restoration

Letter 190 (restoration)                                                        01/08/03 

We hear a lot these days about renewal, restoration, and revival. The move of YHVH’s Spirit is making itself known in many corners of the globe.  However, are these showers of refreshing only an indication of the ‘much more’ which is to come?   The following scripture would indicate that this indeed is the case: “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of YHVH; and that He may send Yeshua the Messiah appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the periods of time of restoration of all things about which YHVH spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient times”  (Acts: 3:19-21). ).  It is very interesting to note that the Hebrew word for “restore” is the same as for “repent” - “shoov.”  This term also has other shades of meanings such as: to turn back to a starting point, to come back home, recall, recompense, recover, refresh, relieve, requite, rescue, retrieve, reverse, reward.

As we journey back to the “ancient times”, we find the prophets quite consistent about a “restoration”, especially of the house of Jacob. One of the first assignments given to the Messiah, for example, was: “to bring Jacob back in order that Israel might be gathered to Him...to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel” (Is. 49:5). “The [two] sticks on which you have written shall be in your hand before their eyes; and say to them, ‘thus says YHVH; ‘Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land.  And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all’” (Ez. 37:20-22).

The restoration of the “falling booth [succah] of David” (united Israel), in Acts 15:16, is another example of Jacob’s restoration as a national entity.  The angel speaking to Miriam about Yeshua said that, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and YHVH will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:32-33).

The last verse written by the last of the prophets from the “ancient times”, Malachi, also has to do with this latter day restoration: “He will restore [or turn]  the hearts of the children to the fathers”  (Mal. 4:6).  Who are the children? Who are the fathers?  In the Tanach, the word “fathers” almost always refers to the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the word “children” to their progeny, or seed.  

Throughout the scriptures we see YHVH working or doing things secretly, things that are hidden from the eyes of our understanding; For example when YHVH multiplied the seed of Abraham, He did it without the Patriarchs’ knowledge, as we see in the following passages: “You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not recognize us, yet You are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name” (Is. 63:16). “Therefore thus says YHVH, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, ‘Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale; But when He sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will sanctify My name’” (Jer.29:22-24).   

In YHVH’s prophetic time He will reveal, lift the veils and bring to light that which He Himself has hidden.  Are we in that great hour of revelation-restoration, when the sons of Zion arise and shine with the light that comes from the glory of YHVH (ref. Is. 60)? Are these the times of the restoration of the two sticks, the two nations, or the two families? Are the children yearning for their true identity? Are they looking for their roots, and desiring to return home sometimes without even understanding why?  Is this the time in which YHVH Himself is acting upon the hearts in answer to the prayer of our forefathers: “Restore us to Yourself YHVH, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old” (Lam.5:21)?

“I have surely heard Ephraim grieving ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for You are YHVH my Elohim’” (Jer. 31:18). Is this the time when God’s blazing judgments upon the house of Joseph end, and His loving kindness and compassion begin? Ephraim (the whole house of Joseph) was called a gentile, not my people, an outcast, the banished ones and an orphan.  But now, in the Messiah, the Ephraimites are called vessels of mercy, watchmen, priest of the most High God and sons of the living God.  “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.  I will gather you from the remotest parts of the earth, with weeping you shall come, with supplication I will lead you; a great company you shall return here [to the land] for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn” (Jer.31:3, 8-9).

The above statement to the Ephraimites is of paramount importance to their restoration and healing, especially from the wounds of rejection and torment.  Ephraim has been an orphan for over 2,500 years, and therefore does not know the Father’s love.   These returning sons need to receive into their heart this word from a loving heavenly Father: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness”.   Because of their losses orphans many times are filled with bitterness.  There is one sure way of getting rid of these tormenting spirits, and that is to embrace the Father’s love through His Son and our Messiah Yeshua.

“Therefore behold days are coming, ‘declares YHVH, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As YHVH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but ‘As YHVH lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them, for I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers’” (Jer.16:14-15).

“In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel [Ephraim], and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave their fathers as an inheritance” (Jer. 3:18).

Ephraim