In John 14:6 Jesus spoke to the hearts (minds) of true holiness seekers when He said: “I (the Lord) am the way (of salvation–Acts 16:17),  the truth (the Law/Gospel/Word–Jn. 17:17) and the life (the “walk”–1 Jn. 2:6).”  Eternal life has been the goal of man since the God Who became Jesus of Nazareth promised it to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  See The God of the Old Testament.  The life that one must live (one’s walk) in order to receive eternal life was exhibited by such spiritual giants as Noah, Moses, Abraham, the prophets, the twelve apostles and was lived by Jesus of Nazareth. A few continue to teach God’s and live it in these end times.  On Mount Sinai God officially presented to His chosen people–the nation of Israel–His Law which He Himself had written in stone with His own finger.  He then told Moses to place it in an ark in order to keep man from taking hammer and chisel to it.  Over time the Israelites fluxuated between obedience to His Law and rebellion against it.  Eventually there came a time when the Law and the writings of the prophets were important to only a few true believers.  This resulted in all of the tribes being defeated and taken into slavery.  While in Babylon the Jews (tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi) replaced the Law with the Talmud, a carnal tome filled with wishful thinking.  The accumulation of thoughts and ideas relative to right and wrong in no way reflected God’s will.

As a result the Law became a relic of the past for many Jews.  During this time the other tribes, whom God had scattered throughout the world due to their sins, had lost all knowledge of their past.  These Israelites had assimilated with the Gentiles among whom they then lived and had lost all knowledge of their ancestry, the Law and its Author.  Then John the Baptist began his ministry back in the Promised Land, followed by the arrival of the Son of God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth who, as had been prophesied by the Old Testament prophets, brought the Law back into prominence.  It became the job of the disciples to remind people of the Law, including the scattered Israelites to whom Jesus would send them.  Jesus told them to take it to the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” in Matthew 10:6.

Rejection of both God’s Law and the writings of the prophets was widespread among the Jews by the time Jesus arrived on the scene.  With the exception of a 120 or so true believers, He had been ignored.  With the founding of the New Testament Church on Pentecost 31 A.D. the spreading of the gospel/Law throughout the Roman Empire began, much to the chagrin of both the Jews and the Romans.  The apostles had to fight continuously to keep the Law before the people.  The priests, Pharisees and Sadducees continually waged war against them and their Law-based message.  As a result the Apostle Paul–a Pharisee of high standing–was not familiar with the Law.  He admitted in Romans 8:7-13 that until his conversion he had known nothing about it.  In Galatians 1:13,13 He noted that prior to his conversion he had embraced the “Jews’ religion” which he identified as the “traditions of my (Pharisaical) fathers.”  He had stood by as men stoned Stephen to death for reminding the Jews of the Law they were supposed to obey.  Their hatred of the Law was so powerful that they refused to hear it, even covering their ears and crying out when Stephen talked about it.  The Law had become anathema to them.  Nothing has changed.  Their religious descendants view the Law in the same dismissive way in spite of Christ’s commands to obey it.  They express their rejection by claiming that it was “nailed it to the cross.”  Satan has blinded them to the fact that what was nailed to the cross was the “handwriting of ordinances” compiled by men, not the stone-etched writings God produced using His own finger (Col. 2:14).  See God’s Royal Law.

One of the many Biblical Truths today’s Law-rejecters ignore is Isaiah 42:21 where the prophet, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit, said: “He (the coming Messiah) will MAGNIFY THE LAW AND MAKE IT HONORABLE (AGAIN).”  Jesus did exactly that.  He stated that He did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it (Mat. 5:17)–obey it to the fullest extent.  Which is what He told the rich man who asked what he needed to do in order to be saved.  The man was denied salvation because he failed to keep ONE OF THE COMMANDMENTS in God’s Law (Lk. 18:18-23).  Indeed, Jesus came to magnify the Law and restore it to its original place of honor in the hearts of those who believe and obey Him.  Which brings us to the subject of this series–“the restoration of all things.”  The focus of this series is to identify the “things” Jesus came to restore and what that restoration has to do with the New Testament Church, Israel and the coming Kingdom of God.

Before continuing, let us be reminded of a foundational Truth that this ministry has proven beyond any honest doubt: The Bible was written to, for and about Israel.  The only time Gentiles (goy–heathen) are mentioned in the Scriptures is when they had dealings with the Israelites.  The Bible does not apply to the Institutional Church which is a Gentile institution.  It applies to Gentiles ONLY if they voluntarily place themselves under its authority, believe it, and worship and serve its Author by obeying it.  The same is true for biological Israelites.  All must be “spiritual Israelites.”

Israel has always welcomed Gentiles into their commonwealth, provided they embrace, believe and obey the God of the Israelites.  This is brought out in Exodus 12.  The “one Law” both Israelites and Gentiles had to obey after leaving Egypt was later given to them at Mount Sinai.  The One who gave them that Law would later come to earth to “magnify and make it honorable” as it had been at one time.  He did what He came to do.  But once again the Israelites wandered away from it, as have their religious descendants known today as “the church.”  As the Scriptures tell us, He is coming again, this time to establish His Law over the whole earth.  This time the entire world will honor it.  Anyone who does not will die.

The original Law Giver Who brought the Law back to the Jews will return one day and reestablish the prominence the “lively oracles” (the Law) He gave to Israel.  In Ephesians 2:20 Paul states that the New Testament Church was founded on the teachings of the PROPHETS and the apostles.  Moses the Law protector was one of those prophets.  God’s ministers continue to preach those “lively oracles” that the prophets recorded and preserved for “our (the church’s) admonition (instruction) upon whom the ends of the world have come” (1 Cor. 10:11).  This is God’s true church that, though tiny and unknown, continues to believe and obey His Law in these end times.

Jesus came to restore the Law to its proper place in the lives of the world’s Israelites so that they will believe and obey it.  This is made plain by the Holy Scriptures themselves.  The earliest New Testament statement to that effect was made by the angel Gabriel while speaking to a virgin named Mary concerning a son to whom she would soon give birth.  The angel told her that her son would one day occupy the throne of King David who had ruled over Israel during her glory days (Lk. 1:32).  Later Mary said that her Son would help God’s servant–Israel–just as He had promised Abraham, the progenitor of the nation of Israel.  When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple to dedicate Him to the Lord, a Holy Spirit-led priest named Simeon came in to where the ceremony was taking place and, taking the Child into his arms, blessed God for allowing him to see “His (God’s) salvation and the glory of His nation Israel.”  Simeon then spoke to Joseph and Mary, telling them that their Child would have a tremendous effect on Israel.  Then a prophetess entered, saw Jesus and declared that He would be a blessing to those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem (Lk. 2:22-38).  Note that at the time these people were speaking about the child Jesus being the savior of all Israel, the northern ten tribes had been scattered throughout the world for hundreds of year and had become so Gentilized that they were “lost” from public view.  Neither the Israelites nor the Gentiles among whom they lived were aware of their Israelite ancestry.  See Who and Where is Israel Today? L.J.