Sing of the Final Restoration (Acts 3:19-21)
The marvelous healing of the demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, rather than bringing shouts of Hallelujahs from the Pharisees, brought instead a charge: "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons" (Matt. 12:24, NIV). Thus was Jesus prompted to give an instructive explanation of the meaning of what was happening: "But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God," He said, dismissing the Pharisees' inference, "then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (vs. 28).
The statement is important, since in the teaching of the Gospels, the kingdom of God is not only a present reality (as evident most directly in the above statement), but also a future reality (see Matt. 26:29; Luke 23:42; John 18:36).
What this means is that the works of Christ also look forward to the final restoration. When Jesus applied the pivotal prophecy of Isaiah to Himself during the reading of the scrolls in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:18, 19), He was proclaiming much more than would happen within the brief three and a half years of His own earthly ministry. "The year of the Lord's favor," harking back, as it does to the ancient Jubilee, was an announcement of the inauguration of the kingdom of God, beginning with the coming of the Messiah, and reaching all the way down to the final consummation, when all prisoners will have been set free, all sight restored, all oppression removed, and when joy will pervade the entire cosmos.
What do the following passages teach about the relationship between Jesus' ministry and the final restoration? (Mark 5:35-42, Luke 7:11-15, John 11:38-44, Acts 3:19-21).
The most powerful sign of the reign of sin is death. And the restoration of life by Jesus during His ministry pointed forward to that final day when death will be no more. "I am the Living One," says the resurrected Christ in John's apocalyptic vision, "I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever . . ! And I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Rev. 1:18, NIV). Those whom Jesus restored to life during His ministry all succumbed to death again. But Jesus looked beyond that, to the final restoration, when "the trumpet will sound, [and] the dead will be raised imperishable" (1 Cor. 15:52, NIV).
How crucial is the hope of the resurrection? What do we have without it? What reasons do you have for trusting in God's promise to one day destroy, forever, death?
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