LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Restoring All Things
"...until the time of the restoration of all things..." (Acts 3:21).
Much is said about restoration; however, we often forget from where the fall began and from where God will begin to restore. When God created all things, he saw that all his creation, man and woman, were very good, until by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death (Rom. 5:12). Satan, the serpent of old, became the prince of this world, to have the rule of death, and the world came under the power of the evil one.
Immediately we see an abyss calling another abyss: death in the family, bigamy, great cities, orgies, wars, until total corruption came (Gen. 6:5). God sent judgment upon the earth, but saved eight souls. Generations passed after that: the rise and fall of Israel, the rise and fall of the Lord's church, until our days.
In the fullness of time, our Lord Jesus came, and the Father gathered all things together in him, both things in heaven and things on earth. He consummated all things. He died, and rose again, and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, far above all principality and authority, and above every name that is named (Eph. 1:21). Heaven received him until the restoration of all things; then he will return, and all this God spoke by the mouth of his prophets from the beginning.
But where did the fall begin? By one man, as the Word teaches us. The restoration of the Lord begins by the salvation of man, by regeneration (James 1:17-18). Salvation begins with one person, but then extends to the whole family: "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham" (Luke 19:9).
After the fall of man, we see the family being reached. If the family is destroyed and remains so, there is no way to restore other things. God first saves an individual and then, through that person, extends salvation to his entire household. We cannot participate in the restoration of the Lord in the other things if in our house there are still people who are under the power of darkness. Abraham's blessing is for all the families of the earth (Gen. 12:3).
The promise of the Spirit is for us and for our children (Joel 2:28-29). It is the Lord's promise to restore all things until Jesus comes. He began with us, and now He will extend it to our family; then to the testimony through the church, the government, the heavens, the earth and all things. "Without me you can do nothing", said our Lord. He is not a man that He should lie.