Restoration, Renewing, Refreshing!! 2007/8 06/10/07
There are cataclysmic events going on in the earth right now, and in the church as well. Events that could lead to revival and or, definitely lead to disaster. I think you all know, or should know, that the enemy’s time is very short and he knows it, and is furious [Rev 12:12]. God has always had an answer, and has one now that has been reserved for the last days, and He alone knows how ‘last’ they are. This is to happen in an “afterwards” time. Let’s turn to a word that must, I believe, precede the one I am going to be discussing today. Turn to Acts 3:18-21;
“Thus has God fulfilled what He foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ (the Messiah) should undergo ill treatment and be afflicted and suffer.
So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord:
And that He may send [to you] Christ (the Messiah), Who before was designated and appointed for you – even Jesus,
Whom heaven must receive [and retain] until the time for the complete restoration of all that God spoke by the mouth of all His holy prophets from ages past [from the most ancient rime in the memory of man].” (see Amos 9:11)
What God put in Peter’s heart to say, is in effect, that all our past was erased when we came to Christ Jesus, and that the effect of that event in our life is, that it has added enormous excitement to our future (He’s coming for us), and that a true time of refreshing is upon us, and with it comes new, revelatory wisdom and strength in all weak areas of life and a total rest in our weariest moments. God says, hold fast my children, joy comes in the morning, and you are moving with My move even at this moment. With revelation, all our information is about to come to life.
Since I entitled this lesson, Restoration, Renewing, Refreshing, I think we need to take a look at all three before we go into the session;
Restoration: (Gr) apokathistemi; In scriptures it means to bring back to original, however, wherever we read of this happening, There is always a multiplied, and improved fruit, so that the restored is far better than the beginning article. It is the big event coming.
Note:
The word restoration brings to mind the classic automobile business. They take some of the old, glamorous cars of the past, and begin a restoration process, which involves the removal of every part of the car, every nut, bolt and washer, down to the bare metal and then start to rebuild the jewel all over again. One thing that is always looked for in any classic car show, is that all the parts are of the original design and nothing of generic origin. The outcome is that the restored model is always far better than the original It was truly hand built, and every piece fit to perfection, and we enjoy much of that “old” technology on our present day transportation. And they bring far more money than the original did as well. By the way, the major reason that all this is true, is that they never “mentor” more than one or two cars at a time, never a room full, neither did the original church. The same goes for where we are going today. [an enhanced new life]
Renewal: (Gr) anakainoo: This word implies that the renewed item or person, is new, not recent, but different, a new creation, reading from 2 Cor 4:16; “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” Renewing is God bringing the church to the design He originally planned. It will be different and will be the one that Jesus will build, and it will not be like the one we attend today. It will be lighter in programs and heavier in glory and power. We will come back to this later.
Refreshing: (Gr) anapsuxis: To make cool, to give a rest from the ritual, the leagalism and rigidity that man has devised as the right way, and bring it all into the rest of God.
Thee are three big words that can calm the troubled waters, but will certainly stir a lot of waters on the way, as God puts the transformation into process, and it is beginning now. Man has always had a hard time letting go of his design, after all they fit his own personal liking, and he wants everyone to go his way. We all, unfortunately fit the pattern in one way or another, but God is a pattern maker and, He also knows how to alter one.
Let us turn to Acts 15:11-17, and I know that this is more than we may need to read, but I want to set a stage for what God is speaking, and I believe, to us in our day;
“…we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
Then all the multitude kept silence and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles.
And after they had become silent, James answered saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me:
Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written;
After this I will return
And will rebuild the tabernacle of
David, which has fallen down;
I will rebuild its ruins,
And I will set it up;
So that the rest of mankind may seek
the Lord,
Even all the Gentiles who are called
By My name,
Says the Lord, Who does all these things!
If you go back and read the portion before what was read, you will find that there was great division, because of a number of Gentiles that were coming into the church and the old line was basically demanding that they all be circumcised according to the law. And what followed were the opening shots of the prophesied restoration. This is going to be, I believe, the restoration of the church that we have today, and it will be a massive work, but will be done on God’s schedule, not ours. It will begin, with the destructive force of a grand shaking, as written in Heb.12:25-29 [Message Bible] (HEAR)
“So don’t turn a deaf ear to these gracious words. If those who ignored earthly warnings didn’t get away with it, what will happen to us if we turn our backs on heavenly warnings? His voice that time shook the earth to its foundations; this time – He’s told us this quite plainly – He’ll also rock the heavens: “One last shaking from top to bottom, stem to stern.” The phrase “one last shaking” means a thorough house cleaning, getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered. [God is not historical or religious, but it is His-story!
Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God. For God is not an indifferent bystander. He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed. God Himself is Fire!!
This is the shaking that God is determined to perform, shaking all that has been designed by man, using his own finite wisdom and weak energy, all this will be shaken down. The things that God sees as not shakable, are those that have been built, using His eternal power and wisdom – they will stand and remain strong. This is going to be the opening bell of the restoration of the Tabernacle of David that we read just a few sentences back.. It will require the waiting that we had here in class a few weeks ago. The shaking is going to be all encompassing, we can’t run from it, and where would you go anyway?
The great shaking that the writer prophesied has begun and is continuing in the church today. For the same evils that plagued Israel– seeking to please God by external performance, lapsing into idolatry and moral decay, and worshipping the works of men’s hands, are even now present in much of the so called local churches of our land. Whatever is loosed in the shaking is an absolutely essential must, in the restoration process. (taken from an article by James Robison)
I could take us back to where we might go, to get in on the beginning of the story that we are reaching for. We could look at 1 Chron 20 and 21, reading a story that has been sermonized for years, about David,s fall with Bathsheba and his numbering Israel.
And we would then read of Joab, opposing the idea, saying to David; “Why then does my lord require this counting? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel? So we know that the idea was wrong and that is confirmed in verse 7 where is declares that God was displeased and He smote David. We need not go any further with any of that, its an old story, but the bottom line is that God told Gad, a servant, to go and tell David that he was to set up an altar at the threshing floor of Ornan. Making a long story short, Ornan wanted to give the land and the threshing floor to David, but David refused the offer, saying that there would be no sacrifice without cost and that he would pay full price for the site. David was determined to bring the Ark of the
Covenant back to the city and to the people.
Note: What is He calling us to sacrifice in order to be what He is calling me to be?
I think that we really need to just remember these events, not with a mind on David’s errors and their consequences, but rather a mind on the love and mercy and compassion of God to restore, calling David a man after His own heart. I believe this is the beginning of the restoration of this Tabernacle of David, and it all begins with repentance.
In Psalm 51, David went before God, in the complete attitude of repentance, not turning to an alternate way or other ways to please God, but turning full circle to Him. This restoration is a return to the concepts and ways of the kingdom of God that we are told to seek first. He really wants us as His personal watered garden. It is His compassionate love, bringing about the beginning stage of restoration and renewal. (Read Psalm 51 with this in mind.)
God wants to be our everything. He is, but, we need to come to grips with this in our everyday life. We can do nothing but fail apart from Him, and He is always, in the end, our total resource, and anything we do without His participation is just a waste of time and time is precious, when it is so short. Remember, anything we look to as back up, will end up as a broken cistern, spoken of in Jeremiah 2:13
We started with the restoration of the Tabernacle of David and this was just a beginning of the physical events that went on, at a time when David was establishing a new freedom for the people, because of what was in His heart. We need to understand that this restoration is far from what we might think. There is going to be, as in any change, a departure from old ways and an entrance into a new and exciting arena of God’s rich presence and the restoration is going to be our trip ticket to glory.
David coveted God’s presence and the power of His glory with him and with his people, that they be related intimately to God, so when he brought the ark of the covenant back and placed it on the threshing floor, he put the tent over it without the walls of the law of Moses, yet without violating any of the laws that were in place.
God, then and now desires the same thing, that His people be totally related to Him, being free to come direct to Him, hearing Him, responding to Him, and living from His abundance in all oflife, and that is Zoelife [John 10:10]. He is committed to restore the intimate relationship that was lost in Eden. He is determined, to end all ritualistic form of worship, and lip service devotion, and His determination always wins.
Now, lets get down to business, and we will note, in all places that the tabernacle is even eluded to, there has been division and God is now about His business of gathering His sheep that have been scattered in many pastures, and many wildernesses. The church, through the centuries has been fragmented by numerous denominations, and each one thinking that theirs is the true one, much the same as nations have been broken apart by political parties and that party spirit must be abolished in every area, and the competitive spirit that tends to divide must be put to rest. David hungered to put all the people in the presence of God as one people and he was after the heart of God in this seeking.
Note: Jesus stated 5 times in His prayer in John 17; “Father, I pray that they all be one”. Seems to me that is to be the final outcome because if Jesus prayed it, it will come to pass, because He would only pray what the Father said.
Just so we can see in our private study, the scope of the tabernacle of David, it occurs in many other Scriptures such as in Joel 2:1;
“Blow the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the Lord is coming,
For it is at hand;”
Do you hear the shaking that Joel is seeing? Mt.Zion is the mountain where David placed the tent that the Ark of the Covenant was placed in. Then in Hebrews 12:22, remembering that we read at the first of this lesson verses 26 through 29 which we may read one more time at the end, but listen to vs. 22 through 24;
“But you have come toMt.Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, toGod the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
ToJesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and tothe blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”
The contrast here is between the Old and the New. The Old Covenant of the Law brought fear, separation and division, but the New Covenant brought the blessings of unity and intimacy with our Holy God, thus the reason that the following portion begins to speak of the shaking that we began with. What is beginning to happen is that legalism, judgment and condemnation will be abolished and there will be a new, loving body, reaching out to a hurting world, with the unconditional love of God that beckons all men to come to the pool of His saving grace. The world will see the love of God in His people, with no division, no strategies to gain ground, only love that accepts all who come to Him.
You see I believe that God has longed for the same intimacy that He had with Adam in Eden and David in the fields long ago with the sheep. It was an intimacy so powerful, that it was tried and tested with lions and bears, Sauls and Goliaths, and Philistines and many other enemies, even the lust of the flesh, but, the remembrance of that intimacy always intervened with a repentant heart and a restored soul – “He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
All who believe in Him are being brought back into the household of God, and our destiny is to be conformed to His image. (Romans8:29) God is now leading the bride, to prepare herself, and He is, in the process, freshly anointing her with power and He is dressing her in His glory. Listen to the sounds of heaven, as they, I believe, are practicing their chorus; [Rev 19:6-7]
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. [1Cor4:20]
“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!”
Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
One of the last things that we will see today is that David was a worshipper, and he, wanted to have a people of worship. Now we need to understand one thing. Worship might involve music and singing, but that is not the base. Hear the Lord Jesus, speaking to the Samaritan woman. In John 4:22-24 we read;
“You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.