1/29/11
Greetings,
I pray everyone is doing wonderful. I want to begin this week by briefly reviewing our goals, particularly for those who have just begun receiving these letters at some point this month. The purpose of these letters is to provide teaching that will promote unity in the body of Christ. A major goal that will help us achieve this objective is purposeful growth. If more people receive the message, more people can respond to the message. It is my goal to have no less than 1000 people receiving these letters by the end of the year. If you know anyone that would benefit from these letters, please have them get in touch with me or give me their email (with their permission) so that they can be added to the recipient list. Also, the questions at the end are there for a reason! If any of you feel led, please use this material for small group discussion (even with friends over the phone), and feel free to contact me with any questions or for any additional support.
With this said we will begin our discussion with the following verse:
“And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:20-21)
The Father will send the Son back and this goes without question. When the Father sends the Son again, we refer to this as the second coming or the second advent of Jesus. This passage continues to explain the conditions under which the Son will be sent back. It says that heaven must receive (accept, take, contain) Jesus “until.” The word until means that what is about to be said will fulfill the conditions necessary for the return of Jesus. The passage continues and says, “Until the times of the restitution of all things.” Jesus cannot and will not come back until everything that He purchased for His people has been restored back to us. This includes unity.
Many people that have considered the last days have concluded on a fantasy. This fantasy teaches that Jesus can come back at any time. I could be going about my normal business tomorrow and “poof,” I would simply vanish. Why do I call this a fantasy? This concept is a fantasy because it is a direct contradiction of the scripture I just quoted. Jesus cannot and will not just return anytime. There are qualifications, and until these qualifications are met, we must continue to press in for more of God. We must continue to press in for all of the promises of God, and continue to press in until we achieve the restitution of all things. The church age began in the upper room and the Holy Spirit was not sent until they were all of “one accord” (Acts 2:1). Restitution in regard to the topic of unity means bringing the body of Christ worldwide back to this point of inception. We must achieve “one accord.” Understand that this cannot mean anything else.
One of the pictures that God loves to use to describe the relationship of the church to Jesus is that of the bride and the bridegroom. We are the bride and He is the bridegroom. The bride is an extension of His own body, and we are appointed to become one flesh with the King of king’s and Lord of lord’s.
When a bride is to be married, she must make herself ready. The groom does not make her ready, although in Jewish culture he would certainly finance her preparation. Jesus purchased us with a high price. To prepare for the wedding, the bride must have her hair done, and done to perfection. She must have her make-up done, and it had better be perfect! She goes and picks out the perfect dress. She may work-out to lose a couple pounds so that it fits just right. She finds the perfect shoes, and this will be the first time that they are worn. The wedding dress itself will go through alterations so that it presents her as the stunning beauty she was created to be. She is showered and she is perfumed. Her nails are painted, she is adorned in jewelry, and she takes up a bouquet that has been color-coordinated to the décor. At her presentation, the audience will be speechless, and so will the bridegroom.
In all of this preparation, the bridegroom does not see the bride. He does not say his vows, and He does not go into her place of preparation to “catch her away” before she is ready. He waits because He knows that the preparation is worth it. She will be beautiful. She will be everything He ever dreamed that she would be. He will wait because He understands the reward of His patience. When she is ready, when she steps out and He sees her, neither of them will ever be the same. He anticipates the moment when she will leave Him speechless. Every eye will gaze upon her in bewilderment, and He will be awed. What a glorious day! They will be brought together, becoming one flesh as they were intended. The picture is beautiful, exquisite, inspiring, glorious, and worthy of honor and praise and adoration.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” (Revelation 19:7)
Unfortunately, some have another concept of God’s version of romance. They see the Lamb coming back for a bride that is unprepared, hopeless, helpless, and pitiful. They feel that this bride that will be eternally wed to Jesus will be received without any preparation. They see a bride who cannot afford a wedding dress, does not have her hair fixed, her make-up done, or any beautification whatsoever. She doesn’t even have to shower because He forgave her stench. Her armpit hair is grown out to full-length, and it is exposed. They believe she will be taken in the night before anyone can truly see how pathetic she looks—even her bridegroom; instead of being presented as the gem that she is before the whole world as a spectacle of glory. Who in their right mind would want this, if given a choice to have a spectacular bride? Some argue that God would want this.
Let us not kid ourselves. Preparing ourselves to be the eternal bride of Jesus will by no means yield a sloppy, divided, un-kept, unfaithful body. Heaven must withhold Jesus until the restitution of all things—this includes unity. Jesus must wait at the end of the aisle until we have become all that we were intended to become. His Father will not have it any other way. The Bible is clear about what Jesus did for us, in that He made us righteous, forgave our sins, made us co-heirs with Him, gave us the victory, gave us His authority, and so forth. Yet in all of this, notice that He does not make the bride ready, but she makes herself ready. In other words, He simply finances us with the potential to prepare ourselves. Until we respond on purpose and follow through, until we see the restitution of all things, He cannot and will not return. The bride must make herself ready.
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.” (Revelation 19:7)
Discussion
1.) If the return of Christ depended solely on your personal preparation, what would need to change in your life to cause the “restitution of all things” to be true of you personally?
2.) How does your perspective compare to God’s perspective on the romance between Jesus and His bride?
3.) If it was your wedding and you were God, would you prefer a sloppy bride or a beautiful bride?
4.) Why does the Bible say that the bride must make herself ready? How is unity involved?
5.) Can Jesus return at any time?
