Restoration of All Things

Brother, when I was a kid, I used to enjoy watching the television show This Old House.

How many of you have seen This Old House? Most, if everybody. For you young kids, we only had like seven channels growing up. One of them was PBS, and that had This Old House on it.

In This Old House, I'm an adventure guest. Most of you are at least aware of the premise of the show, so I'm not going to spend a ton of time explaining it, but the idea is it was filmed in various places around the country. You know, it was these old classic houses, and these contractors would walk the viewing public through a restoration of these beautiful, beautiful homes. New England-style homes, craftsman-style homes, just from a start to finish frequently, dealing with some of these remodels that would bring these back into a full historic restoration. And I think what I enjoyed the most, looking back on it as a young person thinking about it, was the before and the after photos. I love seeing the before photo and the after photo, and just seeing the amount of work that took place to bring that to that point. Frequently, you would see a home that had been either neglected or potentially just that slow march of time had taken its toll on, and ultimately you would see a home that then was restored and brought back to its former glory. I still have an affinity for old homes. I enjoy looking at old cars, old antiques, things that people have put just an absolute labor of love into and meticulously restored to its original beauty.

For those of you that have been involved in that process, you know how much work it is.

You recognize how much of a labor of love it really is as you restore something to its original condition. Or, in some cases, if you've been to some of these car shows where this has been done, you see a car that honestly looks even better than it did when it was original.

It is an absolute labor of love. It is painstaking work from the individual that brought it back from the brink of extinction. I think in some ways we all sort of love these stories, kind of that underdog phenomenon in some ways, where you get a chance to see something return to that former former glory. Well, the restoration story that I'm about to tell you is not one of those stories.

In the northeastern Spain, there's a small town named Borgia, and it's located in the state of Zaragoza with a population of a little less than 5,000 people. In 2012, this small Spanish town was put on the map as a result of a restoration that was done therein. Borgia, like most Spanish towns, is a home to an old 16th-century Catholic church at the sanctuary of mercy, and inside of this small 16th-century church was a fresco painting that was done by a painter named Elias Garcia Martinez, and he's a notable Spanish painter from the Zaragoza area, so he's kind of a hometown hero, so to speak. The painting was entitled Eche Homo, which is Latin for Behold the Man, and the painting was a stereotypical iconographic image of Jesus Christ with a crown of thorns on his head looking up into the sky, and the image was painted on this facsimile of a scroll right on the wall of the church itself. By 2012, the painting, which was originally done in 1930, had begun to show its age. There was moisture on the walls, it was beginning to crack, the pieces of the painting were falling off, it was in need of a restoration, it was in need of some work in order to come back to what it looked like initially. So a woman named Cecilia Jimenez, who was an 81-year-old parishioner of the church, she took it upon herself to restore it. The problem was that, while good intentioned, Cecilia was an unskilled amateur at best. At worst, really, truly didn't know what she was doing. The end result ended up with a phone call to local police over suspected vandalism, and eventually, Dona Jimenez came clean and admitted to restoring the painting herself.

The final product, which looked similar enough to a primate that they renamed it Eche Mono, became an almost immediate internet sensation. The fresco itself was ruined. It was absolutely destroyed. And most art historians agree, the original fresco had very little to any historical value. I mean, it's not like we lost the Mona Lisa, right? But, as she quickly discovered, Cecilia Jimenez tried to do something she didn't possess the skill set to do. And the end result was destruction. The end result was not restoration. In the process of trying to fix it, she only made it worse. Over the last 6,000-some years of mankind's history, we've seen a similar situation.

We've seen a similar thing happen again and again on a larger and a more global scale.

There have been people throughout history who have looked at the world around them and decided this isn't how things should be. That things could be better. And they've tried. They've made attempts at a utopia. They've made attempts at some place in which these things could be fixed.

Made misguided human attempts at trying to fix the ills of humanity according to man's reasoning.

And not one of these attempts has been successful. Mankind is simply incapable of fixing the mess that we find ourselves in. As we look around us today, the end result of mankind's attempts has made a monkey out of all of us. When we look at the world today, we see a world that is terminally ill. War, disease, crime, corruption, greed, laundry list of other ills, beset the human population, and as always, humanity is convinced, absolutely convinced, that they hold the solutions in the palm of their hand. If only they could be elected. If only they could seize power. If only they could do whatever it took to implement their ideas. Then they could fix everything. Just like every other time in human history has assumed that they had the ability and the skill set to actually fix it. What this world needs is a restoration. What this world needs is a return to the way that it was intended to be at its inception. It needs an intervention by Almighty God, the only true and lasting solution to the ills of this world. The title of the sermon today is The Restoration of All Things. The restoration of all things. If you turn over to Acts, we'll begin there today. Acts 3 and we'll begin in verse 1. Acts 3 and verse 1 is where we find the phrase that makes up the title of this message. Acts 3 and verse 1.

Try to do that out of the mic. Acts 3 and verse 1, we'll go ahead and pick it up here.

Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful.

To ask alms from those who entered the temple. Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms, and fixing his eyes on him with John, Peter said, look at us.

So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

And Peter said, silver and gold, I do not have, but what I do have, I give you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. He took him by the right hand, he lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And so he, the man here, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the beautiful gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. So we see Peter and John at the gate of the temple.

They encounter this man who was lame from birth. Man asked him for money. We see this all the time in the world around us today. I don't know about you, but in Oregon we see this all the time, today. He asked for alms. Peter and John catch his eyes, they get his attention, I tell them they don't have money, but what they can give him is something that is far greater.

And in Christ's name, the man was healed. He rose up and he walked, leaping to his feet, jumping and praising God. And as you can imagine, this was likely at the top of his lungs.

Can you imagine for a moment being lame your entire life and suddenly being healed? Suddenly having the ability to stand on those legs that would not support you before, but now they are.

And you can jump and you can leap and you can praise God. Can you imagine for a moment the joy that this man felt being restored, being made whole, this miraculous healing that just undid a lifetime of pain and limitation? I have an opportunity to serve alongside Mr. Moody in English-speaking West Africa, and I've made a number of trips over since 2016. I've often thought of this passage as we've walked through the streets of Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria, for those of you that may not know, is one of four countries in the world where polio is still endemic.

It still exists in the natural population and people get it. And the effects of polio is very prevalent throughout the population in Nigeria. You see older people, younger people, running around with disfigured limbs, withered away in their legs, arms. At times, they work up and down the traffic lanes, begging for cash. You know, their family might push them along in a wheelchair.

Still, we'll never forget one man we came across that had himself on a skateboard and had his little withered limbs tucked underneath him as he wheeled himself along with his arms.

You long for the ability to provide this gift, for the time of miracles that you saw at this time to be the case. And you could pump billions of dollars into this, into some sort of a human solution.

It's not going to solve the core issue. It's not going to fix the problem because God is the solution. It's heartbreaking. It's truly heartbreaking knowing that you're just powerless in this situation. But the sheer joy and the thankfulness that this man in this example that we see in Acts 3 must have had, to have his condition healed, to have his body restored as he walked and he leaped and he praised God, must have been infectious. I mean, it must have been infectious. Continuing in Acts 3, go on in verse 11. Acts 3 verse 11, now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, as he held on to him. Was that for stability? This guy was just up leaping and jumping. He was so thankful. He was holding on to these two men.

As he held on to him, all the people ran together to them in the porch, which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed. So it's Solomon's porch. When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you look so intently at us as though by our own power or our godliness we've made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go. Says, but you denied the holy one and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the prince of life whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Guess the faith which comes through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Peter tells those gathered to pick their jaws up off the floor.

To pick their jaws up off the floor. Why are you so amazed at what you're seeing? Why do you marvel at this? Or look at us as though it was through us that this was or that it was through our own power that we did this. He says, you know as well as we do this was God. You know as well as we do that this was God who glorified his son and his name and faith in his name has made this man strong.

They ask him, why are you so surprised? Verse 17 says, yet now brethren I know that you did it in ignorance as did also your rulers but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all of his prophets that the Christ would suffer he is thus fulfilled. Verse 19, 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 Christ who was preached to you before 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.

Peter moves in and makes the point to those gathered you all know this is going to happen that this restoration that you saw here on micro scale is going to happen on a global scale just as it was prophesied by the mouths of the prophets since the world began and as it was quoted earlier I won't read it but Romans 8 21 somebody mentioned it earlier this week puts it very eloquently it says the creation itself will be delivered from its bondage of corruption it will be released from its slavery to decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God and that event that delivering of the creation and the liberty of the children of God is an event that we commemorate each year during the time we're gathered here to observe we focus on the 1000 years of peace and prosperity we focus on the healing the ultimate restoration of this physical world it's a world without satan's influence where the knowledge of God can cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and as these days draw to a close both literally and figuratively we also begin to look beyond that 1000 year period of the millennium and we see a time in which the creation is liberated from its bondage to corruption see time when it is liberated from its slavery to decay when we have new heavens and new earth that are brought down from heaven and all is made new and if you leave a bookmark here in acts three we're going to turn away from here for a moment we'll come back if you turn over to the book of Isaiah please Isaiah was one of these prophets that Peter referenced when he described this time of restoration that we commemorate during this feast and provides an incredible insight into the conditions that we see on earth at this time Isaiah 35 Isaiah 35 we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse one you know one of the challenges of being one of the last ones to speak during the feast of tabernacles is all of your scriptures are used so we've been here before that's okay it's not a bad thing to review these things definitely not bad as a teacher that was one of the most effective methods of instruction was review so Isaiah 35 we'll pick it up in verse one Isaiah 35 in verse one says the wilderness in the wasteland shall be glad for them the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy in singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the excellence of Carmel and Sharon they shall see the glory of the lord the excellency of our god strengthen the weak hands make firm the feeble knees say to those who are fearful hearted be strong do not fear behold your god will come with vengeance with the recompense of god he will come and he will save you then verse five the eyes of the blind shall be opened the ears of the death shall be unstopped the lame shall leap like a deer the tongue of the dumb shall sing for water shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert the parched ground shall become a pool the thirsty land springs of water in the habitation of jackals where each lay there shall be grass with reeds and rushes a highway shall be there in a road should be called the highway of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for others whoever walks the road although a fool shall not go astray no lion shall be there nor shall any ravenous beasts go up on it it shall not be found there but the redeemed shall walk there the ransomed of the lord shall return and come to zion with singing with everlasting joy on their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away this restoration of all things includes the environment it includes our physical health spiritual health mental health and much more the deserts we see will burst forth with water they will blossom the wastelands will be healed people's spirit will be healed their eyes their sight their hearing will be heard i don't know if you've ever seen the videos where somebody's been deaf from birth and they have an opportunity to put on a cochlear implant for the first time and they pop that thing on and they flip that switch and for the first time in their life they can hear the voice of their loved one brethren can you imagine that's what we're talking about when we talk about this restoration on a global scale not isolated not microscale globally it will be restored these days brethren are coming they are coming god will restore all things not a few things not some things all things he will restore his creation he will return his creation to its original intent before satan's influence before mankind's fall before six thousand years of human history brought us to where we are today and ultimately where we will go in the future to when god himself has to intervene to save us from ourselves all will be restored how did you keep a bookmark in acts three if you would go back over to acts three again acts three in verse 19 i want to take a look at one of the words in this passage because this helps us to understand that this section this time of restoration is bookmarked it's it's it's bookmarked so to speak or it's it's uh bookended that's the word i'm looking for on two ends here acts three verse 19 it says repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the lord and that he may send jesus christ who was preached to you before whom heaven must receive until mr shabby brought this out in his message until the time of restoration of all things which god has spoken by the mouth of all of his holy prophet since the world began the restoration of all things begins with the events of the feast of trumpets what those events symbolize and what that day symbolizes the return of jesus christ begins this restoration process it is the catalyst that kicks off the beginning of this process of restoration everything from that moment in god's plan forward to the point of eternity this period that we symbolize through these fall holy days is a restoration until god remakes the heavens and the earth anew and eternity begins and so when we consider this concept i think sometimes we tend to consider it in environmental terms think about it repairing the damage making land arable again which is certainly an aspect to that i don't want to belittle that in any way but it is so much more than that it's so much more than that with the time that we have left today i'd like to briefly examine three things other than the physical creation that will be restored by god during these times of refreshing that have been prophesied since the world began and they are critical components of this restoration process that's symbolized by these fall holy days the first of those things is a restoration of righteous government a restoration of righteous government when we look at the restoration that takes place during this millennial period the very first thing that takes place in the process of this restoration is the keys to the kingdoms are restored to the hands of their rightful owner that is the very first thing that we see take place it was a part of this human experience mankind has experienced various forms of government some of those governmental structures are better than others at times we've seen governments acknowledge god's providence gods of remedy and we've seen that when man obeys god they were blessed and when they did not they experienced times of extreme challenge but despite the form that these governments take on this earth we have to realize in every single one of these circumstances they are mankind's attempt at a form of governance men are governing and men are susceptible to satan and his devices and they will fail every last one as we examine the record of human history regardless of the form of government one truth has become evident throughout the years and that is that mankind is incapable of ruling himself justly we are incapable of doing so let's go to revelation 11 revelation 11 you know your local congregations just went through this with the feast of trumpets revelation 11 we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 15 as we see this take place you know prior to this the seven seals opened we see a series of trumpet blasts over a year-long period of judgment on man each of these trumpets announced the next events in the series each of these desiring the repentance of mankind until we reach the seventh trumpet and ultimately the fulfillment of these events revelation 11 and verse 15 says then the seventh angel sounded there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world the governments of this world have become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ and he shall reign forever and ever the 24 elders who sat before god on their thrones fell in their faces and worshipped god saying we give you thanks oh lord god almighty the one who is and who was and who is to come because you have taken your great power and reigned says the nations were angry your wrath has come at the time of the end the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should reward your servants the prophets and the saints those who fear your name small and great and should destroy those who destroy the earth we see a similar concept outlined in first corinthians 15 verse 24 if you'd like to jot it down first corinthians 15 24 speaks of at this time the end of all authority the end of all power the end of all rule the end of all dominion is handed from mankind back into the hands of its rightful owner back into the hands of god the father who entrusts it to his son jesus christ when that seventh trumpet sounds and jesus christ returns the rightful king of this world will take his place and the kingdoms of this world have become as it says or are becoming depending on how you translate the greek the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ and brethren the age of man comes to an end the age of man comes to an end god intercedes on mankind's behalf we see satan's temporary authority his temporary dominion is revoked he no longer has authority he no longer has dominion we see ultimately with the events of atonement that he will be chained he will be put away and we see that the process of restoration of righteous government begins if you turn over to isaiah 11 we see god's character on display in the way that he rules in the way that he provides isaiah 11 we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1 isaiah 11 and verse 1 we see this government that will come is founded on the principles of god it is founded upon his characteristics this government is representative of who and what he is isaiah 11 verse 1 describes his judgments describes his rule and we see that it is a far cry from the rule and the governance that we see today isaiah 11 and verse 1 says there shall come forth a rod from the stem of jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots the spirit of the lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and of understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the lord his delight is in the fear of the lord and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes nor decide by the hearing of his ears but with righteousness he will judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waste man's government in this world is corrupt it's the polar opposite of what is described here the antithesis of what is described here for those of you that have traveled extensively particularly to countries in the developing world where the rule of law is let's just say optional you see the corruption you see these things it's in your face you see the officials who are asking for bribes at customs you see the police checkpoints that pull you off to the side of the road by gunpoint and then want to have your palm greased before they let you go again you see it it's right there out on the sleeves in these countries and in those countries those with enough money are able to avoid the consequences they're able to avoid the inconveniences but you know when you start to look at the developed world start to look at the united states you start to look at europe just because it's not so in your face doesn't mean it's not there backroom deals quid pro quo lobbying all of them create the same exact disparity but on a national scale and before long with enough money with enough political capital the laws no longer matter the laws no longer matter righteous government will be restored a government that is not able to be bribed a government that is not able to be shifted with the use of money justice righteousness equity or the foundation on its on which it's founded there is one law and that one law applies to the rich it applies to the poor it applies to the foreigner it applies to the citizen it is a government that is based on god's character of love and it is focused on the care of its people can you even imagine what that will be like a government that is truly focused on the needs of its people and not what it can obtain from its people what it can give them not what it can take from them when jesus christ returns true righteous government will be restored and with satan and his dominion removed that government will continue to be just it will continue to be righteous as it will be founded upon the way of god and it will be ruled by the son of god and as the subsequent generations of people living in the millennium get further into this time period the memory of the way things were will disappear there will be a time when they will have to go into the history books to remember what it was like that's incredible that is absolutely incredible another thing that's going to be restored during this time period is a right relationship with man right relationship with man and we've heard a little bit about this already this feast it is something that is in desperate need of restoration at this time between the creator and his creation a restoration of that relationship when adam and eve took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil against god's instructions and mankind's sin their eyes were opened and their eyes were not opened in the way god desired them to be but they were like unto god at that time and they knew good and evil and as a result of their rebellion there was a chasm that formed and developed between god and man man wasn't capable of crossing that chasm on his own the only way that gulf could be bridged was through the blood of jesus christ for god to come across that chasm and bridge it himself that's the only method by which man could be reconciled to god to be able to come before his presence which we again picture during the events of the day of atonement as we become one with god we become reconciled with god once a year during that time frame the high priest entered the holy of holies with the blood of bulls and goats year after year this ritual occurred but as we see in the book of hebrews hebrews 9 and 10 blood of bulls and goats could only cover sin it could only cover it christ blood on the other hand was enough to erase those sins and provide mankind with true and lasting reconciliation with the father on christ death as we've heard already this feast the veil of separation was rent this three inch curtain that hung in the temple three inch thick curtain torn asunder complete and total providing access figuratively here between god and man and as a result of that god began a process of restoring a right relationship with all of mankind gentile and israelite by pouring out his spirit on the earth if you turn over to joel 2 there's a few pages here over to joel 2 joel 2 will pick it up in verse 28 joel 2 and verse 28 says it should come to pass afterwards that i will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy your old men shall dream dreams your young men shall see visions and also on my men servant and on my maid servant i will pour out my spirit in those days i will show wonders in the heavens and the earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke the sun shall be turned into darkness the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the lord and so these events as they lead up into the return of jesus christ we see these things taking place it says it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the lord shall be saved for in mount zion and in jerusalem there should be deliverance as the lord is said among the remnant who the lord calls and we saw an initial fulfillment of this prophecy when the spirit of god began to be poured out on house of israel and juda as we saw fulfilled in acts two in peter's sermon in fact peter quotes this passage of joel in his sermon and as time went on and the church grew that opportunity was also then afforded to the gentiles god began to call people from the nations which surrounded israel too talks about that concept in galatians 3 that there's neither jew nor greek there is neither rich nor poor male or female ultimately none of that mattered all of mankind was capable of becoming one in christ jesus through the reconciliation that was made possible by his blood and it's this restored relationship that's a fundamental part of the new covenant that israel and all of mankind will enter into with god in the future this same covenant that's available to us today jeremiah 31 talks about this turn over to jeremiah 31 we'll pick it up in verse 31 jeremiah 31 verse 31 jeremiah 31 verse 31 says behold the days are coming says the lord when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and with the house of juda not according to the covenant that i made with their fathers in the day that i took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of egypt my covenant which they broke though i was a husband to them says the lord but this is the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those days says the lord i will put my law into their minds and i will write it on their hearts i will be their god and they shall be my people the letter and the spirit of god's law will be on their hearts and in their minds they will have his spirit dwelling in them bringing to remembrance all things providing that transformative power to help them become more like god as his characteristics are expressed in their lives again this is happening on a global scale during this period of restoration verse 34 no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying no the lord for they all shall know me everyone not some as we have today everyone from the least of them to the greatest of them says the lord it's no partiality here no partiality for i will forgive their iniquity and their sin i will remember no more this restored relationship that will take place is at the core of what god is doing as a part of his plan of salvation with the return of jesus christ the restoration of righteous government we see a kingdom that is operating on a specific set of standards similar in some ways to what we saw in place in ancient israel there was a set of standards but it was a set of standards that human rulers were unable to maintain and uphold a brethren without the restoration of this relationship without the spirit of god present in their lives righteous government is only one part of the equation for man to keep that standard for man to live accordingly he needs god dwelling in him we see that as we look at the example of ancient israel he needs the restored relationship which god has promised through the death of his son jesus christ we know god will restore the relationship with his creation that he intended from the beginning says they will be his people and they will be his god the final thing that we'll discuss here this morning with regards to restoration is a restoration of the knowledge of god and this has been spoken on already in fact as mr portius was going yesterday i was thinking uh-oh got a little nervous but again repetition's important now the thing that we'll see that is restored at this time during this time period is the knowledge of god as you look at the events of christ's return the days the weeks the months ultimately that begin his millennial reign the people of this world will need to be introduced to their king they will need to be taught who and what he is you know when we see the world around us today largely we see a world that rejects god either through ignorance or arrogance they have turned their back on him they're living contrary to his law and as a result as this has continued and as this has increased the knowledge of god has taken significant steps backwards in many of the nations around the world that at one time had professed to be christian nations i found a poll and i thought i thought this it's funny it's sad but it's also kind of humorous in the way that it's set up there was a poll done in 2008 and in 2008 before we pat ourselves on the back though as americans i want to be very careful 2008 it showed america to be the most biblically literate country in the world and i'm putting that in quotes for a reason because when you see the definition of what they consider to be biblical literacy it's appalling it's appalling the question asked on the survey whether a person had read a biblical passage in the last 12 months that in their definition is biblical literacy congratulations us yay here's the numbers the united states 75 percent of americans said they had so three quarters of the people that were pulled from the united states had read at least one bible passage in the past year's time one at little sorry at least one sorry at least one that's the definition the next closest of the eight countries that were polled these were all developed nations was 38 percent of the population as you move into europe 38 the rest of the other seven countries sorted out somewhere between 20 of their populace and 38 of their populace having read a single phrase from scripture 2017 study found that even though almost 90 percent of american households owned a bible more than half of those polled admitted to only having read a handful of its passages a handful of its passages if any at all that's the level of literacy here in america and if we're found to be the most biblically literate of the nation's polled suffice to say our collective track record is mankind it's not looking so good mankind has turned their back on god they have walked away from the word of god they've walked away from the knowledge of god and as a result we have seen pain and suffering as society has distanced itself further and further from the truth following the events of these fall holy days again after the return of christ ushering in the millennium and after god begins to restore his relationship with man reconciling man to him one of the other things that is restored is the knowledge of god it talks about this time in isaiah 11 and verse 9 again mr portius mentioned this yesterday others have been here as well this week isaiah 11 and verse 9 says they shall not hurt nor destroy in all of my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the lord as the waters cover the sea one of the things that has always amazed me as i've had opportunity to travel overseas has been the sheer amount of water on this planet if you've ever flown from the coastlines of the united states over into europe or any other location you leave land and you are over that body of water for hours hours and hours with nothing as far as the eye can see but water i looked it up because i didn't know there's 139 million square miles of water in the ocean square miles right so that's not talking about depth that's just square miles of water in the oceans for perspective the united states has approximately 3.8 million square miles of land mass and so that's about 36 united states worth of water that doesn't tell the entire story the deepest part of the ocean in the pacific is almost seven miles the average depth of the ocean overall is a little less than two and a half miles deep if you were to average all of its depth out the volume of water that is covering this planet is nearly unfathomable that pun was intended the point is this as mr portius brought out yesterday the knowledge of god will absolutely saturate this earth just as water does it will fill every nook every cranny every crevice it will fill and pervade every recess of this planet there will not be a place where someone does not hear about these things there is nowhere on this earth that the knowledge of god will not end up finding and brethren that knowledge and that understanding will change humanity forever their eyes will be opened to the truth of god they'll have the opportunity to learn the things that were previously closed off to them and as first fruits in god's plan you will have an opportunity to be a part of that education process teaching those who are alive in the millennium the way of life that god desires them to live turn over to isaiah 30 isaiah 30 isaiah 30 and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 19 again looking at the conditions here of these days isaiah 30 and verse 19 isaiah records the events of these days as god gave them to him an inspiration isaiah 30 verse 19 says for the people shall dwell in zion at jerusalem you shall weep no more you know you look back over human history we could have covered the earth in tears by the amount of weeping that has been done over the years as a result of mankind's actions says you shall weep no more he will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry when he hears it he will answer and though the lord gives you the bread of adversity in the water of affliction yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore your eyes shall see your teachers your ears shall hear a word behind you saying this is the way walk in it whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left we don't see perfection at this time we see growth we see learning we see instruction we see a time during this this millennial reign of jesus christ when god's firstfruits will be working with these individuals as they learn as they grow as they learn to fully understand what it is that god desires of them as they're being perfected in this process and as they're working through this life similar to the time that we have spent in this life doing the same but for them without the influence of satan the devil similar to deuteronomy 6 they'll be taught they'll be guided in the way of god when they rise up when they sit down when they walk by the way and for the first time for the first time what they will hear will make sense what they hear will make sense because of the example of the leadership that they see and the laws of the land the restoration of that relationship and the knowledge of god being poured out turn over with me to revelation 21 as we begin to conclude here today revelation 21 revelation 21 and we'll pick it up in verses three and four revelation 21 verses three and four and we know these passages these are passages that we just internalize because during these difficult times in which we live it is so wonderful to be able to see these things and to recognize what it is that god is doing revelation 21 verses three and four as we look at the end result of this restoration of this remaking of things as time goes on it says i heard a loud voice from heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men he will dwell with them and they shall be his people that restored relationship god will dwell with them god himself will be with them and he will be their god and god will wipe away every tear from their eyes there should be no more death nor sorrow nor crying there should be no more pain for the former things have passed away these are the after photos brethren these are the after photos what limited description that we have in revelation 21 as we see the new jerusalem as we see new heavens new earth as we see god's fulfillment of his plan as we move out of these days of the feast of tabernacle into the or tabernacles into the eighth day these are the after photos we are front and center for the before photos all i have to do is watch the news all i have to do is go outside you see it we're looking at the world around us today we see the war we see the crime we see the drug abuse we see the homelessness we see the the destitution you see the hopelessness on the faces of the people that you run into that you talk with internationally we see abject poverty we see disease we see governments that are more focused on what they can bleed from their people than the service that they can provide them what we see is a world that is ruled by the god of this age and the difference between the events that we see in the world around us today and the events that are to come that we see described in scripture are so stark that paul wrote they don't even compare we can take a look at and just imagine that god is doing something incredible that we can't even in some ways fathom with our own human minds but all of these things as we go through this process of the millennium and we see the restoration of righteous government we see a restoration of relationship we see a restoration of the knowledge of god there's just a few things that are going to be restored during this millennial reign of jesus christ during this time again that we are here to commemorate and to observe but it's important to consider this is a package deal all of these things need to be restored for example if you just have righteous government let's say you don't have a restoration of relationship you don't have a restoration of knowledge all you have is a restoration of righteous government what do you have well what you have is you have a populace that is largely incapable of meeting the standard and will be rightly judged accordingly what if you have just the relationship what if you have a righteous relationship that's been restored but no righteous government no restoration of the knowledge of god well we're living that right now if we have a restored relationship we're a new covenant relationship with god we do not have righteous government we do not have a world that has the knowledge of god we are living it we're seeing exactly what the end result of that would be with one of those things and not the other two what if you have knowledge but you have no righteous government and you have no relationship you have ancient israel take a look at ancient israel's example they had the knowledge of god it was provided to them at times they had righteous government but other times they did not vast majority did not have that restored relationship and as a result they struggled to follow the standard that they were provided brethren all must be restored all of the package must be there for these things to take place and at that time when this takes place there will be no humans that are trying to restore things there are no humans getting in the way of the process and despite what might have been good intentions to begin with making things worse in the process this time this restoration is in the hands of the master craftsman the one who constructed the original will restore his creation to its former glory before finally creating something entirely new forever brethren may god speed that day