mount of Olives, hoping that Israel would repent, but they did not. In the meantime, a supernatural voice spoke from heaven: ‘Return, apostate children. Return to Me and I will return to you.’ When they did not repent, the voice said, ‘I will return to My place.’ (Secrets of Golgotha, by Ernest L. Martin. p84) As we know, the presence of God was in the temple of Jerusalem. During the siege of Jerusalem, it is known that His presence left the temple and moved to the Mount of Olives. Eusebius confirms this in his writings: ‘Which it is possible for us to see literally fulfilled in another way even to-day, since believers in Christ all congregate from all parts of the world, not as of old time because of the glory of Jerusalem, nor that they may worship in the ancient Temple at Jerusalem, … … but they rest there that they may learn both about the city being taken and devastated as the prophets foretold, and that they may worship at the Mount of Olives opposite to the city, whither the glory of the Lord migrated when it left the former city.’ (Proof of the Gospel, Book VI, Chapter 18) According to history, the Lord indeed stood on the Mount of Olives, during the fall of Jerusalem. Isaiah announced judgment over Judah and Jerusalem That the judgment would be upon ancient Israel is also obvious when we read who the prophets’ original audience was When Isaiah started prophesying, he clearly wrote to whom he was speaking: ‘The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.’ (Isaiah 1:1) ‘The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.’ (Isaiah 2:1) Isaiah was sent to prophecy against Judah and Jerusalem. The judgments he predicted have nothing to do with all of mankind. The gentiles were ignorant concerning the Lord and His will. They were not under the old covenant system of law To Judah and Jerusalem, however, the Lord had revealed Himself; He had saved them from slavery in Egypt, He had performed countless mighty miracles in their midst and had rescued them many times from their enemies. They had seen the light, they had experienced God’s goodness, they were in possession of His law. Yet they kept rebelling against God and followed the evil one instead. God kept sending His prophets to them, to call them to repentance. But they not only rejected but even murdered God’s prophets. Throughout the centuries, they filled up the measure of God’s judgment. MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 4 They would reap what they sowed in breaking the covenant and reaping the curses The Lord announced through Isaiah that He would cut Israel down like a tree. On the stump a new branch would come up: Jesus Christ. Isaiah 6:13 ‘Israel will be like a tree cut down, whose stump still lives to grow again.’ Isaiah 11:1,2 ‘The royal line of David will be cut off, chopped down like a tree; but from the stump will grow a Shoot – yes, a new Branch from the old root. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might; the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.’ This is the main theme of the book of Isaiah: God announced the end of ancient Israel’s old covenant religious system and promised a brand new kingdom of God. This would be established by His servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. So what did Isaiah say, concerning the judgment over Judah and Jerusalem? He uttered words that were repeated by apostle John in the book of Revelation. John wrote that during the outpouring of God’s judgment, people would hide in the rocks, for the anger of the Lord. Revelation 6:15-17 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” Many futurist preachers have used this verse, just like they used the verse about the Lord standing on the Mount of Olives, to tell us God will pour out such wrath on all of mankind, that everybody will try to hide in the ground. John was simply repeating what Isaiah had prophesied, and he said who these people would be: Isaiah 2:1 ‘The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.’ Isaiah explained that God would judge them because of their sins: Isaiah 2:6 ‘For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, Their land is also full of idols.’ They rejected the physical salvation that Jesus offered them to escape from Jerusalem The disciples did not separate the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming of the Lord. Knowing the Old Testament, it was clear to them that this was one single event. He would come on the clouds of heaven and Jerusalem would be destroyed. That would be the end of that old covenant age. Israel would be cut down and something new would begin, in Jesus Christ. That is also what the apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians who were being persecuted by the Jews 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 when he gave them the promise of finding relief at the coming of the Lord. Who were the ones persecuting the Christians and the apostles? Paul explained it in his letter: ‘…the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; … wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.’ They were reaping what they sowed MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 5 The apostles and Christians looked forward to the coming of the Lord, who would judge Israel. This would be the end of their suffering by the hands of the Judeans who rejected Christ. God’s judgment was upon the failed old covenant system but He continually offered salvation to the people The Lord will judge His people (synonymous with system) and the verdict on the system was failure The book of Hebrews declared that the coming of the Lord would mean God’s judgment over His people, which is Israel: Hebrews 10:30,31 37 ‘For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry’ What did Jesus say to the Jews about His coming? Matthew 24 records that Jesus prepared the believing Jews in Jerusalem for the coming destruction. He gave them specific instructions: ‘Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’ When Jesus Christ spoke to the believing Jews in Jerusalem, He constantly said to them: ‘YOU will hear and see it, YOU must flee, YOU must be ready’ and so on. He even clearly said ‘THOSE IN JUDEA’ and He talked about ‘THE SABBATH’ which was only practised in Israel! Wouldn’t every eye see Jesus coming? Yes indeed! Every eye in Jerusalem, representing the land and the system, was the context of the source text and meaning Revelation 1:7 ‘Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.’ First of all it says ‘those who pierced Him’. Did Americans, Africans, Asians or Europeans pierce Him? No, it was the Jews who sent Jesus to the cross! Secondly we read ‘all the tribes of the earth’. Is that really what it says in the Greek? The meaning of the word ‘earth’: the Greek word here is ‘GĒ’ which also means ‘land, country, region’. Therefore this verse could just as well have been translated as: ‘All the tribes of the land’. That would have been a more accurate translation than ‘earth‘! Is the whole earth divided in ‘tribes’? Of course not! What is divided in tribes? The LAND of Israel! There were twelve tribes in Israel. Israel is a land (Greek = GĒ) that was divided in tribes. So a very simple check with the original Greek text, and looking at the verse with a little more attention, reveals this has been dramatically mistranslated. First it speaks about those who pierced Him, and then it says all the tribes of the land. That is Israel! When we read scripture in context and source text, we see that it says every eye in Israel would see Jesus coming. The House of David would see Jesus coming! MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 6 That it was indeed Israel who would see Christ on the clouds is confirmed when we read a prophecy by Zechariah, concerning the judgment of Jerusalem and the coming of the Lord: Zechariah 12:10,11 And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced… In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem.’ The House of David would look on Him whom they pierced and there would be a great mourning in Jerusalem. That is exactly what Revelation 1:7 says about the Second Coming! Also Jesus Christ referred to these words by Zechariah when He spoke about His coming on the clouds: Matthew 24:30 ‘Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.’ What would the second coming be? When we read the Bible correctly, we see who would be judged at the coming of Christ: Israel. They had murdered God’s prophets, they killed Christ and they persecuted the Christians. Therefore God’s judgment would come upon them once and for all. This judgment during the coming of the Lord had been prophesied by many Old Testament prophets. The book of Revelation, Zechariah and Jesus Christ said the inhabitants of the land of Israel would see Him coming. Jesus told the Jews to be ready for His coming and He gave them specific instructions, so those who believed in Christ would escape this destruction. For Christians the coming of the Lord would mean salvation, because it would end the cruel persecution by the Jews. The coming of Christ on the clouds meant the end of the old age of Israel and started a new era of the kingdom of God. This was in that generation: it was never about the whole world Did Jesus announce the end of the world? No. Matthew 24:3 ‘What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age (world)?’ When we read the gospels, our English Bible translation tells us Jesus Christ constantly predicted the end of the ‘world’. This actually was a main theme of His message: He prepared His followers for the end of all things. Or did He? Let’s have a look at some of Jesus’ words, and check their original meaning in the Greek. We have already seen that the disciples asked Jesus this question concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. So… why would they suddenly talk about the end of the whole planet? That doesn’t make any sense! Jesus didn’t announce God’s judgment over the entire world, He talked about God’s judgment over Israel, because they had murdered God’s prophets. So why do our Bibles talk about the end of the ‘world’? Because they have been dramatically mistranslated. MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 7 The original Greek word that was translated here as ‘world’ means something totally different. It is the Greek word AION which means ‘a space of time, an age’. Jesus never announced the end of the world, but the end of a time period, more specifically the age of the old covenant. That makes total sense, because Jesus Christ indeed came to end the Old Testament and start a new chapter in God’s story: Jesus fulfilled all of the promises that God made through the prophets The new covenant story! Christ ended the old age of a stone temple in a stone Jerusalem with a law written on stone. He created a brand new world where we are now the temple of God, He dwells in us, and together we are the new Jerusalem, His Bride. The law is no longer written on stone, but is now written in our heart. God now dwells in our midst and from within us, He expands His reign over the earth. All of the prophetic scriptures have been fulfilled by Jesus New covenant prophecies Jer 31:31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… 33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Ezek 11:19 “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.” MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 8 Luke 21:21 “Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; 22 because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.” Heb 1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the ages (world). Will the world be destroyed? But didn’t Jesus also speak about the passing away of the heavens and the earth? Yes. He meant something different than we think. Because while saying the heaven and earth would pass away, He also told the people to flee to the mountains. Jews did not always mean “the physical universe” when they spoke of heaven and earth together. In Jewish literature, the Temple was a portal connecting heaven and earth. They called it the “navel of the earth” and the “gateway to heaven” (Jub 8:19; 1 Enoch 26:1). “Heaven and earth” is referring to the old covenant system, represented by the temple. When the old covenant “heaven and earth” passed in AD 70, the new covenant “new heavens and earth” wineskin was established. This is not discussing the end of planet earth, the world, or the universe Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” If heavens and earth are meant literally then we are still under the law, as the law would not have passed away Heb 8:13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Jesus never announced the end of the world. The word used is AION which means TIME PERIOD. The heavens and the earth represented Jerusalem and the temple The time of the old covenant period was over Wrong Bible translations are the main reason why millions of Christians incorrectly believe the entire planet earth is about to be destroyed. They read in their Bibles how Jesus predicted the end of the ‘world’ and since that hasn’t happened yet, they conclude it must be in our near future. The opposite is however true. Jesus didn’t announce the destruction of our beautiful planet, He announced the end of the age of the old covenant of the law. He ended that time period and created something brand new: a new covenant sealed with His own blood. A new wineskin to hold the new wine of the Spirit of God. A new command to love one another as I have loved you. A new kingdom which we experience in the Spirit of God. A new Jerusalem which is our free mother, says the apostle Paul. What were the last days? MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 9 When Jesus Christ preached both the coming judgment over Israel and the new kingdom of God, He said this would all happen very soon. The last days were in that generation not in ours He never suggested it would take place in the remote future, thousands of years later. On the contrary, He imprinted it on the hearts of His audience how soon He would come. The years between His ascension to heaven and His coming back on the clouds were called ‘the last days’ or the ‘end of time’. It was literally the last years of the old covenant of ancient Israel. It was the transition period between the old and the new. The disciples of Jesus knew that the end of the rebellious Jewish age was drawing near. That’s why the Jews went about as roaring lions, devouring all the Christians. Satan, who was their father, the prince of the air of that age, knew that his end was coming. He would be judged by Christ. These years would therefore be extremely violent and difficult for the first Christians. Jesus even wondered: “Will I still find faith when I come?” That question is often used to say that in our time there will be hardly any true believers left, when Christ comes. But that is absurd, since there are now more Christians worldwide than there have ever been throughout all of history combined! There are hundreds of millions of Christians and this number is daily increasing. Conclusion: what is the Second Coming? The coming of Christ on the clouds of heaven would be His judgment over Israel and also the start of His new kingdom. He would end the old age and a brand new kingdom of God would break forth. This new kingdom of God is, however, not earthly and political, like the old Israel. Jesus Christ said this new kingdom of God can only be seen by those who are born again from the Spirit. It is a spiritual or a heavenly kingdom. It’s in our hearts! Jesus called this ‘true worship’. God is Spirit and true worshippers worship Him in Spirit. There is no more need to travel to an earthly Jerusalem. God can now be worshipped and experienced all over the world, wherever we are! He is in our midst, we are His temple, He dwells with us! That is the heart of the new covenant and the kingdom of God. Of course discovering the truth about the Second Coming raises a thousand questions. Our minds have been so strongly moulded by the ideas from dispensationalism – even if we aren’t aware of it – that we have to transform the way we look at the Bible. We are not living in a waiting room for thousands of years, we are living in the living and present reality of the Kingdom of God. It is not a political kingdom, but a spiritual reality that we enter through the Spirit of God. But… what about the glorified body, the resurrection of the dead, there being no more sickness or grief, the millennium, and so on? MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 10 Some people make the mistake of disregarding the plain truth of the Scriptures, and clinging to the lies of dispensationalism, because they have no clear answer yet about (for example) the millennium. This whole doctrine is based on a couple of verses in a symbolic book But why stay in the darkness of a very obvious, anti-biblical doctrine because you don’t understand the fullness of the truth yet? Let’s recognize what Jesus Christ and the apostles said about the kingdom and the coming of Christ, and acknowledge history that proves how right they were. Once we have a firm foundation of the basic truths, we can then grow into a deeper understanding of the questions we have. But sticking to a destructive deception because you don’t see the whole picture of the truth yet is not helpful. You have the right to have your own views and opinions on the subject of restoration and eschatology; but please be open to the Spirit of Truth for progressive revelation concerning the restoration of all things MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 11 MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 12 MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 13 MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 14 MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 15 MODULE 12: THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS PART 2 SESSION 8 16 Rest is the key to restoration and revelation Start to focus on your breathing, slowing it down, and start thinking of the name of God YHVH Breathe in deeply and exhale slowly: Yod Breathe in Hei and breathe out Vav Repeat: in Hei, out Yod, in Hei, and out Vav… Invite love, joy and peace to flow in you, fill your spirit and soul, and flow through you to create an atmosphere of rest around you You are in a safe place Start to think of an open heaven and set your desire upon it Steps like Jacob’s ladder leading up to heaven Hear the invitation to come up here Shift focus of our mind Walk up those steps to the door Now step through the veil into the kingdom realm Jesus is standing in the doorway Present yourself to Jesus, your High Priest, as a living sacrifice Let Him take you by the hand Ask Him to reveal restoration and the oracles of the Father’s heart Ask Him to take you into the eternal now Ask Him to take you to the fire stones Jesus, please take each person and show them what they need to receive the mandate for restoration Go wherever He takes you Copyright ©2020 Freedom Apostolic Ministries Ltd., a not-for-profit company registered in England. All rights reserved. Company number 10359676. Registered office: Freedom Centre, 1