"Elijah is indeed coming, and he will restore everything." -Matthew
17:11
Jesus said that Elijah would restore everything. What a statement!
Everything? How could someone restore everything? Jesus said that the
restoration of everything was begun by John the Baptizer (Mt 17:13), who came
"in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk 1:17). The Power for this universal
restoration is the Holy Spirit. Consequently, John was "filled with the Holy
Spirit from his mother's womb" (Lk 1:15). John began the restoration of
everything by turning "the hearts of fathers to their children" (Lk 1:17).
This universal restoration is still in process. When we complete it, the
world will end and Jesus will come back. Until then, "Jesus must remain in
heaven until the time of universal restoration which God spoke of long ago
through His holy prophets" (Acts 3:21). So Jesus is waiting for us to finish the
job. We may feel overwhelmed at this responsibility, since universal restoration
seems no less monumental now than at Jesus' time, despite all the Lord has been
doing in the meantime. However, all we have to do is what Elijah and John did -
be filled with the Spirit, obey the Lord, and focus on turning the hearts of
fathers to their children. If we do this much, we will do our part to bring
about universal restoration and hasten Jesus' final coming (2 Pt 3:12). You are
another Elijah and John. Work and live accordingly.
Father,
may this Advent and my life's work follow in the tradition of Elijah and
John.
"You are destined, it is written, in time to come to put
an end to wrath before the day of the Lord." -Sir 48:10
12/14/14
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment