14
Nov
2008
WHAT DO WE MEAN A RESTORATION MOVEMENT?
In 2 Kings chapters 22 & 23 the Bible describes a restoration. It was one that was urgent and God commended it. Here is what the Bible says happened. While repairing the house of the Lord a workman discovered the book in which God had prescribed His way. It had been lost for a long time. It was taken to king Josiah and when he read it he saw that during that time God’s people had gotten way off course. The king then called the people together at the house of the Lord and “read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord.” Then the text says, “The king stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.” (2 Kings 23:3)
To speak of “restoring” is to suggest that there was an original. In this case the way God had appointed through Moses was the original and it had been lost. The book they found was what God had given to direct them in His way. Thus when they vowed to keep that covenant exactly as it had been written, they restored the way of God.
A similar thing happened in regard to our covenant, New Testament Christianity. In the first century Jesus built His church, which is His spiritual body on earth, through the work of the apostles. In His “new covenant” He gave directions for His people in the church. That was the original way of Christ. But over time the church was led way off course. Peter predicted that would happen. He referred to the miracles and his own first hand experiences with the Lord and wrote, “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed.” (2 Peter 1:19) Then he said, “But there were also false (pseudo) prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1) In Israel the “false prophets” were men who appointed themselves to speak for God. Of them God said, “I have not sent these prophets yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.” (Jer. 23:21) He said, “They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.”(vs.16) At verse 31 He said, “Behold I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’”
Just as those pseudo prophets corrupted Israel there are prophets of the same kind among us today, as Peter said there would be. Today we hear someone saying, “God told me this,” and another, saying something opposite, also says, “God told me this.” Men everywhere, claiming to be guided by the Holy Spirit directly, have led many in all kinds of confused directions. Others simply misuse the scriptures to distort the original covenant. The apostolic message is changed from being an invitation to respond to the Lord and be added to His church, to an invitation to join a man made religious creation. Just as God said concerning the false prophets of Jeremiah’s time. “If they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.” (23:22) Even so today, if the pure word of God is preached the pure way of God is produced.
This is a “restoration.” When men speak a vision of their own heart deception is produced and men depart from the way of God. The fact that the speaker says, “God gave me this,” does not change this fact. The restoration movement of our time is an effort to restore the original New Testament way, God’s covenant as he originally gave it. It is a call to turn to the book and apply the instructions written there, to stand in His counsel and cause the people to hear His words. As in Josiah’s time, people need to be led to “take a stand for the covenant.” We need to accept the Bible, not as the words of any man or any group, but as it is in truth, the God breathed word, personally confirmed by Him. We need to reject the words of other claimants whom God did not send nor confirm. God wants the world to hear that Jesus died on the cross, purchased the church with His blood (Acts 20:28) and that the Lord will add them to it when they obey the commands He gave. (Eph. 5:25) (Acts 2:41 & 47) But instead of hearing this people are being told that what Jesus built is a mystical identity which, if it exists at all, is not identifiable in a given locality. Some say it consists of all the various denominational churches existing now. The requirements specified in this word are set aside and people are told that Jesus does not focus on “commandment keeping.” The Bible also predicted that this would come to pass and it calls it “lawlessness.” (2 Thess 2:8-12, Matthew 7:23)
What we are trying to do is to bring the Bible message back to the fore front, to teach God’s covenant offer to every person in its original purity as it is written. People who respond to this message become Christians, members of Christ’s church. Jesus will return for His bride, the church, and it will be here. It cannot be destroyed. But will we be in it? It is incredible that any of us could be led to think that the genuine church of the New Testament does not now even exist, and that we have only the option of accepting religious systems built by men. Instead of the church being the pillar and ground of the truth, calvinism masquerades as God’s way. They preach that we should focus on the man, Jesus, not on His doctrine. Instead of the apostolic instructions of Acts 2, “Repent and be baptized,” etc. people are being given a substitute plan, “Just bow in prayer and invite Jesus to come into your heart.”
We do not claim perfection for ourselves. Neither would we presume to judge anyone. But we do claim perfection for God’s word and we do insist that it is exclusive. No substitute will do. That is why it must be restored. Are you trusting your soul to the confirmed, written word of God or the unconfirmed theories of men? Have you been added to the Lord’s church or have you joined a man made church? Is the “bride” less than faithful to her husband Jesus? Is she casting away her wedding ring and accepting another “husband”? There is more to think about here than social ethics. Honestly now, do you think God wants us to use His word to restore the Lord’s church or design a different one according to our own preferences?