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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Basic Story of Life, #3
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:26,27)
The Scriptures reveal the pattern of restoration:
In the beginning, man was given His Divine inheritance: the image of God; the capacity for union; fruitfulness; and dominion over the works of God's hands.
Man lost his inheritance through inexperience and rebellion, having been deceived by the devil.
Man was brought under the power of sin and death.
God sent Christ that through Him man might be enabled to throw off the bondage of sin and death and regain his Divine inheritance.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ man regains his inheritance, now multiplied to a vast extent.
Thus the Scriptures are an account of restoration, of redemption (restoring to the original and rightful owners what had been removed from them by trickery, forfeiture, or force). This fact is emphasized in the following passage:
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution [restoration] of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:19-21)
"Times of refreshing." "Times of restitution (restoration)."
The Greek word used in "times of refreshing" signifies a definite, suitable season of opportunity.
The Greek word employed in "times of restitution of all things" is a different term, signifying time as we generally think of time—not opportunity but time itself.
The first word can be found in Hebrews 11:15: "they might have had opportunity to have returned."
The second word is found in Luke 4:5: "in a moment of time."
Definite times in earth's history have been designated by the Lord for various aspects of the program of restoration. Also, God gives to us opportunities for refreshing.
The practical application of this distinction is as follows: there will come periods of time during which certain aspects of restoring mankind are to take place. During these periods of time there will be opportunities that were not as readily available in past eras and will not again be available once the season of opportunity has passed.
We must "make hay while the sun shines," so to speak.
The feasts of the Lord are proclaimed "in their seasons" (Leviticus 23:4). We must step into the waters when they are troubled. We march when there is "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees."
At any given time in history there is a part of the work of restoration that must be performed. Throughout this period there are opportunities for refreshing, for reviving, for claiming the lost inheritance. God's apostles and prophets of each age teach their own generation the present truth proceeding from the throne of the Father in Heaven.
To be continued.