Study #459 – The Restoration Of All Things And The Promises

Act 3:19 “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, 21 whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.

It seems obvious that Jesus will NOT come again until the restoration of all things spoken by the prophets. All the Promises of the Father that were given through the prophets MUST be fulfilled. This is not just a mater of interpretation. The heavens are retaining HIM now and His second coming will not take place until the restoration of ALL things pertaining to God’s Eternal Purpose that was revealed through the prophets. Jesus will NOT come again until EVERYTHING spoken by the prophets is fulfilled. In other words, the “restoration of all things” IS the time table for the second coming and not just what is happening in Israel.

However, the Father had promised through Joel to baptize the believers (all flesh) with or in the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught His disciples of this “baptism” and told them what to expect when the Holy Spirit came. John 14 - 15 and 16 contains some of this instruction. In John 17 Jesus told them the purpose of this promise when it is fulfilled. He also taught them for 40 days about the Kingdom which ties all this together with the New Covenant in His blood.

Act 1:4 And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

It is foolish and certainly not honest to separate the Promise of the Father from the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is disingenuous (stupid) to pretend the Promise of the Father passed away with the last disciple. We might even say “they are lying to the people.

Act 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 “For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.”

We wonder what could possibly be the agenda of professional theologians or pastors for blatantly lying to the congregations about the Promise of the Father. It is very obvious that the Promise of the Father extends to all generations and includes even the greater things that were spoken through a diverse group of prophets of different time periods.

Act 2:15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; Act 2:16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT UPON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 18 EVEN UPON MY BOND SLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy. 19 ‘AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE, AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BENEATH, BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE. 20 ‘THE SUN SHALL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS, AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD, BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.

If we had the space we could directly link the prophesies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Joel, Amos and others to the Promise of the Father which includes the New Covenant. Even Moses spoke of the coming of the Messiah when he said that the Lord would raise up a prophet like him and whom ever would not listen to Him would be cut off. The question we are presenting here is this; If you refuse the Promise of the Father are you then refusing the New Covenant because the Promise precedes the New Covenant and is an integral part of it. The Promise of the Father is necessary to make the New Covenant whole and complete and to provide the necessary inner Life to walk in the Kingdom dimension and to meet its demands. We might say that the Kingdom Life begins in the Promise of the Father.

The prophesy of Joel is directly tied to the Promise of the Father which in this segment mentioned here IS confirmed to be the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. I am assuming this “Baptism” is just preliminary and an introduction to the whole Promise which includes the New Covenant and the Kingdom of God and the second coming of the Lord and even the New Jerusalem and the bride of Christ.

These things are NOT hidden in some dark sayings that are difficult to understand. Why then all this confusion about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit? We must relate the confusion about its present reality to substituting concepts and doctrines for the real life experience. Concepts are related to flesh and truth is related to Spirit { The Spirit of Truth}. Rejecting the obvious / open / revealed Truth is the same as rejecting the Spirit of Truth which is a very serious offence. When we reject truth we end up believing a lie.

Isa 59:20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD. 21 “And as for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

This is another segment of the “Covenant” connected to the “Redeemer / Messiah and another part of the whole Promise of the Father. This “experience” is an integral part of the Promise and essential to its fulness. In other words, IF this is NOT our actual experience, WHY NOT? It is a part of the Promise of the Father. Maybe we should add the plural because there are many PROMISES and each one is valid and available to us.

If these things are NOT our actual experience, should we then lie to others and tell them this has passed away with the last Apostle? Should we justify our poverty or should we seek God for the reality of the Promise in our experience and recover from our poverty.

Does this Promise / Covenant in Isaiah 59 actually say that the exact same Spirit which was upon the Redeemer will be upon each of us who turn from transgression? Jesus had the Holy Spirit in fulness or without measure. Does this actually say that we should have the same unmeasurable Spirit that was upon Him to be upon us?

Does this really say that the exact same Word that was in the Redeemer’s mouth should be in our mouth and then NOT depart from our mouth forever? Surely if we cannot believe God for the introduction to the Promise of the Father [the Baptism in the Holy Spirit] we will not be able to believe God for this segment of the Promise [to become a minister of the Word rather than a “minister of the Bible verses”].

In Venezuela they called this “confrontational preaching” and asked me to explain this “new” kind of preaching. My answer is this: Truth is always confrontational because it must confront the lie in order to expose it! Since there is a truck load of lies preached as Truth there must be a truck load of Truth preached to confront the lies. However, some of our preaching is just “defensive” to defend truth we think we know. The Promise of the Father is certainly not defensive but is action packed, offensive, confrontational and overcoming all excuses. Can the natural mind understand the magnitude and essential nature of the Promise of the Father? Obviously, it cannot and what is visible in the church system confirms this fact by all the confusion demonstrated.

If we preach Isaiah 59 as another doctrine, explaining every word from the Hebrew lexicon, mixing our words with some theoretical concepts about the author and the times in which he lived, and the king that was ruling Israel at that time but never expect anybody to walk in this Truth, experientially, what possible good will that kind of ministry / teaching do to change the situation? This “Promised Experience” would be revolutionary in the church, restore Truth and certainly convince the world that Jesus is the Christ more than what we see today in the church service.

If we tell other people that “You ought to walk in this Truth” but we can’t walk in this Truth, how convincing will our WORDS of exhortation be?

When a fundamentalist reads these words he will scoff because he will think that we are trying to get saved by “experience” rather than by faith only. He will turn this revealed Truth to some abstract argument about grace and faith but always focusing upon “salvation” as the final goal of every scripture. Isaiah 59 is actually “restoration of all things” and not another “salvation” scripture.

Is the Kingdom of God just a metaphor for heaven or for eternity, as some say, or is the Kingdom of God an experiential reality beginning in our new inner Life? Does the “Promise of the Father” extend to a visible Christian Life that can be seen by the world so they will know that the Father sent Jesus to fulfill His eternal purpose?

John 17:20 “I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. 22 “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.

What IF the answer to this prayer fully depends upon our receiving the Full Promise of the Father and ALL the provisions in the New Covenant. What if we ignore the “Promise of the Father” but faithfully preach this verse and assure our congregation that this prayer WILL be fulfilled. It may be assumed that “they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know” will happen without our being a part of the fulfillment of this prayer. It should be obvious that these verses describe the New Covenant provision. “I will live in them and walk in them” is the basis of the New Covenant and the means by which mankind can fulfill the eternal purpose of God and bring joy to God’s heart and walk in the Kingdom demands as real life experiences.

Is it possible that all this “division of the groups” into “church sects” is just the result of ignorance or rejection of the “Promise of the Father”, the New Covenant Provision and the Kingdom Government of God as real Life experiences? Is it possible that this “Promise” is now just conceptual with no expectation of actual fulfillment in our experience? Should we ignore our responsibility and cop out by insisting upon “That they may be one” must have passed away with the last Apostle because we don’t see that today.

Over the years we have seen groups that decided it was time this verse was fulfilled so they bought property to live together and become one. Of course this “human effort” did not work. Why? A complete “restoration” of the new inner man is necessary before this “oneness” is possible. Gathering together half converted people to try to fulfill this verse has always failed.

One of the major promises that God made through the prophets is that He will make a completely NEW COVENANT with Israel and include the Gentiles in its wonderful provision. He promised that He will live in His called out ones and walk in them and then they would be HIS people. He would forgive their sins and their iniquities (lawlessness) He would remember no more.

Act 15:15 “And with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 ‘AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT, 17 IN ORDER THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,’ 18 SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM OF OLD.

This prophesy was given by Amos in chapter 9 but there are dozens of other prophesies that speak of this “restoration of all things” and add many wonderful things that increase our expectations of “greater works shall you do.” Many ask me what about the “greater works” that Jesus spoke? When can we expect that to happen? My answer is this; ANY TIME when we can participate in the “restoration of all things” including the Promise of the Father, the New Covenant and the Kingdom Government of God. We are NOT waiting upon God to work but He is waiting upon us to fulfill the necessary preparation. In our partially converted state, if God did the greater works, we would begin to take to glory for “the greater works” to our self.

It is my opinion and other pastors agree that “these greater works” will not be completed by “gifts” but by the ANOINTING upon the Inner Life of the New Inner Man. This is the realm where the Anointing teaches us ALL things. This not “gifts” but the manifest Presence of God doing His Work. This specifically requires the Holy Spirit without measure or the Seven Spirits of God resting upon and illuminating the Lampstand Church.

Since the Lampstand Church was revealed to be in the Holy Place it is logical that ALL the Outer Court foundations must be experiential in our life as living experiences. After we pass through the Second Veil ( which was not torn) we arrive at a new dimension of spiritual Inner Life illumination. The anointing then moves from upon us (Outer Court) to within us (Holy place). This is what we call being converted as far as the Holy Place and the Lampstand Church. Those who are only “converted” as far as the visible church and its customs should look forward to being converted as far as the Church which IS His body.

Our understanding is that this “conversion” requires us to receive each and every foundational experience available to us in the Outer Court dimension. This we could call the full Outer Court Conversion. Even though this “concept” offends many church people we should have some explanation for the “forgiveness of sins” provision that includes the half-saved or barely saved that attend the church but produce nothing eternal.

If these different dimensions of Christian experience offend us maybe we shouldn’t even mention the further preparation to participate in the Most Holy Place Life and ministry. Of course this is where Jesus took up His ministry on the Throne at the right hand of God. This will also be the position of the Overcomers, the Sons of God, the Kingdom of Priests and the Bride of Christ. To pretend that those who are barely saved will sit upon the throne of God and inherit the Kingdom is rather ridiculous. These “barely saved” will be VERY THANKFUL just be accepted upon the New Earth after having just qualified for the minimum to escape hell and make heaven their home. However, they just inherit the first heaven while the overcomers inherit the third heaven. After Paul saw the third heaven nothing else mattered and he was always pressing on achieve to the highest heaven.

Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

If the three heavens are not preached how will the saints know what Paul was pressing toward? Exactly where are we running the race to and what is the goal? Paul knew he had not yet achieved the perfection that was needed. Still, he was pressing toward the upward or ascending call. Was that just for him or is that for any who will pay the price?

Then first restoring the Vision and Understanding of the magnitude of “The Restoration of All Things” should be our first priority. If these “things” were just objective or external or conceptual we could just wait for God to do everything. But what IF these “restoration of all things” was subjective and was a work that God had to do in us to prepare us to take our place in His Eternal Purpose? What IF the heavens must retain Jesus until God had fully prepared a full grown bride for His Son? Suppose God must still work in us until we came to “perfection” which is to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Let us assume that Jesus is NOT returning for a baby bride or for a bunch of under-comers or carnal Christians. Let us just pretend that the ministries are not concerned about the maturity of the believers but just that we needed to win more souls from hell. How long will the heavens retain Jesus? What IF God was waiting for all things to be restored in the believers and waiting until they became the completed Lampstand Church that Jesus is presently building? Would praying and fasting for God to “come quickly” do any good?

Or let us look at the “restoration” from the viewpoint of the Heavenly Mount Zion, the eternal Mountain of God. The Bible calls this “the perfection of beauty or Zion.”

Psalm 102:16 For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.

The Lord is now building up Zion. When it is built THEN He will appear in His glory. This has nothing to do with Israel but with the completion of the Eternal City of God; The New Jerusalem.

Psalm 48:2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion in the far north, The city of the great King. 3 God, in her palaces, Has made Himself known as a stronghold.

Isa 33:14 Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?” 15 He who walks righteously, and speaks with sincerity, He who rejects unjust gain, And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil; 16 He will dwell on the heights; His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him; His water will be sure. 17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will behold a far-distant land.

But we have been told that all believers will see His face. NO! Only the Bond-servants shall see His face.

Rev 22:3 And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; 4 and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.

Building the Eternal Zion requires ONLY Silver, Gold or Precious Stones. No wood, hay or straw can dwell in the consuming fire of Zion; the manifest Presence of God. Sinners in Zion are terrified and trembling has seized the godless. It is for this reason that God is continually working in us both to will and to do His good pleasure.

Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.

Rev 3:17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent.

Since this rebuke and warning was given to the Lampstand Church in Laodicea, it should be a continuous and severe warning for everyone who is still satisfied to limit themselves to the visible church and not press on to the perfection of the Holy Place. IF we overcome in the dimension of the Holy Place, He will elevate us to the next dimension which is the Most Holy Place and the Throne of God.

Rev 3:21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Rev 3:12 ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

These are the “Promises of the Son” and these also are very important. The Promises of the Father should provide the “restoration of all things” so that we can then overcome the difficulties of the ascending life and receive the title of “overcomer” and participate in the Eternal “Promises of the Son!” Some of these “promises” include the New Jerusalem, the Throne of God, the Temple of God and ruling over the nations but all require that we first overcome in the Holy Place dimension. It should be obvious that none of these things apply to the casual believer who has not even completed the seven Outer Court preparations. It is difficult to imagine how these public ministries can promise the casual believer anything. Maybe we could call this the “promises of the church system” but they are empty promises.

John 14:2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

This is also the “Promise of the Son” but there are many more “promises” in John 14-15 and 16. It is really amazing how few of these “Promises” we actually believe and how few we have experienced. It is much easier just to declare that all these “promises” were done away with when the last Apostle died. Now all the promises are canceled so we don’t have to overcome anything now. Why? Because the grace of God covers our apathy and failures. This scripture reveals that the Father’s House is already full. There are very many dwelling places there but somebody already dwells in them. However, now the Son has determined to prepare a different place for His bride. That place IS the New Jerusalem / Mount Zion. When it is completed He will come again to receive the bride to Himself so she will be forever with Him.

Rev 21:9 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

The city IS the Bride. To prepare the city for His bride he must prepare the Bride to become the city. Why? Because the bride IS the city. Since the City is made up of Gold and Precious Stones it reveals why God will not permit us to build with any other material like wood, straw or hay. Not even silver can be used to build in this New Jerusalem dimension. The perfection of the city IS the perfection of the bride.

Because this is all of a higher dimension, we cannot understand these things from the dirt dimension or from the natural mind. From the natural mind we ask “How can the city be the bride, the wife of the Lamb?” From the earth realm we insist that this makes no sense. But the Book of Revelation is not of the dirt realm so interpreting this book with the natural mind is the reason we have so many conflicting interpretations of the end time, the great Tribulation and the final harvest. This whole Book of Revelation is beyond the capacity of the natural mind. Then what transformation must we have to correctly interpret the Book of Revelation? We must dwell in the realm of revelation. In other words we must pass out of the natural light of the Outer Court and into the realm of the Holy Place. Why? Because Holy Place is Illuminated exclusively by the Seven Spirits of God. This is the realm of the Lampstand Church, the Table of Showbread and the Altar of Incense.

For the Church that He is Building to stand in any lesser realm than the Holy Place is totally ruled out by the pattern that was shown to Moses on the Mountain and confirmed by the Book of Hebrews and confirmed by the Book of Revelation. Since the visible, natural church can only dwell in the natural light of the Outer Court, it is satisfied to construct its own “church system” independent from what He is building! We assume from the pattern given in the Book of Hebrews that God is not pleased with this ignorance. I am not happy to point out this ignorance, but multitudes are trapped in this carnal system and don’t see a clear way out. Therefore, many have dropped out and no longer even try to find a church that is just fulfilling the Seven Outer Court Foundations and Preparations. Most don’t even know why they are discouraged and disappointed with the visible church system but within them they know something is wrong.

This is NOT the problem in one or two denominations but I receive Email from several other countries and this discouragement seems to be universal and has even penetrated the Pentecostal, Prophetic, Apostolic and Restoration groups. Some are still trying to “revive” the old systems rather than move into the next realms of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Some are trying to revive the gifts to bring new life to the church. Some feel that we must restore the miracles to the church or certain powerful ministries.

The Book of Hebrews clearly gives us God’s pattern to complete His Eternal Purpose. That primary pattern is the Tabernacle of Moses which is a copy and shadow of the real, true Tabernacle in heaven. That Tabernacle is called the Tabernacle of God.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, 4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

The True Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of God, is in three dimensions. (1) The Outer Court; The New Earth; (2) the Holy Place; The New Heaven and (3) the Most Holy Place; the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ. The Most Holy Place IS The 3^rd Heaven.

I am convinced that the Ministries in Ephesians 4:11 are commissioned to Prepare the New Jerusalem (the Bride) and not be limited to this confusion of trying to build anything in the dirt ream or this natural dimension. Speaking about the Second Coming when the Bride is not ready for Him to snatch her away is foolish. To speak about Him coming for casual believers who are still babies is kind of silly but thank God for the New Earth.

At least the casual believer who has had their sins forgiven may be able to join the thief that was on the cross who was talking to Jesus. The thief got as far as the Bronze Altar and made it to the lowest paradise of God. Many, many others will only make it that far also. Why? Because they were never transformed into His likeness.

Rev 6:9 And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.

These souls are under the Bronze Altar but at least they are in ‘heaven.” They are asking for vengeance against those who dwell on the earth that killed them because of their testimony. Thank God they were given white robes but still had to wait until the rest of their group (the Bronze Altar Group) were killed during the Great Tribulation. This was the time of the 5^th seal. They barely made it in to these eternal realms but they are “saved.” These are the “Outer Court Group” that will find their place on the “New Earth.” The next group are found in Revelation 15 and these made it as far as the Bronze Laver. The New Heaven Group is found in Revelation 7 and are the multitude who are BEFORE the Throne. These ALSO have come OUT of the Great Tribulation about the time of the middle of that terrible time. These also are “saved” but they are not the Overcomers that sit with Him on His Throne. God has a place for everyone that are “saved” but there will be a big difference between those under the Bronze Altar and those who sit with Him and see His face.