Reach for the Stars! ~ Bill Britton ~ Chapter 6
He Will Restore
There is to be a restoration! Praise God! Of this
there is no doubt. No devil in hell, no theological disputer, no fearful
doubter can destroy that truth. The very return of Jesus to this earth depends
upon it. For we read in Acts 3:21 that Jesus must remain in heaven “until the
times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all
his holy prophets”. That word restitution means: “to restore”, and that same
Greek word is used only one other place in the Bible, in Acts 1:6 where the
disciples asked Jesus if He was going “to restore” the kingdom at that time.
Notice that the King James translation does not say
that Jesus returns after all things have been restored, but at “the
times of restitution”. Since no one translation gives us all the beauty and
power and truth contained in the original language of scripture, let us look at
a few other translations to get a more complete picture of this scripture. In
the AMPLIFIED New Testament we read: “Whom heaven must receive and retain until
the time for the complete restoration of all that God spoke”. Yes, it is to be
a COMPLETE restoration! WUEST Expanded translation of the New Testament says:
“it is a necessity in the nature of the case for heaven indeed to receive
(Jesus) until times when all things will be restored to their pristine glory”.
Yes, praise God, His creation had a pristine glory which we know nothing about,
for we have never seen it. But it shall be restored! The MOFFATT New Testament
says that the Lord will send Jesus Christ back to earth, “who must be kept in
heaven till the period of the great Restoration.” Yes, we are living in the
last days, the times of The Great Restoration. And it is not done in one minute,
or one day, but it is a PERIOD of restoration. WEYMOUTH’S New Testament calls
it “the times of the reconstitution of all things.” KNOX says “when all is
restored anew”. RIEU says: “until the whole world is re-created.” The N.T. in
Basic English says: “when all things are put right”. The LIVING LETTERS
translation puts it: “until the final recovery of all things from sin”. So by
the mouth of eight more witnesses have we established the truth that there will
be a time when all creation will be restored to it’s original glory, and that
this will be a complete work, and that all things will be made right. And
during this time of reconstruction or restoration, Jesus will return from the
invisible realm of heaven where He now is, to the visible realm of this earth
where He will be seen in His body.
First of all, we see a terrible lack of things being
right, or in divine order. There is a divine order for creation, for life on
this earth. There is a proper order for animal life, vegetable life, and human
life. But all things are out of order, in terrible chaos. The curse must be
lifted, every enemy put under our feet. Divine order for the universe must be
restored. All creation is groaning and crying for release from the curse of
decay and death. And everything hinges on that body of Sons that are to be
manifested in a perfect state of divine order. Books could be written about all
that is to be affected by this great restoration, and the manifestation of the
Sons, but I must limit this message to the restoration of the true church of
Jesus Christ, His Body in the earth.
Compare the condition today of the Church in general
(or that which calls itself the Church), and the picture found in Ephesians
5:25-27: “Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might
present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Glory to God, what
a Church! A blemish speaks of a flaw in the basic structure of the material or
garment. A spot is dirt or filth from the outside that has been imposed upon
the garment, even if the basic structure of the garment itself is perfect. A
wrinkle could be in a clean and perfect piece of material, and speaks of the
lack of perfect straightness in it’s setup or structure. Today we see all these
things in the church systems, even the best of them. But His Church in
Ephesians has been washed, cleansed, and sanctified. When men speak of “coming
out of the Church” today, and that the “Church age” is about over, they are
talking about the systems of men, and not about this glorious Church without
spot or wrinkle. For this is His Body, and it is eternal. The true Church is
not an “age”, it is a spiritual organism, manifesting Christ through the
ages. We are being brought INTO this Church, not out of it. The systems
of men are passing away, and there is to be a great restoration of His Church.
The whole creation cries out for it.
Romans 8:18, 22 tells us that there are sufferings in
this present time, but they are not worthy to be compared with the GLORY that
is to be revealed IN US! It goes on to say that all creation waits for the
manifestation of the Sons of God, BECAUSE at this time creation shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption, and restored to it’s pristine glory.
It says inverse 23 that we also who have the Holy Ghost groan within ourselves,
waiting for this to take place. Now if there was a perfect and glorious Church
already in the earth, we would not be groaning by the Holy Ghost in us for it
to be brought into being. There is a great need for restoration. This is an
indisputable fact. No scripture is available that tells us about a need for the
Church to escape from this earth in a “rapture”. Jesus prayed (John 17:5): “I
pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldest keep them from the evil.”
He promised it to Abraham. In Hebrews 11:8-9 we see
Abraham going out in obedience to the call of God, into a land of promise,
always looking for a city built by God Himself. He was not satisfied with the
earthly conditions as he found them in his day. But God had given him a
promise, praise God, and it says that Isaac and Jacob were heirs with him of
the same promise. They saw the promises of God afar off, were persuaded of
them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. They declared plainly they were seeking a country.
The promise of this glorious kingdom was given to
David. 1 Chronicles 17:11-14 tells how God spoke to David through the prophet
and promised to establish a kingdom and a throne. God promised that His House
would be built and established. He said nothing about this being done up in
heaven somewhere. He promised that this would come through the seed of David,
of his sons. Hebrews chapter 2 says that we don’t “yet” see this throne or
dominion established on this earth, but we see it fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
The Restoration was promised to the prophets. EZEKIEL
saw it in the glory of a restored Temple. When he went to Babylon with the
Captives, the temple at Jerusalem was in smoldering ruins. No hope that their
enemies would ever allow them to get strong enough again to rebuild the Holy
City and the Temple. But there in a captive land, Ezekiel had visions of God,
and he saw the temple restore, and the glory of God returning to it in a
greater way than ever before. He saw a restored ministry, ministering unto the
Lord in the Holy of Holies, wearing their garments of glory.
HAGGAI, who was a prophet of the restoration following
the Babylonian captivity, saw that the glory of the latter house would be
greater than the glory of the former. ZECHARIAH, another prophet contemporary
with Haggai, saw the cleansing of the Priesthood, and the casting down of the
accuser of the brethren. JOEL was allowed to see the harvest restored, and the
glory of God’s great Army. The world had never seen the like of such a people
as Joel saw in the Spirit. DANIEL saw the glory of the “Son of Man”, and saw
him overcome all the forces of this world system with it’s powers of darkness.
Daniel saw the restoration of that glorious Manchild company to a place of dominion
and authority. ISAIAH saw the glory of Zion, and the blessings of the Kingdom
age under the government of our Lord and His Christ. JEREMIAH saw the fall of
the Babylon system. In Jeremiah 50:28, 46 we read: “The voice of them that flee
and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the
Lord our God, the vengeance of His temple. At the noise of the taking of
Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.” Jeremiah
saw the Sons of God as the weapon God would use to destroy Babylon… 51:19-20…
“The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things; and
Israel is the rod of His inheritance; for the Lord of hosts is His name. Thou
art my battle-axe and weapons of war; for with thee will I break in pieces the
nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms.
Jeremiah saw the return of Israel from Babylon, a
wonderful picture of the restoration of the Church. In chapter 32 of Jeremiah
we see a story of how God gives the prophet a promise of the land being
restored. He tells Jeremiah to buy a piece of land, although it is going to be
unoccupied and worthless for 70 years. He tells him to take the evidence of the
purchase and seal it in an earthen vessel as proof of his possession. This is
to be a sign that the land of promise, the inheritance, shall again be
possessed in it’s fulness by the people. Verses 14-15 says: “Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the
purchase, both which is sealed, this evidence which is open; and put them in an
earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. For thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be
possessed again in this land.” And in verse 42… “For thus saith the Lord; Like
as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I
bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be
bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or
beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans (Babylon)”.
So now we see that God says that it is He that has
subjected the creation to this vanity, and that it is He that shall restore. So
it does not depend upon you or I, friend, although God in His grace has been
pleased to use us as instruments in His plan.
And now we see the spiritual fulfillment of this
parable or promise given to Jeremiah, in the New Testament in Ephesians
1:13-14… “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of
promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” To get a
richer and fuller picture of that verse we go to the Amplified New Testament
where it says that we “were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy
Spirit. That Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance--the first fruit, the
pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage--in anticipation of it’s
full redemption and our acquiring complete possession of it, to the praise of
His glory”.
Notice that the deed to Jeremiah’s possession in the
land of inheritance was sealed and placed in an earthen vessel. 2 Corinthians
4:7 tells us that “We have this treasure in earthen vessels”. So we see that
the New Testament explains that the Holy Ghost has been put in an earthen
vessel, and this has been sealed as a guarantee of our receiving the fulness of
our inheritance. Now Pentecostal preachers may object to the idea of a restored
and perfect Church (though I don’t know why they should). They may preach
against an Overcoming Army putting all enemies under their feet on this earth.
They may warn their people against listening to preachers that tell them they
can be and will be filled with all the fulness of God. They may doubt and scoff,
but every time they speak in tongues, or give an interpretation or prophecy, or
any other manifestation of the Spirit by which they have been sealed, they are
manifesting the guarantee that all the above is true, and that God will
bring it about in the fulness of time. So preachers (and all you pentecostal
people as well), if you don’t believe in the restoration of the inheritance,
and our obtaining full possession of our promised land, then don’t be a
hypocrite… quit speaking in tongues or manifesting the “guarantee”. The vessel
is sealed, and you can’t get away from it. Glory to God! No wonder I get
edified and become so happy talking in tongues. What a promise! What a glorious
Redeemer!
The primary purpose of the restoration is the
vindication of God’s wisdom in making Man as He did. He has an eternal purpose
in Christ, and the bringing about of this purpose involves the restoration of
God’s glorious Church. In Ephesians 3:10 we read that Paul was given grace to
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see the fellowship
of this mystery, “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of
God.”
In Ezekiel 32:16-38, we hear God telling the prophet how that His people had failed Him and profaned His name among the “heathen”. Therefore He let them be captured by these same heathen, and go into captivity. What a picture of mankind, God’s crowning creation, profaning His image in the sight of the fallen angels, principalities and powers, demons and devils. So God has permitted mankind in general to be taken captive by the powers of darkness, and thus we see the reason for the world being in the awful condition it is in today, subjected to death, sorrow, pain, sickness, and sin.
But then we hear the promise of God to bring them out
of that captivity, to restore them to their former glory, and even beyond that.
But He makes it plain that Israel did not do the restoring, nor did they deserve
it. He did it, in order to sanctify His name and His wisdom in the sight
of the heathen, the powers of darkness. He says (verse 36): “Then the heathen
that are left round about you shall know that I the Lord build the ruined
places, and plant that that was desolate; I the Lord have spoken it, and I will
do it.” So we see that Israel is restored while heathen are still round about
her. There will be no ultimate binding of Satanic forces and powers until God
has restored the Church His Body to a greater glory than it has ever known
before. Satanic powers shall see this done, in spite of all their efforts to
stop it, THEN shall they be put under feet, defeated and bound forever. Praise
God, what a Plan!
This Church, His Body, is the fulness of Him that
filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:23). He deserves a Body that is strong,
victorious, pure and glorious. He will not have an eternal Body that continues
to do things “in part” (1 Cor. 13:9-10). But the perfect must replace the part.
The glorious must replace the spotted. This will come about during the times of
Restoration, at which time Jesus shall return to this earth realm, first of all
to be seen by and manifested in His sons in this earth. I do not pretend that
this short message shall in any way fully explain the ultimate of God’s program
and plan for the ages to come. I am only dealing with the Restoration of the
Church and creation, at which time the Lord shall return from heaven (Acts
3:21).
This Church will be reproductive. It has the power of
creation, the power to reproduce itself. And this shall be done, until all the
world has been re-birthed into the image of Christ. Today we see an imperfect
Church, receiving an imperfect seed from an imperfect Ministry, and bringing
forth imperfect Children who are all their life time subject to death, as well
as to chastisements and scourgings to bring them into Sonship. Of course we
know that the true Word of God is perfect, but if the Ministry were preaching
that perfect word, they would all be speaking the same things. And this shall
be done. For God will restore His Church till it is without spot or wrinkle,
having no blemish. And He will restore His ministry until we have a ministry
that brings forth the Word without error or mixture. I realize that’s hard to
believe, but it’s going to be so just the same. Then when a perfect ministry
puts a perfect and pure Seed (or Word) into a perfect Church, then the world
will be evangelized completely with converts that are birthed out of darkness
right into the likeness and life of God. So now God is interested in restoring
the true Church and the true Ministry, and the evangelizing of the world will
come naturally… or should I say supernaturally?
This restored and perfect Church, His Body, is
expressed on earth in local assemblies. These are assemblies where there is no
division, no sectarianism, where all see eye to eye. These are places or
gatherings where we can worship God as He intended us to worship. Scattered
across the face of the earth, these assemblies have perfect unity, edifying one
another, loving one another. The old system of churchianity, the Babylon system
of sectarianism, is fallen. No more will people gather to the old harlot. She
is finished. Her flesh is burnt with fire.
What we see now are local assemblies or gatherings
with imperfect people not yet fully delivered from the Adamic nature, preaching
imperfect revelations while working under an imperfect order. Yet all the time,
these imperfect ones are crying to God for divine guidance, and moving toward a
Great Restoration of all that is perfect and pure. And I’m for them! Call them
old order if you will. Stay at home, read your Bible or watch your T.V., and
keep declaring that you will not be a part of that which is yet imperfect. As
for me, I am joined by the Spirit to those whose hearts are pressing on in God,
and when the Restoration is complete and the Church is perfect, I expect to be
a part of that also. We are NOT part of the old harlot system of
religion. We are pressing on to the fulness of God. If you have divine
revelation, don’t keep it to yourself. No man liveth unto himself. Be a part of
what God is doing. Give us your strength and fellowship. Let us go on together.
That which God is bringing forth will be perfect, it
will be sinless, deathless, and gloriously victorious! The restoration of this
glorious Church, of God’s Kingdom to this earth, is what brings back the King!
You want Jesus to come again? Then open your heart for all that God is doing in
this hour. Malachi chapter 4, and Matthew 17:11 tells us that there is a
ministry that shall come and restore all things. Matthew 6:10 lets us
know that God’s Kingdom shall surely come to this earth life, to this physical
realm. Believe it! It’s truth, and it’s Life! There will be a full Restoration!
Glory to His great Name!
Not only is there to be a restored and perfect Church,
but the true ministry is to be restored also. We had it in Jesus Christ. In Him
we see a Shepherd King who had a heart for God’s people, and authority to do
something about it. This is the ministry that God will restore to His Church.
And true worship will be restored. There has been a trend back to true
spiritual worship by the saints who are pressing toward Sonship, while at the
same time the Apostate church has gone in the opposite direction with programs,
entertainment, formality, jazz bands, and even rock and roll dances in the
church to attract the people. But the world has yet to see the true worship as
God has planned for His people to enter into. This will be part of the Great
Restoration.
There will be a restored Righteousness. All forms of
self righteousness will disappear. All sin and uncleanness will be removed from
His Body. Then shall that scripture come to pass: “Be ye holy, even as your
Father in heaven is holy”. And with this will come a restore Dominion over all
the works of God’s hands. God prepared this from the beginning, but man lost
it. And thank God that it was lost on that realm of the soulish
man. For it shall be recovered, or restored, on a much higher plane of a
life-giving spiritual realm.
Praise God that we are living in the times of this
Restoration. It is the greatest Day in the history of Man. Even those who have
gone ahead by way of the grave are coming back to take part of this great
program of God. This is not some form of spiritism, but it is just plain Bible
fact that when Jesus returns to this visible earth realm, those that are passed
on will He bring with Him. Glory to God, what a reunion! We have always
pictured this as some sort of gathering in the sky, somewhere about a million
miles or so out in space, I suppose, but I have good news for you… It’s going
to be far greater and more glorious than that! Not only you and I, but all
creation as well will be thrilled with what God brings about in this great and
glorious Restoration! It is at hand. The Word of God, as well as the witness of
the Spirit, makes us to know that this is not for some other generation. It is
now! It is here! Be ready! Prepare yourself! Cast aside all doubt and fear!
Flee from the bondage of Babylon! “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come
away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear
on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the
voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.”