Restoration and redemption are amongst the most paramount themes in the Bible. They are top-of-mind purpose of God’s. In fact, the entire Bible weaves stories of restoration and redemption from beginning to end. The subject, therefore, is of utmost relevance and should be of crucial importance to us all.
From Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament weaves stories with an overarching theme of restoration and redemption. The New Testament is all about restoration and redemption.
So what are the common threads; the common purposes and common denominators? How did God intend for us to realize some kind of restoration and redemption in our lifetime?
Let’s look at some different angles of how the Bible views the concept of restoration and redemption. Our aim is to help you grasp hold of a real and relevant perspective to offer substantiated hope. We will paint some broad brush strokes then focus in on some personal aspects of restoration and redemption to bring the message home.
Bookends of restoration and redemption
Genesis opens with Father God creating Adam and Eve; then sending them out of the Garden of Eden on a curious note. Genesis 3:24 says He stationed an angel with a sword of fire to guard the path to the Tree of Life. Malachi ends with a promise; He will send Elijah the prophet to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers…”
As a young boy, I wondered what this meant, and when this would happen. Something inside said God had a very specific intention, or He would not have made such a big issue of it. It stirred me and set me on a path of discovery. It led me to see beyond Malachi into the refreshed and upgraded New Covenant, find Messiah and relate with Him in a very real and personal way. In addition, it led me to see beyond the human realm into God’s spiritual reality.
So, the Bible gives us many glimpses into the many dimensions of God’s spiritual reality as it relates to restoration and redemption. On the one hand, the prophets spoke from a nationalistic sense about the near-future restoration of Israel following the return from the Babylonian captivity.
Ezra and Nehemiah detailed the fulfillment of that period of restoration. Beyond that restoration, other prophetic messages from Isaiah to Daniel and forward spoke of more distant types of restoration. They related to a Messianic hope. Some focus on a Redeemer King, Suffering Servant or Messianic Age when Divine intervention establishes universal justice and peace.
Amos 9:11 specifically speaks of a day when God says “I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old…”
The Jewish people had viewed that as referring to the Messianic Age, when the Messiah, a descendant of King David would restore Israel to its glory days. Nearly 800 years later, during the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15:16 records how James arose and declared the fulfillment of that prophecy in Messiah Jesus. While Jews at large still have various views relating to the Messianic hope, Christians see the book of Revelation pointing to additional end-time themes.
So what key points should we take away? All the various Biblical fragments point to God’s manifold love delivering a multidimensional array of God’s restoration and redemption. You can, therefore, see God’s restoration in real and relevant ways.
Truly, God’s aim is to establish a personal relationship with us. He wants us to experience His love and power, justice and righteousness, grace and truth. He wants us to have hope as we navigate through the trials of life.
While many of us hang on to a hope that God’s redemption will come in heaven or at the end of days, God hopes for us all to experience a measure of His redemption and glory; or as we read it in Ezra 9:8, enlightenment to open our eyes to “give us a measure of revival in our bondage” while we are in earth as it is in heaven!
Restoration and redemption as a personal reality
So how does God bring restoration and redemption to us in earth as it is in heaven? Restoration in God’s eyes relates to being restored to His original intentions; and what He intended for you. His goal is to refresh you, relieve you of pressure and tension, help you recover things lost and reverse a bad course you may find yourself on.
You may feel banged up and bruised or smashed and crushed by the world, left in despair, fear and turmoil. God, however, wants to heal your inner person and truly restore the integrity of the design for which you were created.
We see this through the story of Job. James 5:11 speaks of how “you have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord — that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” Job had to endure the loss of everything plus the rebuke and counsel of various well-meaning friends until being brought front and center before God to come to one key state of awareness:
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,
But now my eye sees You.
Therefore I abhor myself,
And repent in dust and ashes.
— Job 42:5-6
In other words, Job had heard about God, but now encountered God—and could relate real-time to His indescribable immensity and all-powerful, all-knowing nature. The narrative then reports that “the Lord restored Job’s losses… Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before…the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning…”
What does God seek to do and restore in your life? I often come to a very strong sense of God’s presence when He brings me to this scripture:
But this is a people robbed and plundered;
All of them are snared in holes,
And they are hidden in prison houses;
They are for prey, and no one delivers;
For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!”
–Isaiah 42:22
God is always looking for times to reveal Himself to us in personal ways. He sees us in different forms of ruts, living with all sorts of fears, desiring so much for us to reconnect with Him as Creator-Revealer-Redeemer and settle the deep issues of our soul so we can experience the freedom of new life in Him—the One who came that we might experience the way, truth and the life (John 14:6).
Restoration as a multidimensional reality
Restoration encompasses a wide assortment of concepts. Let’s take a look at just a few definitions of some words that paint a picture of the kind of restoration God looks for you to experience.
Restoration: renewal, revival, or reestablishment to a former, original, normal, or unimpaired condition; restitution of something taken away or lost
Redemption: the act of atoning for a fault, sin, mistake or guilt; being delivered, rescued
Recovery: the regaining of something lost or taken away; restoration or return to any former and better state or condition
Revival: restoration to life, consciousness, vigor, strength or use
Rest: refreshing, relief or freedom, especially from anything that wearies, troubles, or disturbs; mental or spiritual calm
Renewal: to make effective again; restore or replenish; revive; reestablish
Rebound: spring back from force of impact; recover, as from discouragement
Recompense: compensation or repayment, as for an injury, wrong
Rescue: to free, deliver or liberate from confinement, violence, danger, or evil
Refine: to bring to a finer or a more pure state; free from impurities; make fine distinctions
Reform: to change to a better state
Rehabilitate: to restore to a good condition or former capacity, reestablish standing, rank, rights, or privileges
So how can you experience God’s manifold restoration? The psalmist, reflecting on the glory God exhibited in and through David, the man after God’s own heart, came to a reality check with God. He caught a glimpse of God’s heavenly throne and nature, and came to this very simple reality in a nutshell:
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy (chesed) and truth go before Your face.
— Psalm 89:14
He realized that God’s throne—and the basis of our morally right and whole living—rests upon the balance of God’s divine moral equity; and it is expressed through God’s divine nature, which balances His (chesed in Hebrew) mercy/grace/love with truth.
Experiencing the grace and truth of God’s restoration and redemption
The Bible reports in a multitude of ways how this cornerstone and fundamental reality of God’s mercy/grace/love—and truth are inseparable and balance the entire realm of God’s spiritual reality. Take a look at just a few snippets.
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,
To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.
— Psalm 25:10Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good;
And our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before Him,
And shall make His footsteps our pathway.
— Psalm 85:10-13Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
— Proverbs 3:3-6
The New Covenant or New Testament uses the Greek word, charis, usually translated in the English as grace, to convey the manifold beauty of what the Hebrew word, chesed, depicts. In John 1:14-18 we see this expressed in the person of Messiah Jesus.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Grace and truth became reality and was manifested at the Cross. So what huge concept does this simple scripture depict?
People view righteousness in various ways; typically what is morally right, ethical and justifiable according to a particular standard. The question is what standard?
Christians see themselves receiving righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, the sinless suffering servant and Son of God who took on humanity’s sin and moral imperfection as the perfect sacrifice acceptable to God. Reality is God looks at our righteousness according to His standard of ways and values.
Jesus came being “the way and the truth” (John 14:6). The issue is how do we express or walk in righteousness? How do our thoughts, motivations, desires, emotions and actions reflect righteousness?
This is where justice connects. The world typically looks at justice as what is fair, equitable and morally right according to relative human virtue and cultural contexts and standards; and is expressed and administered by governmental authority—which is political in nature.
The flaw inherent in human justice is just that; it is human, and flawed by the imperfect and subjective determination of what is right in the eyes of imperfect and impartial humankind. Justice in the eyes of the Divine Creator is the ultimate determination of God in executing His righteous standards and values.
That’s where mercy or grace and truth come in. None of us are perfect or righteousness in and of our self. We need grace—the unmerited favor, care, forgiveness and strength of God. The thing is God in His loving-kindness balances mercy or grace with truth.
Mercy/grace/love and truth define and prove the righteousness and justice of God; and God’s mercy/grace/love and truth have to be received by faith. Another reality is the gaps in our life are caused by gaps of God’s genuine love and truth felt in the inner recesses of the soul.
Connecting with God’s mercy, grace, love and truth
Messiah Jesus came as Savior-Redeemer and embodied the mercy/grace/love—and truth of God in its fullness. His entire ministry in the earth conveyed and expressed the reality of this cornerstone foundation of God’s Kingdom and inseparable and mutually connected spiritual reality.
You cannot apprehend the depth of truth without love, and conversely, you cannot receive the fullness of God’s love without a passion for the truth. Love and truth nurture a healthy conscience. They facilitate and foster a sense of liberty in God and promote a real freedom of thought and expression.
Balancing the two is a real challenge humanity faces. I often say, grace without truth is cheap grace; and truth without love is legalism. This was the Apostle Paul’s very point in revealing how absolutely crucial “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) is in order to be effective in fostering real growth and maturity.
This is because God’s love can only be expressed in sincerity and truth. His love is always in sync with and synonymous with truth. And the way of the Spirit and flow of the life of God is centered in grace and truth.
So we must be discerning and walk circumspectly, having discretion. It is so easy to be blinded by cheap love or deceived by counterfeit truth. That’s why to walk in real love requires trust and truth. It brings us to loving God and have a love for others—by placing trusting faith in God to trust others.
Unfortunately, we are bombarded with worldly messages and carnal appeals all day long that are far from representing God’s love or truth. We have the opportunity, however, to choose how we respond to those stimuli; and also choose sources that will nourish our soul and strengthen our spirit.
This is crucial. Our choices determine our growth, and largely the fruits and outcomes of our life. At the same time, we have the opportunity to be recipients of God’s grace! His grace provides strength. As the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
God continuously pours out grace and works on our behalf in a multitude of ways to prepare us to receive from His bounty. He purposes to lead us towards and beside still peaceful waters to refresh and restore us. Yes, God will challenge our conscience and will, but His purposes always point to redemption and restoration.
He delights in us asking, seeking and knocking; in hope of us finding our way and joy in His love—in Him. It, therefore, behooves us to be seekers of truth in all things. Knowing God’s love enables us to be honest about our own sinfulness and shortcomings so we can come clean before God and be living testimonies of God’s grace. It’s how we express being made in God’s image—for His glory.
May the Lord bless you and keep you as He shines His light upon you and fills you with His grace and truth, His peace—His shalom.