Refreshing, Restoration And Return

In Acts 3:19–21, the apostle Peter outlined what God expects from all people, in all places, before the close of the age. He said:

“Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And that he may send Jesus the Messiah, who was before appointed for you: whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

We can summarize God’s plan for redemption in four English words, all of which begin with the letters RE. The first RE in Peter’s sermon was repentance. We go on to Acts 3:21 where we get the next word that begins with RE which is restoration, the restoration of all things.

By implication, although it’s not said specifically, it says heaven must receive Jesus the Messiah until the period of restoration of all things. And in that period of restoration of all things the implication is He’s going to leave heaven and come back to Earth as King to reign in glory. So the key word there is return.

One thing that is being restored is the spiritual, supernatural gifts of the Spirit. That’s important because I don’t believe anything can really fulfill God’s purpose until we have the supernatural restored. God doesn’t operate just on the natural plane. I once read through the book of Acts, which has 28 chapters, and which I consider to be the inspired picture of what the Church should be like. I asked myself this question: What would it be like if every reference to the manifested supernatural were to be removed? When I say manifested supernatural I’m not talking about things like the new birth, which is supernatural, but it’s not manifest but internal and invisible. I’m talking about things that can be perceived by the senses. So, I read through the book of Acts asking myself what would have to be left out. Do you know what I discovered? Not one of the 28 chapters would be left intact. So, in a sense it is not accurate to talk about New Testament Christianity without the supernatural element.

What also is being restored is what we call the ministry gifts, which are listed in Ephesians 4:11: apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers. Also being restored, in the same category and yet a little different, is the ministry of elders, who are the leaders of the local congregation. Many years ago, I started teaching about elders because I saw it there in the pages of the New Testament and if it’s in the New Testament it ought to be taught. Generally speaking, the reaction of people at that time was, “Elders! What are elders?” There has been a tremendous change because today you can go to almost any city where the Word of God has come, at least in the western world, and people talk about the elders; the elders of the city, the elders of the church. So, things are developing.