Restoration part 1
I want to focus on something very important for this Rant series. One of the (many) things that Jesus came to do on His earth walk, and completely finished in His death, burial, and resurrection--also known as the cross. I want to focus on the idea of restoration. And really, there's no better way to say it than this, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). The days of heaven on earth, as Deuteronomy 11:21 puts it. Because that's how things were in the beginning. The garden of Eden was the paradise of God. The finished work. And when you fast forward to Revelation you see New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. You see a return to what was God's original plan. Because Jesus was never Plan B. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God knew what man was all about--He created man after all. And He knew what He was going to do. Romans 5:18-19 in the MSG Bible puts it like this, "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right." And Matthew 19:28 in the Amplified Bible refers to the cross as the Messianic rebirth of the world. When the consuming fire that is God burned away everything except Himself. Everything except love. Purifiying us even as He melted our hearts. Returning us to the way it was in the beginning when the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and then, taking it a step further, the Word took up abode WITHIN us. At the appointed time, 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to put things right. To restore things. In earth, as it is in heaven. He brought heaven to earth. He put things in Divine Order. And He did it on a very personal level. In Mark chapter 3 there is a man with a withered hand. (Which can, of course, refer to the state of the five-fold ministry when we get caught up in religion. Balling up the fist, or using it as a backhand instead of extending the hand to help people up when they're down. But that's a whole different Rant.) Look at verse 5, "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other." Jesus restored the man's hand. Regardless--in fact, in the face of--any religious traditions. Because that's who Jesus is. He is our Redeemer. He is the restorer. And He didn't make a big deal out of the healing either. He came to set things right, so all He did was tell the man to stretch out his hand. (And there's a lot to be said about God stretching us, but, again, I digress.) The point is, from heaven's point of view, there was nothing wrong with the hand. It was withered, but it just needed to be stretched out. Things needed to be put right. Things needed to be REVEALED as they really are. And that's what happens when the light shines--we can see things as they really are. We can see things clearly. And then we can see that we HAVE the Divine Nature, we simply need to partake of it. Things ARE in Divine Order, we simply need to see it that way!